An AI keyboard that takes your own API key

Last updated: 20 September 2026

The short version. Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) means you paste an API key from an AI provider you already pay, and the keyboard's AI features run on your account instead of ours. On Keyda it is free on every account — no plan, no trial and no card required — and it works with OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini), Groq and xAI. Your provider bills you at their rates; Keyda takes no cut.

Why anyone wants this

Most AI keyboards route your requests through the vendor's own service, on the vendor's plan, at the vendor's price, using whichever model the vendor picked. BYOK inverts that. You choose the provider and the model, you see the usage on a dashboard you already have, and if you already pay for an API account the keyboard costs you nothing extra to run.

It also narrows the trust question. With your own key, the request goes to the provider you chose, under the terms you already agreed with them.

Supported providers

  • OpenAI — GPT models. Paid; a small prepaid balance is required.
  • Anthropic — Claude models. Paid.
  • Google — Gemini models. Free tier available.
  • Groq — very low-latency open-source inference. Free tier available.
  • xAI — Grok models.

Step-by-step guides for creating a key with each provider are on the FAQ page.

Setting up BYOK

  1. Create an API key with one of the providers above. The FAQ has a guide for each.
  2. Sign in to Keyda, then open Settings → Cloud AI → Bring Your Own Key.
  3. Paste the key and save. The keyboard writing tools, the in-app AI assistant and image generation all start using it.

How the key is stored

Your key is encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM on Keyda's servers and scoped to your user account. It is used only to forward requests to the provider you configured it for. The full data handling is described in the Privacy Policy and the Terms.

What it costs

Nothing to Keyda. Your provider charges you at their published rates for the requests you make, the same as any other client hitting their API. There is no Keyda plan attached to BYOK and no markup.

If you would rather not manage a key at all, the paid plans include a pooled cloud quota instead — 200 requests a day on Lite, 1,000 requests and 500,000 tokens a day on Pro. Both are documented on Models & limits.

Questions people ask

Do I need a paid plan to use my own key?

No. Bringing your own API key is free on every Keyda account — no plan, no trial and no card required. Sign in, open Settings → Cloud AI → Bring Your Own Key, and paste a key from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq or xAI.

Will Keyda charge me anything if I use BYOK?

No. The provider whose key you pasted bills you at their rates for the requests you make. Keyda takes no cut and adds no markup.

What happens if my key is rejected by the provider?

The request fails with the provider's reason surfaced to you — an expired key, an exhausted balance or a rate limit — rather than failing silently. You can fix the key or switch to an on-device model, which needs no key and no network.

Which provider should I pick?

If you want a free tier to start with, Google (Gemini) and Groq both have one. For the strongest writing quality, OpenAI and Anthropic are the usual choices. For the fastest replies, Groq. You can change provider at any time from the same settings screen.

Is there an option that uses no key and no network at all?

Yes. Lite and Pro include on-device models — Gemma 3n and Gemma 3 1B — that run entirely on your phone with no network, no token cost and no rate limit. They are smaller than cloud models but good at short replies, grammar fixes, summaries and quick rephrases.

Related