specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
schema: https://www.finops.org/framework/
provider: Spoonacular
providerId: spoonacular
created: '2026-06-03'
modified: '2026-06-03'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - FinOps
  - FOCUS
  - Food And Drink
  - Recipes
  - Usage Based
description: >-
  FOCUS-aligned FinOps for Spoonacular: a tiered monthly subscription with an
  included daily points quota, plus per-point overage billing once the quota is
  exceeded. Consumption is metered in points per API call, observable in real
  time via response headers.
sources:
  - https://spoonacular.com/food-api/pricing
  - https://spoonacular.com/food-api/docs
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: spoonacular GmbH
serviceCategory: Food And Drink Data
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: Tiered Subscription + Pay-As-You-Go
  billingFrequency: Monthly
  billingCurrency: USD
  chargeCategories:
    - Purchase
    - Usage
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: Spoonacular Recipe and Food API
  ServiceCategory: Food And Drink Data
  ProviderName: Spoonacular
  PublisherName: spoonacular GmbH
  InvoiceIssuerName: spoonacular GmbH
  BillingCurrency: USD
  ChargeCategory: Usage
meters:
  - name: subscription_month
    unit: month
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - plan_tier
  - name: api_points
    unit: point
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - endpoint
      - api_key
  - name: api_requests
    unit: request
    aggregation: count
    dimensions:
      - endpoint
      - api_key
  - name: points_overage
    unit: point
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - plan_tier
      - api_key
principles:
  - name: Visibility
    description: >-
      Every response returns X-API-Quota-Request (the point cost of that call)
      and X-API-Quota-Used (cumulative points consumed today), giving real-time
      per-call and per-day consumption without a separate billing API.
  - name: Allocation
    description: >-
      Spend is attributable per API key. Issue a distinct key per team, product,
      or environment to allocate the daily points quota and any overage charges
      to the owning cost center.
  - name: Optimization
    description: >-
      Reduce point cost by requesting fewer results (the 0.01-per-result charge),
      avoiding nutrition (+0.1), image (+3), and video-extraction (+50)
      surcharges unless needed, caching stable recipe/ingredient lookups, and
      using bulk endpoints (informationBulk) instead of many single calls.
  - name: Accountability
    description: >-
      Pick the tier whose included daily quota matches steady-state demand so
      overage is the exception; watch the quota headers to alert before the Free
      tier 402 or before paid-tier overage accrues, and review the points-per-day
      trend monthly against the tier's included quota.