Use your own AI provider

Zolensa uses AI to translate study texts, on the Translations tab and in the consent form. By default it uses Zolensa's AI. You can connect your own provider instead, so the translation runs on your own account and the costs go to you. You need to be an owner to change this.

Your study texts are sent to the provider to translate them. Participants' answers are not.

Connect your provider

1. In the sidebar, click Settings, then the AI tab.
2. Under Use, choose Our own AI provider.
3. Choose your Provider.
4. Fill in its fields. Most providers need an API key.
5. Click Save and test.

Zolensa saves your details and translates a test sentence into German with your provider. Your provider is switched on only if this works. The message then shows the German translation.

If the test fails, your details are saved but not switched on. The message shows the error. Zolensa's AI is used until a test works, if Zolensa's AI is set up.

Providers you can use

OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), Google Gemini, Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock, Mistral AI, Cohere, xAI (Grok), DeepSeek, Groq, OpenRouter, Together AI, DeepL, and any other OpenAI-compatible API.

Some providers need more than a key:

• Azure OpenAI: the resource address, the Deployment name, an optional API version, and the API key.
• Amazon Bedrock: Access key ID, Secret access key, the AWS region, and the model ID or inference profile.
• Other OpenAI-compatible API: the API address, which must start with https:// and be on the public internet. The API key is optional.
• DeepL is for translation only and needs just the API key.

Choose the model

For most providers you choose how the model is picked:

• Model choice: Always the newest model (recommended) or A model I choose.
• When choosing automatically, prefer: Balanced quality and cost, Best quality or Fastest and cheapest.

With the newest model, Zolensa checks your provider's model list once a day and moves to the newest model of the quality you prefer.

With A model I choose, type the model in the model box. To see which models your key can use, save your provider first, then click Find models. Copy one into the model box and save again.

You can run up to 15 tests and model lookups an hour.

Check what is in use

The In use now box shows Your own provider with its details, or Zolensa's AI. If Zolensa's AI is not set up, it says Not available yet. Add your own provider to use AI translation then.

When AI has been used, the box also shows how many texts were translated in the last 30 days.

Switch back to Zolensa's AI

1. Under Use, choose Zolensa's AI.
2. Click Save.

Your provider details are kept, so you can switch back later.

See Translate your study for how to translate texts.