By default, ZapVox uses its own infrastructure for cloud transcription on Pro and Trial plans. But you can also bring your own API key โ€” known as BYOK (Bring Your Own Key).

This gives you 3 big advantages:

  • Unlimited transcription โ€” doesn't count against ZapVox plan limits
  • Maximum privacy โ€” audio goes directly from your browser to the provider, never through our servers
  • Works on Free plan โ€” BYOK is available on all plans, including Free

Step 1: Choose your provider โ€” Groq or OpenAI?

Recommendation: start with Groq. Here's the difference:

โšก Groq (recommended)
  • Free tier: 30 requests per minute โ€” plenty for heavy use
  • Speed: Whisper-large-v3 โ€” the fastest available right now
  • Cost: $0 within free tier
  • Best for: almost everyone, especially if you're testing BYOK for the first time
๐Ÿค– OpenAI
  • Cost: ~US$ 0.006 per minute of audio (~R$ 0.03). 10 audios of 1 min/day โ‰ˆ R$ 9/month
  • Quality: Whisper-1, very accurate
  • Best for: backup or if you already have an OpenAI account and budget

Step 2: Get your Groq key (free, 30 seconds)

  1. Go to console.groq.com and create an account (Google or email)
  2. In the side menu, click "API Keys"
  3. Click "Create API Key"
  4. Give it a name (e.g., "ZapVox Chrome Extension")
  5. Copy the key โ€” store it safely, you only see it once!

Groq keys start with gsk_ and are about 50 characters long.

Step 2b (alternative): Get your OpenAI key

  1. Go to platform.openai.com/api-keys
  2. Create a key (need to add a payment method on OpenAI first โ€” they charge per use)
  3. Pick a name to identify it (e.g., "ZapVox Chrome Extension")
  4. Copy the key โ€” store it safely, you only see it once!
  5. Set a billing limit (spending cap) to avoid surprises

OpenAI cost: You pay for actual use. Whisper costs about US$ 0.006 per minute of audio (about R$ 0.03). 10 audios of 1 min/day comes to around R$ 9/month. Groq has a generous free tier โ€” we recommend starting there before using OpenAI.

Step 3: Set up BYOK in ZapVox

Now that you have your key, let's add it to ZapVox:

  1. Open ZapVox in your browser (click the extension icon)
  2. Click "โš™๏ธ Settings" (gear)
  3. Go to the "API Keys" or "BYOK" tab
  4. Paste your Groq or OpenAI key in the corresponding field
  5. Click Save
  6. Done! From now on, ZapVox will use your key for transcription

How is my key protected?

Three layers of security:

  • AES-GCM 256-bit encryption โ€” NIST standard, used in banking and government
  • PBKDF2 with 600,000 iterations โ€” makes brute-force computationally unfeasible
  • Random salt unique per user โ€” different ciphertext even for identical keys

The encrypted key lives ONLY in your browser's local storage. It's never sent to ZapVox servers. When you use it, the key is decrypted in memory and sent directly to the provider โ€” no intermediary.

Saving on OpenAI BYOK

OpenAI charges per minute. To minimize cost:

  • Use Groq first (the BYOK cascade tries Groq first โ€” Groq is free)
  • Turn off auto-transcribe in irrelevant chats (Settings โ†’ "Only new audios" + auto-transcribe = won't re-transcribe past audios)
  • Monthly limit on OpenAI: go to platform.openai.com/settings/limits and set a spending cap
โฌ‡๏ธ Install ZapVox free

BYOK works on all plans, including Free.

Need help setting up? Email [email protected] โ€” we reply within 72 business hours (usually faster).