Budgets
Budgets let you set spending limits on your AWS costs and receive alerts when consumption approaches or exceeds those limits. They are a core Guard tool for preventing cost overruns.
Creating a budget
Navigate to Guard > Budgets > Create Budget and fill in:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | A descriptive label (e.g. "Dev team monthly budget") |
| Amount | The spending limit in your account currency |
| Period | Monthly, Quarterly, or Annual |
| Scope | What the budget covers — all spend, a specific Connection, service, tag, or combination |
| Alert thresholds | Percentages at which to send alerts |
[SCREENSHOT: budget-creation.png -- Budget creation form with amount, period, and threshold fields]
Budget types
| Period | How it works |
|---|---|
| Monthly | Resets on the 1st of each month. Tracks spend for the current calendar month. |
| Quarterly | Resets every 3 months (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct). Tracks spend for the current quarter. |
| Annual | Resets on January 1st. Tracks spend for the current calendar year. |
Threshold alerts
Configure one or more alert thresholds as percentages of the budget amount. Common configurations:
| Threshold | Purpose |
|---|---|
| 50% | Early warning — you are halfway through the budget |
| 80% | Action needed — approaching the limit |
| 100% | Budget breached — a violation is created |
| 120% | Significant overspend — escalation may be needed |
Alerts are sent once per threshold per budget period. If spend drops below a threshold and then rises above it again in the same period, the alert is not re-sent.
Budget vs actual spend
The budget detail page shows a chart comparing your budget amount against actual spend over the period:
[SCREENSHOT: budget-tracking.png -- Budget consumption tracking chart showing budget line and actual spend bars]
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Budget line | The configured spending limit |
| Actual bars | Daily or monthly spend |
| Forecast line | Projected spend for the remainder of the period based on current trajectory |
| Threshold markers | Horizontal lines at each configured threshold |
If the forecast line exceeds your budget before the period ends, consider taking action now — review the Cost Explorer to identify what is driving the spend.
Budget scoping
Budgets can be scoped to control exactly what spend they track:
| Scope | Tracks spend for |
|---|---|
| All | Total spend across all Connections |
| Connection | A specific AWS account |
| Service | A specific AWS service (e.g. EC2 only) |
| Tag | Resources with specific tags (e.g. Team:backend) |
| Combination | Multiple filters combined (e.g. EC2 in production account) |
What happens when a budget is breached
When actual spend exceeds 100% of the budget:
- An alert is sent to configured channels (in-app, Slack, email)
- A Violation is created with severity based on the overspend amount
- The budget is flagged on the Dashboard and Guard overview
Budgets are advisory by default — they do not automatically block spending. For enforced spending controls, combine budgets with Guard Projects and approval workflows.
Managing budgets
From the Budgets list page you can:
- Edit — Change the amount, period, scope, or thresholds
- Pause — Temporarily stop tracking and alerts without deleting the budget
- Delete — Remove the budget entirely (historical data is retained)
- Duplicate — Create a new budget with the same configuration