Ambee going paid only?

Hey, I’ve been using Ambee free since the integration was released last month and have found it pretty useful. I just checked my email and it looks like I have an ultimatum to pay $120/mo to continue using it or lose it.

That seems like an awful lot to me and I can’t say I like this kind of tactic. Are there any other alternatives for pollen data in the US?

Thanks.

They’re still offering the free API connection on their website.

Are you sure you haven’t just exceeded the limits of the fee API connection?

(100 API records /day)

Pretty sure. According to the graph on the dashboard, I never exceeded 50.

Here is the text for the email I got. It doesn’t say anything about exceeding the limit (which I would be fine with fixing, if I had).

“Dear User,

We have updated the terms of the current free/basic plan. According to the revised terms, you can use the existing plan for the next 15 days. During the next 15 days, you will, as usual, be able to make 100 free API calls/day.

Once this time period lapses, your account will be deactivated unless it is migrated to a paid plan. If you wish to continue using our services, please feel free to sign up for our paid plans or reach out to us about your requirements, and we’ll design a custom plan just for you. “

I’m not sure if the free tier is some kind of bait and hook thing they run or if they really did just change the terms. I got the email two days ago.

Just thought I’d put it out there and see if others have run into this and see what kind of alternatives there might be.

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I received the same Ambee email. Seems like only a matter of time until companies get tired of offering API access for free.

Check out the ClimaCell integration ClimaCell - Home Assistant . It uses a new tomorrow API that you can sign up for at Developer | ClimaCell It seems to work reasonably well and has a free plan (at least for now) Checkout plan details here: API Pricing | Tomorrow.io

It has been working for me reasonably well.

Yeah weird. There’s no mention anywhere in their terms and conditions that the free API key is limited to 15 days. I’d be replying and querying that.

Thanks for the heads up. We have created an alert for this to inform other users.

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I wouldn’t be against paying for something, but their upgrade price is the same as my water+electric+phone bill. Seems incredibly high to essentially get access to aggregated data.

I’ll give ClimaCell a try and see how it goes.

Thanks!

Just FYI we are still trying to contact Ambee to clarify the terms and conditions as there is still no mention of a 15 day limit on their website.

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I think I also received a simillar email:

Is there way to import the Home Assistant Alerts into HA, or am I missing it?

I think there’s an RSS feed card somewhere.

EDIT: here, 📰 Lovelace: RSS Feed Parser Plugin/List Card

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Ambee lists pay as you go API access at 2 cents per call, if you do that every 30 minutes, thats about $30 per month.

FYI the weatherbit API access plan that includes air quality data is $470/month

Here’s my configuration for Home Assistant Alerts using the Feed Parser integration tom_l linked to.

sensor:
  - platform: feedparser
    name: Home Assistant Alerts
    feed_url: https://alerts.home-assistant.io/feed.xml
    date_format: '%Y-%m-%d'
    inclusions:
      - title
      - updated
      - content
      - link
    exclusions:
      - language

This is my lovelace card configuration.

type: markdown
title: Home Assistant Alerts
content: |
  {%- for entry in states.sensor.home_assistant_alerts.attributes['entries'] -%}
    **[{{- entry.title }}]({{ entry.link }})**
    Updated: {{ entry.updated }}
    {{ '\n---\n' if not loop.last }}
  {%- endfor -%}

This is the result.

3 Likes

Perfect, this will be convenient to see the inconveniences of the future.

{“status”:false,“message”:“Access denied as you are not subscribed to any plan or you are not allowed to access this endpoint”}

Bye Bye Ambee

Well, this is frustrating. After they started their 15 day free only, I get the following notification for the integration. The problem is I have no way to delete the integration. And of course, I am not going to pay Ambee $40+ per month for this information. RECONFIGURE only gives me a choice to enter an API.
Anyone know a way around to delete the integration?

I have the same. did you find a way to delete it?

I went through this, it was a while ago though the exact details are murky. But I believe there should actually be another Ambee box somewhere on your integrations page and you can delete it from there.

This is the right answer :smiley: