--- title: "Budget guard: it will not let you blow the cap or buy junk traffic" description: "Monthly caps and pacing across every platform: checked every 2 hours, a placement guard every hour, overspend stopped through an approval." canonical: https://adsbeast.pro/features/en/budget-guard language: en section: features product_route: https://adsbeast.pro/budget-guard translations: - ru: https://adsbeast.pro/features/ru/budget-guard - uk: https://adsbeast.pro/features/uk/budget-guard - sk: https://adsbeast.pro/features/sk/budget-guard - es: https://adsbeast.pro/features/es/budget-guard - he: https://adsbeast.pro/features/he/budget-guard - ar: https://adsbeast.pro/features/ar/budget-guard --- # Budget guard: it will not let you blow the cap or buy junk traffic Two different problems eat a client budget: overspend through inattention, and traffic that can never turn into a lead. The first is caught by a pacing check every 2 hours, the second by a placement guard every hour and safe settings in new campaigns. A person stops the spend, but they hear about the problem in time. ## What is watched - **Monthly cap**: Per client and per account, counting every platform in one currency - **Pacing**: Checked every 2 hours: will the budget run out before the month does - **Evenness**: Checked every 24 hours: is a campaign eating a month in a week - **Placements**: A guard every 1 hour: have the risky networks been switched back on - **Junk traffic**: Click fraud, placements with no conversions, repeating addresses - **Action**: A pause or a budget cut - through the approval queue Spend is counted across every platform the client uses, in one currency, so the cap cannot be dodged by moving the money into another ad account. ## What the budget guard does ### A cap on the client, not on the account A client has one advertising budget and may have five ad accounts. The cap is set on the client, spend is gathered from every platform and converted to one currency. Approaching the cap and going past it are different alerts with different urgency. - The monthly cap and current spend for the client - An alert when the cap is close and another when it is passed - A breakdown of how much each platform took ### Pacing: the month should not end on Wednesday A campaign spending evenly and a campaign burning a monthly budget in a week look identical if you only read the total. The system reads the pace and warns you before the money runs out. - A projection of when the budget runs out at the current pace - Campaigns spending faster than plan - A proposal to cut the daily budget, with the arithmetic ### Junk traffic is cut off before it costs anything Audience Network, Pangle, Search Partners, the audience networks - all off in new campaigns. The guard checks every hour that the settings have not changed, and it explains the reason for the block in words rather than a code. - Safe placement settings in new campaigns - A check every 1 hour for what has been switched back on - Placements and addresses that spend without conversions ### Stopping goes through a person Even with obvious overspend the system does not pause a campaign itself. It forms an action with the reason, the amount and the expected effect, and sends a notification on the chosen channels. A person confirms, and the action is applied and read back from the account. - A "cut the budget" or "pause it" action, with the arithmetic - A notification in Telegram, email, Slack or the browser - A log entry of who confirmed and when ## How the guard fires Three automatic steps and one human one. The first takes the longest, and it is free. 1. **Set the cap** - A monthly cap on the client; spend is gathered from every platform they use. 2. **Watching** - Pacing every 2 hours, evenness every 24 hours, placements every hour. 3. **An alert with the arithmetic** - The notification names the platform, the account, the period and the amount in dollars. 4. **A human decision** - An action in the approval queue; once confirmed it is applied and read back from the account. ## Figures from the code - 2 h - between pacing checks - 24 h - between evenness checks - 1 h - between placement checks - 4 - channels an alert can arrive on ## What the budget guard does not do - It does not stop campaigns itself - even with obvious overspend, a person makes the call. - It does not count the cap against one ad account when the client has several. - It does not present click fraud as a proven fact: it shows the signals and the amounts, and the conclusion stays with the operator. - It does not switch placements on or off without a log entry. ## Questions and answers ### Can the system stop a campaign automatically on overspend? No. It will form an action with the reason, the amount and the arithmetic, and send a notification. The pause is applied only after a person confirms - the same rule that covers everything which moves money. ### How is the monthly cap counted when a client has several ad accounts? Across every platform the client uses together, in one currency at the rate for the day of the spend. The cap cannot be dodged by moving the money into another account. ### What counts as junk traffic? Partner and audience networks in lead campaigns, placements with no conversions at noticeable spend, repeating addresses, and placements with an abnormal share of clicks. All of it is shown with the amounts for the period. ### Where does the alert arrive? On any of the 4 channels: email, Slack, Telegram, a browser notification. Channels and categories are set by each person individually, and there are quiet hours. ## Set a cap on your first client and hear about overspend before it happens The first 14 days are free on any plan and you do not need a card to start. Safe placements work from the first campaign, and pacing is watched from the first sync. - Start free: https://adsbeast.pro/signup?lang=en - Pricing: https://adsbeast.pro/pricing?lang=en ## See also - [Alerts: with context, on the right channel, and without noise](https://adsbeast.pro/features/en/alerts): Alerts name the platform, account, period and amount: delivered every 5 minutes, escalated after 2 hours, 4 channels, quiet hours. - [Approvals: automation proposes, a person decides, the system applies](https://adsbeast.pro/features/en/approvals): Automation proposes changes to budgets, bids and statuses, a person confirms them, and the system applies them and reads the result back from the account. - [Ad account audit: named lines, a reason, and the data behind it](https://adsbeast.pro/features/en/audit): Accounts audited on a schedule: every finding names a campaign, a reason and the data behind it. Delivery checked every 2 hours. - [Lead quality: who fills in the forms and how real they are](https://adsbeast.pro/features/en/leads): Leads from every platform and from the site in one feed with a bot score: flagged from 40 points, blocked from 70. Industry profiles, delivery checks.