Azure Budgets let you define spending limits and receive alerts when actual or forecasted costs exceed thresholds. This helps you stay ahead of budget overruns and enforce good cloud financial hygiene.
🧭 1. Define the Budget Scope
Choose where the budget should apply:
- Subscription – e.g., a dev/test environment
- Resource Group – e.g., per project
- Billing Account – for consolidated enterprise reporting
- Filters (optional) – limit to specific services, tags, or departments
🛠️ 2. Create a Budget in Azure Portal
- Go to Cost Management + Billing in the Azure Portal.
- Use the Scope Picker to select your target (subscription, RG, billing account).
- In the left menu, select Budgets > click + Add.
📝 3. Enter Budget Details
- Name: Example:
DevSubscription_Q1Budget - Time Period: Monthly, Quarterly, Annually, or Billing Month
(✅ Monthly is most common) - Start Date: When the budget should begin
- Expiration (optional): When the budget should end
- Budget Amount: In billing currency (e.g., $500)
🔍 Optional Filters
- Filter by Service (e.g., only Virtual Machines)
- Filter by Tag (e.g.,
Department = Marketing)
🔔 4. Configure Alerts (Thresholds)
You must add at least one alert threshold. Common examples:
| Threshold | Action |
|---|---|
| 80% | Notify engineering team |
| 100% | Notify leadership |
| 110% | Catch overages |
- Enter a percentage (e.g.,
80). - Enter email addresses for notifications.
- Add up to 5 thresholds per budget.
🔮 Optional: Forecasted Alerts
- Enable forecast alerts to receive notifications before a budget is exceeded.
- Example: If Azure predicts you’ll hit 120% of your $500 budget by month-end, an alert can be sent at 110%.
📧 Note: Alerts come from [email protected] — whitelist this to avoid missed emails.
✅ 5. Create and Monitor
Click Create to finalize. Your budget will appear in the Budgets list with:
- A progress bar showing current spend
- Spend breakdown over time
- Alert status history
Azure checks budget thresholds daily and sends alerts within ~1 hour of crossing a limit.
⚙️ 6. (Optional) Automate Actions via Alerts
Budgets don’t enforce limits, but you can connect them to automation:
- Use Azure Monitor + Action Groups to:
- Trigger Logic Apps or Azure Functions
- Power off VMs
- Send webhook to external system
🔁 Approach:
Set up a Logic App or Runbook to call the Consumption API and check if a budget is exceeded, then take action.
🧭 7. Managing Budgets and Alerts
- To edit a budget, click it from the Budgets list.
- Roles required:
- Cost Management Contributor or Owner to create/edit
- Reader to view only
Example email you’ll receive:
Alert: 90% of budget for “Dev Subscription” reached.
Current spend: $450 / $500. Threshold crossed at 2025-04-15.
✅ Summary
| Task | Action |
|---|---|
| Create Budget | Portal > Cost Management > Budgets > Add |
| Set Thresholds | Define % + emails |
| Add Filters | Scope to tags, services, or departments |
| Monitor | Review spend vs. budget daily |
| Automate | Use Monitor or Logic Apps to trigger actions |
🎯 Outcome: You’ll receive proactive alerts before costs spiral out of control—giving your team time to respond, investigate, or optimize.