Lifetime plan and API key
Lifetime access with your own kie.ai key: what changes, how to get the key and where to enter it.
The Lifetime plan is bought once, for life. It has no monthly credits: generations are unlimited, but they go through your own kie.ai API key and are billed to you by kie.ai, at cost, with no markup.
It is the only plan that works this way. On Free, Starter and Pro, Kreafy pays for the model calls, and your credits measure that consumption.
Buying while subscribed
If you are on Starter or Pro when you buy, your subscription is cancelled automatically as soon as the payment is confirmed: no monthly charge is added on top of Lifetime. The period you already paid for is not refunded, but lifetime access replaces it immediately, and you lose no generations. A confirmation dialog reminds you before the payment.
Why your own key
Unlimited access on a flat fee does not add up: a generation costs money on every call, whatever was paid once. By plugging in your key, the relationship becomes direct: Kreafy supplies the application, kie.ai bills the compute.
Concretely, what it changes for you:
- no volume limit on the Kreafy side, and no credit counter;
- the real cost, kie.ai's, with no middleman;
- your models: everything your kie.ai account allows;
- your control: you see the usage in your kie.ai dashboard, and you can cut the key off at any time.
Getting the key
- Create an account on kie.ai.
- Top it up. Without a balance the calls fail, since it is now your account paying, not Kreafy's.
- Open the API keys section of your dashboard and generate a key.
- Copy it in full. Most platforms never show it again after creation.
Entering it in Kreafy
Go to Billing. A Your kie.ai API key box appears as soon as the Lifetime plan is active: paste the key, save, done.
The key is never shown again afterwards, not even to you. The screen only says that a key is saved. To change it, use Replace: the new one overwrites the old.
As long as no key is saved, the box stays highlighted and generations cannot complete: the plan is active, but it is missing its engine.
Security
The key is stored on Kreafy's servers, encrypted at rest like the rest of the database, and is only used for your own generations. It is never sent back to the browser: the Delete button erases it permanently.
If you think it has leaked, revoke it from kie.ai. That is the only action that really cuts off access, wherever the key has been copied. Then save a new one here.
When a generation fails
Three causes, in order of frequency:
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate error on every generation | No key saved | Enter it on the Billing page |
| Authentication error | Key revoked, expired, or mis-copied | Generate a new one on kie.ai and replace it |
| Failure after a few seconds | kie.ai balance exhausted | Top up your kie.ai account |
The rest of the application keeps working in every case: your already-generated visuals, your references and your brandings stay accessible.