Q: Will Pickaxe restore BYOK for LTD buyers who purchased while BYOK was included?
BYOK was repeatedly confirmed by Pickaxe during the AppSumo LTD sale:
• July 1, 2024: BYOK = unlimited uses. • July 7, 2024: no Pickaxe-side usage limit with your own OpenAI API key. • July 15, 2024: future BYOK improvements would also benefit AppSumo customers. • October 17, 2024: using your own API key was again confirmed as unlimited usage. • December 2025: Pickaxe acknowledged that BYOK was...
Founder Team
Nathaniel_Pickaxe
Aug 12, 2026
A: We will absolutely not be restoring BYOK.
Business models & products change and evolve over time, and LTD purchasers have to be aware of that. You can buy extra credits through our system quite easily.
Q: Questions About BYOK Removal And “At Cost” Claims
You removed BYOK almost a year after ending LTD sales, even though many of us bought only because BYOK was clearly advertised. How can any Sumoling see this as anything other than a blatant breach of the original terms? Three questions:
1) How is forcing LTD buyers into prepaid, expiring credit packs (for example 15 dollar blocks) equivalent to BYOK, where we pay LLMs directly per token, billed...
Founder Team
Nathaniel_Pickaxe
Dec 4, 2025
A: 1) The credits do not expire, I'm not sure where you heard that they do. They are billed as used, and you have complete cost transparency. You don't have to buy any specific amount, I think down to $1. 2) This is a pretty unrealistic request, but you can see the token counts and cost assessed for each generation in your Pickaxe control panel. You can run the numbers yourself, though token...
Q: Can LTD Buyers Trust This Deal After BYOK Removal?
Pickaxe LTD has been sold out for months, and BYOK (Bring Your Own API Key) was a core feature across all tiers. Removing BYOK after the LTD sold out materially changes the deal’s economics and forces ongoing costs that were never part of the original purchase.
Two direct questions:
1. How does Pickaxe justify removing a foundational cost-control feature AFTER LTD buyers committed and can no...
Founder Team
Nathaniel_Pickaxe
Dec 2, 2025
A: 1. We removed BYOK almost a year after our final LTD sale, as part of critical product updates. There's a long list of reasons we'd like to allow token usage to flow through us (easier for users, fewer API related bugs and errors), but the most important aspect is that we're charging at cost for model usage, so there shouldn't be any difference to you as a user. Additionally, if you were using...
The fact that BYOK was removed “almost a year after” your final LTD sale is exactly the problem. It was part of the original value proposition when we bought, and many of us only purchased because BYOK was clearly advertised. Time passing does not turn a core feature into something optional you can quietly revoke.
This is dead wrong, as I explain here in great detail: https://community.pickaxe.co/t/concern-about-new-credit-system-and-missing-add-custom-api-key-byok-option/7442/14?u=nathaniel
Because you can does not mean it's the right thing to do and it really tells a lot about you as a person and owner. There is no reason you can justify not allowing LTD users to no have BYOK access other than greed
I logged in after a while and saw that credits are now shown in $. Previously, monthly credits were: Tier 1: 250, Tier 2: 750, Tier 3: 1000. What are the equivalent amounts now in the new $ credit system?
Founder Team
Nathaniel_Pickaxe
Edited Nov 19, 2025
A: Hello! The equivalents are: Tier 1: 250 credits -> $10 / month Tier 2: 750 credits -> $12.50 / month Tier 3: 1,000 credits -> $15 / month (same as our monthly Gold plan) Partially influenced by the fact that free users on our platform used to get only 50 credits, but we decided to give them a whole $5 of usage in the new system. We wanted to make sure AppSumo users were still getting a...
Q: Will Pickaxe restore BYOK for LTD buyers who purchased while BYOK was included?
BYOK was repeatedly confirmed by Pickaxe during the AppSumo LTD sale:
• July 1, 2024: BYOK = unlimited uses.
• July 7, 2024: no Pickaxe-side usage limit with your own OpenAI API key.
• July 15, 2024: future BYOK improvements would also benefit AppSumo customers.
• October 17, 2024: using your own API key was again confirmed as unlimited usage.
• December 2025: Pickaxe acknowledged that BYOK was...
Nathaniel_Pickaxe
Aug 12, 2026A: We will absolutely not be restoring BYOK.
Business models & products change and evolve over time, and LTD purchasers have to be aware of that. You can buy extra credits through our system quite easily.
Hope that helps!
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Verified purchaser
Thanks for the response. I understand that products evolve, but BYOK was an existing feature repeatedly confirmed to AppSumo LTD buyers.
My question is simple: what exact clause in the terms that applied when I purchased allowed Pickaxe to remove BYOK from existing LTD accounts?
Please provide the specific clause and the version/date of those terms.
Q: I'd like to buy a few axes
Hi! Will you kind fellows be making your axes available here for us anytime soon? :D
Nathaniel_Pickaxe
Jul 2, 2026A: Absolutely. Just email [email protected] and we can help!
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Q: Questions About BYOK Removal And “At Cost” Claims
You removed BYOK almost a year after ending LTD sales, even though many of us bought only because BYOK was clearly advertised. How can any Sumoling see this as anything other than a blatant breach of the original terms? Three questions:
1) How is forcing LTD buyers into prepaid, expiring credit packs (for example 15 dollar blocks) equivalent to BYOK, where we pay LLMs directly per token, billed...
Nathaniel_Pickaxe
Dec 4, 2025A: 1) The credits do not expire, I'm not sure where you heard that they do. They are billed as used, and you have complete cost transparency. You don't have to buy any specific amount, I think down to $1.
2) This is a pretty unrealistic request, but you can see the token counts and cost assessed for each generation in your Pickaxe control panel. You can run the numbers yourself, though token...
Share Pickaxe
Q: Can LTD Buyers Trust This Deal After BYOK Removal?
Pickaxe LTD has been sold out for months, and BYOK (Bring Your Own API Key) was a core feature across all tiers. Removing BYOK after the LTD sold out materially changes the deal’s economics and forces ongoing costs that were never part of the original purchase.
Two direct questions:
1. How does Pickaxe justify removing a foundational cost-control feature AFTER LTD buyers committed and can no...
Nathaniel_Pickaxe
Dec 2, 2025A: 1. We removed BYOK almost a year after our final LTD sale, as part of critical product updates. There's a long list of reasons we'd like to allow token usage to flow through us (easier for users, fewer API related bugs and errors), but the most important aspect is that we're charging at cost for model usage, so there shouldn't be any difference to you as a user. Additionally, if you were using...
Share Pickaxe
The fact that BYOK was removed “almost a year after” your final LTD sale is exactly the problem. It was part of the original value proposition when we bought, and many of us only purchased because BYOK was clearly advertised. Time passing does not turn a core feature into something optional you can quietly revoke.
Please correct me 🙏,
⛏Pickaxe now uses:
1 credit = $0.01 of usage
(One cent per credit.)👈
Pickaxe calculates usage cost internally and deducts from your credits.
What’s missing?
No token pricing table
No per-model pricing
No per-action pricing
Example 1 — GPT-4o Mini Chat (1,000 input tokens + 1,000 output tokens)
OpenAI cost:
1,000 input tokens = $0.00015👇
Total: $0.00075 per query
This is dead wrong, as I explain here in great detail: https://community.pickaxe.co/t/concern-about-new-credit-system-and-missing-add-custom-api-key-byok-option/7442/14?u=nathaniel
Because you can does not mean it's the right thing to do and it really tells a lot about you as a person and owner. There is no reason you can justify not allowing LTD users to no have BYOK access other than greed
Q: Monthly credits changed to dollars?
I logged in after a while and saw that credits are now shown in $. Previously, monthly credits were: Tier 1: 250, Tier 2: 750, Tier 3: 1000. What are the equivalent amounts now in the new $ credit system?
Nathaniel_Pickaxe
Edited Nov 19, 2025A: Hello! The equivalents are:
Tier 1: 250 credits -> $10 / month
Tier 2: 750 credits -> $12.50 / month
Tier 3: 1,000 credits -> $15 / month (same as our monthly Gold plan)
Partially influenced by the fact that free users on our platform used to get only 50 credits, but we decided to give them a whole $5 of usage in the new system. We wanted to make sure AppSumo users were still getting a...
Share Pickaxe