> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://explore.airia.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Budget Policies
> Define the default spending limits, enforcement rules, and alerts that apply across your organization.
**Budget Policies** is where you set the spending limits that apply across your organization. Its subtitle says it best: *Configure spending policies across your organization.*
You'll need the **Budgets** permission to manage policies — see [who can use Budgets & Spend](/admin-hub/budgets-and-spend/overview#who-can-use-budgets-amp-spend).
## Choose the level
Budget Policies is organized into tabs, one per level. A policy you set on a tab becomes the **default** for everything at that level.
A single budget for your entire organization. This is the ceiling all usage counts toward.
The default budget applied to each project.
The default budget applied to each individual user.
The default budget applied to each gateway.
The **Company**, **User**, and **Gateway** tabs may not appear for every administrator — they depend on your plan and configuration. The **Project** tab is always available. When you need a different limit for one specific project, user, or gateway, use a [Custom Budget](/admin-hub/budgets-and-spend/custom-budgets) instead of changing the default here.
## Define budget amounts
Under **Define budget amounts** you set limits for up to three periods. Leave a field blank (it shows **No budget set**) to skip that period.
| Field | What it limits |
| ------------------ | ------------------------ |
| **Daily Budget** | Spend allowed each day |
| **Weekly Budget** | Spend allowed each week |
| **Monthly Budget** | Spend allowed each month |
Periods don't overlap into a conflict — they nest. A daily limit must be less than or equal to the weekly limit, which must be less than or equal to the monthly limit. If you enter amounts that contradict each other, Airia flags it (for example, *Daily must be ≤ weekly*).
Each period resets on its own schedule — a daily budget resets nightly, a weekly budget at the start of the week, and a monthly budget at the start of the month. Spend Analytics shows exactly when each one **Resets** next.
## Enforcement policy
The **Enforcement policy** section decides what happens when spend reaches a limit.
When **Hard Limit** is enabled, requests are blocked once spend reaches 100% of the budget. When it's off, spend can continue past the limit — you'll still get alerts, but nothing is blocked.
Turn **Hard Limit** off while you're getting started. You'll receive alerts as spend climbs without interrupting anyone, which is the safest way to understand your spending patterns before you start blocking requests.
## Spending controls
When a **Hard Limit** is in effect, **Spending controls** decide how much flexibility the people affected have once they reach the limit.
If activated, users will be able to resume their spending once they reach their limit.
If activated, users will be able to edit their spending once they reach their limit.
## Budget alerts
Alerts notify the right people as spend climbs — long before a limit is reached.
Under **Budget alerts**, choose a percentage from **Select a percentage…** and click **Add Alert**. You can add several thresholds (for example 50%, 80%, and 95%) so recipients hear about spend at each stage.
Under **Send budget alerts to:**, type an email address and press Enter to add it. Add as many recipients as you need.
Alerts need both pieces to work. If you set thresholds, *at least one notification email is required.* And alerts only fire once a budget amount is set — if no Daily, Weekly, or Monthly amount exists, there's nothing for a threshold to measure against.
When a threshold is crossed, recipients are emailed automatically. Your users can also see warnings directly in the app — see [What your users experience](/admin-hub/budgets-and-spend/what-your-users-experience).
## Exceptions
Some projects, agents, interfaces, or gateways shouldn't count against budgets at all. Add them as **Exceptions** and they're exempt from all budget enforcement.
Exceptions apply globally across all users and groups. Anything listed is exempt from enforcement; everything else counts toward budgets as usual.
## Audit history
Every change to a budget is recorded. Open **Audit history** from a budget card to see who changed what and when.
* Each entry shows the **operation** (such as an edit), who made it, and when.
* Edits expand to show **field changes** — the old value and new value for fields like **Budget type**, **Period**, **Amount**, **Alert threshold**, and **Stop when exceeded**.
Viewing **Audit history** requires audit log access. Platform Admins, Admins, and Security Admins can see it; the button is hidden for everyone else. This gives you a complete, reviewable record of how your spending controls have changed over time.