Take Control of Your Cloud Spending with DanubeData Budgets

Unexpected cloud bills are every developer's nightmare. You spin up a few resources for testing, forget about them, and suddenly receive a bill that makes your heart skip a beat.

That's why we built DanubeData Budgets—a simple, intuitive way to control your cloud spending without the complexity of enterprise budget management tools.

What is DanubeData Budgets?

DanubeData Budgets lets you set spending limits on your cloud resources with automatic alerts and optional enforcement. Think of it as a financial guardrail that keeps your costs predictable.

Key Features:

• Monthly Budgets: Set a maximum spend per calendar month
• Daily Budgets: Set a maximum spend per day for granular control
• Smart Alerts: Get notified at 50%, 80%, and 100% of your budget
• Flexible Enforcement: Choose between soft limits (alerts only) or hard limits (automatic enforcement)
• Real-Time Tracking: See your current spend vs. budget at a glance

Why Budget Control Matters

Without budget controls, cloud costs can spiral out of control:

Common Cost Surprises:

• Forgotten Resources: Test instances left running for months
• Scaling Incidents: Auto-scaling that scales beyond expectations
• Storage Growth: Log files and backups accumulating silently
• Traffic Spikes: Viral content or DDoS attacks causing egress overages

DanubeData Budgets prevents these surprises by alerting you before costs get out of hand.

Budget Types Explained

Monthly Budget

Set a maximum amount you're willing to spend per calendar month. Perfect for:

• Teams with monthly infrastructure budgets
• Projects with fixed funding
• Startups watching their burn rate

Example: Set a €500/month budget for your staging environment to ensure dev/test costs never exceed expectations.

Daily Budget

Set a maximum amount per day for more granular control. Perfect for:

• Catching runaway costs quickly
• High-traffic applications with variable load
• Teams that need real-time cost awareness

Example: Set a €20/day budget to catch any unusual activity within 24 hours rather than waiting until month-end.

Using Both Together

For maximum control, use both monthly and daily budgets:

Monthly Budget: €500
Daily Budget: €20

This ensures:
- Daily spend never exceeds €20 (catches spikes quickly)
- Monthly total never exceeds €500 (overall cap)
- You get alerts at both granularities

Enforcement Types

DanubeData Budgets offers three enforcement levels to match your needs:

Soft Limit (Alerts Only)

Your resources continue operating normally, but you receive notifications when spending reaches thresholds. Choose this when:

• ✅ Uptime is more important than cost control
• ✅ You want visibility without enforcement
• ✅ You have manual approval processes

Block New Resources

When the budget is exceeded, you cannot create new VPS instances, databases, caches, or storage buckets. Existing resources continue running. Choose this when:

• ✅ You want to prevent scaling beyond budget
• ✅ Existing workloads must stay online
• ✅ You need time to review before expanding

Suspend Resources

All resources are suspended when the budget is exceeded. Choose this when:

• ✅ Development/test environments with strict budgets
• ✅ Experimental projects where costs must be capped
• ✅ Teaching environments with fixed allocations

Smart Alert System

DanubeData sends proactive notifications at three thresholds:

50% Alert (Informational)

80% Warning

100% Exceeded

Notification Channels

Alerts are delivered through multiple channels:

• In-App Notifications: Always sent—visible in your dashboard
• Email: Configurable per team—enable/disable as needed
• Webhooks: Send alerts to Slack, Discord, or your custom endpoint

Setting Up Your Budget

Configuring a budget takes less than a minute:

Step 1: Navigate to Budget Settings

Go to Billing → Budget in your dashboard.

Step 2: Enable Budget Tracking

Toggle the "Enable Budget" switch to activate budget monitoring.

Step 3: Set Your Limits

Monthly Budget: €500
Daily Budget: €20 (optional)

Enforcement: Block New Resources
Email Notifications: Enabled

Step 4: Save and Monitor

Your budget is now active! You'll see a real-time progress bar showing your current spend vs. budget.

DanubeData Budgets vs AWS Budgets

If you've used AWS Budgets, you'll appreciate DanubeData's simpler approach:

Real-World Use Cases

Use Case 1: Startup with Fixed Runway

Scenario: 18-month runway, €50K/month infrastructure budget
Setup:
- Monthly Budget: €50,000
- Enforcement: Block New Resources
- Daily Budget: €2,000 (catches surprises quickly)

Result: Never exceed monthly budget while maintaining service

Use Case 2: Development Team

Scenario: Dev team with €500/month for staging
Setup:
- Monthly Budget: €500
- Enforcement: Suspend Resources
- Email Notifications: Enabled

Result: Team can experiment freely knowing costs are capped

Use Case 3: Agency Managing Client Accounts

Scenario: Multiple clients with different budgets
Setup per client team:
- Client A: €200/month (soft limit)
- Client B: €1,000/month (block new)
- Client C: €5,000/month (soft limit)

Result: Each client stays within their allocation

Use Case 4: Personal Projects

Scenario: Side project that shouldn't cost more than €20/month
Setup:
- Monthly Budget: €20
- Enforcement: Suspend Resources
- Daily Budget: €1

Result: Never wake up to a surprise bill

Budget Dashboard Features

The budget dashboard gives you complete visibility into your spending:

Current Status Card

• Monthly Progress Bar: Visual representation of spend vs. budget
• Current Spend: Real-time total for the current period
• Budget Limit: Your configured maximum
• Percentage Used: Quick reference (e.g., "67% used")
• Days Remaining: Until budget period resets

Daily Tracking

• Today's Spend: Current day expenditure
• Daily Limit: Your daily cap (if configured)
• Daily Average: Month-to-date average spend per day

Alert History

• Record of all budget alerts sent
• When each threshold was crossed
• Actions taken (if enforcement is enabled)

Best Practices

1. Start with Soft Limits

For new projects, start with soft limits to understand your spending patterns before enabling enforcement.

2. Use Daily Budgets for Unpredictable Workloads

If your workload varies significantly, daily budgets catch anomalies faster than monthly budgets alone.

3. Set Realistic Buffers

Set your budget 10-20% above expected spend to account for normal variation without triggering unnecessary alerts.

4. Review Alerts Promptly

When you receive a 50% alert, take a moment to verify spending is on track. Catching issues at 50% is much better than at 100%.

5. Separate Production and Development

Use different teams (and budgets) for production vs. development. Suspend enforcement for dev, soft limits for production.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens when I exceed my budget with soft limits?

You receive notifications, but all resources continue running normally. You're informed, not restricted.

If my resources are suspended, will I lose data?

No. Suspended resources are paused, not deleted. Your data remains intact. Increase your budget or wait for the period to reset to resume service.

When does the monthly budget reset?

Monthly budgets reset on the 1st of each month at midnight UTC. Daily budgets reset at midnight UTC each day.

Can I change my budget mid-month?

Yes! You can adjust your budget limits at any time. Changes take effect immediately.

Do budgets apply to all resource types?

Yes. Budgets track spending across VPS instances, databases, caches, storage, and any other billable resources in your team.

What if I have multiple teams?

Each team has its own independent budget. You can configure different limits and enforcement levels per team.

Are budget alerts included in the price?

Yes. Budget tracking, alerts, and enforcement are included at no additional cost for all DanubeData customers.

Get Started with Budget Control

Take control of your cloud spending in three steps:

1. Log in to your DanubeData dashboard
2. Navigate to Billing → Budget
3. Configure your limits and enforcement level

That's it! You'll start receiving alerts immediately when your spending approaches the configured thresholds.

👉 Set Up Your Budget Now

Conclusion

Unexpected cloud bills are preventable. With DanubeData Budgets, you get:

• ✅ Visibility: Real-time spending vs. budget tracking
• ✅ Alerts: Proactive notifications at 50%, 80%, and 100%
• ✅ Control: Optional enforcement to prevent overspending
• ✅ Simplicity: Setup in under a minute, no complex configuration
• ✅ Flexibility: Monthly and daily budgets with three enforcement levels

Stop worrying about surprise bills. Set your budget today and focus on building great products.

Questions about budget configuration? Contact our support team—we're happy to help you find the right settings for your use case.