AI in Business
BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) in plain English.
Also known as: bring your own key,BYO API key,own-key pricing
The one-sentence version
A pricing model where you use a tool for free or cheaply but supply your own API key, so the model provider bills you directly for usage.
BYOK, bring your own key, means an app does not resell AI usage. You paste in an API key from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or OpenRouter, and the app calls the model on your behalf while the provider charges your account. Open-source coding agents such as Cline, Roo Code, and Continue work this way, as do many chat front-ends and browser extensions. The advantages are transparency (you see exactly what each request costs), choice (swap models whenever you like), and privacy (your data goes to the provider you chose, not through a middleman). The drawbacks are that costs are unbounded unless you set limits, that a long agent session can burn dollars in minutes, and that you must manage keys safely. Many tools now offer both: a BYOK mode and a hosted subscription with credits, as Kilo Code and Cursor do. For teams, a gateway such as LiteLLM or Portkey sits between the app and the provider, issuing virtual keys with budgets so BYOK stays governable.