OPEN SOURCE · BYOK · SELF-HOSTABLE
Open-source AI chat. Your keys, your costs.
Self-host or use besidka.com — pay per use, no subscriptions, no markup, no lock-in.
How many people are using this?
We are an early, growing community. Here is where things stand today.
People using Besidka
Conversations started
Messages exchanged
Files attached
I am paying $20/month for ChatGPT Plus and I do not even use it most days.
That is the subscription trap: you pay whether you chat twice a week or twice a day, and the moment you stop, you lose everything.
Most AI tools charge a flat monthly fee, add a markup on top of the underlying API cost, and lock your history behind their platform. When the price goes up — and it usually does — you have no alternative.
Besidka flips this: you connect your own API key, you pay the provider's published rate only for the tokens you actually use, and your data stays yours.
Your keys, your costs, your data.
Connect an OpenAI or Google AI Studio key and pay only for what you use — no monthly fee, no per-seat charge, no markup. Switch between the latest GPT and Gemini 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.
Why should I pick this over a regular subscription?
Why Besidka
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 when you actually send a message — not a penny more.
Own your history forever
Your conversations live in your Cloudflare D1 database. Cancel, self-host, or switch deployments — your data moves with you, no export required.
Pick the best model for each job
GPT-5 for creative work, Gemini Flash for quick drafts, a nano model for high-volume tasks — switch freely across providers in the same interface.
How do I get started?
How it works
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 your OpenAI or Google AI Studio API key into your profile. Keys are encrypted at rest and never shared.
3. Start chatting
Open a new chat, pick your model, and go. You pay the provider's rate directly — Besidka adds nothing on top.
What can I actually do with it?
Features
Multiple AI models
Switch between the latest GPT and Gemini models in one place without creating separate accounts.
Web search
Ground AI answers with real-time web context. Besidka can search the web and cite sources inline.
Reasoning mode
Enable step-by-step thinking for complex questions. The model works through its reasoning before giving a final answer.
File attachments
Send images and PDFs. Files are stored in your own R2 bucket and can be reused across different chats.
Chat branching
Fork any conversation mid-thread to explore a different direction without losing the original.
Projects
Group related chats under a project with shared instructions and memory so every conversation has context.
Who is this for?
Developer
Reviews PRs and drafts release notes by dropping in diffs and asking questions, using Projects to keep a standing system prompt per repository.
Context survives across sessions — no copy-pasting the same prompt every time.
Self-hoster
Runs a personal Besidka instance on their own Cloudflare account, pointed at their own API keys, with full access to the source code.
Every byte of chat history stays in infrastructure they control — no third-party reads their conversations.
Occasional AI user
Skips the flat monthly subscription and pays only for the tokens they actually use, switching between GPT and Gemini flagships depending on the task.
A typical light-use month costs a few dollars instead of twenty.
What does it cost compared to ChatGPT Plus?
What does it cost?
| Besidka | ChatGPT Plus | Google AI Pro | Claude Pro | T3 Chat | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | Free | from $20/mo | from $20/mo | from $20/mo | from $8/mo |
| Pay only for what you use | Yes | No | No | No | Only for the most expensive models like Gpt 5.5 Pro ($30/$180) |
| Open source | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Multi-provider models | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Message caps from the app | None | Usage limits apply | Usage limits apply | Usage limits apply | Usage limits apply |
| Bring your own keys | Required | No | No | No | Only for the most expensive models like Gpt 5.5 Pro ($30/$180) |
A typical casual user sends around 100 messages per month — roughly 50 k input tokens and 50 k output tokens. On a flagship model that works out to well under $1/mo. A heavy user sending 1,000 messages stays in the $5–7/mo range, paying the provider directly with no Besidka markup.
Competitor prices as of June 2026.
Can I run this myself?
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?
The name comes from the Ukrainian word “бесідка” for a garden gazebo — a place to sit, talk, and think. Similar words exist across Slavic languages: “besídka” in Czech and “besiedka” in Slovak. All these words derive from the Proto-Slavic root besěda (meaning “speech,” “conversation,” or “council”).
I have more questions.
FAQ
What does BYOK mean?
Which AI providers are supported?
Do you store my API keys?
Can I self-host this?
Is my chat history private?
How is pricing calculated?
What does "Besidka" mean?
How to pronounce Besidka?
- “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”).
Your chat history, your API keys, your costs — no middleman, no subscription, no lock-in. Join an early, growing community building AI workflows that belong to them.