Two ways to power your AI calls
AI nodes need access to an AI model. You supply that access in one of two ways, and you need one or the other, not both.
- BYOK (bring your own key). You add your own provider key, from OpenAI, Anthropic, or OpenRouter, in Settings. AI calls go directly from your WordPress server to that provider, and you pay the provider for usage. This is free on our side and needs no account.
- Keyless (credits). You connect a free account and route AI calls through our hosted proxy. No key to manage: you spend credits instead. Your account starts with a small grant of free credits.
Your keys never leave WordPress
When you use BYOK, your provider key is stored encrypted on your own site and used only for direct calls from your server to the provider. It is never transmitted to our platform, even when a workflow runs in Cloud. To add or change a key, see AI provider and API settings.
Choosing a source per node
Most AI nodes let you pick the AI source right on the node:
- Your key uses the provider key you configured in Settings.
- Your credits uses keyless AI through your connected account.
This means a single workflow can mix both. For example, a chatbot can answer visitors on your own key while a scheduled research workflow spends credits. The Chatbot node exposes this choice in its Model tab, since chat always runs on your site.
How the two relate to Local and Cloud
BYOK and keyless are about where the AI access comes from. Local and Cloud are about where the workflow runs. They are related but not the same:
- A Local workflow uses your own key by default, or your credits if a node’s AI source is set to credits.
- A Cloud workflow runs on our engine and is metered in credits.
For the full picture of run location, see Local vs Cloud execution.
What each costs
- BYOK costs you nothing on our side. You pay your AI provider directly for token usage. You can track that spend in Cost and usage tracking.
- Keyless spends credits from your account balance. Typical costs are 1 to 3 credits for an AI generation, around 3 for a chat reply, and about 10 for an image. See Plans, top-ups, and billing for how to add credits.