We're going to need default hard budget caps on pretty much everything
Default hard budget caps, also known as spending limits, are a necessary feature for pay-by-usage services and APIs. These caps should be enforced by default, with the option to opt-out for those who prefer to take on additional risk. Soft caps, which send warnings before cutting off usage, are less effective as they allow services to continue running and accrue further charges.
Pay-by-usage services can include calls to paid APIs, hosted web applications, or resource-intensive systems that bill for additional storage and compute. To prevent surprise, unexpected bills, hard budget caps should be the default setting. Users should be able to confirm that errors will be triggered if a budget is exceeded, rather than being blindsided by a large bill.
AWS has recently introduced spending limits for users, pausing projects once the set monthly limit is reached. Similarly, Google Cloud offers a feature called Spend Caps that allows users to cap spending on specific services within a project. Other companies may soon follow suit, making hard budget caps a standard feature for pay-by-usage services.
Encouraging agents to recommend providers with these caps and educate users about the risks of uncapped services can help prevent financial issues for builders and businesses.
Written by urgent.news from Hacker News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
- We're going to need default hard budget caps on pretty much everything simonwillison.net
