# Bring your own OpenAI key: how AI chatbot costs actually work

> Aisk is free, but AI usage is billed by OpenAI. Learn what you pay for, what drives cost, and simple ways to keep it predictable.

- URL: https://aisk.chat/blog/openai-costs-ai-chatbot/
- Published: 2026-06-18
- Category: Guides
- Author: Aisk Team (Aisk.chat)

## Quick answer

Aisk itself is free; you connect your own OpenAI API key and OpenAI bills you per token for embeddings (when content changes) and chat responses (per customer message). Keep costs predictable by setting a monthly budget in OpenAI and indexing only useful content.

Aisk has no plans, no tiers and no per-message fees. Instead, you connect your own OpenAI API key, and OpenAI bills you directly for what you use. Here's what that means in practice.

## What you pay for

There are two kinds of OpenAI usage in Aisk:

1. **Embeddings** — created when you click *Generate Embeddings* and when you add external knowledge. This happens when your content changes, not on every chat.
2. **Responses** — each time a customer sends a message, Aisk uses OpenAI to understand the request and write a reply.

OpenAI charges per token (roughly, pieces of words). Current rates are on [OpenAI's pricing page](https://openai.com/api/pricing/).

## Why bring your own key?

- **No markup.** You pay OpenAI's price, not a reseller's.
- **No artificial limits.** Your chatbot doesn't stop working because you hit a plan cap.
- **Full visibility.** Usage shows up in your own OpenAI dashboard.

## Keep costs predictable

- **Set a monthly budget** in your OpenAI account's billing settings so spending never surprises you.
- **Index only useful content.** Exclude pages that don't help customers — fewer, better passages keep requests lean.
- **Regenerate embeddings when content changes,** not on a fixed schedule.
- **Watch the analytics dashboard** to see how many conversations you handle and spot unusual spikes.

## Getting a key

1. Sign in at [platform.openai.com](https://platform.openai.com/api-keys).
2. Add a payment method and, ideally, a usage limit.
3. Create an API key and paste it into **Settings → Aisk**.

Keep your key private — anyone with it can spend on your account.

## Frequently asked questions

### What do I pay for when using Aisk?

Only OpenAI API usage: embeddings created when you generate or update your knowledge base, and responses created when customers send messages. The plugin has no fees.

### Why does Aisk use my own OpenAI key?

You pay OpenAI’s price with no markup, the chatbot has no plan caps, and all usage is visible in your own OpenAI dashboard.

### How can I limit AI chatbot costs?

Set a monthly budget in your OpenAI billing settings, exclude pages that don’t help customers, and regenerate embeddings only when content changes.