← Glossary / 84 of 100
n. / Cost and performance
Cost budget
Definition
A cost budget is a limit on spend, per run, per user or per time period, with a defined action when it is reached, such as stopping the run, switching to a cheaper model or sending an alert.
In more detail
Agents can loop, so a per-run cap protects you from one bad request becoming a large bill. Account-level budgets catch slower leaks, like a prompt change that doubled input size. Decide in advance whether hitting a budget should stop, degrade or only notify.
Example
Each run is capped at $0.50. At $0.45 the agent stops calling tools and returns the best answer it has so far, and the run is flagged.
Related terms
