Cost Guards
Cost Guards are alerts that help you monitor usage and spend and take action before things get out of control.
They are typically used to track activity at the workload level, allowing you to detect:
- Unexpected spikes in cost
- Unusual drops in usage (potential outages)
- Sustained increases over time
What is a Cost Guard?
A Cost Guard is a rule that watches usage or cost over a rolling time window and triggers an alert when a condition is met.
Examples:
- Spend greater than $1,000 in the last 7 days
- Usage greater than 10,000 requests in the last hour
- Spend less than $10 in the last day (possible outage signal)
Cost Guards are tied to workloads, so you can monitor specific parts of your system independently.
Cost Guards Page Overview
Navigate to Cost → Cost Guards.
What You’ll See
Each Cost Guard in the list includes:
- Name
- Alert Type (Cost or Usage)
- Rule (condition and threshold)
- Workload
- Status (On or Off)
You can toggle a Cost Guard off if you want to temporarily pause alerts without deleting it.
Creating a Cost Guard
Navigate
- Go to Cost → Cost Guards
- Click Create Cost Guard (top right)
Step 1: Define the Alert
- Alert Type Choose:
- Cost (monitors spend), or
- Usage (monitors raw usage volume)
- Name Use a clear, descriptive name Example: Image Pipeline Spend Spike
- Description (optional) Add context if needed
Step 2: Select a Workload
- Choose the workload you want to monitor
If the workload does not exist:
- Create one using the Workloads page
Cost Guards operate at the workload level, so this selection is required.
Step 3: Define the Rule
Condition
Choose whether the alert triggers when the value is:
- Greater than (most common, for detecting spikes)
- Less than (useful for detecting drops or outages)
Threshold Value
- For cost: enter a currency amount
- For usage: enter a unit value
Time Window
Select a rolling window:
- Last hour
- Last day
- Last week (7 days)
- Last month (30 days)
These are always rolling periods, not fixed calendar intervals.
Step 4: Configure Notification Frequency
Choose how often alerts are sent:
- Once Trigger only the first time the condition is met
- Every time Trigger on every evaluation that meets the condition
- At most every X hours Throttle notifications to a maximum frequency Example: no more than once every 24 hours
This helps reduce alert noise while still keeping visibility.
Step 5: Choose Notification Channels
Define how alerts are delivered.
- Send notifications via email
- Can be used for individuals or workload owners
Webhooks
- Send alerts to an external system
- Useful for automation, such as:
- Triggering workflows
- Updating internal systems
- Integrating with monitoring or incident tools
Save the Cost Guard
Click Save to activate the Cost Guard.
It will immediately begin monitoring based on your configuration.
When to Use Cost Guards
Cost Guards are most effective when applied to:
- High-cost workloads
- Critical production systems
- Newly launched features with uncertain usage patterns
- Systems where unexpected drops indicate issues
They are often used by engineering and operations teams to maintain control over system behavior.
Summary
Cost Guards provide a simple way to monitor and control usage and spend.
They:
- Track cost or usage over time
- Trigger alerts based on thresholds
- Operate at the workload level
- Support flexible notification options
Used correctly, they help you detect problems early and maintain control over your system’s behavior.