BYOAIK (Bring Your Own AI Key) is a directory of AI tools that run on your own API key.
Marker
PDF to markdown that runs its own vision models locally, with LLM boosting on your key.
- Category:
- Document Analysis
- Maintenance:
- Actively developed (last commit 2 days ago)
- Pricing:
- Open Source
- Open source:
- Yes (Apache-2.0)
- Self-hostable:
- Yes
- Local-first:
- Yes
- Platforms:
- CLI, Local-only, Self-hosted, Docker
- AI providers (bring your own key):
- OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Azure OpenAI, OpenRouter, Ollama, Custom / OpenAI-compatible
- API key storage:
- Configured by environment variable
- Key risk level:
- LOW
- Trust score:
- 90/100
Marker converts PDFs, documents and images to markdown, running layout, OCR and table recognition through a local inference server it spawns itself on vLLM or llama.cpp. Accuracy can optionally be boosted by passing --use_llm, which the README documents as working with Gemini, Claude, OpenAI-compatible endpoints, Azure, Vertex, OpenRouter or Ollama, all on credentials you supply. The default path needs no cloud key, which matters for documents you would rather not upload. Apache-2.0.
Why this trust score (90/100)
Trust measures how the tool treats your API key and how much of that has been verified. It contains no popularity signal.
- Key Safety 22/25: The key is supplied by an environment variable or local config file you control.
- Request Routing 17/20: Requests go straight from you to the AI provider.
- Transparency 20/20: Source is public under Apache-2.0, so anyone can check how the key is handled. Key handling was located in the published source.
- Privacy 14/15: Local-first: it works without sending your data anywhere. Can be self-hosted, so the data path stays inside infrastructure you control.
- Maintenance 10/10: Actively developed, with commits within the last three months.
- Verification Confidence 7/10: Key handling was found in the published source by BYOAIK's scanner.
What was checked
Verification tier SOURCE_VERIFIED, derived from the evidence below and not set by hand.
- [REPORTED · RESEARCH] This listing was compiled by an AI-assisted research pass over the tool's public website, README and documentation. No person independently confirmed it.
- [STRONG · SOURCE_SCAN] The user supplies their own OpenRouter key: the project references its API key variable. source
- [STRONG · SOURCE_SCAN] Supports a local model backend, so it can run with no cloud provider key at all. source
- [CONFIRMED · SOURCE_SCAN] Most recent commit 2026-09-13, about 0 month(s) ago. source
How your API key is handled
Your API key is supplied via an environment variable or local config file. Requests are sent directly to the AI provider. Because it can be self-hosted, your key never has to touch a third-party backend.
Setup
Install the tool, set your provider API key as an environment variable (or in its config file), and pick a model.