Terms of Service

Last updated: January 8, 2025

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using Recipe API ("the Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

You must be at least 18 years old or have the legal authority to enter into these Terms on behalf of your organization.

2. Service Description

Recipe API provides a REST API for accessing structured recipe data, including ingredients, instructions, nutrition information, and related metadata. The Service is offered in multiple tiers with varying rate limits and support levels as described on our pricing page.

3. Account and API Access

To use the Service, you must:

  • Create an account with a valid email address
  • Keep your API key confidential and secure
  • Not share your API key with third parties
  • Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorized use of your account

You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

4. Acceptable Use

You may use the Service to:

  • Build applications that display or utilize recipe data
  • Integrate recipe content into your products and services
  • Cache API responses to optimize your application's performance

5. Prohibited Uses

You may NOT:

  • Resell, sublicense, or redistribute raw API access to third parties
  • Use the Service to build a competing recipe database or API
  • Systematically scrape or harvest data beyond your plan's rate limits
  • Share your API key or allow multiple applications to use the same key without authorization
  • Attempt to circumvent rate limits or abuse the free tier for production workloads
  • Use the Service for any illegal purpose or in violation of any applicable laws
  • Misrepresent the source of data or claim our content as your original creation
  • Interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers
  • Use automated means to create accounts or generate API keys

6. Rate Limits and Fair Use

Each plan has specific rate limits:

  • Free: 100 requests/day, 10 requests/minute, 100 unique recipes/month
  • Hobby ($9/mo): 500 requests/day, 30 requests/minute, 500 unique recipes/month
  • Starter ($59/mo): 2,000 requests/day, 100 requests/minute, 2,500 unique recipes/month
  • Pro ($199/mo): 50,000 requests/day, 500 requests/minute, 10,000 unique recipes/month

Exceeding rate limits will result in 429 Too Many Requests responses. Repeated or intentional violations may result in account suspension.

The free tier is intended for evaluation, prototypes, and personal projects. Production applications with significant traffic should upgrade to a paid plan.

7. Intellectual Property

Our Content: Recipe API and its content (including recipes, nutritional data, and documentation) are owned by us or our licensors. You receive a limited, non-exclusive license to use the content in your applications according to these Terms.

Your Applications: You retain all rights to your applications that integrate with Recipe API. We claim no ownership over your code or products.

Attribution: Attribution is NOT required. You may use recipe data in your applications without crediting Recipe API.

Restrictions: You may not claim ownership of our data or present it as your original creation. You may not use our trademarks without permission.

8. Payment Terms

For paid plans:

  • Subscriptions are billed monthly via Stripe
  • Payments are charged on your subscription start date each month
  • Prices are in USD and exclude applicable taxes
  • You may cancel anytime; access continues until the end of your billing period
  • We do not provide refunds for partial months

Failed Payments: If a payment fails, we will retry and notify you. After 7 days of failed payments, your account may be downgraded to the free tier or suspended.

9. Service Level Agreement (Pro Plan)

Pro plan customers receive a 99.9% monthly uptime commitment:

  • Uptime is measured as successful API responses (non-5xx) divided by total requests
  • Scheduled maintenance windows are excluded from uptime calculations
  • If uptime falls below 99.9% in a calendar month, contact us for service credits
  • Credits are limited to one month's subscription fee

Free and Starter plans are provided on a "best effort" basis without uptime guarantees.

10. Termination

By You: You may close your account at any time by contacting us or canceling through the developer portal. Paid subscriptions end at the close of the current billing period.

By Us: We may suspend or terminate your account immediately if you violate these Terms, engage in fraudulent activity, or fail to pay. We may also terminate with 30 days notice for any reason.

Effect of Termination: Upon termination, your API key will be deactivated and you will lose access to the Service. We will delete your account data within 30 days, except as required by law.

11. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Nutrition Data: Nutritional information is provided for informational purposes only. We do not guarantee its accuracy for medical, dietary, or health decisions. Consult a qualified professional for health-related decisions.

Availability: We do not guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available at all times.

12. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:

  • Our total liability to you for any claims arising from your use of the Service shall not exceed the amounts paid by you to us in the 12 months preceding the claim
  • We shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including lost profits, data loss, or business interruption
  • These limitations apply even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Recipe API and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from:

  • Your use of the Service
  • Your violation of these Terms
  • Your violation of any third-party rights
  • Your applications that integrate with the Service

14. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes arising under these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

15. Changes to Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time. For material changes, we will provide at least 30 days notice via email or a prominent notice on our website. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the modified Terms.

If you do not agree to the modified Terms, you must stop using the Service before the changes take effect.

16. General Provisions

Entire Agreement: These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Recipe API regarding the Service.

Severability: If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in effect.

Waiver: Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.

Assignment: You may not assign your rights under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign our rights at any time.

17. Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact us at:

Email: paul@recipe-api.com