There are just as many creators going in the opposite direction though. Some take it to the extreme and launch full NFT collections for free. And a few of these actually come with some serious utility, amazing artwork, and unique features that make them really interesting — whether free or not.

The projects below all have at least some of these characteristics. And while they’re all free to mint, they do require you to “qualify” in one way or another. You can find the specifics in each project’s Discord server or Twitter account where they’ll typically run whitelist giveaways as well.

Sneaky’s Internet Friends (SNIF)

Sneaky’s Internet Friends was actually supposed to launch today, which is why I didn’t expect to feature it in this post. This also means that it’s probably too late to get on the whitelist and mint a SNIF card.

The launch got delayed by a few days though, so we might still have a chance. In any case, you may want to pick up one on the secondary market after learning a bit more about it.

SNIF is created by Sneakyninjapants, a known figure in the NFT community. Their initial motivation behind the project was a feeling of frustration from all the scams, rug pulls, and cash grabs in the NFT space.

Owning a SNIF card will earn you $SNIF tokens which can be used to buy whitelist spots and more on the SNIF marketplace. A really cool and unique aspect of this is that purchases will require both $SNIF and another token (e.g., $BANANA, $RWASTE, or $SOS). These tokens will then be burned to reduce the supply and benefit all holders.

Another really interesting aspect here is the artwork. Minted cards will have a placeholder image until the owner decides to acquire one of the 1-of-1 pieces of artwork available on the marketplace. I haven’t yet seen any sneak peeks of these works, but I love the idea itself!

• When? Soon!
• How many? 2,000
• How much? FREE (ETH)
• Discord: 22,000 members
• Twitter: 39,000 followers

Yogies

Yogies is a collection of 4,444 colorful little yogis. We’ve only seen a couple of sneak peeks so far, but the artwork looks impressive. Especially considering that they’re free.

Only 3,333 Yogies will actually be available in the initial mint. Each of these will earn you 10 $GEMIES a day, the project’s native token which will be used to claim the remaining 1,111 Yogies. After mint, there will be 1,000 normal Yogies available at 100 $GEMIES each and 111 VIYs (Very Important Yogies, obviously) at 700 $GEMIES each. It’s gonna be a race to get them first!

Aside from this, there isn’t much in the way of a roadmap or concrete goals for the Yogies project yet. The founders have also stated that the project is meant to be entirely community-driven. It’s up to us, the owners of the Yogies, to decide what to build next. It’s still early days though, so let’s see if the team shares some more plans over the coming days.

The Yogies Discord server only opened up on March 20th. It then went on to reach 20,000 members in 48 hours, added another 30,000 in the next 24, and has now reached 37,000. It seems the community likes the Yogies.

You need to complete a few steps to be eligible for the mint. You can find the details in the ‘freelist-requitements’ channel in the Yogies Discord, but it boils down to this: Follow Yogies on Twitter. Like, retweet, and tag 3 friends in their pinned tweet. Invite 5 friends to the Yogies Discord. That’s it.

• When? TBA
• How many? 4,444
• How much? FREE (ETH)
• Discord: 35,000 members
• Twitter: 11,000 followers

Illogics

Illogics is in my opinion the most promising of the free NFT drops covered here. The team has clearly put a lot of thought and effort into it, and I encourage you to check out the whitepaper and mission behind the project.

They have already built an impressive following of more than 62,000 on Twitter. Their Discord is private and I’m unfortunately not in it, but the team has shared screenshots of live AMAs with hundreds of listeners.

The weird, colorful, and friendly-looking illogics seem to attract a lot of positive attention in the community. Based on the sneak peeks we’ve seen so far, I can imagine myself just browsing the full collection to enjoy the art.

The day after the artwork reveals, you will be able to stake your NFT and earn 10 $GOOP per day. With $GOOP, you’ll be able to buy whitelist spots, raffle tickets, merchandise, and more.

One other feature that’s worth highlighting is what the team calls “Re-roll”. If you’re not satisfied with the look of your illogic, you can basically buy a new one, aka a complete, randomized change of the artwork. This costs 50 $GOOP and can be done 4 times within the first 20 days after the reveal.

I personally think the re-roll feature is brilliant and something I would not be surprised to see other projects adopt. It also shows something about the team’s ability to innovate and think outside the box, which is another reason why I’m so excited about this project.

• When? TBA
• How many? TBA
• How much? FREE (ETH)
• Discord: Unknown
• Twitter: 61,000 followers

Magic Monkies

So, Magic Monkies is a little different from the projects above. The key thing to know about this one is that you should not take it seriously. There’s no high-quality art, there’s no roadmap, there’s no grand vision for the project. It’s literally created as a joke. And I’m all for it!

And I’m clearly not alone. The project’s already got 14,000 Discord members and 17,000 Twitter followers, which is why I believe this project actually has some potential. So mint a Magic Monkie to be part of the community, the meme culture, and to show support for the creator (@daata) on Discord. That’s it. At least for now.

• When? TBA
• How many? TBA
• How much? FREE (ETH)
• Discord: 14,000 members
• Twitter: 17,000 followers

Closing thoughts

Sneaky’s Internet Friends, Yogies, and Illogics are all serious and innovative projects, each bringing a unique feature or approach to the scene. I would personally be excited about these whether or not they were free to mint.

Being created as a joke and purely for fun, the Magic Monkies project is a little different. You should by no means expect to get an amazing piece of art, revenue share in a metaverse corporation, or anything like that.

Just have fun with it! Actually, just have fun with all of these. They are free, after all. And the NFT space definitely shouldn’t be all about big money and always seeking the best ROI. That’s my non-financial advice for the day.

And until next time, if you want to learn how I’m finding these drops early on, check out this guide I wrote.