Every AI assistant runs on somebody's account.
Scratchpad has one built in. Press ⌘/ in a note and you can ask about it, search your other notes, or have it propose a rewrite that you accept or reject.
So whose account with an AI provider does it run on? There are two ways to arrange it.
Two Plans, One Difference
On the US$12 plan, it runs on Scratchpad's key, and you get 500 assistant messages a month. Every question you send counts as one, however long the answer is.
On the US$8 plan, it runs on a key of your own.
You make an API key with an AI provider, paste it into Settings → Assistant, and pick a model. From then on the provider bills you directly for what you use, and Scratchpad stops counting.
There is no message limit, because the messages aren't ours to pay for.
Everything else is the same on both:
| US$12 a month | US$8 a month | |
|---|---|---|
| Whose key | Scratchpad's | Yours |
| Assistant messages | 500 a month | No limit |
| Who pays for the AI | Included in the price | Your provider bills you |
| Paying yearly | US$120 | US$80 |
| Transcription | 20 hours a month | 20 hours a month |
| Files | 10 GB | 10 GB |
| Sharing, publishing, connecting apps, and the API | Yes | Yes |
Which Keys Work
Settings → Assistant has a tab for each provider: Anthropic, OpenAI, and Gemini, which is Google's. Each one has a Get a key link to the provider's own page for making one.
A fourth tab, OpenAI-compatible, takes the address of any other service that speaks OpenAI's format, such as OpenRouter, Groq, or DeepSeek.
When you save a key, Scratchpad asks the provider for its list of models before keeping it. That way a key with a typo in it doesn't quietly replace one that works.
Then you choose the model.
For Anthropic and OpenAI you can also choose how much effort it puts in. More effort means more thinking before it answers, which helps on a hard rewrite and is slower and dearer on everything else.
Where the Key Is Kept
Your key is stored encrypted, and the key that unlocks it is kept outside the database.
So a copy of the database or a backup is no use to anyone.
The one limit is the server itself: it has to read your key to use it, so encryption can't hide it from whoever runs the server.
That's true of any service that makes those calls for you.
Encryption protects your key from a stolen copy. It can't protect it from the server that has to use it.
Once it's saved, the key is never sent back to your browser. Settings shows only its last few characters, so you can tell which key it is.
Nothing goes to your provider until you ask the assistant something. When you do, your question and the note it's about go from Scratchpad to the provider you chose.
So it's worth knowing what that provider does with what it's sent through its API.
Switching
Adding a key moves you to the US$8 price straight away, and the unused part of what you'd paid is refunded to your card.
Removing it moves you back: a new month starts at US$12, and you're asked before anything is charged.
The details are in Plans and payments.
Who It Suits
It suits you if:
- You already have a provider account, for work or for your own projects.
- You use the assistant a lot. 500 messages is about 16 a day, and a busy day of rewriting can use several days' worth.
- You want a particular model rather than the one Scratchpad runs.
It doesn't suit you if you'd rather not have a second bill.
With your own key, a long afternoon of rewrites costs whatever your provider charges, and nothing in Scratchpad puts a ceiling on it. That's the trade, and I'd rather say so plainly.
If you use the assistant a few times a week, the US$12 plan is the simpler one: a fixed price, and an allowance you won't come near.
Neither Is the Better Deal
Not for everyone, anyway.
One is a fixed price with an allowance included. The other is a smaller fixed price plus a meter you already own.
Pick the one that matches how you actually use it.
