Module 2 — Measuring · Lesson 4/6
Measuring with your own API key
Visibility measurement means real model calls. Where to get a key, what it costs, and how model choice changes your results.
8 min read
Measuring visibility means genuinely asking every prompt in your set to ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and the rest. Those calls cost money at the provider. Instead of paying that bill and reselling it to you, AEOTime runs the measurement on your key: you pay for exactly what you scan, and nobody takes a margin.
Where to get a key
Every provider has its own developer console. Creating an account and generating a key takes minutes; most require you to add a payment method and top up a small balance.
- OpenAI (ChatGPT): platform.openai.com → API keys
- Google Gemini: aistudio.google.com → Get API key
- Perplexity: perplexity.ai → Settings → API
- Anthropic (Claude): console.anthropic.com → API keys
- xAI (Grok): console.x.ai
- DeepSeek: platform.deepseek.com → API keys
You do not need all of them. Starting with one provider and adding others over the following weeks is a perfectly sensible path. AEOTime only scans the platforms you have added a key for.
What does it actually cost?
Cost is the product of three things: number of prompts × number of platforms × scan frequency. Each scan generates a few prompt variations per question, so 10 prompts across 3 platforms is roughly 90–150 model calls per scan.
With small, cheap models (gpt-4o-mini, gemini-1.5-flash, deepseek-chat and friends) the total lands in cents. Typical weekly tracking usually costs a few dollars a month. Switch to frontier models and it can be ten times that.
Model choice changes the result
This is the most overlooked part of measurement: visibility measured with gpt-4o-mini differs from visibility measured with gpt-4o. Smaller models lean towards generic, popular brands; larger ones surface niche names too. Neither is "wrong" — they represent different user experiences.
Rule of thumb: pick a model and freeze it. If you are tracking a trend, moving one of the variables invalidates the comparison. If you must change model, mark it as a break point and do not compare across it directly.
Key hygiene
- Generate a dedicated key for measurement; don't reuse the one running your production systems.
- Set a spend cap and usage alerts where the provider supports them.
- AEOTime stores keys encrypted and never renders them in plain text in any screen or API response — you only ever see the last four characters.
- You can pause or delete a key at any time, which stops calls to that provider immediately.
Key takeaways
- Measurement means real model calls; the cost is yours, paid to the provider directly.
- Cost = prompts × platforms × frequency. With small models, typical use is a few dollars a month.
- A spend cap in the provider console is the single most effective safeguard.
- Freeze your model; changing it breaks trend comparability.
Start measuring what you just learned
AEOTime is free; scans run on your own AI provider key. No card, no plans.