BYOK and AI Providers

What is BYOK?

BYOK stands for Bring Your Own Key.

With a BYOK plan, Scribeist uses your own provider connections for supported AI features instead of charging Scribeist AI credits. You keep the same Scribeist plan features, but the AI request is billed through the provider you connected.

How BYOK works in Scribeist

With a BYOK plan:

• AI chat uses one of your connected providers
• Blog generation uses one of your connected providers
• Editor actions, SEO generation, keyword generation, research extraction, Mythos AI, and writing style analysis also use your connected providers
• Scribeist does not deduct monthly AI credits for those requests

With a standard plan:

• Scribeist gives you a list of models. Some are for pro only users (GPT-4.5, Opus 4.6)
• AI credits are deducted from your Scribeist account
• Some AI models use more credits than others

If you switch from a regular credit plan to BYOK, any purchased extra credits stay on your account. They do not disappear.

Supported BYOK providers

Scribeist supports these providers on BYOK plans:

• OpenRouter
• OpenAI
• Google Gemini
• Anthropic
• Mistral
• Ollama
• LM Studio

Local providers work differently:

• Ollama shows the models installed in your local Ollama instance
• LM Studio shows the models currently available from its local API server

Set up hosted providers →

Set up local providers →

Credits and billing

Standard plans

Standard plans use Scribeist AI credits. That includes free trials, Hobby, and Pro unless you are specifically on a BYOK plan.

BYOK plans

BYOK plans bill through your connected provider.

Smart Context

The Smart Context feature does not cost anything for users. While it does use AI, the costs are handle by us!

Model selection and visibility

Scribeist only shows models that match your current plan and provider setup.

On BYOK plans:

• hosted providers show curated built-in models
• local providers show the models available from your local server
• you can hide providers or models in workspace settings without disconnecting them

On standard plans:

• credits and credit multipliers are shown and consumed
• you can hide models in workspace settings without disconnecting them

Common questions

Do I still need a Scribeist subscription?

Yes. BYOK changes billing for supported AI features, but it does not replace the Scribeist subscription requirement.

Do BYOK plans use my Scribeist AI credits?

No. Supported BYOK AI requests bill your provider

What happens to my purchased extra credits if I switch to BYOK?

They stay on your account. They are not deleted.

Can I remove a provider later?

Yes. You can remove it in Account > Integrations. If you are still on a BYOK plan after removing it, AI features that depend on provider access will stop working until another supported provider is connected.

Troubleshooting

"My BYOK plan requires a provider connection"

You are on a BYOK plan but no valid provider connection is saved yet.

Fix:

1. Go to Account > Integrations
2. Add one of the supported provider connections
3. Save again

"Failed to save API key"

Usually this means one of the following:

• the key was pasted incorrectly
• the key is no longer valid
• the provider account is not ready to serve requests
• the base URL is wrong for a local provider
• or the local provider server is not running