> ## 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.

# Custom Budgets

> Override your default budget policies for specific projects, users, and gateways.

Your [Budget Policies](/admin-hub/budgets-and-spend/budget-policies) set the *default* limits for every project, user, and gateway. **Custom Budgets** let you override those defaults when a specific project, user, or gateway needs a different limit — without changing the policy everyone else follows.

The page subtitle sums it up: *Override default budget settings by defining custom allocations for specific projects, users and gateways.*

## When to use a Custom Budget

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Projects" icon="folder">
    Limit spend per project — give a high-traffic project more room, or cap an experimental one.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Users" icon="user">
    Limit spend per user — raise the ceiling for a power user, or tighten it for a guest.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Gateways" icon="server">
    Limit spend per gateway — set a different allocation for a specific gateway.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Create a Custom Budget

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the right tab">
    Go to **Custom Budgets** and pick the **Projects**, **Users**, or **Gateways** tab, then click **+ Add Custom Budget**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose what to configure">
    Select the type of entity — a project, user, or gateway — then search for and select the specific one you want a custom budget for.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the limits">
    Enter the **Daily**, **Weekly**, and **Monthly** limits for that entity. These override the default policy for that project, user, or gateway only.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Save the custom budget. It appears in the list with its own limits.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Reading the list

Each tab lists its budgets with columns for **Name**, **Daily Limit**, **Weekly Limit**, and **Monthly Limit**, plus how much has been spent so far — shown as *Spent \[amount] of \[limit]*.

A badge on each row tells you whether a budget is the default or a custom override:

| Badge                      | Meaning                                                     |
| -------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Custom budget**          | A limit you set here that overrides the default             |
| **Default user budget**    | This entity is still using the default from Budget Policies |
| **Default project budget** | This entity is still using the default from Budget Policies |
| **Default gateway budget** | This entity is still using the default from Budget Policies |

<Warning>
  Airia flags overrides that may need a second look. If a custom budget is *higher than the default* for that level, or *higher than the company budget*, you'll see a note on the row. A custom limit doesn't let spend exceed the **Company** budget — company spend is still the overall ceiling.
</Warning>

<Tip>
  Reach for a Custom Budget only for the exceptions. Keep your everyday limits in [Budget Policies](/admin-hub/budgets-and-spend/budget-policies) so most projects, users, and gateways follow one consistent default, and override just the few that genuinely differ.
</Tip>