BYOK (bring your own key)
Letting each customer connect their own AI provider account, so model usage is billed to them directly instead of being bundled into your prices.
Updated October 2026 · with examples from our own builds
What does BYOK mean in practice?
With bring-your-own-key, a customer pastes an API key for OpenAI, Anthropic or another provider into your product, and the AI features run on their account. Your product holds no platform key for those features and carries no model cost for them.
AI pricing becomes simpler, and fairer to heavy users, and it suits customers who already have provider contracts. The trade-offs are setup friction and the responsibility for storing their keys safely.
Failure modes change too. When a customer's key is missing or out of credit, the product must say so clearly rather than quietly falling back to a key you pay for.
BYOK at a glance
- Who pays for AI
- The customer, directly to the provider
- You must
- Store customers' keys encrypted
- Fail clearly when
- A key is missing or exhausted
Where has BYOK come up in our builds?
Workspaces bring their own key for a supported AI provider or any compatible endpoint, stored in the encrypted vault. There is no platform key, so with none set, generation stops with a clear message.
Teams run each bot on their own API key with the provider they choose, so model usage is billed by the provider rather than folded into per-message pricing.
The firm's card reader is set up to run on the firm's own AI API key; until it lands, uploaded cards are kept and the panel says they are waiting to be read.
Common questions about BYOK
Should my AI product use the customer's API key or mine?
Your own key keeps setup simple and lets you price usage; the customer's key takes model cost out of your margin and suits heavy users. Some products offer both, with the customer's key as an option.
Is it safe to give my AI API key to a SaaS product?
It can be, if the product encrypts it, never sends it back to the browser and lets you revoke it. Use a key limited to that product's needs, with a spending cap set at the provider.
Related terms
Planning a product and not sure where BYOK fits? Ask us, or browse all 116 terms in the glossary.