# Hard Budget Cap

Cortex offers a monthly Hard Budget Caps for users opting for the Pay-as-you-go plan, allowing for enhanced control over spending within each billing cycle, which coincides with the calendar month. You can also set [Soft Budget Cap](/cost-management/saas/pay-as-you-go/soft-budget-cap.md) instead of a Hard Budget Cap. 

{% hint style="danger" %}
Hard Budget Cap is valid for ALL Runners with their Cost Management is selected as [Pay-as-you-go](/cost-management/saas/pay-as-you-go.md). (*cf.* [Create a Runner to Run Applications](/runners/create-a-runner-to-run-applications.md), [Create a Runner to Run Applications](/runners/create-a-runner-to-run-applications.md#step-1-billing))
{% endhint %}

## **Setting Up a Hard Budget Cap**

A Hard Budget Cap acts as a ceiling for the total expenditure across all your Pay-as-you-go Runners. To establish a monthly Hard Budget Cap, navigate to the **Spend Limits** section found under the Pay-as-you-go graphs in the [Current Costs](/organization-settings/current-costs.md) area within [Organization Settings](/organization-settings.md).

## **Editing or Removing The Hard Budget Cap**

After a Hard Budget Cap is in place, adjustments or removal can be made through the Spend Limits section under the Pay-as-you-go graphs in the [Current Costs](/organization-settings/current-costs.md) area within [Organization Settings](/organization-settings.md).

 The removal of a Hard Budget Cap can be done at any time, offering flexibility in financial management.

{% hint style="info" %}
Any new monthly Hard Budget Cap introduced must be less than the total incurred cost of all your Pay-as-you-go Runners up to that point.
{% endhint %}

Visibility into your current Pay-as-you-go costs is provided in the Pay-as-you-go graphs section, also located in the Current Costs area of Organization Settings.

This structure is designed to give users precise control over their cloud spending, ensuring that costs remain within expected boundaries without compromising operational needs.


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