specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
schema: https://www.finops.org/framework/
provider: Friendbuy
providerId: friendbuy
created: '2026-07-10'
modified: '2026-07-10'
reconciled: false
tags:
- Referral Marketing
- Loyalty
- Rewards
- Ecommerce
- FinOps
- Cost Management
- FOCUS
description: >-
  FinOps view of Friendbuy spend. Friendbuy is billed as a SaaS subscription
  (quote-based, contact-sales) tiered on the merchant's total monthly company
  sales volume rather than on API usage - the Merchant API is an included
  capability, not a metered line item. The two dominant cost drivers are the
  platform subscription fee (reported roughly $249/mo Starter, $749/mo Deluxe,
  custom Enterprise) and, separately, the variable reward payouts the program
  distributes to customers (advocate rewards, friend incentives, and loyalty
  redemptions). Add-ons such as tiered loyalty are reported to add fixed monthly
  cost. Because reward payouts scale with referral and loyalty performance, they
  behave like a usage/variable cost even though the platform fee is flat.
notes: >-
  Per-unit API pricing does not apply; there is no metered API charge. Treat the
  subscription as a fixed committed cost and the distributed rewards/incentives
  as the variable, performance-driven spend to monitor. Figures are indicative
  from third-party sources and not reconciled against a Friendbuy quote.
sources:
- https://friendbuy.com
- https://developers.friendbuy.com
- https://www.g2.com/products/friendbuy/pricing
- https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
alignedWith:
  framework: FinOps Foundation Framework
  frameworkUrl: https://www.finops.org/framework/
  dataSpec: FOCUS
  dataSpecVersion: '1.3'
  dataSpecUrl: https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
publisherName: Friendbuy
serviceCategory: Marketing and Advertising
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: Subscription
  billingFrequency: Monthly
  billingCurrency: USD
  chargeCategories:
  - Purchase
  - Usage
  - Adjustment
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: Friendbuy
  ServiceCategory: Marketing and Advertising
  ProviderName: Friendbuy
  PublisherName: Friendbuy
  InvoiceIssuerName: Friendbuy
  BillingCurrency: USD
  ChargeCategory: Purchase
  PricingCategory: Subscription
meters:
- name: platform_subscription
  description: Fixed monthly platform subscription fee, tiered on total monthly company sales.
  unit: months
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - plan
- name: distributed_advocate_rewards
  description: Rewards paid out to advocates for successful referrals; variable, performance-driven.
  unit: currency
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - campaign
- name: distributed_friend_incentives
  description: Incentives paid out to referred friends; variable, performance-driven.
  unit: currency
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - campaign
- name: loyalty_redemptions
  description: Value of loyalty points/credit redeemed by customers for rewards and coupons.
  unit: currency
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - campaign
principles:
- name: Visibility
  description: Track distributed advocate rewards, friend incentives, and loyalty redemptions per campaign via the Analytics API alongside the flat subscription fee.
- name: Allocation
  description: Map campaigns to product lines or teams so reward payouts attribute to the revenue they drive.
- name: Optimization
  description: Tune reward amounts and eligibility rules against referral ROI; use blocking (postBlockUsers) to curb reward fraud; right-size the plan tier to actual monthly company sales.
- name: Accountability
  description: Assign campaign owners and review monthly reward spend against referral-driven revenue and the committed subscription.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com