CloudZero Academy
Guides
CloudZero Status
  1. Save Money

Budgets

Budgets let you set monthly spending targets for any View and track actual spend against those targets. When spend approaches or crosses a threshold you define, CloudZero sends an alert through the notification channels configured on the View.

In CloudZero, select Budgets from the left navigation.

Budgets page showing the results table with View, Name, Spend, Budget, and percent used columns

How Budgets work

Each Budget is linked to a View, which determines the costs being tracked and the team that receives alerts. You can also create Forecasts alongside Budgets to track projected spend separately from your targets. Forecasts use the same workflow and appear alongside Budgets on the page.

Budget alerts are delivered through the notification channels (Slack, email) configured on the View. For details on setting up notification channels, see Notifications.

What the Budgets page shows

The Budgets page lists all Budgets and Forecasts across your organization. The results table shows:

  • View: The View the Budget or Forecast is linked to.
  • Name: Whether the entry is a Budget or Forecast.
  • Spend: The actual spend for the current month.
  • Budget: The target amount set for the current month.
  • % Used: The percentage of the Budget consumed, color-coded to show where spend is on track, approaching the target, or over budget.
  • Actions: A three-dot menu for managing the entry.

You can search, export, reset filters, and customize which columns appear using the controls above the table.

View Budget details

Click a Budget or Forecast name to open the detail panel.

Budget detail panel showing summary cards, Budget Used bar, alert thresholds, and cumulative spend chart

The detail panel shows:

  • Summary cards: The current Budget amount, the percentage of Budget used, and whether spend is over budget.
  • Budget Used: A progress bar showing actual spend against the Budget target.
  • Alert Thresholds: A visual bar showing which percentage thresholds are active for this Budget.
  • Cumulative Spend to Budget this Month: A chart comparing actual spend (solid line) against the Budget target (dotted line) over the current month. Select View in Explorer to investigate the cost data further.
  • Monthly History: A bar chart showing Budget vs actual spend by month.
  • Quarterly History: A bar chart showing Budget vs actual spend by quarter.

The toolbar at the top of the detail panel includes:

  • Expand: Open the detail panel in full screen.
  • Copy: Duplicate the Budget.
  • Delete: Permanently remove the Budget.
  • Close: Close the detail panel.

Create or update a Budget

Budgets are managed through a CSV spreadsheet. You generate a template from CloudZero, fill in your spending targets, and upload it back.

Step 1: Generate the Budget template

  1. On the Budgets page, click Download Template.
  2. In the Generate Budget CSV modal, select one or more Views to include.
  3. Under Include, check Budgets, Forecasts, or both.
  4. Under Alert Thresholds (optional), click the percentage values you want to enable (10% to 100%). Selected thresholds will be pre-populated as Y in the generated CSV.
  5. Select a Start Month and End Month. The maximum date range is 2 years.
  6. Click Generate CSV.
Generate Budget CSV modal showing Views selector, Include checkboxes, alert thresholds, and date range

Step 2: Fill in spending targets

Open the downloaded CSV file in any spreadsheet tool (Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, Google Sheets).

The spreadsheet is pre-formatted with:

  • Rows: One row per View and Budget/Forecast combination.
  • Alert threshold columns: 10% through 100%, pre-populated with Y or N based on your selections in the previous step. You can change these values in the CSV.
  • Month columns: One column per month in your selected date range.

Enter the dollar amount you want to track for each month. Do not add or remove columns or rows.

Budget CSV open in a spreadsheet showing alert threshold columns and monthly budget amounts

Step 3: Upload the Budget

  1. Save your spreadsheet as a CSV file.
  2. On the Budgets page, click Upload Budget.
  3. In the Upload Budgets modal, drag and drop your CSV file or click to browse.
  4. Click Upload.

CloudZero validates the file and creates or updates your Budgets. If the file contains errors, CloudZero identifies which row has the issue.

After uploading, CloudZero begins tracking actual spend against your Budget targets immediately. Alerts are sent through the View's notification channels when spend crosses an enabled threshold.

Alert thresholds

Alert thresholds determine when CloudZero sends a notification as spend approaches or crosses your Budget target. Thresholds are set in 10% increments from 10% to 100%.

You can configure thresholds in two places:

  • In the Generate Budget CSV modal: Select thresholds visually before generating the template.
  • In the CSV: Change the Y or N value in each threshold column.

Only the highest crossed threshold triggers a notification. For example, if you enable 50%, 80%, and 100% thresholds, and spend reaches 85% of the Budget, CloudZero sends one alert for the 80% threshold.

Budget alerts are delivered through the notification channels (Slack, email) configured on the View. For details on setting up notification channels, see Notifications.

Delete a Budget

  1. Click the three-dot menu in the Actions column for the Budget you want to delete, or open the detail panel and click the Delete icon in the toolbar.
  2. Confirm the deletion.
ℹ️

Have questions or feedback? Reach out to your account manager.