CyberRouter · Practical guides
BYOK AI Costs: Provider Bills and Gateway Fees Explained
Follow the money from provider usage to gateway credits with examples drawn from CyberRouter’s published plan rates.
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There are two separate charges
With bring-your-own-key access, the provider bills usage to your provider account. CyberRouter charges a service fee against your CyberRouter credit balance. Adding money to one account does not fund the other.
For a simple token-priced request, estimate provider cost as input tokens × input rate plus output tokens × output rate. Check whether cached input, reasoning, images, request charges, or pricing tiers change that formula for the endpoint. Security references added to a request also occupy input tokens.
A hypothetical endpoint charging $1 per million input tokens and $2 per million output tokens would charge $0.012 for 10,000 input and 1,000 output tokens. These rates illustrate arithmetic; they are not a quote for any listed model.
Apply the gateway fee
CyberRouter credits used = provider cost used for billing × your effective service-fee percentage. At the published pay-as-you-go rate of 10%, $1 of provider usage consumes $0.10 in CyberRouter credits. This is an additional charge; the provider still receives its $1.
Read the usage receipt to distinguish the provider-cost basis from the gateway charge. Your account’s effective rate may differ from the base rate because of plan benefits or an account-specific adjustment. Estimated provider costs may be reconciled when supported.
Compare one month with $100 of provider usage
Assume no opening credit balance, no promotional or account-specific discounts, and regular monthly subscription billing. For pay as you go, buy exactly enough credits for the fee in this example. Subscription fees below are covered by that month’s included credits.
| Plan | Service fee | Credits used | Paid to CyberRouter | Credits left | Total paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go | 10% | $10.00 | $10.00 | $0.00 | $110.00 |
| Plus | 7.5% | $7.50 | $20.00 | $17.50 | $120.00 |
| Pro | 5% | $5.00 | $50.00 | $55.00 | $150.00 |
Credits used and cash paid are different measures. For example, a subscription can leave unused credits even when its cash payment exceeds that month’s fee. Included credits should not be added to the cash total as another charge. Remaining credits follow the published rollover terms.
Estimate your own month
- Estimate provider usage from a representative task, including added context and repeated attempts.
- Apply your account’s effective gateway rate to that provider-cost basis.
- Subtract available credits and expected plan grants to estimate whether a top-up is needed.
- Add subscription payments and necessary top-ups to the separate provider bill. Use the applicable billing interval and checkout amounts.
Taxes, provider minimum purchases, promotions, and existing balances can change cash outlay. The table is a defined example, not a recommendation that one plan suits every workload. Check current plans and the fee calculator and your account before purchasing.
Questions that prevent billing surprises
Does a lower context budget guarantee lower cost? No. Token rates and output behavior vary, and a retry can add usage. Measure successful tasks as well as tokens.
Does BYOK mean inference is free? No. Your provider’s charges and CyberRouter’s service fee remain separate.
Does prompt caching remove input from the context window? A billing discount does not remove content that remains in the input. Budget capacity and cost separately.
Credits and billing documentation explains reservations, balances, and plan benefits. Provider setup explains which key belongs in each connection.