---
title: "Create a usage alert | Grafana Labs"
description: "Set up proactive usage alerts in the Cost Management and Billing app to monitor your Grafana Cloud spend and prevent unexpected charges."
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

# Create a usage alert

Usage alerts notify you when your spend or consumption approaches a threshold, so you can act before an overage shows up on your invoice. You create them directly in the **Usage Alerts** tab of the Cost Management and Billing app, without needing full access to Grafana Alerting.

To create alerts, you need the permissions granted by the **Usage alerts admin** role. Refer to [Manage access to the Cost Management and Billing app](/docs/grafana-cloud/cost-management-and-billing/set-up/cost-management-billing-rbac/).

01. In this section, you’ll open the alert builder and set a budget on your global spend, choose alert levels, and pick where Grafana sends the notification.
02. Pop this guide out into a floating window so it stays visible when the **Create usage alert** drawer opens.
03. Go to the **Usage Alerts** tab of the Cost Management and Billing app.
04. Click **Create usage alert** to open the alert builder. If you already have alerts, the same control is labeled **+ Create usage alert**.
05. Keep **Global usage** selected to alert on your total Grafana Cloud spend. You can also choose attributed stack usage or anomaly detection.
06. Leave **Product** set to **Global spend** for a budget alert, or pick a specific product such as Metrics, Logs, or Traces to alert on that product’s usage.
07. Enter your monthly budget in US dollars (USD), for example `1000`. Grafana alerts you as your spend approaches this amount.
08. Alert levels decide how close to the budget you get notified. Select one or more preset levels, such as 50%, 70%, 85%, and 95% of the threshold, or add a custom level to fine-tune when Grafana warns you.
09. Choose a **Contact point** for the notification. If you don’t have one yet, click **View or create contact points** to set one up.
10. Review your settings, then click **Create alerts** to save. The alert becomes active immediately and begins monitoring.

## Other alert types

The builder also supports two more options at the top of the drawer:

- **Attributed usage**: Alert on a specific team or service using your [cost attribution](/docs/grafana-cloud/cost-management-and-billing/cost-attributions/) labels. This option appears only when cost attribution is configured.
- **Anomaly Detection**: Alert when Metrics, Logs, or Traces usage deviates from a historical baseline instead of a fixed threshold. Choose a sensitivity and, optionally, alert on unexpected drops. Refer to [Create anomaly alerts](/docs/grafana-cloud/cost-management-and-billing/usage-cost-alerts/anomaly-alerts/).

## Best practices

When setting up usage alerts, consider these recommendations:

- **Set multiple levels**: Use several percentages, such as 50%, 75%, and 90%, so you get early warning before reaching the threshold.
- **Alert per product**: Create separate alerts for Metrics, Logs, and Traces to quickly identify which product drives a cost increase.
- **Use attribution**: Route attributed-usage alerts to the team responsible for the spend.
- **Watch for drops**: Anomaly alerts with drop detection can catch telemetry that silently stops arriving.

To review or change an alert later, return to the **Usage Alerts** tab and select it. Refer to [Manage existing alerts](/docs/grafana-cloud/cost-management-and-billing/usage-cost-alerts/manage-alerts/).

In the next milestone, you’ll complete your journey and find additional cost management resources.

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### More to explore (optional)

At this point in your journey, you can explore the following paths:

- [Create usage and cost alerts](/docs/grafana-cloud/cost-management-and-billing/usage-cost-alerts/create-alerts/)
- [Analyze and reduce costs](/docs/grafana-cloud/cost-management-and-billing/analyze-costs/)
- [Grafana Alerting](/docs/grafana-cloud/alerting-and-irm/alerting/)