specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
provider: Blues
providerId: blues-wireless
created: '2026-06-12'
modified: '2026-06-12'
reconciled: true
url: https://blues.com/pricing/
billingModel:
  type: consumption
  description: >-
    Blues uses a consumption-based pricing model with no monthly subscription
    fees. Costs are driven by the number of events ingressed into Notehub
    beyond the free monthly allowance. Each Notecard hardware purchase includes
    bundled connectivity; ongoing cloud usage is metered per event.
  currency: USD
  billingCycle: monthly
  freeAllowance:
    metric: events_per_month
    amount: 5000
    notes: >-
      5,000 events/month included per billing account. Platform events
      (geolocation, sessions, logs) are always free and do not consume quota.
focusColumns:
  - name: ChargeCategory
    description: Direct cost for event ingression beyond free allowance
    values:
      - Usage
      - Purchase
  - name: ServiceName
    value: Notehub
  - name: ServiceCategory
    value: IoT Platform
  - name: ResourceType
    values:
      - Event
      - ConnectivityAssurance
  - name: PricingUnit
    values:
      - Event
      - 500MB Data Block
  - name: BillingAccountId
    description: Blues billing account identifier used for rate limit and quota scoping
  - name: Region
    values:
      - North America
      - International
meters:
  - name: Events Ingressed
    description: >-
      Count of data events ingressed into Notehub from Notecard devices,
      excluding platform events which are always free.
    unit: event
    freeAllowance: 5000
    freeAllowancePeriod: monthly
    rates:
      - plan: Essentials
        pricePerUnit: 0.000750
        currency: USD
        unitDescription: per event beyond free allowance
      - plan: Enterprise
        pricePerUnit: custom
        currency: USD
        unitDescription: negotiated per-event rate, 50%+ discount off Essentials
  - name: Connectivity Assurance Data Top-Up
    description: >-
      Additional cellular data added automatically when a Notecard's bundled
      data reaches 100MB remaining. Added in 500MB blocks valid for up to
      10 years.
    unit: 500MB block
    rates:
      - region: North America
        pricePerUnit: 10.00
        currency: USD
      - region: International
        pricePerUnit: 15.00
        currency: USD
  - name: API Requests
    description: >-
      Notehub REST API requests per billing account. Up to 10,200/day
      (7/minute) included free. Enterprise plans include higher limits.
    unit: request
    freeAllowance: 10200
    freeAllowancePeriod: daily
    rates:
      - plan: Essentials
        pricePerUnit: 0.00
        currency: USD
        notes: Free up to 10,200/day (7/min)
      - plan: Enterprise
        pricePerUnit: custom
        currency: USD
principles:
  - name: Visibility
    description: >-
      Blues provides a Notehub Usage API and dashboard for monitoring event
      consumption and API usage per billing account. Developers can track
      ingressed events, view billing history, and set up auto-recharge
      thresholds to maintain visibility into spend.
    capabilities:
      - UsageAPI
      - NotehubDashboard
      - BillingAccountDashboard
      - AutoRechargeAlerts
  - name: Optimization
    description: >-
      Blues pricing incentivizes efficient IoT data design. Developers can
      reduce costs by batching notes before transmission, leveraging platform
      events (always free), and right-sizing event frequency for their use
      case. Enterprise customers receive 50%+ volume discounts for large fleets.
    strategies:
      - BatchEventTransmission
      - UsePlatformEventsForMetadata
      - RightSizeTransmissionFrequency
      - EnterpriseVolumeDiscounts
      - AutoRechargeThresholdManagement
  - name: Accountability
    description: >-
      Costs are scoped to billing accounts, enabling teams to track and
      attribute IoT connectivity costs to specific projects or product lines.
      The Notehub Billing Account API provides programmatic access to usage
      and billing data for FinOps reporting and chargeback workflows.
    capabilities:
      - BillingAccountAPI
      - PerProjectEventTracking
      - UsageExportJSON
      - UsageExportCSV