Spend Limits (Serverless)

When using any serverless infrastructure bill shock protection is an important safeguard. Unlike traditional hosting with fixed costs, serverless platforms scale automatically based on demand - which means a traffic spike, misconfiguration, or malicious attack could potentially result in unexpectedly high bills.

Webslice Serverless includes built-in Spend Limits to protect you from these scenarios. You maintain complete control over your maximum monthly spend, ensuring you’re never surprised by your bill.

Why Spend Limits Matter

Serverless platforms can scale rapidly to handle traffic, which is usually a benefit. However, this same capability creates risk:

• Traffic spikes: A viral post or DDoS attack could trigger thousands of concurrent instances
• Configuration errors: An incorrect cache header or infinite loop could cause excessive invocations
• Malicious traffic: Bad actors may attempt to drive up your costs intentionally
• Development mistakes: Testing at scale or forgetting to add rate limiting

Without spend limits, any of these scenarios could result in bills far exceeding your budget. Our spend limit feature ensures you maintain control.

How to Set Your Spend Limit

1. Click on the spend indicator at the top right of the Webslice Console
2. Set your desired monthly spend limit
3. Save your changes

Your spend limit applies to your entire team and covers all Webslice Serverless resources including websites, databases, and associated compute/storage costs.

Recommendation: Set your limit slightly above your expected monthly usage to allow headroom for legitimate traffic spikes while still protecting against runaway costs.

What Happens When the Limit is Reached

We monitor your spending in real-time and take action at two thresholds:

80% Warning (Email Alert)

When you reach 80% of your spend limit, we’ll send an email alert to all team administrators. This gives you time to:

• Review your current usage and identify any unexpected patterns
• Adjust your spend limit if needed
• Optimize your deployments to reduce costs
• Investigate any potential issues

100% Limit Reached (Automatic Pause)

When your spending reaches the limit (or as close to 100% as possible, typically within a few minutes):

1. All websites and databases are paused - This immediately stops further resource consumption and costs
2. Your data remains safe - Nothing is deleted; all deployments and data are preserved
3. You receive a notification - An email alert explains that your team has been paused due to reaching the spend limit

Caution

There may be a few minutes of delay between reaching 100% and the automatic pause taking effect, which could result in slightly exceeding your limit. We process spending data as quickly as possible to minimize any overage.

Unpausing Your Team

If your team is paused due to reaching the spend limit, you can easily restore service:

1. Log in to the Webslice Console
2. Click on the spend indicator at the top right
3. Increase your spend limit to a higher amount
4. Your team will automatically unpause, and your websites and databases will resume normal operation

This gives you complete control, you decide when and how much to increase your limit based on your needs and budget.

Best Practices

• Set realistic limits: Base your limit on expected usage plus a reasonable buffer (e.g., 20-30% above average)
• Monitor regularly: Check your spend dashboard periodically to understand your usage patterns
• Respond to 80% warnings: Don’t wait until you hit 100%; use the warning as a signal to review and adjust
• Optimize costs: Use caching strategies and appropriate resource sizing to keep costs efficient
• Plan for growth: If you’re expecting a traffic spike (product launch, marketing campaign), increase your limit proactively