If you're fulfilling custom-song orders through SongHQ, there are two ways to actually generate the song: connect your own Suno account (BYO), or use built-in platform generation, where SongHQ generates on your behalf without you needing a Suno account of your own. The right choice depends mostly on your order volume and how much you already use Suno outside of order fulfillment.
How BYO works
BYO means you connect your own Suno API key in your account settings. From that point, every lyric, song, and cover art generation you run goes through your own connected account instead of SongHQ's platform key. Your key is stored encrypted and only decrypted server-side at the moment it's needed — you never have to paste it into a chat or hand it to anyone.
The practical upshot: generation through your own account doesn't draw from your monthly SongHQ credit allowance. If you already pay for Suno separately, or generate a high volume of songs, BYO is close to unmetered from SongHQ's side — your real cost is whatever you're already paying Suno directly.
How platform generation works
If you don't have a Suno account and don't want to set one up, platform generation lets SongHQ generate on your behalf using its own configured key. This is the simpler option to get started with — no external account to create, no API key to manage — but each song generated this way draws from your plan's monthly credit allowance at a real, tier-dependent cost. Cover art costs a credit either way, since SongHQ doesn't have a BYO path for image generation the same way it does for songs.
Which one fits your situation
Choose BYO if: you already have or are willing to set up a Suno account, you run enough volume that per-song platform costs would add up, or you want direct visibility into your own account's usage and remaining quota.
Choose platform generation if: you're just testing whether a custom-song business is viable and don't want to set up a separate account yet, your order volume is low enough that the per-song platform cost isn't a meaningful expense, or you'd rather not manage an external API key at all.
You can switch later
Nothing about this choice is permanent. Sellers who start on platform generation to avoid the setup step often switch to BYO once their order volume justifies connecting their own account — and the switch doesn't affect orders already in progress, since generation mode is a per-seller setting, not something baked into an individual order.
A note on connecting your account correctly
When you connect a Suno key, it's validated immediately — you'll see a clear "connected" or an error message right away rather than finding out something's wrong the first time you try to generate. If you ever see an error status on your connection page, it means the key itself wasn't accepted — double-check it before assuming the issue is on SongHQ's side.
