Defining subscription alerts
Both cost and usage alerts can be defined at the plan or subscription level. Plan alerts can be disabled on a per-subscription basis, but cannot otherwise be modified without creating a new subscription alert.Behaviour during subscription changes
Evaluation mechanics
- Alerts are evaluated against the current draft invoice for the subscription.
- During the grace period after a billing period closes, Orb continues evaluating alerts on both:
- The final invoice of the closed period.
- The draft invoice for the new period.
- If a mid‑period plan change occurs, the billing period is split; Orb now evaluates alerts on the new draft invoice which will be for a new period on the new plan.
Cost alert calculation
- Net cost basis: Orb measures cost after credit draw‑down and ignores threshold invoices already issued in the same billing period.
- Illustrative example
Assume an alert threshold of $25 and a threshold invoice amount of $10- Two threshold invoices have issued (2 × $10 = $20).
- The draft invoice now shows $5 in additional cost.
- The cost alert fires on that draft invoice because the running total reaches $25.
Spend alerts
A spend alert evaluates rated spend—the sum of line item subtotals in a single currency—before credit draw‑down and invoice‑level adjustments, rather than the net cost basis above, so prepaid credits do not mask consumption. See spend alerts.Grouped cost alerts
A cost alert can evaluate per‑group spend subtotals—for example cost perseat_id or per tenant—and fire once for each group that crosses a threshold, instead of watching the single invoice total. See grouped cost alerts.