Why we chose a BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) model for our SaaS

The biggest risk for an AI SaaS in 2026 isn't distribution; it's variable inference costs.

We built Passband (an AI pipeline for regulated industries) using our own internal agentic framework in 100 hours. But to guarantee "infinite runway" and avoid VC pressure, we decided to go BYOK — users bring their own OpenAI or Anthropic API keys instead of paying us for credits.

It adds slight onboarding friction, and we're pre-launch so we haven't validated it with real users yet. Our hypothesis is that our target ICPs (agencies and financial advisors) will appreciate the transparency and lack of token markups — but we're genuinely curious what the community thinks.

Has anyone else successfully shipped a BYOK model? Did it help or hurt conversion?