Budgets and observed cost

budget is an optional hard spending limit for one workload. Available team credits and any configured account spending limit also apply. Without budget, there is no separate limit for that run. Not every account has a monthly cap. You do not need to provide an expected runtime.

Nodus starts work when the available spending allowance covers the selected capacity's initial billing window. It checks the remaining allowance as work continues and stops when more spending cannot be authorized. Acceptance does not promise completion within your budget.

Value	Meaning
`budget`	Optional hard limit in USD for one workload
Account spend cap	Shared monthly limit, when configured
Available credits	Team credit balance after charges and pending reservations
`workload.cost_now_usd`	Current settled and accruing customer cost
`workload.spend_usd`	Settled workload charges
`workload.meter.as_of`	Timestamp of the live meter
`ledger.charged_usd`	Settled customer charge
`ledger.settlement.balance_usd`	Accounting balance, not workload price

The meter also separates compute charges from platform fees. Read compute_settled_usd and platform_fee_settled_usd for settled components, and compute_accruing_usd and platform_fee_accruing_usd for current accrual. subscription_settled_usd is an account-level component and is zero for a workload. These fields default to zero when an older server omits them. Continue using the aggregate meter values for totals.

Stopping and settlement can take time. The final customer charge stays within the authorized allowance. Lowering a limit does not refund charges already incurred or remove an existing authorization. It prevents further authorization when no headroom remains.

Python

workload = client.get(workload_id)
print(workload.cost_now_usd)
ledger = workload.ledger()
print(ledger.charged_usd, ledger.settlement.status)

Route estimates are planning information, not a final bill or a required customer input. Use the meter while running and the ledger after settlement. Completion and resource cleanup can happen before financial settlement. During the credit pilot, pending usage continues to reserve credits until final accounting is available. A zero settled charge does not mean a free run. BudgetExceededError includes available account headroom when the server can provide it. Review the workload budget, credit balance, or account limit before retrying.