name: PriceMetrics FinOps Guide
description: >-
  This FinOps guide helps engineering and finance teams understand, monitor,
  and optimize their PriceMetrics API spending. Because API call volume
  directly maps to subscription tier costs and overage charges, teams should
  establish budgets, monitor usage in real time, and implement call efficiency
  patterns to control costs while maximizing the value of the PriceMetrics
  integration.
url: https://www.pricimetrics.com/documentation/finops

cost_structure:
  model: subscription_plus_overage
  description: >-
    PriceMetrics charges a fixed monthly subscription fee based on the
    selected plan tier. API calls within the plan's monthly quota are
    included. Calls beyond the quota incur overage charges or require
    an upgrade or add-on call pack.
  overage_rate:
    starter:
      per_1000_calls: 5.00
      currency: USD
    growth:
      per_1000_calls: 3.50
      currency: USD
    professional:
      per_1000_calls: 2.00
      currency: USD
  call_packs:
    - name: 50K Call Pack
      calls: 50000
      price: 199
      currency: USD
    - name: 250K Call Pack
      calls: 250000
      price: 799
      currency: USD
    - name: 1M Call Pack
      calls: 1000000
      price: 2499
      currency: USD

monitoring:
  dashboard_url: https://app.pricemetrics.com/usage
  description: >-
    The PriceMetrics developer dashboard provides real-time usage graphs,
    monthly consumption trends, per-endpoint breakdowns, and alerts for
    approaching quota thresholds.
  alert_thresholds:
    - threshold_pct: 75
      action: Email notification to account owner
    - threshold_pct: 90
      action: Email and webhook notification to configured alert endpoint
    - threshold_pct: 100
      action: API returns 402 errors; account owner notified

  available_metrics:
    - Total API calls this month
    - Calls by endpoint
    - Calls by API key
    - Batch job usage
    - SKU volume ingested
    - Average latency by endpoint
    - Error rate by endpoint

cost_optimization:
  strategies:
    - name: Cache recommendations locally
      description: >-
        Price recommendations for stable product categories do not change
        on every API call. Implement a local cache with a TTL of 1–6 hours
        for recommendations to reduce redundant calls significantly.
      estimated_savings: 40-60% reduction in calls for stable catalogs

    - name: Use batch processing for bulk updates
      description: >-
        For nightly or periodic repricing runs, use the /v1/batch endpoint
        rather than individual /v1/recommendations calls. Batch calls are
        not counted against per-minute limits and process efficiently
        at scale.
      estimated_savings: Eliminates per-call overhead for bulk workflows

    - name: Request only changed SKUs
      description: >-
        Use the lastModified and changesSince query parameters to fetch
        recommendations only for SKUs whose underlying data (cost, demand,
        competitor price) has changed since the last call.
      estimated_savings: 20-50% for catalogs with low daily change rates

    - name: Tune elasticity call frequency
      description: >-
        Elasticity analysis is weighted at 5 call units. Run elasticity
        analyses on a weekly or biweekly schedule rather than on demand,
        and cache results between runs.
      estimated_savings: Significant reduction in weighted call consumption

    - name: Scope competitive data to priority SKUs
      description: >-
        Competitive price lookups are weighted at 2 call units. Limit
        competitive intelligence queries to high-velocity or high-margin
        SKUs where competitor pricing most directly affects revenue.
      estimated_savings: 30-50% reduction in weighted competitive call costs

    - name: Right-size your plan
      description: >-
        Review monthly usage reports quarterly. If consumption consistently
        runs below 60% of the plan quota, consider downgrading. If
        overages are recurring, upgrading plans is more cost-effective
        than purchasing repeated call packs.

budgeting:
  recommendations:
    - Establish a monthly API cost budget aligned to the subscription plan cost
    - Set spend alerts at 75% and 90% of budget in the usage dashboard
    - Assign a single API key per integration environment (dev, staging, prod)
      to isolate cost attribution
    - Review per-key usage breakdowns monthly to identify runaway consumers
    - Include overage rates in annual API cost projections for catalog growth

tagging:
  description: >-
    PriceMetrics supports API key labeling via the developer dashboard.
    Assign descriptive labels to each API key to correlate usage with
    business units, applications, or environments for accurate cost
    allocation in internal chargeback or showback reporting.
  recommended_labels:
    - environment: production | staging | development
    - team: pricing | merchandising | analytics | engineering
    - application: ecommerce-platform | erp-integration | reporting