Free reader access & AI chat limits

Overview

The Allspice widget includes recipe search, AI recipe search, guided cooking, saved recipes, grocery lists, reader accounts, and an AI assistant that works with the recipe on the page.

Readers can use the widget on participating recipe sites for free. The one area with a monthly limit is open-ended AI chat: each reader gets 25 free chat credits per month.

What readers can use for free

These features are free and aren't affected by the AI chat limit:

• recipe search, including AI-powered search results
• guided cooking
• saving and organizing recipes
• grocery lists

A reader can search, save, cook, and build grocery lists without paying anything.

What has a monthly limit

Open-ended AI chat has a monthly allowance. Each reader gets 25 free chat credits per month.

• The allowance belongs to the reader's Allspice account and is shared across every Allspice site they use.
• It resets at the start of each calendar month (UTC).
• Tapping a suggested question doesn't use the allowance.
• For security reasons, readers who aren't signed in can send 4 chat messages, then need to create a free Allspice account to keep chatting.

The allowance applies only to AI chat. Readers who use it up can keep using everything listed above.

AI recipe search vs. AI chat

They're separate features.

AI recipe search finds recipes on the site the reader is visiting. A search for “easy chicken dinners”, “gluten-free desserts”, or “high-protein lunch ideas” returns matching recipes from that site. It's part of the free widget.

AI chat is a conversation. Readers ask follow-up questions, request substitutions, get cooking help, compare recipes, or ask for meal ideas. Because a chat can run many messages and does more work per message, it has the monthly limit.

Why open-ended AI chat has a limit

The assistant is the most expensive part of Allspice to run. For each message it may need to interpret the recipe, work out a substitution, look up recipes, or update a grocery list or pantry, across many different sites.

We plan to add more AI features over time, around meal planning, personalization, shopping, dietary needs, and saved content. Those add value for readers and publishers, and they also add infrastructure and AI costs. The free-tier limit on chat keeps those costs in check.

Why this protects publishers

Without a limit, a small number of very active readers could run up large AI costs, and those costs would grow as the assistant does more.

Rather than passing those variable costs along to publishers, Allspice gives readers a monthly free allowance and keeps unlimited chat as a benefit you can include in your own membership. That means:

• readers get the widget for free
• casual users aren't asked to pay
• publishers don't get AI usage bills
• on sites with a membership, readers who want more chat can join

Most readers don't come close to the monthly allowance today. The current average is roughly 2 AI chat messages per user per session. A reader who uses it up is usually a heavy user getting a lot out of the assistant.

What happens when a reader reaches the limit

What the reader sees depends on your site:

• Sites with a membership program: the upgrade screen offers your membership. If your membership includes Unlimited Chat, members can keep chatting without limits (see Site memberships).
• Other sites: the chat box shows “Out of free chats” and a note that free chats reset at the start of each month.

Everything else keeps working. They can still search for recipes (including AI search results), save recipes, use guided cooking, and build grocery lists. Running out only pauses open-ended AI chat until the next month.

How this may evolve over time

We expect AI usage limits to change. As AI models get cheaper, or as other revenue sources arrive - commerce, grocery or retail integrations, sponsorships, premium publisher products, creator-owned paid content, or additional subscription bundles - we may be able to raise or remove some limits.

For now, the default is a free widget for readers, predictable costs for publishers, and unlimited chat available through your membership for readers who use it heavily.

Questions and support

If you have questions about the AI chat limit, or how it's explained to readers, contact Allspice support through the Publisher Portal or email support@allspicelabs.com. If the limit or how it's presented causes problems on your site, tell us and we'll work through it with you.