Pay OpenRouter for the model. Pay us 2 credits for the plumbing.
Connect your own OpenRouter account and generation and editing stop being priced per model. They become a flat 2-credit platform fee, with the model cost going straight to OpenRouter on your own bill.
Platform credits
With your OpenRouter key
Plus whatever OpenRouter charges you for that model, billed on their side. Whether this is cheaper overall depends on the model you pick and how much you run.
What changes, and what does not
BYOK only affects the operations that route through OpenRouter. The tools that run on our own provider account keep their standard prices, because your key has nothing to do with them.
| Operation | With BYOK active |
|---|---|
| Text → Image | 2 (platform fee only) |
| Image Edit | 2 (platform fee only) |
| Transparent Image | 10 (2 fee + 8 cutout) |
| Background Removal | 8 (runs on our provider) |
| Upscale | 15 (runs on our provider) |
| Text → SVG | 5 (runs on our provider) |
| Compress / Convert | 1 |
💡 Read the transparent-image row carefully
It is 2 + 8, not 2. The generation half goes through your OpenRouter key; the cutout half runs on our provider and keeps its 8-credit price. Compound operations split the same way everywhere.
When it is worth doing
Switch when…
- You generate at volume and the flat fee plus OpenRouter’s rate beats the platform rate.
- You want a specific model your OpenRouter account can reach that is not in the platform catalogue.
- You already have OpenRouter spend commitments or credits to use up.
- You want model costs on one bill with the rest of your AI spend.
Stay on platform credits when…
- Your volume is modest and one predictable bill is worth more than a marginal saving.
- Most of your work is cutting out, upscaling or compressing — BYOK does not touch those.
- You would rather not manage a second provider account and its billing.
- You are still evaluating and do not want two variables moving at once.
How your key is handled
Encrypted at rest
Stored with AES-256-GCM. It is not kept in plain text anywhere in the system.
Never returned
Once saved, it is not shown or sent back to you — not in the dashboard, not through the API.
Pausable
Turn it off and every call falls back to platform credits immediately, with nothing else to change.
Removable
Delete it whenever you like. Revoke it on OpenRouter’s side too if you want belt and braces.
BYOK works everywhere the rest of the platform does — the playground, the REST API and every MCP tool. There is no separate mode to enable per surface; connecting the key once changes how generation and editing are billed across all of them.
BYOK questions
What is BYOK, in one sentence?
You connect your own OpenRouter account, OpenRouter bills you directly for the model, and this platform charges a flat 2 credits per generation or edit instead of the full model price.
Which operations does it change the price of?
Only the ones that route through OpenRouter — generation and editing. Background removal, upscaling and vector generation run on our own provider account, so they keep their standard prices whether BYOK is on or off. Compression and conversion stay at 1 credit.
How is my key stored?
Encrypted with AES-256-GCM, and never returned or displayed again after you save it. You can pause it or remove it at any time, which drops you straight back to platform credits with no other change.
Do I still need a paid plan?
Yes. BYOK is available on paid plans, and you still spend platform credits — just far fewer of them per call. It shifts the model cost to OpenRouter rather than removing every cost.
When is BYOK actually worth it?
Two situations. High volume, where the flat fee plus OpenRouter’s rate beats the platform rate. And model access, where you want a specific model your OpenRouter account can reach that is not in the platform catalogue.