Wattfare
LLM API that's paid by users, not dev
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What is Wattfare?
Wattfare is an OAuth-style solution for managing AI expenses that lets users bring their own AI budget to your app. It drops a
Wattfare pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
Wattfare is in developer preview and free to build on while they shape it. Pricing for the hosted service will be simple and announced well before it kicks in. There is no current paid plan — developers can install the SDK and add a Connect AI budget button today free to start.
Wattfare pros
- Users bring their own AI budget instead of developer paying
- Stops eating unpredictable inference costs every month
- Power users fund themselves instead wrecking unit economics
- Free tiers cost you nothing instead of bleeding money
- Monthly spending cap enforced upstream not on honor system
- One-click revocation cuts off budget immediately for that app
- Never store or see raw API keys — OAuth-style consent flow
- OpenAI-compatible proxy works through OpenRouter
- AI SDK native — drops in as model for Vercel AI SDK
- Hundreds of models across Anthropic OpenAI Google open-weights
- Integration takes about 5 minutes with minimal code changes
- Publishable key in browser secret key stays on server
- Consent happens on Wattfare domain in about 30 seconds
- Edge-fast on Cloudflare Workers with streamed responses
- Typed errors surface disconnects as normal flow state
- Test keys auto-approve same code in dev and prod
- Freemium products can let usage fund itself completely
Wattfare cons
- Currently in developer preview not general availability
- Full data terms not yet announced before general availability
- Pricing for hosted service not announced yet
- Inference routes through OpenRouter under the hood
- Not where conversations live just meters cost
- Developer preview so treat data terms accordingly
- Enterprise spend controls per-seat budgets on roadmap
- Finance-grade reporting also on roadmap not available yet
Frequently asked questions about Wattfare
Isn't this just BYOK with extra steps?
BYOK makes the user paste a raw provider key into your app. Wattfare is an OAuth-style consent flow where the user owns the budget, sets a cap, and can revoke it — and your app never sees or stores a key. Usage is metered for them.
How is this different from OpenRouter's OAuth or Sign in with ChatGPT?
Same conviction that users should fund their own inference but different layer. Provider sign-ins tie your app to one vendor's accounts and hand you a per-user key to store, scope, and babysit. Wattfare keeps all state on its side keyed by the user ids you already have, and adds monthly caps, usage status, one-click revocation, and an AI-SDK-ready model(). Inference currently routes through OpenRouter under the hood but the connection layer is provider-neutral by design.
Which models can I use?
It's an OpenAI-compatible proxy to OpenRouter so hundreds of models across providers including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and open-weights — all behind one AI-SDK-compatible model() call.
Do you see my prompts?
Inference is proxied through to read the final usage so Wattfare can meter cost — it isn't where conversations are meant to live. As an early preview, treat it accordingly; full data terms land before general availability.
How is the spending cap enforced?
The user picks a monthly cap. Wattfare meters usage against it, and the underlying provider key carries a hard ceiling as the real backstop — so requests stop at the cap even mid-stream.
What does it cost?
Wattfare is in developer preview and free to build on while they shape it. Pricing for the hosted service will be simple and announced well before it kicks in.
What's the stack?
Cloudflare Workers plus Hono on the edge, KV for connection state and soft metering. The SDK is a tiny TypeScript package with server, client, and react entry points.
How long does integration take?
Approximately 5 minutes to your first capped, metered request. You install the SDK, wrap your app with WattfareProvider, add the connect button, mint sessions server-side, and swap the model in your chat route.
What happens when a user disconnects or revokes access?
Disconnects surface as typed errors — the not-connected path is a normal flow state not a 3am page. Users can revoke any app in one click and the spending stops immediately for that app only.
Do I need to collect or manage API keys from users?
No. You never paste a raw API key into a stranger's app. Consent happens on Wattfare's domain like OAuth. The published key goes in the browser while the secret key stays on your server and mints short-lived session tokens.