Bring your own key: your AI provider account, in one assistant.
Venta lets you connect your own provider accounts — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Cerebras or a compatible endpoint — and use them in one place. Your key is saved encrypted to your account, you pay your provider their price, and Venta does not count those messages against your plan.
What BYOK means
Bring your own key, or BYOK, means an app sends your requests to an AI provider with an API key from your own account instead of the app's. You pay the provider for what you use, at their price, and the provider's terms apply to what you send. The app supplies everything around the model: the conversation, the tools and the files.
Why people bring their own key
- You already pay a provider for API access and want to use it in a full assistant, not a test console.
- You want models from different companies in the same app, and to switch between them.
- You want your provider's terms to apply to what you send.
- You want to go past the free allowance without a subscription.
How to connect a key
- Create an API key in your provider's console.
- In Venta, open Settings, then Your AI, and add the key.
- Pick that provider's model in the chat. From then on, requests go through your account.
Which providers work
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google (Gemini), xAI and Cerebras are built in. Any other public HTTPS endpoint that speaks the OpenAI-compatible API can be added as a custom provider, with the model name you give it.
You can connect more than one provider and pick which model answers in the chat.
Where your key goes
Signed in, it is saved to your account, encrypted under a key derived for your account, so it is there on every device you sign in on, and this browser keeps an encrypted copy so it works offline. It travels with each request that needs it, Venta uses it only to reach your provider for the requests you make, and it is deleted when you remove it or your account. Signed out, it stays in the browser you entered it in. A key you choose for background work is the only one Venta uses while you are away.
What it costs
Messages that go through your own provider account are not counted against your Venta plan, on any plan, the free one included. Your provider bills you for them at their price, and Venta adds nothing to it.
Free to try with about 100 messages a week and no card. Paid plans start at $9 a month and include an AI allowance; connecting your own provider account does not use it.
What it does not do
- It does not sell your key or use it for anyone else's requests.
- It does not change your provider's prices or terms; those still apply to what you send through it.
- It does not accept a chat subscription in place of an API key.
- It does not reach a model on your own machine that has no public HTTPS address.
Questions people ask first
- Where does my API key go?
- Signed in, it is saved to your account, encrypted under a key derived for your account, so it is there on every device you sign in on, and this browser keeps an encrypted copy so it works offline. It travels with each request that needs it, Venta uses it only to reach your provider for the requests you make, and it is deleted when you remove it or your account. Signed out, it stays in the browser you entered it in. A key you choose for background work is the only one Venta uses while you are away.
- Do messages on my own key count against the free plan?
- No. Venta meters only its included AI. Messages through your own provider account are not counted on any plan; your provider bills you for them.
- Can I use my ChatGPT subscription in Venta?
- Not directly. Venta connects to OpenAI with an API key, and OpenAI bills API use separately from a ChatGPT subscription.
- Can I use a self-hosted model?
- Yes, if it is reachable at a public HTTPS address and speaks the OpenAI-compatible API: add it as a custom provider and name the model.
- Do I still need a Venta plan?
- No. The free plan is enough to use your own key. Paid plans add a larger included allowance and more of the product, such as any number of linked devices and helpers that run on a schedule.