Budgets & Forecasting

A budget defines how much you expect to spend over a given period. To create one, navigate to Budgets → New Budget and configure the following:

• Scope — Choose the subscription or resource group the budget applies to. Narrower scopes give teams direct ownership of their spend.
• Amount — The total dollar amount you plan to spend during the period. This is displayed as the 100% mark on progress bars.
• Period — Select Monthly or Quarterly. The budget resets automatically at the start of each new period.
• Thresholds — Define one or more percentage thresholds (e.g. 50%, 80%, 100%) that trigger alerts when reached.

Once saved, CostBeacon begins tracking actual spend against your budget in near-real-time using data from your connected Azure subscriptions.

Threshold alerts notify you before a budget overrun happens, giving you time to act. CostBeacon supports three default thresholds:

• 50% — An early warning that spend is on track to consume the budget. Useful for mid-period course correction.
• 80% — A serious warning. At this level, teams should review active workloads and consider scaling down non-critical resources.
• 100% — The budget has been fully consumed. Any additional spend is an overrun.

When a threshold is crossed, CostBeacon sends an email notification to the budget owner and any additional recipients configured on the budget. Notifications are sent once per threshold per period, so you will never receive duplicate alerts.

CostBeacon includes a built-in linear forecast that projects your end-of-period spend based on the current burn rate. The forecast updates daily and is displayed alongside actual spend on the budget detail page.

The projection uses a simple linear model: it takes the average daily spend so far in the period and multiplies it by the total number of days. While straightforward, this approach surfaces potential overruns early — often within the first week of a new period — so you can take corrective action before costs spiral.

If the forecasted amount exceeds your budget, a warning badge appears on the budget card and in the sidebar, making it easy to spot at a glance.

The main Budgets page shows all active budgets as cards, each with a progress bar and key metrics. Here is how to interpret the display:

• Progress bar — Green when under 50%, amber between 50% and 80%, and red above 80%. A striped overlay appears when the forecast predicts an overrun.
• Actual vs. Budget — Shown as a dollar amount and percentage (e.g. $4,200 / $5,000 (84%)).
• Forecast — The projected end-of-period total is displayed below the progress bar, so you can compare it to the budget amount instantly.
• Days remaining — A countdown of days left in the current budget period.

Click any budget card to drill into a detailed view with daily spend charts, threshold history, and the option to edit or delete the budget.