2026-07-18
How agencies bill AI cost per client with virtual keys
One OpenAI account, many clients — give each a key, cap budgets, and export spend that accounting can use.
Agencies building AI features for clients often share one provider account. The invoice at month-end is a single number. Finance asks who spent what. Nobody knows.
Mint one virtual key per client or project. Name it clearly. Set a monthly budget so a runaway loop cannot torch the whole agency.
Live spend per key is ready for pass-through billing or a monthly CSV export for accounting. When the engagement ends, set expiry or revoke — access dies without a ceremony.
This is why KeyC pricing includes a Team plan for agencies: member seats, higher request caps, and per-key reports.