Migrate from OpenAI

Venice AI is a drop-in replacement for OpenAI. Same SDK, same code — just change two lines. Get privacy-first inference, uncensored models, and competitive pricing.

The 2-Line Migration

Python

# Before (OpenAI)
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI()

# After (Venice) — change api_key and base_url
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
    api_key="your-venice-api-key",          # ← Change 1
    base_url="https://api.venice.ai/api/v1"  # ← Change 2
)

Node.js

// Before (OpenAI)
import OpenAI from 'openai';
const client = new OpenAI();

// After (Venice)
import OpenAI from 'openai';
const client = new OpenAI({
  apiKey: 'your-venice-api-key',
  baseURL: 'https://api.venice.ai/api/v1',
});

cURL

# Before
curl https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions ...

# After — just change the URL and key
curl https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/chat/completions ...

Environment Variables

# Before
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://api.openai.com/v1

# After
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-venice-api-key
OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://api.venice.ai/api/v1

Many libraries and tools read OPENAI_API_KEY and OPENAI_BASE_URL automatically. Just updating these env vars may be all you need.

Model Mapping

OpenAI Model	Venice Equivalent	Type	Pricing (Input/Output per 1M)
gpt-4o	`zai-org-glm-4.7` (Private)	Text	$0.55 /$ 2.65
gpt-4o	`openai-gpt-52` (Anonymized)	Text	$2.19 /$ 17.50
gpt-4o-mini	`qwen3-4b`	Text	$0.05 /$ 0.15
gpt-4-turbo	`mistral-31-24b`	Text	$0.50 /$ 2.00
o1 / o3	`qwen3-235b-a22b-thinking-2507` (Private)	Reasoning	$0.45 /$ 3.50
o1 / o3	`grok-41-fast` (Anonymized)	Reasoning	$0.50 /$ 1.25
gpt-4-vision	`mistral-31-24b` or `qwen3-vl-235b-a22b`	Vision	$0.50 /$ 2.00
text-embedding-3-small	`text-embedding-bge-m3`	Embeddings	$0.15 /$ 0.60
dall-e-3	`qwen-image` (Private, $0.01) or `flux-2-pro`	Image	From $0.01
whisper	`nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3`	STT	$0.0001/sec
tts-1	`tts-kokoro`	TTS	$3.50/1M chars

Feature Compatibility

Feature	OpenAI	Venice	Notes
Chat Completions	✅	✅	Fully compatible
Streaming	✅	✅	SSE format identical
Function Calling	✅	✅	Same `tools` parameter
Structured Output	✅	✅	Same `response_format`
Vision	✅	✅	Same content array format
Embeddings	✅	✅	Same API
Image Generation	✅	✅	OpenAI-compatible via `/images/generations`*
TTS	✅	✅	Compatible
STT	✅	✅	Compatible
Assistants API	✅	❌	Use Characters or Minds instead
Batch API	✅	❌	Not yet available
Fine-tuning	✅	❌	Not available

*Venice also provides an OpenAI-compatible endpoint at POST /images/generations for easier migration from DALL-E. For Venice’s native image API with additional options, see Image Generate.

Venice-Only Features

Venice offers capabilities OpenAI doesn’t:

1. Built-in Web Search

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="venice-uncensored",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Latest AI news today"}],
    extra_body={
        "venice_parameters": {
            "enable_web_search": "auto"
        }
    }
)

2. Web Scraping

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="venice-uncensored",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Summarize https://example.com/article"}],
    extra_body={
        "venice_parameters": {
            "enable_web_scraping": True
        }
    }
)

3. Characters (AI Personas)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="venice-uncensored",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Tell me about yourself"}],
    extra_body={
        "venice_parameters": {
            "character_slug": "venice-ai"
        }
    }
)

4. Uncensored Models

Venice’s private models have no content filtering, making them suitable for:

Creative writing without guardrails
Security research and red teaming
Honest analysis without refusal patterns
Medical/legal information without disclaimers

5. Video Generation

# Queue a video generation job
import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/video/queue",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}", "Content-Type": "application/json"},
    json={
        "model": "wan-2.6-text-to-video",
        "prompt": "A serene lake at sunset with gentle waves",
        "resolution": "720p",
        "duration": 5,
    }
)
job_id = response.json()["id"]

Why Migrate?

Privacy

Zero data retention on private models — your prompts are never stored
No training on your data — ever
OpenAI retains data for 30 days and may use it for safety research

Cost

Private models are often cheaper than OpenAI equivalents
qwen3-4b at $0.05/1M input is 10x cheaper than gpt-4o-mini
venice-uncensored at $0.20/1M input vs gpt-4o at$ 2.50/1M

Freedom

No content filtering on uncensored models
No account suspensions for controversial use cases
Web3-native with crypto payment options
DIEM staking for daily credits

Model Diversity

Access to models from multiple providers (Qwen, Llama, Mistral, Gemma, Claude, GPT, Grok, etc.)
Switch between private and anonymized models per request
New models added regularly

Framework Migration

Most AI frameworks work with Venice by changing the base URL:

Framework	Change Required
LangChain	`base_url` in `ChatOpenAI`
Vercel AI SDK	`baseURL` in `createOpenAI`
CrewAI	`OPENAI_API_BASE` env var
LlamaIndex	`api_base` in `OpenAI`
AutoGen	`base_url` in config
Haystack	`api_base_url` in `OpenAIGenerator`
Claude Code	`--api-base` flag or env var
Cursor	Custom API endpoint in settings
Continue.dev	`apiBase` in config.json

Get Your API Key

Generate a Venice API key and start migrating in minutes

Guides

Getting Started

Text & Chat

Image & Video

Agents & Integrations

Agent Tooling

Coding Tools

SDKs & Frameworks

Projects

The 2-Line Migration

Python

Node.js

cURL

Environment Variables

Model Mapping

Feature Compatibility

Venice-Only Features

1. Built-in Web Search

2. Web Scraping

3. Characters (AI Personas)

4. Uncensored Models

5. Video Generation

Why Migrate?

Privacy

Cost

Freedom

Model Diversity

Framework Migration

Get Your API Key

​The 2-Line Migration

​Python

​Node.js

​cURL

​Environment Variables

​Model Mapping

​Feature Compatibility

​Venice-Only Features

​1. Built-in Web Search

​2. Web Scraping

​3. Characters (AI Personas)

​4. Uncensored Models

​5. Video Generation

​Why Migrate?

​Privacy

​Cost

​Freedom

​Model Diversity

​Framework Migration

Get Your API Key

The 2-Line Migration

Python

Node.js

cURL

Environment Variables

Model Mapping

Feature Compatibility

Venice-Only Features

1. Built-in Web Search

2. Web Scraping

3. Characters (AI Personas)

4. Uncensored Models

5. Video Generation

Why Migrate?

Privacy

Cost

Freedom

Model Diversity

Framework Migration