Reduz Reduz
Blog

Bring your own key: how BYOK works in Reduz

BYOK means Reduz uses an API key from your own AI provider account. You pay the provider directly, pick the model, and no Reduz server sits in between.

Allan WarsingAllan Warsing
Bring your own key explained

Reduz does not sell AI credits. You bring an API key from a provider account you already have, and Reduz uses it to send your requests straight to that provider. That model is called BYOK, short for bring your own key.

What you get from it

  • No Reduz account, subscription, or login.
  • You pay the provider at its own API prices, with no markup in between.
  • Your key stays in the extension in your browser and is never sent to a Reduz server.
  • You choose the provider, and you can switch whenever you like.

Supported providers

Reduz supports OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, and xAI Grok. Each provider uses one configured model for every Reduz task: GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, DeepSeek Flash, and Grok 4.3. These are fast, inexpensive models, and Reduz turns extended thinking off where the provider allows it, so summaries arrive quickly.

You can also connect any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, such as OpenRouter, with your own base URL, model name, and key.

Setting it up

  1. Sign in to your provider's API console and create an API key.
  2. In Reduz, open Settings, select the provider row, and paste the key.
  3. Click Test. Reduz makes one small request so you know the key works.

One common surprise: a ChatGPT or Claude chat subscription is not the same as API access. The chat app and the API are billed separately. If the test fails with a billing or quota error, check your account in the provider's API console, not in the chat app.

What it costs

Reduz is free to install. Each summary is an ordinary API request, so the cost depends on how much text you summarize and how often. A short article costs very little with these models. A long PDF or a two-hour transcript costs more, because there is more text to read. Your provider's usage page shows exactly what you spent.

Keep the key private

Treat an API key like a password. Do not paste it into support emails, screenshots, or shared documents. Reduz support never needs it. If a key leaks, revoke it in the provider console and create a new one.

BYOK