Bring your own key
The lifetime license and BYOK mode, in which data calls bill your own DataForSEO account instead of SmarterSEO credits, how to connect and test the key, and how AI features are paid for.
The lifetime license replaces monthly credits with your own account at the data provider, DataForSEO. You pay $399 once, connect your DataForSEO API login, and from then on every search, backlink, traffic or Maps call is billed by DataForSEO to you at their prices, with SmarterSEO taking nothing per call. This mode is called bring your own key, or BYOK.
What the lifetime license includes
| Lifetime license | |
|---|---|
| Price | $399, one time |
| Monthly credits | None: data calls bill your DataForSEO account |
| Projects | Unlimited |
| Seats | 3 (including the owner) |
| Tracked keywords | 2,500 |
| Features | Every tool, tracker, automation, white label and the API, like every other plan |
The plan card on Billing & credits carries the badge One-time and the lines Bring your own DataForSEO key and AI features via credit packs. Once bought it reads Owned, and the monthly plan cards read Included in your license. If you have an active monthly subscription the card reads Cancel your plan first; let the subscription end before buying.
What changes in BYOK mode
- Costs are shown in dollars. Every form's cost line changes from "About N credits · billed to your SmarterSEO credits" to About $0.0000 · billed to your DataForSEO account. Rank tracker forms read "About $X per keyword at top N on DataForSEO's standard queue"; grids show "{N} Maps requests per scan"; reviews show "$0.0015 per 10 reviews".
- No credits are debited for data. The estimate for data calls is always 0 credits. Jobs, Reports and the Usage page show cost in $.
- The cache is private. Credit-plan workspaces share one cache; a BYOK workspace has its own, so only your own recent calls are free repeats.
- The provider is named. Credit-plan users never see the DataForSEO name; in BYOK mode the settings, labels and logs show it.
- Billing tiles change. On Billing & credits, Used this month becomes Data access ("Your key", "DataForSEO calls bill your own account") and Credit balance reads "Pays for AI features; data bills your key". The Usage page gains a DataForSEO spend tile ("Billed to your own account").
- AI features still need paying for. Content outlines, AI drafts and rewrites, AI search trackers and AI Visibility run on Claude. In BYOK mode they use your own Anthropic key if you connect one under Settings → Connections → AI providers; otherwise they use the platform key and cost credits, which you buy as packs. See Credit packs and codes.
- Search Console, GA4 and the free technical tools are unchanged: they never cost anything in either mode.
The Data access card on General settings summarises it: "Calls run on your own DataForSEO account. Connect it under Connections → DataForSEO."
Connecting your DataForSEO account
You need a DataForSEO account with funds on it. The API login and password are under API Access at app.dataforseo.com.
- Open Settings → Connections → DataForSEO. Only owners and admins can see this page.
- In the Your DataForSEO account card, enter your API login and API password. The hint reads: "Find both under API Access at app.dataforseo.com. The password is encrypted in Supabase Vault and never shown again."
- Optionally tick Use the DataForSEO sandbox (free dummy data for testing). Sandbox mode returns placeholder data at no cost; use it to try the tools before spending real money, then untick it.
- Click Connect account. If credentials were saved before, the button reads Replace credentials.
- Click Test connection. A working account answers "Connection works. Balance $X." with your current DataForSEO balance.
The card then shows Login, Balance, Mode (Live or Sandbox), Last checked and Last error, and a status badge:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Connected | The last test succeeded. |
| Unverified | Credentials saved but not tested yet. Click Test connection. |
| Rejected | DataForSEO refused the login. Check the login and password, or that the account has funds. |
| Not connected | No credentials saved. |
Disconnect removes the stored credentials. Runs that need data will fail until you connect again.
Warning: Runs that fail because of invalid credentials or an exhausted DataForSEO balance are not retried. Keep the DataForSEO account funded; its balance is shown on this card after each test.
Switching modes
The Data access mode card at the top of the same page shows the current badge, Bring your own key or Credits. Owners (not admins) see a Switch to BYOK or Switch to credits button.
- Buying the lifetime license sets BYOK automatically and sends a Lifetime license activated notification.
- Switching to credits puts the workspace back on credit billing; you would then need a monthly plan or packs to run tools.
- If a workspace that holds the license also subscribes to a monthly plan and later cancels it, it reverts to BYOK when the period ends.
Daily spend cap
A platform administrator can set a daily spend cap in dollars for a BYOK workspace as protection against runaway schedules. When the cap is reached, further runs that day fail with "Today's spend cap of $X has been reached." and are not retried; they run normally again the next day. Contact support if you need the cap changed.
Seeing what you spend
The Usage page lists every DataForSEO call made this month with its cost in $, a DataForSEO spend tile, and whether each call was answered by your private cache or went live (source DataForSEO). Jobs and Reports show cost in $ as well. The AI calls that use credits still appear in Credit history on the billing page. See Usage and history.