LiveAI works in two different ways, and the question keeps coming up: which one should you pick? The answer mostly comes down to one thing — whether you already use an AI provider elsewhere, or not at all.
Option 1: your own API key
You create an account with a provider (DeepSeek, OpenAI, Groq, Mistral...), grab an API key, and paste it into LiveAI. From there, the app connects directly to that provider — LiveAI never sees the content of your messages, and charges you nothing at all. You only pay your provider, at their rates.
Who it's for: people who already use AI regularly, or who prefer keeping full control over which provider handles their messages.
Option 2: built-in LiveAI
Don't feel like creating an account or managing a key? The "built-in LiveAI" option routes your messages through our server, relayed to a shared provider, and billed in credits (1 credit ≈ 1 message, up to 2000 combined tokens). Payment goes through Stripe, as a pack or a subscription — see the details on the Pricing page.
Who it's for: people who want to try it out with zero friction, or who don't want to manage an API key for occasional use.
The real deciding factor
This isn't a question of privacy versus convenience — both options are detailed in our privacy policy. It's a question of how often you use it: heavy, regular use is almost always cheaper with your own key (providers bill per token, with no middleman markup), while occasional or exploratory use is simpler with built-in LiveAI.
You can switch options at any time in settings, without losing your conversations or your history.