# Google Cloud's new spend caps work with Firebase

> Source: <https://jhuleatt.com/posts/cloud-spend-caps-firebase/>
> Published: 2026-07-31 00:00:00+00:00

This week, [Google Cloud announced the ability to set spend caps on budgets](https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/cost-management/new-early-anomalies-and-spend-caps-on-google-cloud-budgets). This is a Big Deal. The new spend caps actually pause supported services when a cap is reached.

Since Firebase projects are Cloud projects, spend caps can apply to Firebase services, too! Specifically, these:

| Firebase product | Cloud product |
|---|---|
| Cloud Functions for Firebase | Cloud Run Functions |
| Firebase AI Logic | Gemini API or Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (formerly Vertex AI) |
| Firebase App Hosting | Cloud Run (plus
|
| Firebase Extensions | Cloud Run Functions |

I set up spend caps on one of my projects and thought I’d share a bit about the experience.

## Caps on multiple services

One thing that confused me in the spend cap setup flow was that I was only able to pick a *single* service (and [the docs](https://docs.cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets-spend-caps#limitations) say “Spend caps are limited to budgets that are scoped to a single Google Cloud project and a single eligible service within the specified project.”).

What if I use Functions *and* AI Logic in a project? Do I need to pick just one? Thankfully, no. Even though a **single** cap only supports a single service, I could create **multiple spend caps**, one for each service:

## Setting up a spend cap

I’ll leave the full setup instructions to [the documentation](https://docs.cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets-spend-caps), but if you’re curious, here’s what spend cap setup looked like for me:

- Create a budget, and choose “Spend cap enforcement”.
- Choose the service that backs the Firebase product you’re using.
- Set an amount.
- View the notification thresholds (trying to change them shows a popover “Spend cap notification settings cannot be edited”).

## Set them up on your project

Read through [Manage spend cap budgets](https://docs.cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets-spend-caps) (and especially [Limitations](https://docs.cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets-spend-caps#limitations)) before making a decision, but even with the current limitations, this is a valuable new tool to prevent surprise bills.

And, just a reminder that Firebase’s [Avoid surprise bills](https://firebase.google.com/docs/projects/billing/avoid-surprise-bills) guide has other tips to, well, avoid surprise bills.