---
title: Spend and usage
display: '*Spend* and usage'
nav_title: Spend and usage
summary:
  - "Set usage alerts, and cap spend per member, project or API key."
  - "Read Analytics by date, project, category and model, and follow every action in the Activity Trail."
  - "Know what admins see and what members see, and how to share the numbers."
description: Cap what a member, project or API key can spend, get warned in time, and read where credits go.
section: teams
order: 4
type: tutorial
level: Scale
roles: [admin]
time: { read: 2 }
models_checked: []
last_verified: 2026-11-11
# a lesson that points to its articles: their PDFs, not one of this page
pdf: false
video_caption: Spend and usage
film_first: true
about: "Keep spend under control and see where it goes: usage alerts under Billing, usage limits for members, projects and API keys, Analytics and the Activity Trail, and who sees what, admins or members. The models and settings in this lesson are as of November 2026."
chapters:
  - { at: 0, title: "In this lesson", image: "/media/images/teams/spend-and-usage/ch-01-in-this-lesson.webp" }
  - { at: 15.9, title: "Alerts", image: "/media/images/teams/spend-and-usage/ch-02-alerts.webp" }
  - { at: 34.8, title: "Limits", image: "/media/images/teams/spend-and-usage/ch-03-limits.webp" }
  - { at: 61.7, title: "Usage", image: "/media/images/teams/spend-and-usage/ch-04-usage.webp" }
  - { at: 97.7, title: "Who sees what", image: "/media/images/teams/spend-and-usage/ch-05-who-sees-what.webp" }
articles: [spend-and-usage]
related: []
thumb: teams/spend-and-usage/thumb.webp
video: tutorials/spend-and-usage.mp4
steps:
  - title: "Find Usage Alerts"
    text: "Pill › the gear next to the organization › Billing. In the current-plan card, click Set up on the Usage Alerts row."
  - title: "Add alerts"
    text: "Click Add alert and set Notify when balance drops below a value in % of the plan's credits or in CU, up to ten, then Save. Every admin gets an email once per billing period per alert."
  - title: "Set a default limit for everyone"
    text: "In Organization › Members, click Set limit on the Default usage limit card, type a CU amount and click Save. It applies to every member and API key without a cap of its own."
  - title: "Set a limit for one person"
    text: "Click the usage icon in the person's Actions column, turn off Unlimited, type the CU cap and click Save. Each person's usage then shows against their cap."
  - title: "Cap a project and an API key"
    text: "A project: Project › Usage limit, type the CU amount, Save limit. An API key: click its Usage value in Organization › API Keys; keys used by scripts are the first to cap."
  - title: "See where the credits went"
    text: "Organization › Analytics: pick the dates, filter by Projects or Categories, switch Usage breakdown between Model and Category and between Compute Units and Jobs. Below are Usage per model, the Usage Heatmap and Top Users."
  - title: "Check the Activity Trail"
    text: "Organization › Activity Trail logs who made what, with which model, and when. Search it, pick the dates, filter by Projects and type, and hover a row to preview."
  - title: "Send the numbers to finance"
    text: "Click Create key on the Analytics API key card at the top of Analytics to pull the same numbers into your own tools."
  - title: "Know who sees what"
    text: "Admins see the organization's Analytics, the Activity Trail and every member's usage; members see their own under You › Analytics, and each project has its own under Project › Analytics. Download the report to share the organization's numbers."
agent_steps:
  - title: "Connect the Scenario MCP as an admin"
    text: "Connect your agent with OAuth and sign in as an organization Admin at [mcp.scenario.com](https://mcp.scenario.com). Usage alerts, Auto-Refill, the default limit, project and API key caps and the Analytics API key stay in the web app (Billing, Members, Usage limit, API Keys)."
  - title: "Brief the agent: where the credits went"
    prompt: |-
      Using the Scenario MCP, in the team [team]: with the usage tool, show me this billing period's usage by project, by model and by person, and the top five consumers. Don't change anything.
  - title: "Cap one person"
    prompt: |-
      Find the members tools with scenario_tools_search. Set a consumption cap of [amount] CU for this billing period on [email]. Show me the change first and wait for my go, then list the members with their caps and what each has used.
  - title: "Check and report"
    text: "Accept when the totals match Organization › Analytics for the same dates and the cap shows on the person's row in Members. A cap only restricts the shared pool, it never adds credits."
updated: 2026-11-11
canonical: https://learn.scenario.com/teams/spend-and-usage
---

Last updated: 2026-11-11

# Spend and usage

> Cap what a member, project or API key can spend, get warned in time, and read where credits go.

In short:

- Set usage alerts, and cap spend per member, project or API key.
- Read Analytics by date, project, category and model, and follow every action in the Activity Trail.
- Know what admins see and what members see, and how to share the numbers.


Everyone in your organization draws from one shared pool of credits, counted in compute units (CU). This lesson sets up usage alerts for the Starforge Games organization, caps spending per member, project and API key, reads where the credits went in **Analytics** and the **Activity Trail**, and shows who sees which numbers. All of it is also available through the Scenario MCP; here it is done in the web app.

:::note As of November 2026
The models, settings and screens in this article are the ones Scenario offered in November 2026. New models and updates arrive often, so check the app for newer options before you choose.
:::

:::steps Quick version
1. In **Settings** › **Organization** › **Billing**, click **Set up** next to **Usage Alerts** and add up to ten low-balance alerts.
2. In **Organization** › **Members**, click **Set limit** for a default cap, or set one person's cap from their row.
3. Cap a project under **Project** › **Usage limit**, and an API key from its **Usage** column.
4. Read **Organization** › **Analytics** and **Activity Trail** to see where the credits went.
5. Share the organization's numbers with members by downloading the report.
:::

## Before you start

- **You need to be an organization Admin** to set alerts and limits and to see the organization's numbers.
- **Alerts warn, limits block.** An alert only sends an email; nothing stops. A limit is a cap: when it's reached, generation stops for that member, project or key.
- **Limits are caps, not allowances.** They never add credits; they only restrict how much of the shared pool someone can draw. A member, project or key with no limit can use the whole balance.
- **The billing period** runs on your subscription's monthly cycle, not the calendar month. The reset date shows on the **Billing** page, and every limit dialog repeats it.
- **Plans.** Usage alerts need a paid plan. Per-member, per-project and per-key limits are Enterprise features. Analytics is on Pro and above.
- **Every generation shows its cost on the Generate button** before you run it, in CU.

## Step 1: Find Usage Alerts

Start with alerts, under **Billing**: open the pill, click the gear next to the organization, then **Billing**. In the current-plan card, below the compute units available, are two rows: **Auto-Refill** and **Usage Alerts**. Until you set them, both read "Disabled". Click **Set up** on the **Usage Alerts** row.

![The Auto-Refill and Usage Alerts rows on the Billing page, each with a Set up button, next to Buy compute units](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/0cf87121662a5840d28f714248228500466431940853f8d8c6d256a42ca0bf6f.webp)

## Step 2: Add alerts

**Usage Alerts** opens: "Get notified when your team is running low on compute units." Click **Add alert**, and choose when it fires. Each row reads **Notify when balance drops below**, then:

- **A value**, a whole number.
- **A unit:** **%** for a percentage of your plan's credits for the period (1 to 100), or **CU** for a fixed amount.
- **A switch** to turn that alert on or off without deleting it, and a bin to remove it.

Add up to ten, then click **Save**. When the balance drops below one, every admin gets an email. Each alert fires once per billing period, and again only if the balance climbs back above it (after a top-up, for example). If one big batch crosses several alerts at once, admins get one email, for the lowest.

A common setup: one early warning as a percentage, and one or two fixed CU amounts for "nearly empty".

![The Usage Alerts dialog with two alerts, below 50% and below 20%, Add alert and Save](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/92275a8739231ded9951d5c15fbd058de7a74da6c9f10c5280dd98d280478a63.webp)

**Auto-Refill**, on the same card, buys compute units automatically when the balance drops below a level you choose. Many teams set an alert a little above the Auto-Refill level as a check.

## Step 3: Set a default limit for everyone

Limits block spending at a cap. In **Organization** › **Members**, the **Default usage limit** card ("No default" until you set one) applies to every member and API key without a limit of its own. Click **Set limit**, type a CU amount and click **Save**.

Members and API keys with their own limit keep it. Usage counts the CU used during the current billing period.

![The Default usage limit dialog: a CU cap for every member and API key without an individual limit](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/b4deae78794019a254c8ea6557457a02d55d5fe64f46bdea0c0ba5b7373db378.webp)

## Step 4: Set a limit for one person

You can also set a limit for one person, from their row: click the usage icon in the **Actions** column. **Usage limit** opens with their email under the title. Turn off **Unlimited** ("No consumption cap"), type the CU cap and click **Save**.

In the members list, each person's usage shows against their cap, so you can see who is close.

![The Usage limit dialog for one member, with the CU field and the Unlimited switch](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/2868d833832eb58e7d68990ff13ad2719060fcd3533864b106e0d68e7e483d8b.webp)

## Step 5: Cap a project and an API key

- **A project.** Each project can have its own cap, under **Project** › **Usage limit**: type the CU amount and click **Save limit**. It counts everything spent in the project, across all its members and API keys. Only organization admins can change it; project owners can see it. [Set up your workspace](https://learn.scenario.com/teams/set-up-your-workspace.md) shows this page.
- **An API key.** Open **Organization** › **API Keys** and click the key's **Usage** value. The same **Usage limit** dialog opens with the key's name. You can also set the cap when you create the key.

Remember: a member or key with no limit can use the whole balance. Keys used by scripts or outside tools are the first to cap.

![The Usage limit dialog for an API key, set to Unlimited](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/751e43830b7adfb1282a102ced8f9cf1ed8587e88bf686a785732cecab8abb19.webp)

| Level | Where | What it caps |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | **Organization** › **Billing** | The organization's whole pool for the period |
| Default | **Organization** › **Members** › **Set limit** | Every member and key without its own cap |
| Member | Their row in **Organization** › **Members** | One person |
| Project | **Project** › **Usage limit** | Everyone and every key in one project |
| API key | **Usage** in **Organization** › **API Keys** | One key |

## Step 6: See where the credits went

**Organization** › **Analytics** shows where your credits go.

- **Dates.** Pick the date range, or step back a month with the arrows.
- **Filters.** Filter by **Projects** or **Categories**.
- **The chart.** **Usage breakdown** switches between **Model** and **Category**, and between **Compute Units** and **Jobs**. The total for the period sits under the chart, with a download icon.
- **Usage per model.** The top models ranked by total spend, with the quantity, the CU per job and the total for each.

![Organization › Analytics: the date range, filters and the Usage breakdown chart by model in compute units](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/22f08ec4d18150ff36245f673308fe1db7270851ccfce942ad1070ffd057fffe.webp)

Further down:

- **Usage Heatmap:** your busiest days, with the most active month and day and your streaks.
- **Top Users:** the top consumers ranked by CU, people and API keys alike, with a download icon.

![The Usage Heatmap and Top Users, below the chart](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/f209254fa717d89eb988dc40d255117996326a787196a569897ad80fc85d0c9d.webp)

## Step 7: Check the Activity Trail

**Organization** › **Activity Trail** logs every action: who made what, with which model, and when. Search it, pick the dates, and filter by **Projects** and by type. Hover a row to preview what was made.

![Organization › Activity Trail: each generation with the person, the model and the time](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/fc7b0d3551c339bc8a32b72291d8c0d9a39439f24052074378b6cfca18c87d14.webp)

## Step 8: Send the numbers to finance

For finance, click **Create key** on the **Analytics API key** card at the top of **Analytics**, and pull the same numbers into your own tools. Until you create one, the card reads that organization usage can't be queried through the API.

## Step 9: Know who sees what

- **Admins** see everything: the organization's **Analytics**, the **Activity Trail**, and every member's usage, right in **Members**.
- **Members** see their own usage, under **You** › **Analytics**.
- **Each project** has its own **Analytics**, under **Project** › **Analytics**, for the people who run it.

Members don't see the organization's numbers. If someone needs them, download the report and share it.

![You › Analytics: one person's own usage breakdown](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/1c63f111622f2696b7a91fb0cb6fe1b74f0d763dc5551ba2c19f0dc7d5cdb2a3.webp)

![Project › Analytics for Tour Demo: the usage of one project](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/e5e7b3f57bbf8f8edab59069446d9b194659719a05118acb60e75946ca757d18.webp)

## When a limit is reached

- **A member or project cap:** generation is blocked with a message saying the cap was reached and that an admin can raise or remove it.
- **An API key cap:** requests with that key stop.
- **The plan's credits run out with no top-up left:** on Pro, Max and Enterprise the organization moves to Relax mode, where you can keep generating in the web app with a wait between jobs. Requests made with an API key stop.

A separate limit caps how many jobs run at the same time. **Concurrent Jobs Limit** means too many jobs are running at once, not that your credits are used up: wait for one to finish.

## Common problems

| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| No alert email arrived | Alerts go to admins only; check the alert's switch is on and the threshold hasn't already fired this period |
| One person used most of the balance | Set a default limit, or a limit on their row |
| A script drained the credits | Cap its API key from the **Usage** column |
| A member is blocked by a cap | Raise or remove their limit, or the project's |
| A member asks for the organization's numbers | Download the report from **Analytics** and share it |
| **Usage Alerts** is missing on **Billing** | It needs a paid plan |

## What's next

You can now see and cap what your team spends. Next, [Content and security](https://learn.scenario.com/teams/content-and-security.md) protects what your team makes, with Quality Gate, IP Detection and Watermark.

Source: https://learn.scenario.com/teams/spend-and-usage