AI Content Writer brings your own API keys to the AI provider of your choice — you pay the provider directly at cost, with no middleman markup. All keys are managed under AI Content Writer → Settings → API Settings.
Free providers
Google Gemini (free tier available)
- Create a key at Google AI Studio — the free tier is generous enough to run real campaigns.
- Paste it into Gemini API Key and save. The model list (Gemini 2.5 Flash, 2.5 Pro, and more) loads automatically.
- Pick a model — Gemini 2.5 Flash is the best price/quality starting point.
ChatGPT (OpenAI)
- Create a key at platform.openai.com (paid — requires billing set up).
- Paste it into ChatGPT API Secret Key and save; pick a model — the latest GPT-5 family models are supported (including GPT-5.6, 5.5, 5.4, and 5.2 variants), alongside GPT-4.1, GPT-4o, and the legacy GPT-4 / GPT-3.5 Turbo models kept for older campaigns.
Only models your account actually has access to appear in the dropdown: the plugin asks OpenAI which models your key can use, then shows the ones this plugin supports, newest first.
Pro providers
These appear on the same tab with AI Content Writer Pro active:
Claude (Anthropic) — Pro
Widely regarded as the best writing models available. Get a key from the Anthropic Console, paste it into Claude API Key, and choose from Claude Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku models.
DeepSeek — Pro
A dramatically cost-effective option for high-volume sites. Get a key at platform.deepseek.com and pick deepseek-chat (recommended) or deepseek-reasoner.
OpenRouter — Pro
One key for hundreds of models — Claude, GPT, Gemini, Llama, Mistral, and more — with per-model pricing. Get a key at openrouter.ai, save it, and the full live model catalog loads into the dropdown.
Testing a connection
Every provider has a Test Connection button next to its key field. It performs a real (tiny) API call with your saved key and reports success or the exact error from the provider — the fastest way to diagnose an invalid key, an exhausted quota, or a billing problem.
It also refreshes the model list
Model lists are cached for 24 hours to keep the settings page fast, so a plugin update that adds new AI models won’t always show them right away. Test Connection bypasses that cache: it re-asks the provider which models your key can use and saves the fresh list.
So whenever you update the plugin and expect new models, click Test Connection for that provider, then reload the settings page — the dropdown is rendered when the page loads, so newly fetched models appear on the next load rather than instantly.
This works for every provider: Gemini, ChatGPT, and the Pro providers (Claude, DeepSeek, OpenRouter).
How keys are stored
- Keys are saved in your own WordPress database — they never pass through BeautifulPlugins servers.
- After saving, keys display masked (
••••••••1234). Leaving the masked value untouched keeps the stored key; pasting a new value replaces it.
Choosing a provider for a campaign
Each AI campaign’s type is its provider: create a Gemini campaign, a ChatGPT campaign, a Claude campaign, and so on — they can all run side by side with different niches, languages, and schedules. The provider selected under Settings → General → API Model is used by the instant-generation page and the editor assistants.