---
title: "BYOK AI chat app for GPT, Claude and Gemini"
description: "Open-source BYOK AI chat app. Use GPT, Claude and Gemini with your own API key, see the price of every message, no subscription. Start free with Gemini."
canonical_url: "https://besidka.com"
---
# BYOK AI chat app for GPT, Claude and Gemini

> Open-source BYOK AI chat app. Use GPT, Claude and Gemini with your own API key, see the price of every message, no subscription. Start free with Gemini.

## Get started

- [Start chatting](https://besidka.com/signup)
- [The fastest way to start chatting with AI](https://besidka.com/guides/gemini-api-key)
- [View on GitHub](https://github.com/besidka/besidka)

Here is a quick look at what Besidka can do.

- Desktop and mobile, installable PWA, push notifications
- Model, tokens and cost on every answer
- Light or dark theme, desktop and phone
- Your own keys for seven providers
- Optional gateways: OpenRouter, Vercel, Cloudflare
- Web search providers and their prices
- Pick Lite, Auto or Deep for Exa web search, and see what each answer cost
- Projects with memory, files and notes
- Profile memory you can read, edit and delete
- Optional smart checks on your own TypeSafe AI key
- Search your past chats, with links to the sources
- Highlighted code and rendered diagrams
- Reasoning steps and effort
- Image generation in the chat
- Deep research with the full trace
- File manager
- Share a chat, no account needed to read it

## I pay for ChatGPT Plus and rarely use it. Is there an alternative without a subscription?

Yes, if you are fine creating an API key.

A flat fee costs the same whether you send ten messages or ten thousand. That is a fair deal if you use the app heavily and a poor one if you do not.

With your own API key you pay the provider for each message instead, at its published rates, and Besidka shows the price of every one. There is no subscription and no Besidka markup. The quickest way to try it is a free Gemini key, which needs no card: see [how to get a free Gemini API key](https://besidka.com/guides/gemini-api-key).

Free tiers are fine for plain text chat. They limit other things: ChatGPT Free allows [3 file uploads a day](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8555545-file-uploads-faq) and [limited image generation](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9275245-chatgpt-free-tier-faq), and the free Gemini app gives access to fewer and smaller models than the paid plans ([Gemini models by plan](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/18648722)). Whether paying per use is cheaper for you depends on how much you use AI, so check the comparison below.

Your keys, your costs, your data.

Connect your own key from any of seven AI providers, or route through your own AI gateway, and pay only for what you use. There is no monthly fee, no per-seat charge and no Besidka markup. Switch between the latest Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, Kimi and Qwen models in one place. Add or remove keys any time from your profile. Because Besidka is open-source and self-hostable, you are never locked in.

New to BYOK? The [BYOK guide](https://besidka.com/byok) walks through getting a key, adding it, how cost works and where keys are stored.

## Why should I pick this over a regular subscription?

- **Stop paying for days you don't chat**: No flat monthly fee means a quiet week costs you nothing. You pay the AI provider only for the messages you send, at its published rates.
- **Your history is not tied to a plan**: Your chats are stored in Besidka's database, scoped to your account, and do not depend on a subscription. Self-host to keep them in your own Cloudflare account.
- **Pick the best model for each job**: Claude Opus for hard reasoning, GPT-5.6 for creative work, Gemini Flash for quick drafts, DeepSeek or Qwen for high-volume tasks. Switch between providers in the same interface.

## How do I get started?

- **1. Sign up**: Create a free account with email and password, or sign in with Google or GitHub. No credit card required.
- **2. Add your API key**: Paste an API key from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google AI Studio, xAI, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI or Qwen into your profile, or connect your own AI gateway instead. The easiest start is a free Gemini key from Google AI Studio, which needs no card. Keys are encrypted at rest and never shared with anyone but the company that issued them.
- **3. Start chatting**: Open a new chat, pick your model, and go. You pay your provider or gateway directly. Besidka adds nothing on top.

## What can I actually do with it?

- **Multiple AI models**: Switch between the latest models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and Qwen in one place, on your own keys or through your own AI gateway.
- **Web search**: Ground AI answers with real-time web context and inline sources. Pick your search provider: the model's built-in search, or your own Brave or Exa key. With Exa, choose the Lite, Auto or Deep level for each message.
- **Reasoning mode**: Enable step-by-step thinking for complex questions. The model works through its reasoning before giving a final answer.
- **AI image generation**: Generate one image at a time with supported OpenAI, Google and xAI models. Besidka saves each result privately in your file library so you can preview and download it.
- **File attachments**: Send images and PDFs. Files are stored in Besidka's Cloudflare R2 storage under your account's quota, or in your own bucket if you self-host, and can be reused across different chats.
- **Chat branching**: Fork any conversation mid-thread to explore a different direction without losing the original.
- **Shareable chats**: Share a chat with a public, unguessable link. Anyone can view it without an account and branch it into their own chats. You control expiry, indexing, and what's visible.
- **Projects**: Group related chats under a project with shared instructions, files, notes and memory so every conversation has context.
- **Deep research**: Kick off an autonomous agent that browses the web, cross-checks sources, and writes a cited report while you do something else. Runs on your own key for roughly $1 to $10 per task, with a push notification when it's done.

## Who is it for?

A good fit if you:

- use AI every day for search, translation, PDFs, images or code
- do not want another subscription
- are fine creating an API key in a provider's developer console
- want several models in one place and want to see what each message costs

Probably not for you if you:

- already pay for ChatGPT Plus or Pro, Claude Pro or Google AI Pro and rarely hit their limits. Those apps do more than a chat window, such as voice, agents and desktop apps
- do not want to deal with API keys, or with adding a card or prepaying credit at a provider

For scale: the maintainer's own non-work use costs between $1 and $5 a month. That is one person's usage, not a promise, and your bill depends on the models and how much you chat.

## What does it cost compared to ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude subscriptions?

|  | Besidka | ChatGPT Go | ChatGPT Plus | Google AI Plus | Google AI Pro | Claude Pro | T3 Chat |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly fee | Free | $8/mo | $20/mo | $4.99/mo | $19.99/mo | $17–20/mo | Shown at checkout |
| Pay only for what you use | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Open source | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Self-hostable | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Multi-provider models | yes | no | no | no | no | no | yes |
| Image generation | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | Paid plans |
| Shareable chat links | yes | Link + branch, no access controls | Link + branch, no access controls | Link + branch, no access controls | Link + branch, no access controls | Link or email invite, view-only | Not listed by T3 |
| Bring your own keys | Required | no | no | no | no | no | Paid plans, only Claude Opus 4.1, GPT-5.2 Pro, GPT-5.5 Pro and o3 Pro |
| Bring your own search key (Brave / Exa) | yes | no | no | no | no | no | Not listed by T3 |
| Route through your own AI gateway (BYOK) | yes | no | no | no | no | no | Not listed by T3 |
| Deep research | yes | Not listed by OpenAI | yes | yes | yes | yes | Not listed by T3 |
| Per-message cost breakdown | yes | no | no | no | no | no | Not listed by T3 |
| Memory you can read, edit and delete | yes | Yes, controls vary by plan | Yes, controls vary by plan | US only, Google AI plan needed | US only, Google AI plan needed | yes | Not listed by T3 |
| Search your past chats from a new chat | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | Not listed by T3 |
| Projects with their own files and memory | yes | yes | yes | Notebooks and Gems with files | Notebooks and Gems with files | yes | Not listed by T3 |
| Keep one chat out of memory but in your history | yes | Temporary Chat, left out of history | Temporary Chat, left out of history | Temporary chat, left out of history | Temporary chat, left out of history | yes | Not listed by T3 |
| Optional extra checks on your own key (TypeSafe AI) | yes | no | no | no | no | no | Not listed by T3 |

Besidka is free; you pay the AI provider for what you use. A casual user sending around 100 messages a month uses roughly 50 k input and 50 k output tokens. At Claude Sonnet 5.5's API rates ($2 input / $10 output per million tokens) that is about $0.60; on Claude Opus 5.5 ($4 / $20) about $1.20. Sending 1,000 messages a month lands near $6 on Sonnet 5.5 or $12 on Opus 5.5. Long chats resend earlier messages as input, so real input counts run higher, and prompt caching bills those repeated tokens at a discount. Web search, image generation and deep research are billed separately at the provider's published rates. There is no Besidka markup. Subscription prices are US list prices. The subscription apps bundle features and limits Besidka does not copy, and the free tiers of ChatGPT and Gemini cover plain text chat at no cost.

Prices checked 2026-10-20.

Sources: [ChatGPT Go](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11989085-what-is-chatgpt-go), [ChatGPT Plus](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6950777-what-is-chatgpt-plus), [ChatGPT Free](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9275245-chatgpt-free-tier-faq), [ChatGPT uploads](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8555545-file-uploads-faq), [ChatGPT sharing](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7925741-sharing-conversations-and-scheduled-tasks-in-chatgpt), [ChatGPT memory](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8590148-memory-in-chatgpt), [ChatGPT projects](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10169521-projects-in-chatgpt), [ChatGPT Temporary Chat](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8914046-temporary-chat-in-chatgpt), [Google AI plans](https://gemini.google/us/subscriptions/), [Gemini models by plan](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/18648722), [Gemini shared links](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13743730), [Gemini personal context](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598625), [Gemini past chats](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469), [Gemini Gems](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/15146780), [Gemini notebooks](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16972047), [Gemini temporary chats](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13275745), [Claude pricing](https://claude.com/pricing), [Claude images](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9002504-can-claude-produce-images), [Claude public links](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/16762437-public-links-for-shared-chats), [Claude private sharing](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/16762496-share-a-chat-with-specific-people), [Claude Research](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11088861-use-research-on-claude), [Claude memory and chat search](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11817273), [T3 Chat FAQ](https://t3.chat/faq), [T3 Chat terms](https://t3.chat/terms-of-service), [T3 Chat keys and images (Theo, 2025)](https://x.com/theo/status/1924951096684118118), [T3 Chat models (signed in)](https://t3.chat/settings/models)

## Can I self-host Besidka?

Besidka is built on Cloudflare Workers and ships with everything you need to run your own instance. Configure your Cloudflare account per the README, then deploy with pnpm run deploy. The license is MIT: use it, fork it, contribute back.

## What does “Besidka” mean?

Besidka, Ukrainian “бесідка”, is an open-source AI chat application. The name is the Ukrainian word for a garden gazebo, a place to sit, talk, and think. Similar words exist across other Slavic languages, such as “besídka” in Czech and “besiedka” in Slovak, and all of them derive from the Proto-Slavic root besěda (meaning “speech,” “conversation,” or “council”).

## I have more questions.

### What does BYOK mean?

BYOK stands for "Bring Your Own Key." Instead of paying Besidka a monthly subscription, you connect your own API key from an AI provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google AI Studio, xAI, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI or Qwen) or from an AI gateway such as Vercel AI Gateway, Cloudflare AI Gateway or OpenRouter. You pay the provider or gateway at its published rates. Besidka adds no markup.

### Can I use ChatGPT with my own API key?

The ChatGPT app itself does not accept an API key, and a ChatGPT subscription and OpenAI API billing are separate products. With an OpenAI API key you can use the same GPT models in a BYOK app such as Besidka and pay OpenAI per use. OpenAI sells API credit in advance, with a minimum purchase of $5 as of 20 October 2026. The ChatGPT app has features that an API key does not give you, such as its own apps and voice mode. The BYOK guide has the steps.

### Can I start for free?

Yes, with a Gemini API key from Google AI Studio. Creating one needs a Google account but no card or billing account, and Besidka itself is free. [How to get a free Gemini API key](https://besidka.com/guides/gemini-api-key) has the steps and a short video. The free tier has rate limits. Outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK, Google may use your prompts and responses on the free tier to improve its products, so do not send anything sensitive; inside them, Google applies its paid-tier data terms to all use, including the free quota. Moving to the paid tier (a billing account; new accounts start on prepaid credit) stops Google using your prompts to improve its products. Other providers need prepaid credit or a card before their API accepts requests.

### Which AI providers are supported?

Besidka connects directly to seven AI providers: Anthropic (Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5 and Claude Haiku 4.5), OpenAI (GPT-5.6, GPT-5.5 and the wider GPT family), Google AI Studio (Gemini 3.8 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview and other Gemini models), xAI (Grok 4.6 and other Grok models), DeepSeek (DeepSeek V4 Pro and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash), Moonshot AI (Kimi K3 and Kimi K2.6) and Qwen (Qwen3.8 Max, Qwen3.8 Flash and other Qwen models). Instead of per-provider keys, you can also route chats through your own AI gateway account (Vercel AI Gateway, Cloudflare AI Gateway or OpenRouter), using the models that gateway makes available to your account. For web search, you can add your own Brave Search or Exa key and use it with any model that supports tool calling, whichever provider or gateway runs it. Check the GitHub repository for the full, current model list.

### Can I choose how deep web search goes?

Yes, with your own Exa key. You pick a search level for each message in the web search menu of the chat input, and the price shows next to every level. Lite costs $4 per 1,000 searches and is the fastest, Auto costs $7 per 1,000 and is the default, and Deep costs $12 per 1,000, searches in several steps and is slower. Exa bills your own key, and the info menu of each answer shows what its search cost.

### Can Besidka generate images and documents?

Yes for images. Select Create image with a supported OpenAI, Google or xAI chat model, and Besidka generates one image per request. The image is stored privately in your file library, counts toward your storage quota, and remains available to download. Besidka does not generate PDF, PPTX, or XLSX files yet.

### Do you store my API keys?

Your keys are stored encrypted in Cloudflare D1, isolated per account behind Better Auth session guards. They are never logged, and a key is sent to no one but the company that issued it, when Besidka calls it for you. You can delete them from your profile at any time.

### Can I self-host this?

Yes. Besidka is MIT-licensed and designed to run on Cloudflare Workers. Clone the repository, configure your Cloudflare account per the README, and deploy with pnpm run deploy. You bring the Cloudflare account.

### Is my chat history private, and what do I consent to?

On the hosted version at besidka.com, your chats, memory and files are stored on Cloudflare and scoped to your account, so only you can read them through the app. If you self-host, they are stored in your own Cloudflare account and no third party has access. Messages go to the AI provider or gateway whose key you use, web searches to the search provider you pick, and, only if you add a TypeSafe AI key, the text its checks need goes to TypeSafe AI. Each of them applies its own data terms. Before your first message, Besidka asks for a separate consent to store any sensitive information you choose to include, to send it to the providers whose keys you add, and to check text automatically before it is saved to memory so that sensitive topics stay out. You can withdraw it in Profile, Security, Privacy & consent. The [Privacy Policy](https://besidka.com/privacy-policy) lists every recipient.

### Does Besidka remember things about me?

Only what you let it. Besidka keeps small memory entries about you and about each project. Open Profile, Memory to read, edit, export or delete them, or write what to change in plain words and approve a preview before anything is saved. You can also ask in a chat, for example "remember that I prefer short answers". Generating memory from your chats in the background is off until you switch it on, and then it runs on your own API key. Card numbers, passwords, health details and other sensitive data are refused, not stored. [How memory works](https://besidka.com/memory) covers each part.

### Can Besidka use my past chats and project files?

Yes, and you decide how. With Search and reference chats on, which is the default, the model can search your earlier chats, and every time it does, the answer shows a Searched your chats step with links to the chats it used. A project can hold files, notes and its own memory, which only that project's chats use. To keep one chat out of all of this, switch on Don't use this chat for memory. The chat stays in your history, but memory no longer reads it, the model cannot search it, and entries generated only from that chat are removed.

### What are smart checks with TypeSafe AI?

Optional extra checks that run on a second key, from TypeSafe AI. Its Jev model is a decision model, not a chat model. It answers short yes/no questions, such as whether a message needs a web search, whether a memory entry holds sensitive data, or whether a project file hides instructions aimed at the AI. There are seven checks, each with its own switch, and a slow or failed check never blocks you. A check costs a fraction of a cent on your own TypeSafe AI account, and Besidka works fully without the key. [How to get a TypeSafe AI API key](https://besidka.com/guides/typesafe-ai-api-key) explains each check, what it sends and how well it works.

### Can I share a chat?

Yes. Any chat can be shared via a public, unguessable link. Recipients view a read-only copy without needing an account, and can branch it into their own chats. You control per-share options like link expiry, search-engine indexing, and whether images, file names, message details, or your avatar are visible, and you can revoke a share at any time. Shared files are served through short-lived, revocable tokens rather than a public bucket.

### Does Besidka support deep research like ChatGPT?

Yes. Besidka supports deep research the same way ChatGPT and Gemini do, running on Google's dedicated Gemini Deep Research agent models. Instead of a single quick reply, the agent autonomously browses the web, cross-checks multiple sources, and writes a fully cited report on the topic you give it. It runs on your own Google API key, so a typical report costs roughly $1 to $7 depending on the model and depth you pick, with no Besidka markup. Anthropic does not currently offer a dedicated deep-research agent model and OpenAI has retired its own, so this is not available on a Claude or OpenAI key. You get a push notification the moment the report is ready, so you do not need to keep the tab open while it works.

### How is pricing calculated?

Besidka itself is free to use and open-source. You pay your AI provider (such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI or Qwen) directly at its published API rates, including token usage and any image-generation charges. If you route chats through an AI gateway, you pay that gateway at its own rates instead. If you add a Brave Search or Exa key for web search, that search provider bills you separately at its own rates. There is no monthly fee, no seat charge, and no Besidka markup on any of these. You pay only when you use a provider-backed feature.

### How to pronounce Besidka?

Besidka is pronounced “beh-SEED-kah”.

- “Be-” (Rhymes with “beh” as in “meh”). A short, soft sound. Do not pronounce it like the English word “be” (bee). It should be a short 'e' sound.
- “-SID-” (Rhymes with “deed”). This is the stressed syllable. You should say this part a little louder and longer than the others.
- “-ka” (Rhymes with “ah”). A crisp 'k' followed by a short 'a' (like the 'a' in “father”).

Add your own API key, see what each message costs, and stop paying for months you did not use. Besidka is open source, MIT licensed and self-hostable.

## API key guides

- [How to get a Brave Search API key](https://besidka.com/guides/brave-search-api-key)
- [How to get an Anthropic (Claude) API key](https://besidka.com/guides/claude-api-key)
- [How to get a Cloudflare Workers AI API key and Account ID](https://besidka.com/guides/cloudflare-workers-ai-api-key)
- [How to get a DeepSeek API key](https://besidka.com/guides/deepseek-api-key)
- [How to get an Exa API key](https://besidka.com/guides/exa-api-key)
- [How to get a free Gemini API key in Google AI Studio](https://besidka.com/guides/gemini-api-key)
- [How to get an xAI (Grok) API key](https://besidka.com/guides/grok-api-key)
- [How to get a Kimi (Moonshot AI) API key](https://besidka.com/guides/kimi-api-key)
- [How to get an OpenAI API key](https://besidka.com/guides/openai-api-key)
- [How to get an OpenRouter API key](https://besidka.com/guides/openrouter-api-key)
- [How to get a Qwen API key](https://besidka.com/guides/qwen-api-key)
- [How to get a TypeSafe AI API key](https://besidka.com/guides/typesafe-ai-api-key)
- [How to get a Vercel AI Gateway API key](https://besidka.com/guides/vercel-ai-gateway-api-key)

## More from Besidka

- [BYOK guide: cost and key storage](https://besidka.com/byok)
- [How memory works](https://besidka.com/memory)
- [Privacy Policy](https://besidka.com/privacy-policy)
- [Terms of Use](https://besidka.com/terms-of-use)
- [Cookie Policy](https://besidka.com/cookie-policy)

## Resources for Agents

- [API catalog: every service document this site publishes](https://besidka.com/.well-known/api-catalog)
- [Sitemap (XML)](https://besidka.com/sitemap.xml)
- [llms.txt: index of the documentation for LLMs](https://besidka.com/llms.txt)
- [Agent skills index: every skill published by this site](https://besidka.com/.well-known/skills/index.json)
- [Agent skill: besidka-byok-setup](https://besidka.com/.well-known/skills/besidka-byok-setup/SKILL.md)
- [Agent skill: besidka-overview](https://besidka.com/.well-known/skills/besidka-overview/SKILL.md)
- [AI catalog: AI resources published by this site](https://besidka.com/.well-known/ai-catalog.json)
- [Agent skills index in the Agent Skills Discovery format](https://besidka.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json)