We’ve been long-time users and builders on Pickaxe, developing complex assistants that rely on external APIs (e.g., TomTom MCP, OpenAI, Claude, etc.).
After the recent update introducing the new dollar-based credit system ($5 Free / $15 Gold), we noticed two major issues that seriously affect advanced users:
Credit Conversion to USD — The new credit model burns through usage extremely fast for tool-heavy assistants, even when external APIs (like TomTom) are freemium.
This discourages builders who integrate real systems and APIs rather than just conversational prompts.
Missing “Add Custom API Key (BYOK)” option — The “Add Custom API” feature was essential for cost control, compliance, and scalability.
It allowed us to connect our own OpenAI/Claude keys safely — and suddenly, it seems to have been removed.
There’s no clear communication or reference in the changelog or documentation about whether BYOK is still available, or in which plan tiers (Free / Gold / Pro).
Could the team please clarify:
Is BYOK temporarily disabled, or permanently removed?
If plan-specific, which tiers still support it?
Will advanced builders still be allowed to integrate their own API keys for production setups?
We truly value the platform and the innovation Pickaxe brings, but these changes make it hard to continue using it for real-world assistants that rely on consistent backend logic.
Thank you for your attention — and we hope the team will keep power users and technical creators in mind when planning future updates.
Thanks so much for voicing these concerns! Allow me to add some clarity:
Credit Conversion to USD: I’m a bit confused by your question. We simply forward costs associate with usage in the new system. I don’t believe tool use should be causing costs to run up much more than other services.. actually from what we’ve seen tool heavy tools cost less to run than some of the more exceptional conversational tools we’ve seen.
We are sunsetting this feature! But don’t worry: we’re happy to help with any cost control, compliance, or scalability concerns you have. Just let us know… to our knowledge we provide the same service as would’ve been available anyway through the model providers directly.
Happy to answer your other questions as well:
Is BYOK temporarily disabled, or permanently removed?
We sent an email out about this a few days ago. BYOK is being sunset, it will not be returning. If you still have an API key connected, you may keep it until April of next year.
If plan-specific, which tiers still support it?
We no longer support BYOK. Custom solutions are available on enterprise.
Will advanced builders still be allowed to integrate their own API keys for production setups?
We no longer support BYOK, though we’re happy to help if specific limitations are raised.
Since we cannot use our own API key, what’s the costs of using the provider’s API key Eg OpenAI. Is the cost the same if we use our own chatgpt API key through OpenAI or will there be mark up from Pickaxe ?
I was wondering the same as I see the BYOK isn’t available thus causing a work stoppage for LTD users. There’s no way to successfully provide access to clients with the changed offerings.
At the time of purchase of the LTD on ■■■■■■■, the plan explicitly included BYOK (“Bring Your Own API Key”) functionality as part of the listed features for all tiers. This was a material feature that informed my purchasing decision. As documented in both the ■■■■■■■ product listing and public plan comparison table, BYOK was represented as included for unlimited usage.
Please advise as to how you’ll plan to uphold the commitments made at the time of sale.
Thanks for raising this. The new system shouldn’t stop anyone’s work. We didn’t remove the ability to run your tools with API usage. We simply moved everything to Pickaxe’s in-house keys so your tools stay stable, and we pass the model costs through just like you’d pay the model provider directly.
This actually helps users because it avoids sudden outages. A lot of ltd users were getting stuck when their own keys ran out of balance, hit limits, or had billing issues. When that happened, their tools stopped working for them and for their clients. With the unified credit system, the key is always active and managed for you, so your tools keep running smoothly.
If anything on your side feels blocked, I’m here and happy to help you get it sorted.
Thank you for the clarification. I appreciate the intention to improve reliability, but this doesn’t fully address the concern. The core issue is that the BYOK feature was explicitly listed in all ■■■■■■■ Lifetime Deal tiers at the time of purchase. It was a primary reason I bought the deal and later made additional purchases within the platform. BYOK enabled:
Direct API billing and usage control
Multi-model support (e.g., OpenAI, Claude)
Greater security and compliance flexibility for client-facing tools
Redundancy independent of Pickaxe’s internal systems
The new credit-based system might be convenient for some, but it’s not a functional replacement for BYOK. It removes critical user control that many of us paid for in good faith and used to design business workflows. When a lifetime feature is removed or reclassified into a premium tier without grandfathering or compensation, that creates a real problem especially for those of us who scaled purchases around it.
Could you please clarify whether Pickaxe plans to:
Restore BYOK access for LTD users.
Offer a credit-based equivalent or alternate resolution.
Coordinate with ■■■■■■■ to resolve the contractual feature change.
I’m looking for a fair path forward that reflects what was promised and paid for.
Thank you for the clarification. Here’s the core issue from the LTD buyer perspective, framed as plainly as possible:
BYOK was not a convenience feature — it was the economic foundation of the LTD. It allowed builders to control long-term cost and traffic risk while continuing to invest in the Pickaxe ecosystem. Sunsetting BYOK permanently changes the cost structure of the LTD in a way that was not disclosed at the time of purchase.
You mentioned that credits “simply forward costs associated with usage.” That statement only holds if credits are billed at true wholesale OpenAI API pass-through rates with zero markup. Otherwise, LTD owners are now paying a different cost structure than the one the deal was sold with.
To be clear: LTD buyers are not asking for new features or expanded privileges. We are only asking that the original economic terms are honored: either maintain BYOK as promised, or charge credits at the exact raw cost that BYOK would have enabled.
If BYOK is gone permanently, then the only fair, trust-preserving replacement is unmarked, wholesale model pricing identical to what we would pay directly through our own API keys.
No upgrades.
No enterprise upsells.
No hybrid models.
Just honoring the economic reality that the LTD was built on.
We have adjusted LTD credits to fit the new system… and actually increased the amount you get at each tier. It’s T1: $10, T2: $12.50, T3: $15 (same as Gold)
We’ve got the full backing of all third party deal platforms for this change
I think we’ve been pretty clear above and in other places about this change. I’m quite confused by what more you’d like us to say. We’ve already said: “We simply forward costs associated with usage in the new system.”
That doesn’t change the fact that for a lot of other features, you will still have to upgrade. And more awesome features are coming out every day! You can follow along with them here.
Here’s the core issue with the new credit system, based on OpenAI’s published pricing:
OpenAI charges in fractions of a cent:
• GPT-4o mini → $0.00015 to $0.00060 per 1k tokens
• Embeddings → $0.00013 per 1k tokens
• Many requests cost $0.0003–$0.0015 total.
Pickaxe credits charge in whole cents:
• Minimum cost per run = $0.01
• No fractional billing
• No published per-model rate table
This creates unavoidable markups:
• A $0.0015 OpenAI request becomes $0.01 on Pickaxe (666% increase)
• A $0.00013 embedding becomes $0.01 (7,600% increase)
LTD buyers also still pay a 10% Pickaxe fee + Stripe fees.
So yes — removing BYOK materially changes the economics of the LTD.
If the new system is truly “at cost,” please publish the model cost tables so we can verify parity.
It seems like there are some misunderstandings about our new system here.
We are absolutely not rounding up to the cent. If you open the information panel on any of your runs in Pickaxe, which we provide full transparency over, you’ll see that the decimals go well below one cent in precision. We round to one ten thousandth of a cent, which is standard practice, the same as any other provider (see below).
I’m so happy to hear how much use you’ve gotten out of our tool! Actually, quite soon, we plan to be the best place to vibe code your own studio as well! So stay tuned for that.
It’d be very helpful to understand what specifically is different/worse for you under the new system, it’d really help us with next steps.
Thats great to hear, the credits should be used for those kind of vibe coded studio generations when released but for studio tools we should still be able to BYOK at least for Pro users.
Specifically security is a big thing as we work with businesses who need our APIs because of sensitive data and compliance reasons.
I think as a fall back you should have us rebill and for AI generations for instance if our end users want to generate a tool or studio it will consume from the wallet.
This would be more of a win win and you guys will still be able to allow us our users to have a wallet for refilling.
Ultimately I see PickAxe as a company who lets users have their freedom to use your credits or bring their own key.
Can you guys please take this into consideration as big tech companies tend to not give users freedom.
I really hope you guys can listen to us and we can continue to win together
Thank you for your time and the great app you provide us.
Security: Our API keys are the same as any other from a security perspective. They hold the same agreements from providers. In cases where HIPAA compliance is needed for example, we are happy to work with those folks on a case by case basis, and we can even help acquire HIPAA complaint credentials, as we have in the past. On enterprise plans we even support locally hosted models! So this shouldn’t be an issue!
I’m not 100% sure I understand you here: “I think as a fall back you should have us rebill and for AI generations for instance if our end users want to generate a tool or studio it will consume from the wallet.” – but if you’re talking about using your Pickaxe wallet for tool generations… that’s coming very soon! Probably by Friday.
So far it doesn’t seem that there’s any reason billing for usage through us is different from billing through the providers, so as it stands we’ll stay course. But let me know if you have any other specific concerns I can address!
@nathaniel How can I remove my OpenAI key? I would prefer to use your key so I don’t have to verify my organization in OpenAI, and prevent my OpenAI account from being flagged if the users of my Pickaxe misuse it.
According to ChatGPT, it is better to not use my own keys: Why You Should Use the Pickaxe API Key Instead of Your Own (e.g., OpenAI) Key
Using your own OpenAI API key in public or user-facing tools can be risky. If random users submit inappropriate, illegal, or harmful content, your OpenAI account could be flagged, restricted, or even banned—regardless of whether you personally sent the content. OpenAI holds the account owner responsible for all activity under their API key.
By using the Pickaxe-provided API key, you shift this responsibility to Pickaxe. They handle moderation, abuse prevention, and compliance with OpenAI’s policies. This protects your personal or organizational OpenAI account from being flagged due to misuse by others. It also means you don’t need to go through extra verification steps with OpenAI or worry about your key being compromised.
In short:
Using the Pickaxe key is safer, easier, and protects your own OpenAI account from potential misuse by end users.
If you’re a new user and you haven’t added your own key, then you’re already using ours!
If you did add your own key, you can remove it in the settings area of your studio. If you navigate to settings and scroll down, you can delete your keys from that page and Pickaxe will automatically start using your credits instead.
Could the team please clarify:
