This document is a step by step guide for Public Cloud Customers to create and monitor budgets in their cloud account.

Creating a budget does not prevent any unintentional or overspend within a cloud account but serves as a benchmark and a monitoring tool for cloud spend. Teams using the cloud account are responsible for any costs incurred within their project.

Documentation:

https://cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets

How to Set Up Budget Alerts in GCP

Step 1: Sign In to the Google Cloud Console

1. Navigate to the Google Cloud Console.

2. Sign in with your Google account credentials.

Step 2: Access the Billing Section

1. From the left-hand navigation menu, scroll down to the Billing section.

2. If you have access to multiple billing accounts, select the billing account associated with your project.

Step 3: Navigate to Budgets & Alerts

1. In the Billing dashboard, click on Budgets & Alerts (found under the Billing submenu).

2. Click Create Budget to set up a new budget.

Step 4: Configure Your Budget

1. Name Your Budget: Enter a descriptive name (e.g., "My Monthly GCP Budget").

2. Scope Your Budget:

• Choose whether the budget applies to a billing account, a specific project, or a set of services.

• Optionally, filter by labels or sub-accounts for more granular control.

3. Set the Budget Amount:

• Specify the amount (e.g., $500) and whether it is based on actual spend, forecasted spend, or both.

Step 5: Set Up Notifications

1. Scroll down to the Actions and Alerts section.

2. Add Threshold Rules to specify when alerts should be triggered:

• Example: Notify at 50%, 75%, and 100% of the budget.

3. For each threshold:

• Set the percentage of the budget.

• Specify the notification type:

• Email notifications: Enter email addresses to receive alerts.

• Pub/Sub notifications (optional): Send alerts to a Pub/Sub topic for further automation.

Step 6: Configure a Pub/Sub Topic (Optional)

1. If using Pub/Sub notifications, ensure a topic is already created:

• Navigate to Pub/Sub from the console.

• Create a new topic (e.g., budget-alerts-topic).

2. Add subscriptions (e.g., webhook, third-party tools) to receive notifications.

3. Return to the budget setup page and select the topic under Pub/Sub topic.

Step 7: Review and Create Budget

1. Double-check all details:

• Budget name.

• Scope (billing account, project, or service).

• Budget amount and thresholds.

• Notification settings.

2. Click Save to create the budget and enable alerts.

Step 8: Monitor Your Budget

1. Go to Budgets & Alerts under the Billing section to view your budget and spending progress.

2. Use the Reports section to analyze historical and forecasted spending trends.

Tips for Effective Budget Management in GCP

• Use Forecast-Based Alerts: This allows you to proactively manage spend before reaching the budget limit.

• Project-Level Budgets: For multi-project setups, create separate budgets for each project to better track usage.

• Automate Responses: Use Pub/Sub notifications with Cloud Functions to trigger automated workflows when budget thresholds are exceeded.

• Billing Export: Set up BigQuery billing export to analyze granular cost data if needed.