Usage Limits
Understand plan usage metrics.
Usage limits apply to the Sparky account, not separately to each person.
Cooking Assistant Allowance
Free accounts receive a one-time introductory Cooking Assistant allowance. Paid plans receive an ongoing allowance that refreshes each subscription month. Family receives a larger shared allowance than Plus, and Extended Family receives a larger shared allowance than Family.
For annual subscriptions, the allowance still refreshes monthly based on the subscription start date. It does not wait until the annual renewal. Unused allowance does not roll over and has no cash value.
The app does not show dollars, tokens, or a promised number of questions because different requests use different amounts of processing. Instead, it warns the account when the allowance is near its limit, tells you when a paid allowance will refresh, and explains when the current allowance has been used.
Cooking Assistant allowance applies to requests such as recipe creation, recipe image import, cooking questions, and recipe-aware or cross-library help. Automatic recipe and document tagging does not use the allowance.
If the allowance is used, core non-Assistant features remain available. You can still view, edit, organize, share, import, and export recipes; use photos and manual tags; manage grocery lists; and use existing Cooking Guides. Paid Cooking Assistant access returns when the next allowance period begins.
Shared Family Usage
Family and Extended Family members share one account allowance. There is no fixed per-person share or default member cap. Any eligible member may use the allowance that remains for the account.
The account owner can review account usage from Account. Regular members should contact the account owner with plan or billing questions.
Cooking Guide Limit
Free accounts can keep up to three active Cooking Guides. Remove an active guide to make room for another, or upgrade for unlimited active Cooking Guides under normal use.
Normal request-rate, security, moderation, and abuse protections apply independently of the plan allowance.