Zero API keys · Managed billing
OBS Captions Without Bringing Your Own API Key
Caption.Ninja's premium translation requires you to provide a Google Cloud API key. Open AI a Cloud account. Watch the billing. Monitor character usage. StreamTranslate handles all of that. One subscription, no keys.
No credit card. 6-hour free trial. Works on any browser.
TL;DR
Free OBS caption tools that offer "premium" translation require you to bring your own Google Cloud, OpenAI, or Anthropic API key. You open the account, you pay the bill, you monitor the usage. StreamTranslate includes managed translation in every plan. One subscription, no keys to manage, no Cloud accounts to maintain.
The BYOK ("bring your own key") problem
Caption.Ninja's premium translation works like this:
- You sign up for Google Cloud (or OpenAI, or Anthropic)
- You enable the Translation / Chat / Speech API in your Google Cloud project
- You create an API key
- You configure Cloud billing (credit card, billing alerts, quotas)
- You paste the API key into your Caption.Ninja URL:
&googlekey=YOUR_KEY
- You monitor your Cloud spend and worry about it leaking
For technical users this is fine — many already have Google Cloud accounts for other things. For most streamers, this is friction that kills adoption. You opened OBS to stream, not to configure Cloud APIs.
StreamTranslate handles everything
One subscription includes:
- Deepgram Nova-3 speech recognition (we pay them)
- DeepL + Google + Azure translation race (we pay all three)
- Bandwidth + server infrastructure (we pay AWS / Railway)
- Fallbacks when one provider fails (we manage)
- Rate limits (we handle)
- Billing reconciliation (one Stripe charge from us, not a dozen API bills)
You pay us. We pay everyone else. No API keys, no Google Cloud account, no billing monitoring.
What the math looks like
For a streamer doing 50 hours/month in Spanish (a Pro-tier use case):
| StreamTranslate Pro | Caption.Ninja BYOK |
|---|
| Speech recognition | Included | Free (browser API, but breaking) |
| Translation cost | Included | ~$15/mo to Google (1.5M chars) |
| Setup time | 60 seconds | 30+ minutes (Cloud setup) |
| Ongoing management | Zero | Monitor billing alerts, rotate keys, watch quotas |
| Total monthly cost | $34.99 flat | $15+ to Google + setup time |
| What you do | Stream | Cloud sysadmin |
What if I already have a Google Cloud account?
Then BYOK might actually be cheaper for you on paper. But account for:
- Time spent monitoring billing
- Risk of API key leaking in your OBS browser source URL
- Risk of Google billing alerts triggering at 2am
- Time spent debugging when a quota gets hit mid-stream
For most streamers, the managed approach saves more in time than it costs in money.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Google Cloud account for StreamTranslate?
No. We handle all backend APIs. You only have a StreamTranslate account.
Will I get surprise bills?
No. Your plan has a flat monthly fee (Stream Pass: one-time, Starter $14.99/mo, Pro $34.99/mo, Unlimited $149/mo). Overages are pre-disclosed at $0.50-$1/hr on metered plans. Unlimited has no overage.
Is StreamTranslate API key visible in my OBS URL?
You have a token in the URL for authentication, but it does not give third parties access to your billing or upload large amounts of data — it only authorizes overlay rendering for your room.
What if I prefer to use my own keys?
You cannot today. We are an all-inclusive managed service. If BYOK is important to you, Caption.Ninja is the better fit.