specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
schema: https://www.finops.org/framework/
provider: Wordnik
providerId: wordnik
created: '2026-05-29'
modified: '2026-05-29'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - FinOps
  - FOCUS
  - Dictionary
  - Language Data
  - Subscription
description: >-
  FOCUS-aligned FinOps view of Wordnik: tiered monthly subscriptions ($0 / $10 /
  $59 / $149) gated by per-hour request quota. Spend is predictable and capped
  by tier, with the unit of consumption being the API request itself and the
  unit of billing being the month.
sources:
  - https://developer.wordnik.com/
  - https://developer.wordnik.com/pricing
  - https://developer.wordnik.com/gettingstarted
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: Wordnik Society
serviceCategory: Language Data
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: Tiered Subscription
  billingFrequency: Monthly
  billingCurrency: USD
  chargeCategories:
    - Usage
    - Purchase
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: Wordnik API
  ServiceCategory: Language Data
  ServiceSubcategory: Dictionary API
  ProviderName: Wordnik
  PublisherName: Wordnik Society
  InvoiceIssuerName: Wordnik Society
  BillingCurrency: USD
  ChargeCategory: Usage
meters:
  - name: api_requests
    unit: request
    aggregation: count
    dimensions:
      - endpoint
      - dictionary_source
      - part_of_speech
  - name: subscription_month
    unit: month
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - plan_tier
  - name: hourly_quota_window
    unit: hour
    aggregation: max
    dimensions:
      - plan_tier
principles:
  - name: Visibility
    description: >-
      Wordnik returns per-call telemetry in x-ratelimit-remaining-hour /
      x-ratelimit-remaining-minute response headers, and the
      /account.json/apiTokenStatus endpoint reports remainingCalls and
      totalRequests for the active key. Pipe these into your observability
      stack to track consumption against the hourly tier ceiling.
  - name: Allocation
    description: >-
      Issue one Wordnik API key per workload (app, environment, team) so the
      subscription tier maps to a chargeback unit. Wordnik does not provide
      account-level cost-allocation tags; use the key itself as the allocation
      dimension.
  - name: Optimization
    description: >-
      Cache definitions, etymologies, and audio metadata aggressively — these
      change rarely and dominate request volume. Use the useCanonical flag to
      consolidate lookups, prefer batched /words.json/randomWords over repeated
      /words.json/randomWord calls, and downgrade tiers once your steady-state
      hourly demand fits inside the lower ceiling.
  - name: Accountability
    description: >-
      Owners should review monthly subscription invoices against
      /account.json/apiTokenStatus totalRequests for each key, alert when
      per-key hourly utilization exceeds 80% of the tier ceiling, and escalate
      to apiteam@wordnik.com before exceeding Enterprise.