How Offer Max Unlimited works — and how to set up your own AI key in 5 minutes
Unlimited is one-time $19.99. After that you never pay us again — but you do need to set up an API key with an AI provider. Here's the why, the how, and the actual minute-by-minute setup.
First — what does "BYOK" mean?
BYOK = Bring Your Own Key. Instead of Offer Max paying OpenAI / Anthropic / Google for the AI calls you make, you pay them directly using your own API key.
Why we do it this way:
- AI APIs cost real money. A single résumé generation costs us anywhere from $0.001 to $0.03 depending on the model.
- Heavy users (50+ jobs a week during a job search) would burn through any "all-you-can-eat" subscription we could afford to offer at any reasonable price.
- BYOK is honest: you pay only for what you use, you pick the model you trust, and our business model doesn't depend on rationing you.
Pro vs Unlimited — which one are you?
We have two paid tiers. Pick whichever fits your situation:
| Pro — $8.99 / month | Unlimited — $19.99 once |
|---|---|
| We pay the AI provider. You pay us monthly. | You pay the AI provider directly. You pay us once, ever. |
| No setup. Just sign up and use. | 5-min API key setup required. |
| Monthly per-feature caps (e.g. 100 résumés / month). | No caps from us. Only your provider's rate limits. |
| Cheaper if you generate < 3 résumés / day. | Cheaper after the second month for any active job search. |
Quick rule of thumb: active job search (50+ applications) → Unlimited will save you money in about 2 months. Occasional use → Pro is simpler.
The 5-minute setup
Three steps. Don't skip any.
Step 1: Pick a provider
All five work. Our recommendation:
- Want it cheapest? → Google Gemini. There's a free tier; for paid it's ~$0.001 per résumé.
- Want best quality? → Anthropic Claude. ~$0.03 per résumé but cover letters read like a human wrote them.
- Want familiar? → OpenAI. ~$0.01 per résumé.
You can switch later, or even use different providers for different features (e.g. cheap Gemini for résumé generation, expensive Claude for cover letters).
Step 2: Get an API key
Click your chosen provider's link below, sign in / sign up, and create a key. Most providers want you to top up $5 in credits first (a one-time billing setup), then keys are free to create.
⚠️ Treat the API key like a password — anyone with it can spend your money. Don't paste it in chats, screenshots, or public repos.
Step 3: Paste it into Offer Max
Open Settings → BYOK config. You'll see a row per AI feature (Generate, Score, Interview Prep, etc).
For each feature you want covered:
- Click the provider dropdown → pick the one you set up.
- Paste the key.
- Pick a model (the default is fine — "flash" / "mini" / "sonnet" are good starting points).
- Click Test — a tiny test call to verify the key works.
- Click Save.
You don't have to configure all features — leaving one blank just means it falls back to our paid path (which costs you against the Unlimited tier's limited free trial credits). For the "Unlimited everywhere" experience, configure all six.
If it's still saying "quota exceeded"
The 429 / quota errors come from ourquota gate. If you have BYOK configured for that route, it should bypass the gate entirely. If you're still seeing the error:
- Did you click Save after entering the key? The Test button verifies the key but doesn't save it. Save is a separate button.
- Did you configure the SPECIFIC feature you're trying to use? E.g. if Score Match is 429'ing, you need a BYOK entry for "score-match" — not just "generate".
- In the extension: close the side panel and re-open it. New BYOK config doesn't take effect on in-flight panels until the next mount.
- Still stuck? Email help@offermax.me with the feature name and we'll debug it together.
How much will I actually spend on AI?
Rough monthly numbers for an active job search (~40 applications, each using Generate + Score + Interview Prep):
- Gemini Flash: ~$1 / month
- OpenAI GPT-4o-mini: ~$3 / month
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet: ~$12 / month
On Gemini, Unlimited pays for itself in about 2 months versus Pro. On Claude it doesn't — pick Pro if you want premium quality without managing keys.
A note on privacy
When you use BYOK, your résumé content and JDs go directly from our servers to the provider you picked, using your key. Their paid-tierterms (which apply when you're using a real API key, not a free trial) prohibit training on your data — true for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and most others.
We store your keys encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM. The encryption secret lives in a server-side env var that's not in version control. If our database leaked tomorrow, the attacker couldn't decrypt your keys.