FAQ
Frequently asked questions,answered
For developers
What is BrushLLM?
BrushLLM is an AI platform for developers and creators. AI Model Services gives developers one API for powerful AI models, and a family of free local-first desktop apps — Image Studio, Video Studio and Player — covers the creator side. One account covers the platform.
How does the API work?
Point any OpenAI SDK at https://api.brushllm.com/v1 and use your BrushLLM key. Chat completions, tool calling, and streaming work the way you already expect.
Which AI models are available?
The catalog spans 16 models from DeepSeek, Qwen, GLM, Kimi, MiniMax and OpenAI — chat, reasoning, vision and text-to-image. See the full list with live prices on the Models page.
Is the API OpenAI compatible?
Yes, fully. If it works with the OpenAI API, it works with BrushLLM — including coding agents and CLIs like Cursor, Cline, OpenCode and aider.
How is usage billed?
Strictly pay-as-you-go in USD — per token for text models, per image for image models. No subscriptions or minimums; several models have free tiers.
Is BrushLLM suitable for startups and businesses?
Yes. One endpoint covers every provider, usage-based pricing scales with you, each key carries its own spend quota, and volume discounts are available for committed use.
How do you protect my privacy?
We collect only what an account needs to function. No trackers, no analytics, no ads — your prompts are proxied straight to the upstream model and never stored, sold, or used to profile you. Privacy Policy
Are your prices really 50% of list?
Yes — every model on BrushLLM is priced at 50% of the official vendor list price, in USD, pay-as-you-go. The official price is shown crossed out next to ours on the models and pricing pages.
Is the site available in other languages?
Yes — this site and all three desktop apps ship in 9 languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese (Brasil), Japanese, Simplified/Traditional Chinese and Korean.
The app installer shows a security warning. Is that normal?
Yes. The apps are currently unsigned, so macOS Gatekeeper and Windows SmartScreen show a first-run warning. On macOS right-click the app and choose Open; on Windows choose Run anyway. The apps contain no telemetry.
For creators
What is Image Studio?
Image Studio is BrushLLM’s free desktop image toolbox. Everyday tools — convert, compress, crop, EXIF — run locally and offline; AI features like background removal and generative fill run through the BrushLLM API, billed per image.
What can I do with Image Studio?
Convert, compress, crop and clean up images with free local tools — then generate, remove backgrounds, erase objects, fill and restyle with AI, billed per image.
What is Video Studio?
A free, offline toolbox for video, audio and subtitle processing — convert, compress, merge, trim, normalize loudness, fix subtitle encodings. 100% local: your media never leaves your machine.
What is Player?
An open-source cross-platform media player built on mpv — every format mpv plays, plus streaming from WebDAV, SMB, FTP, Emby and Jellyfin. HDR output and hardware decoding included.
Can I edit existing images?
Yes. Open any image, select a region or the whole canvas, and describe the change — inpainting and background removal are built in.
Can I generate and transform images?
Yes — text-to-image generation and restyling run in the same workspace, powered by GPT-Image through the BrushLLM API.
Where do I get the apps?
All three apps — Image Studio, Video Studio and Player — are available now from the BrushLLM GitHub releases, for macOS (Apple Silicon) and Windows.
Are the apps really free?
Yes. All local tools are free and the source code is on GitHub. Only AI features in Image Studio use the pay-as-you-go BrushLLM API.
BrushLLM
Access powerful AI models through one API, and create with free local-first apps