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Documentationbreadcrumb arrow Grafana Cloudbreadcrumb arrow Cost management and billingbreadcrumb arrow Create usage alerts
Grafana Cloud

Create usage alerts

Usage alerts in Grafana Cloud help you proactively monitor and control your resource consumption and spending. Set up alerts to receive notifications when your usage or costs approach or exceed your predefined limits, helping you avoid unexpected charges.

The Cost Management and Billing App provides flexible alerting options that integrate with your existing Grafana Alerting infrastructure. This proactive approach helps you optimize costs and maintain control over your observability budget.

Key features

Usage and cost alerts provide the following capabilities:

  • Alert on cost or usage: Configure usage alerts based on specific usage metrics, such as active series for Metrics, GiB for Logs, and GiB for Traces. Configure cost alerts based on global spend in your Grafana Cloud account
  • Flexible thresholds: Set thresholds as a percentage of your total budget (for example, 85% of your budget)
  • Integrate with existing alert channels: Usage alerts leverage existing Grafana Alerting contact points so you receive notifications through your preferred channels, such as email or Slack
  • Intuitive UI: A new interface within the Cost Management and Billing App simplifies the alert creation and management process
  • Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Usage alerts use dedicated RBAC roles within the Cost Management and Billing App. When granted the correct permissions, this allows users to create usage and cost alerts without giving them full access to Grafana Alerting

How usage alerts work

Usage alerts monitor your Grafana Cloud consumption in real-time and compare it against your configured thresholds. When your usage or costs approach the defined limits, the system triggers notifications through your chosen contact points.

The alerts evaluate your consumption patterns continuously and provide early warning when you’re at risk of exceeding your budget or usage expectations. This gives you time to take corrective action before costs escalate.