Advanced Features
Provider Keys & BYOK
Use your own provider API keys with OneRouter. Zero service fee on BYOK traffic, keep your existing provider relationships, and combine your keys with OneRouter's pool for maximum flexibility.
What is BYOK?
Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) lets you configure your existing provider API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.) directly in OneRouter. When you call a model that matches a BYOK provider, OneRouter routes through your key instead of our shared pool.
With BYOK, you pay the provider directly at their rates — OneRouter adds zero service fee on BYOK requests. You still get OneRouter's unified endpoint, auto-failover, cost tracking, and rate limit management.
Why Use BYOK?
| Scenario | Benefit |
|---|---|
| You have enterprise pricing with OpenAI / Anthropic | Keep your negotiated rates, avoid double margins |
| Your organization requires direct billing per provider | Provider charges appear on your provider bill, not OneRouter |
| You need strict data policy compliance | Data flows through your keys — you control the provider relationship directly |
| You want a gradual migration path | Start with BYOK, add OneRouter pool as fallback, transition at your pace |
Setting Up BYOK
- Go to Dashboard → Settings → Provider Keys
- Click Add Provider Key
- Select the provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.)
- Paste your provider API key
- Optionally restrict to specific models — only those models will use this key
- Set a priority — lower numbers are tried first
Routing Logic with BYOK
When you make a request, OneRouter resolves which key to use in this order:
- BYOK keys (by priority) — Your keys are tried first if they match the requested model
- OneRouter pool — If no BYOK key matches (or all BYOK keys fail), we fall back to our shared pool
You can toggle "Always use this key" to prevent fallback to the pool — the request will error if your key fails (useful for hard data-policy requirements).
Configuration Example
A typical setup with priority-based routing:
{
"providers": {
"openai": {
"api_key": "sk-your-openai-key",
"models": ["gpt-4o", "gpt-4o-mini"],
"priority": 1
},
"anthropic": {
"api_key": "sk-ant-your-key",
"priority": 2
}
}
}In this setup: requests for GPT-4o or GPT-4o-mini use your OpenAI key (no service fee). Requests for Claude models use your Anthropic key. Everything else falls back to the OneRouter pool.
Monitoring BYOK Usage
In the Dashboard usage logs, BYOK requests are tagged with the provider key used. Filter by provider to see your direct-provider spend vs. OneRouter pool spend. Activity logs show which key served each request — useful for debugging and cost allocation.
Best Practices
- Leave fallback enabled — Unless you have a hard policy reason, let OneRouter fall back to the pool if your key fails. This is the number one reliability win.
- Set model restrictions — Scope each BYOK key to specific models to prevent accidentally routing expensive models through your key.
- Monitor provider bills — BYOK requests appear on your provider's invoice. Cross-check with OneRouter's usage logs periodically.
- Rotate BYOK keys — Same 90-day rotation policy applies. Revoke old keys from the provider dashboard, update in OneRouter.