name: Kaltura FinOps
description: Financial operations guidance for managing Kaltura API costs. Kaltura
  pricing is entirely quote-based and tied to usage metrics including storage volume,
  transcoding minutes, CDN bandwidth, concurrent live streams, and seat counts.
  There is no self-serve usage console; cost management requires working with a
  Kaltura account manager and monitoring usage via the analytics API.
url: https://corp.kaltura.com/pricing/
costDrivers:
  - name: Storage
    description: Video and media asset storage consumed in GB or TB. Costs increase
      with the volume of content uploaded and retained on the platform.
    unit: GB/TB per month
    notes: >
      Archive or delete unused media entries via the media.delete API to reduce
      storage costs. Use entry.list with filters to identify old or unviewed assets.

  - name: Transcoding
    description: CPU-time consumed converting uploaded media into delivery formats
      (HLS, MP4, etc.) across multiple renditions and bitrates. Each flavor profile
      adds transcoding cost per minute of source video.
    unit: transcoding minutes
    notes: >
      Optimize flavor profiles to only the renditions needed for your audience.
      Avoid re-transcoding by reusing existing flavors where possible. Use the
      conversionProfile service to manage which profiles are applied.

  - name: CDN Bandwidth
    description: Egress bandwidth for video delivery to end users via Kaltura's CDN
      partners. Typically the largest variable cost driver for high-traffic deployments.
    unit: GB transferred per month
    notes: >
      Use adaptive bitrate streaming (HLS/DASH) to serve lower bitrates on poor
      connections. Monitor delivery analytics to identify high-traffic content and
      optimize. Consider geographic caching strategies for global audiences.

  - name: Live Streaming
    description: Concurrent live stream channels and broadcast hours. Live ingest
      and transcoding of live streams are billed separately from VOD transcoding.
    unit: concurrent streams / broadcast hours
    notes: >
      Terminate live stream entries promptly after events end to avoid idle costs.
      Use the liveStream.isLive API to monitor active streams and automate shutdown.

  - name: API Call Volume
    description: High-volume API usage may have contract-level limits or overage
      charges depending on the enterprise agreement. Not publicly documented.
    unit: API calls per month
    notes: >
      Cache frequently requested data (e.g., media lists, category trees) on your
      application side. Use bulk operations where available to reduce individual
      API call counts.

  - name: Seats / Named Users
    description: Some Kaltura products (Virtual Classroom, Video Portal, Events)
      are priced per seat or named user. Seat counts directly drive licensing costs.
    unit: users per month
    notes: >
      Audit user accounts periodically and deactivate inactive users to manage
      seat counts. Use the user.list API to retrieve active user counts.

optimizationStrategies:
  - name: Use App Tokens for Production
    description: Use appToken-based sessions instead of admin KS in production to
      limit privileges to only the actions needed, reducing risk of accidental
      large-scale operations that could incur costs.
    url: https://developer.kaltura.com/api-docs/VPaaS-API-Getting-Started/Kaltura_API_Authentication_and_Security.html

  - name: Monitor Usage via Analytics API
    description: Use the Kaltura Analytics API (report service) to pull usage data
      including storage, bandwidth, and play counts. Build internal dashboards to
      track cost drivers over time.
    url: https://developer.kaltura.com/api-docs/

  - name: Optimize Flavor Profiles
    description: Review and prune transcoding flavor profiles to only the quality
      renditions your users actually consume. Unnecessary high-bitrate or
      rarely-viewed flavors waste transcoding budget.
    url: https://developer.kaltura.com/api-docs/

  - name: Implement Content Retention Policies
    description: Use the media.list and media.delete APIs to automate removal of
      old, unused, or low-value content. This directly reduces storage costs.
    url: https://developer.kaltura.com/api-docs/

  - name: Contact Account Manager
    description: Work with your Kaltura account manager to review usage reports,
      understand your contract structure, and negotiate volume discounts as usage
      grows or contracts.
    url: https://corp.kaltura.com/