Bring your own key (BYOK) means VivaDialog sends your AI replies through an API key from your own account with OpenRouter, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Groq, or Google Gemini. You pay that provider directly, you pick the model, and those replies do not use the plan’s monthly AI reply quota or its AI usage limit. AI replies are already included in every plan, so BYOK is optional. It is useful when you want a specific model, when you already pay for a provider, or when the plan’s quota is too small. This article lists where the key is used, where it is not, and what still stops a reply.
What changes when your key is on
| Built-in AI | Your own key | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays for the AI | Included in your plan | You, to the provider |
| Counts against the plan’s AI reply quota | Yes | No |
| Counts against the plan’s AI usage limit | Yes | No |
| Model | Chosen by VivaDialog | The model id you enter |
The plan quotas at the time of writing, from the pricing page: 200 AI replies a month on Starter, 1,000 on Growth, 3,000 on Pro, 8,000 on Premium, and 100 during the 14-day free trial. Your own key sits outside those numbers. Conversations still count: an AI reply is an automated reply, so the first one in a thread uses one of your plan’s monthly conversations whichever key wrote it. What counts as a conversation explains the rule.
Where your key is used
The product’s own help pages name these uses. For the rule that decides it, we checked the API code on 3 November 2026.
| AI work | Uses your key? |
|---|---|
| An automation that replies with AI on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Telegram, or email | Yes |
| Intent checks that decide whether an automation matches | Yes, on every channel except Website chat |
| The AI Agent answering a DM from your Knowledge entries | Yes, on every channel except Website chat |
| Write with AI drafts in the inbox | Yes |
| AI conversation summaries | Yes |
| Automatic AI replies and intent checks in Website chat | No. They always run on VivaDialog’s AI and the plan’s quota |
The code draws one line. A reply that goes out by itself to a Website chat visitor uses VivaDialog’s AI. Anything a person reads in the dashboard before acting on it, such as a draft or a summary, uses your key on every channel. Add a chat widget to your website covers the Website chat side.
Does it work on email?
Yes. In the code, the only channel left out of BYOK is Website chat. An AI reply to an email, written by an automation, goes through your key like an AI reply to an Instagram DM.
Two other limits on email have nothing to do with the key. Email is included from the Starter plan, and one address gets at most 3 automatic replies a day from the same mailbox. Some emails never get an automatic reply: automatic messages, mailing lists, bounces, and no-reply addresses. Connect an email inbox has the details.
If you searched for “BYOK email” meaning your own mailbox, that is a separate thing. You connect your Gmail, Zoho Mail, or other IMAP and SMTP mailbox under Settings, Channels with an app password, and replies go out from your address. The AI key is a different setting, under Settings, AI.
Add your key
Only workspace owners and admins can add or change the key.
- Create an API key in your provider’s dashboard. Make sure the account has credit or billing set up, because the provider charges for each request.
- In VivaDialog, open Settings, go to AI, and find the AI replies card. Under Your own AI key, choose the Provider.
- Enter the Model id exactly as the provider writes it on its models page. The form links to the provider’s model list.
- Paste the key into API key, without spaces, and click Save key.
- Click Test key. VivaDialog sends one very short request. If the provider refuses it, you see the provider’s own message, which usually says whether the key, the model id, or the account balance is the problem.
After saving, the key is never shown again, not even in part. It is stored encrypted and used only to send AI requests to the provider you picked. The status reads Your key is on. AI replies now use it. Use your own AI key (BYOK) has screenshots of each step.
To stop using it without losing the key, click Turn off. AI replies go back to the plan quota. Replace key swaps the key, provider, or model, and Remove deletes it.
What can still stop a reply
- The provider says no. If the balance ran out or the key was deleted, that AI reply is not sent and VivaDialog does not switch to its built-in AI. In the automation’s History, the outcome shows that the AI provider returned an error. If the automation has a fixed-text reply after the AI reply, that text still goes out.
- The output check. Automatic replies pass a filter before they go out. In the code, a link, email address, or phone number that you did not write into the automation or a Knowledge entry stops the reply, whichever key wrote it.
- The length cap. The code asks the provider for at most 300 tokens of output per reply, so a long answer may be cut off.
- A read-only workspace. If the trial or plan ended, no AI reply is sent, with or without your key.
- The conversation quota. When it is used up, automations and AI stop answering new conversations until it resets.
Replies that use your key show Sent (your AI key) in the automation’s History. That is where to check that the key is really being used.
Who controls the key
The key belongs to the workspace, and the person who saved it matters. The code uses it only while that person is still an owner or admin, and removing that person from the workspace removes their key. If your team changes, test the key again and replace it under your own login. Team members and roles lists what else leaves with a member.
With your own key, the text of the customer’s message and the automation’s instructions go to the provider you chose, under that provider’s terms. Check the provider’s data retention and training settings in your provider account.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need my own key to use AI replies?
No. Every plan includes AI replies with a monthly quota. AI replies and your quota explains what happens when it runs out. Your own key is an alternative, not a requirement.
Can I use ChatGPT or an OpenAI key?
OpenAI is one of the five providers. VivaDialog takes an API key from your provider’s dashboard and does not log in to a chat product. Choose OpenAI as the provider and enter an OpenAI model id.
Which models can I pick?
You type the model id yourself, as your provider writes it. VivaDialog does not keep a list of models, so check the id against your provider’s models page. Test key shows the provider’s own message if it does not accept the model.
Can I point it at another provider or my own server?
No. The five providers listed above are fixed in the product.
Does my key keep working if the owner changes?
Only while the person who saved it is an owner or admin. If they are removed, the key is removed too, so save it again from a current owner or admin account.
Will it make auto replies cheaper?
That depends on your provider’s prices, which change and are not in VivaDialog’s pricing. Compare your provider’s price per request with the plan quota you would otherwise use. For how plans compare, see flat monthly pricing versus per-contact pricing.
VivaDialog is in early access right now, and participants get the Growth plan free for 30 days. The pricing page has the details.