I just got a ChatGPT subscription and quickly realised that it might be much cheaper for me to use the API with an alternative client. Is there any downside to using the API besides not being able to access the default UI?
(when Dall-e 2 came out I saved 7-8x by writing a custom front-end and using the API keys instead of buying tokens, I'm a cheap bastard)
for gpt3.5-turbo this may be true, depending on your use rate. but in my experience for gpt-4 it is more expensive to use my key.
It does need an API token - it will ask you for it when you start if you haven’t stored one already.