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What is BYOK?
Last reviewed July 16, 2026
BYOK (bring your own key) means connecting API keys from your own provider accounts (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others) to a product you use. Matching requests route on your keys, bill directly to your provider account at your negotiated rates, and inherit whatever data agreements your account carries.
When BYOK is the right call
Three cases: you already have provider credits or committed spend to use up; your organization requires traffic on its own data-processing agreements; or you want provider-level rate limits and billing visibility. The trade is operational: you manage key rotation, quotas, and per-provider billing yourself.
BYOK, platform billing, or local
Platform billing is simplest (one bill, no keys to manage). BYOK gives account-level control per provider. Local inference removes the provider entirely for models your hardware can serve. Serious workspaces support all three and route per request, so the choice is per-workload, not per-product.
Connect provider keys in idapt and matching models route on them; combine BYOK with platform billing and free local inference in one workspace, per model, per request.
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