> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://tyk.io/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Budget Control in Tyk AI Studio > How to configure budgets in Tyk AI Studio? ## Availability | Edition | Deployment Type | | :---------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------- | | [Enterprise](/5.12/ai-management/ai-studio/overview#enterprise-edition) | Self-Managed, Hybrid | Tyk AI Studio provides a Budget Control system to help organizations manage and limit spending on Large Language Model (LLM) usage. ## Purpose The primary goals of the Budget Control system are: * **Prevent Overspending:** Set hard limits on costs associated with LLM API calls. * **Cost Allocation:** Track and enforce spending limits at different granularities (e.g., per organization, per specific LLM configuration). * **Predictability:** Provide better predictability for monthly AI operational costs. ## Scope & Configuration Budgets are typically configured by administrators and applied at specific levels: * **Organization Level:** A global budget limit for all LLM usage within the organization. * **LLM Configuration Level:** A specific budget limit tied to a particular LLM setup (e.g., a dedicated budget for a high-cost `gpt-4` configuration). * **(Potentially) Application/User Level:** Granular budgets might be assignable to specific applications or teams (depending on implementation specifics). **Configuration Parameters:** * **Limit Amount:** The maximum monetary value allowed (e.g., \$500). * **Currency:** The currency the budget is defined in (e.g., USD). * **Time Period:** The reset interval for the budget, typically monthly (e.g., resets on the 1st of each month). * **Scope:** Which entity the budget applies to (Organization, specific LLM Configuration ID, etc.). Administrators configure these budgets via the Tyk AI Studio UI or API. Budget Config UI ## Enforcement > **Note:** Budget *enforcement* (blocking requests when limits are exceeded) is an **Enterprise Edition** feature. In Community Edition, budgets are tracked and recorded for reporting purposes, but requests are not blocked when limits are exceeded. Budget enforcement primarily occurs at the **[Proxy & API Gateway](/5.12/ai-management/ai-studio/proxy)**: 1. **Request Received:** The Proxy receives a request destined for an LLM. 2. **Cost Estimation:** Before forwarding the request, the Proxy might estimate the potential maximum cost (or rely on post-request cost calculation). 3. **Budget Check:** The Proxy checks the current spending against all applicable budgets (e.g., the specific LLM config budget AND the overall organization budget) for the current time period. 4. **Allow or Deny (Enterprise Edition):** * If the current spending plus the estimated/actual cost of the request does *not* exceed the limit(s), the request is allowed to proceed. * If the request *would* cause a budget limit to be exceeded, the request is blocked with HTTP 403, and an error is returned to the caller. ## Distributed Budget Control (Multi-Gateway) When running multiple Edge Gateways in a hub-and-spoke architecture, budget tracking faces a split-brain challenge — each gateway only has local visibility into its own spend. Tyk AI Studio solves this with a **budget pulse** mechanism: 1. **Analytics batching:** All Edge Gateways send analytics records (including cost data) back to AI Studio in regular batches. This gives AI Studio a **complete view** of token spend across the entire estate. 2. **Budget pulse:** AI Studio periodically sends a budget pulse to each gateway containing the **total spend** for each access token across all gateways. 3. **Local update:** Each gateway updates its local spend counter if Studio's reported number is higher than what it has locally. This provides **eventually-accurate** budget control. There may be a slight overrun window under very high concurrent load across multiple gateways, but the system converges quickly and prevents sustained overspending. > **Note:** Budget *enforcement* (blocking requests at the limit) is an Enterprise Edition feature. In Community Edition, budgets are tracked and visible in dashboards but requests are not blocked. ## Integration with Other Systems * **[Analytics & Monitoring](/5.12/ai-management/ai-studio/analytics):** The Analytics system provides the cost data used to track spending against budgets. The current spent amount for a budget period is derived from aggregated analytics data. * **[Model Pricing](/5.12/ai-management/ai-studio/ai-studio#model-pricing):** The pricing definitions are essential for the Analytics system to calculate costs accurately, which in turn feeds the Budget Control system. * **[Notification System](/5.12/ai-management/ai-studio/notifications):** Budgets trigger notifications when spending reaches defined thresholds. The system supports alerts at **50%**, **80%**, **90%**, and **100%** of the budget limit. Administrators receive notifications when these thresholds are crossed. ## Benefits * **Financial Control:** Prevents unexpected high bills from LLM usage. * **Resource Management:** Ensures fair distribution of AI resources according to allocated budgets. * **Accountability:** Tracks spending against specific configurations or organizational units. Budget Control is a critical feature for organizations looking to adopt AI technologies responsibly and manage their operational costs effectively.