Concern about new credit system and missing “Add Custom API Key (BYOK)” option

General
1

Hello Pickaxe team and community,

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:

  1. 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.

  2. 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).

:backhand_index_pointing_right: 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.

2

Thanks so much for voicing these concerns! Allow me to add some clarity:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

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3

Hi,

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 ?

Thank you

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4

We simply forward costs associated with usage in the new system, as I mentioned above.

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