OpenChat Connect vs ByoKey

OpenChat Connect is a free native iOS app with two ways to chat. Download a model and talk to it on your iPhone. Or bring your own API key and use OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, OpenRouter, or any custom endpoint. No OpenChat account. No lock-in. On this device Version 1.2.0 adds curated MLX downloads from Meta, Qwen, and Phi. Pick Fast, Balanced, or Strongest, then choose the On This Device provider. That chat runs on the iPhone. You do not need an API key for it. Your key, any model Paste a key and use OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, OpenRouter, or a custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint, including Ollama, LM Studio, or vLLM. The same key setup also covers Mistral, DeepSeek, cloud Qwen, Moonshot, Z.ai, and 01.AI. Pick the model that fits the task. Switch later. The app does not lock you to one provider. One app either way Chats, rules, memory, and skills are stored on the device. You can set global rules and per-chat rules, edit memory, and run a skill with / in the composer. Web search is optional and uses your own search key (Tavily, Exa, Brave, Serper, or SerpAPI). The app can render streaming Markdown and code, send a photo to a vision-capable model, and finish a cloud reply in the background with a local notification. Private by design OpenChat has no backend, no account, and no analytics. On-device model chats are not sent to a cloud model provider. When you choose a cloud model, that message goes from your iPhone straight to the provider you picked. OpenChat does not sit in the middle. API keys and search keys stay in the iOS Keychain. The app is free. Cloud usage is billed by the provider on your key, not by OpenChat. On-device chats do not use a provider key. App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/openchat-connect/id6798106079 Source (MIT): https://github.com/robert-garay/openchat Support: robert@genion.ai

ByoKey is an AI chat for your own API key – with projects, sub-agents that check answers, and the cost of your answers in view. You pay the AI provider directly, and only for what you use. ByoKey adds no subscription and no markup. SEE WHAT YOU SPEND • Tokens and cost under each answer, wherever a price is known • Totals per chat, per project and per month, plus a monthly budget you set yourself • Compare before you choose: price per million tokens and context length, where the provider lists them • Your own prices for models without a listed price – otherwise ByoKey shows "Price unknown" rather than a wrong figure Amounts that rest on an estimate are marked "approx.". KEEP WORKING ON YOUR CODE • Attach a project as a ZIP archive or folder – in a sheet with the file tree you pick what goes along and see tokens and cost beforehand • Dependencies, build folders and binary files stay out; files that may contain credentials are never preselected • Export the result: the newest version of each file, as a ZIP or as a folder in the Files app SEVERAL CHATS AT ONCE • Up to four answers run in parallel; dots in the chat list show what is running, what is done and what needs you • Leave the app and an answer keeps writing for as long as the system allows – otherwise "Continue writing" picks it up later • Optional notification when an answer is ready – without its content PROJECTS AND SUB-AGENTS • Projects with their own instructions and default model – six templates help you get started • Up to three sub-agents – further models, also from other providers – review the main model's answers, for example as reviewer, critic or tester; if you like, the main model then revises its answer • Move chats into projects or merge them; costs still count exactly once YOUR KEY, YOUR CHOICE • 15 AI providers, including providers that process data in the EU – or a server of your own, also on your local network • Compatible with API keys from OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Mistral AI and more • Connect with OpenRouter: sign in instead of copying a key – or start with free models (with daily limits, and only if your OpenRouter account allows providers that may use inputs for training or publish them) • Your keys are stored only on this device and are sent only to the provider they belong to • Nothing goes to a provider before you agree – separately for each provider, including those of your sub-agents BUILT FOR REAL WORK • Attach PDFs, images, text and source files • On iPad: chat list and chat side by side, keyboard shortcuts and drag and drop for attachments • Models by category – with OpenRouter also music & audio, voice and areas such as programming • Create images (with selected providers), and with OpenRouter's audio models also music and spoken answers • Tables and code blocks in answers; HTML preview on your device • Dictation: recognized on your device (on Apple's servers only if you allow it), never via your AI provider • Voice mode: talk and have answers read aloud – on your device with any model, via the provider only with that provider's speech models; only some providers offer them • Add to your request while an answer is still arriving SAFE BY DESIGN • An on-device content filter checks requests, answers and attached documents • Report content and block models right in the chat • No account with us, no tracking, no ads • For iPhone and iPad, in English, German and Polish Free – no in-app purchases, no subscription. Note: ByoKey requires your own API key from a third-party AI provider (for example OpenRouter) or a server of your own. The provider bills you directly for using its models. ByoKey sells no credit, receives no commission and runs no server that your chat requests pass through.