> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.braintrust.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Monitor usage > Track usage and set up cost alerts Track your Braintrust usage and costs on the Billing page. **Usage analytics** and **Inference activity** are available on all plans. Pro plans and Starter plans with [on-demand usage enabled](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/billing/change-plan.md#enable-on-demand-usage) also show invoice projections and a **Detailed usage breakdown** link to the Orb portal. Enterprise accounts can view issued invoices in the [Invoices section of the Account details page](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/billing.md#view-account-billing). For other Enterprise invoice details, [contact Braintrust](https://www.braintrust.dev/contact). ## View usage 1. Go to ** Settings** > [** Billing**](https://www.braintrust.dev/app/~/configuration/billing). 2. If available, review **On-demand usage** for your projected invoice, Logs and Scores breakdown, and billing cycle reset date. 3. Under **Usage analytics**, select the current month or a custom date range (up to 100 days). Use the scope dropdown to view **Entire organization** (default) or specific projects. To compare every project, click **Select all** in the dropdown, or click **Deselect all** to return to **Entire organization**. Project comparisons support up to 200 projects, so if you can access more than 200, these actions are hidden and you select a subset instead. * **Entire organization**: toggle between **Daily** and **Cumulative** views of logs (GB), scores, and built-in inference tokens. * **By project**: daily logs, scores, and built-in inference tokens broken down by project. Project data is available from September 1, 2026, and selecting a start date before then prompts you to choose a later date. Requires data plane v2.13.0+ (Self-hosted customers must upgrade to use this feature.) In either scope, the built-in inference chart covers [built-in model](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/ai-providers.md#available-models) and [Topics](https://docs.braintrust.dev/observe/topics.md) tokens. Use its dropdown to break usage down **By model**, **By token kind** (input, cached input, cached write, and output), or both. On every plan except Starter without on-demand usage, use the mode dropdown to switch all charts between **Usage** and **Cost**. The dropdown shows the current mode. On Enterprise plans, cost mode: * Shows list-rate estimates for inference and Topics instead of your contract price, labeled **Estimated cost** in chart subtitles. * Hides the logs and scores charts, because your contract sets their pricing. To view a chart at a larger size, hover over it and click . In either scope, click **CSV** to download the data for the selected date range. 4. Review **Inference activity** to see how your [Braintrust Gateway](https://docs.braintrust.dev/deploy/gateway.md) token usage is distributed over the last 7 days. Each daily line chart shows each item's share of that day's tokens, and the legend shows its share of the whole period. Hover over the icon by a chart title for definitions of its "Other" and "Unknown" items. This section appears only if you have **Read** permission in the [**All projects**](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/access-control/manage-permissions.md) column. * **Activity by feature**: share by Braintrust feature (Online scoring, Topics, Playground, Experiments, and Loop). **Other feature** includes requests from sources Braintrust doesn't recognize, and **Unknown feature** includes requests with no feature label, such as your own SDK and API calls through Gateway. Use the **All projects** dropdown to show the feature mix of a single project. * **Activity by project**: share for your top five projects. **Other projects** includes the remaining projects, deleted projects, and projects you can't access. **Unknown project** includes requests that weren't associated with a project. 5. If available, click **Detailed usage breakdown** under **On-demand usage** to open the Orb portal, where you can: * View detailed breakdowns of trace spans, processed data, scores, Topics tokens, and retention storage. * Download usage reports for internal tracking or accounting. * Monitor costs and billing cycles. * Compare usage across multiple billing periods. ## Understanding usage metrics Your Braintrust usage is measured across four dimensions. Each contributes to your monthly costs if your usage grows beyond your plan's included limits. See [Plans and limits](https://docs.braintrust.dev/plans-and-limits.md#usage-limits) for included limits and on-demand usage rates by plan, and [Model credits](https://docs.braintrust.dev/plans-and-limits.md#model-credits) for the monthly model credit and overage rates. ### Processed data Processed data refers to the total bytes of data ingested by Braintrust when you create logs or experiments. This includes: * Inputs and outputs * Prompts and completions * Metadata and tags * Traces and spans * Datasets * Attachments (images, audio, files) * Any other related information **How it's measured**: Braintrust measures the size of each log, experiment, and dataset record when you send it and adds it to your total for that calendar month, which is invoiced at the end of the month. On Enterprise plans, monthly usage draws down from your committed volume. > [!NOTE] > > Processed data is measured at ingestion, based on what you send, not on what's currently stored. Deleting data or shortening your [retention window](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/data-management/retention.md) doesn't reduce your processed data usage for the month. [Retention storage](#retention-storage), a separate charge on Pro and Enterprise plans, is measured the same way, so deletion and shorter windows don't reduce it either. ### Scores Scores are used to measure the results of offline or online evaluations run in Braintrust. Each time you record a score, it counts toward your monthly usage. Examples of scored operations: * Offline evaluation scores from experiments * Online evaluation scores from production logs * Human review scores * Custom scorer outputs **How it's counted**: Each score recorded (whether automatic or manual) increments your monthly score count by one. ### Topics tokens [Topics](https://docs.braintrust.dev/observe/topics.md) is metered in input and output tokens consumed by the daily Topics pipeline (facet summarization, embedding, and cluster naming). Each plan includes a [monthly credit](https://docs.braintrust.dev/plans-and-limits.md#usage-limits), shared with the built-in models, that covers a portion of token usage at no extra cost. Once the credit is used up, uniform [overage rates](https://docs.braintrust.dev/plans-and-limits.md#model-credits) apply across all plans. **How it's measured**: Input and output tokens are summed daily across all Topics pipeline calls and counted toward your monthly credit. The credit does not roll over to the next month. > [!NOTE] > > On the Starter plan, if you exhaust your monthly credit and haven't [enabled on-demand usage](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/billing/change-plan.md#enable-on-demand-usage), Topics is paused for the rest of the billing cycle. Add a card to continue running Topics at the [overage rates](https://docs.braintrust.dev/plans-and-limits.md#model-credits), or wait for the next monthly cycle. > [!NOTE] > > [Built-in model](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/ai-providers.md#available-models) usage also draws from your model credits and appears under **Native inference** in your usage breakdown. Topics and built-in model tokens are charted together in the built-in inference chart under [**Usage analytics**](#view-usage). ### Retention storage On the Pro plan, retaining data beyond [30-day retention](https://docs.braintrust.dev/plans-and-limits.md#usage-limits) incurs a retention storage charge. Like processed data, retention storage is measured at ingestion: it bills the data you ingest into each month you keep beyond the base window, not what's currently stored. This covers logs and playground data, including each row's [activity history](https://docs.braintrust.dev/observe/examine-traces.md#view-activity-history). Experiments aren't subject to your retention window and have up to 365-day retention on all plans, but the data you ingest into them still counts toward retention storage. On Enterprise plans, retention beyond your base window is arranged with your account team. To keep data longer, [extend your retention window](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/data-management/retention.md#extend-the-retention-window). Because retention storage is measured at ingestion, deleting data, setting a [retention automation](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/data-management/retention.md#automate-data-deletion), or shortening your window doesn't reduce it. The only way to lower retention storage is to ingest less. **How it's measured**: Braintrust measures the size of your retained data daily and bills the highest daily amount during the billing month. See [Plans and limits](https://docs.braintrust.dev/plans-and-limits.md#usage-limits) and the [Pricing page](https://www.braintrust.dev/pricing) for rates. ## Set up spend alerts > [!NOTE] > > Spend alerts are available for plans with [on-demand usage](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/billing/change-plan.md#enable-on-demand-usage) (Starter and Pro). Receive a notification when your total invoice amount reaches a threshold in the current billing cycle. You can set up to three spending thresholds and choose to notify via **Billing email**, a **Slack channel**, or both. 1. Go to ** Settings** > [** Billing**](https://www.braintrust.dev/app/~/configuration/billing). 2. Click ** Spend alerts**. 3. Set your spending thresholds. 4. Under **Notify via**, select **Billing email**, **Slack channel**, or both. * To notify a Slack channel, [enable the Slack integration](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/organizations.md#enable-slack-integration) first, then select a workspace and channel. 5. Click **Save**. Spend alerts are informational-only and do not interrupt or limit your usage. You can update or disable alerts at any time. Spend alerts are distinct from Topics credit notifications. Braintrust emails you automatically when you've consumed 60% and 100% of your [monthly Topics credit](https://docs.braintrust.dev/plans-and-limits.md#model-credits). These notifications are sent automatically and aren't configurable, whereas spend alerts track your total invoice amount against thresholds you set. ## Next steps * [Set up alerts](https://docs.braintrust.dev/observe/alerts.md) — Learn more about creating and managing alerts * [Configure data retention](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/data-management/retention.md) — Configure retention policies to control costs * [Plans and limits](https://docs.braintrust.dev/plans-and-limits.md) — Review your plan limits and features * [Billing FAQ](https://docs.braintrust.dev/admin/billing/faq.md) — Common questions about billing and usage * [Write SQL filters](https://docs.braintrust.dev/observe/alerts.md#common-alert-patterns) — Advanced SQL patterns for alert conditions This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.