> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.usejuiced.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Budgets & Caps

> Spending limits and lead volume limits that govern what customers can buy.

Budgets and caps are the governors that keep lead flow inside the boundaries a customer (or you) has agreed to. Caps limit **how many** leads can be bought; budgets limit **how much** can be spent. Both are evaluated continuously, and a bid is only eligible to win a lead when every applicable limit has headroom.

## Two levels: customer and bid

Limits exist at two scopes:

* **Customer-level** — Applies across all of a customer's bidding activity. Useful for account-wide guardrails (e.g., "this customer can spend at most \$10,000 per month").
* **Bid-level** — Applies only to a specific bid (one lead type in one location). Useful for fine-grained control (e.g., "cap this auto-insurance bid at 50 leads per day").

A bid has to clear **both** its own limits and its customer's limits to win a lead. Whichever is most restrictive wins.

<Note>
  Bid-level caps and budgets are optional and only appear on the bid form if you've enabled them for the tenant. Customer-level limits are always available.
</Note>

## Two dimensions: caps vs. budgets

|              | Counts                          | Useful for                                              |
| ------------ | ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Lead cap** | Number of leads assigned        | Volume governance ("no more than 100 leads this month") |
| **Budget**   | Dollars spent on assigned leads | Cost governance ("no more than \$2,000 this month")     |

Both dimensions come in three interval flavors: **daily**, **weekly**, and **monthly**. You can configure any combination, including all six at once.

## Evaluating limits at once

Every limit you configure is checked simultaneously on every auction. A lead only flows to a customer when:

* The customer's daily, weekly, and monthly lead caps all have room for one more lead
* The customer's daily, weekly, and monthly budgets can all cover the bid amount
* The bid's daily, weekly, and monthly lead caps all have room
* The bid's daily, weekly, and monthly budgets can all cover the bid amount

The first limit to exhaust wins. If a bid has a daily cap of 10 and a daily budget of $500 with bids at $40 each, the cap trips first (10 leads × $40 = $400, under budget). If the bid was $80, the budget would trip first (6 × $80 = $480, under cap; 7th lead would push past $500).

## Reset intervals

* **Daily** — Resets at midnight UTC
* **Weekly** — Resets at the start of the UTC week (Monday 00:00 UTC)
* **Monthly** — Resets at the start of the UTC month

Resets are calendar-based, not rolling. A lead assigned at 23:59 UTC counts against the daily cap for one minute before the counter clears.

## What counts toward caps and budgets

Caps and budgets only count **leads assigned through bidding**. Leads a customer purchases directly from the [marketplace](/features/marketplace) don't count—that's why these are sometimes called "bidding limits." The marketplace is a separate purchase channel that draws from the same wallet but doesn't flow through the bidding system.

Returned leads also don't reduce consumption. Once a lead is assigned, it counts against caps and budgets; returning it credits the wallet but doesn't free up cap headroom.

## How limits affect status

Limits roll up into the statuses that drive whether a bid or customer is competing.

### Bid status impact

| Underlying status     | Triggered when                                                   | Displays as                                                |
| --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Cap: Exhausted**    | Any of the bid's or customer's lead caps has been reached        | **Capped**                                                 |
| **Budget: Limited**   | The remaining budget is below the full bid amount but above zero | **Limited** (bid still participates at the reduced amount) |
| **Budget: Exhausted** | Any of the bid's or customer's budgets has been fully consumed   | **Exhausted**                                              |

See [Bidding → Bid statuses](/features/bidding#bid-statuses) for the full display-status breakdown.

### Customer status impact

Caps and budgets **do not** change a customer's display status. The customer's display status reflects operational state and wallet funding only. When a customer hits a cap or budget, the effect shows up on each of their **bids**—every bid flips to **Capped** or **Exhausted** and stops competing. The customer themselves can still show as **Active**; they're just not receiving leads until the constraint resets.

If you're trying to diagnose why a customer isn't getting leads despite showing Active, check the bid list for Capped or Exhausted rows.

## Leaving a limit blank

Every limit is optional. Leaving a field blank means "no limit" for that dimension. A customer with only a monthly budget set will have unlimited daily and weekly spend (up to that monthly ceiling) and unlimited lead counts.

## Recovering from exhausted state

Exhausted bids and customers recover automatically:

* **Cap exhaustion** resolves when the interval resets.
* **Budget exhaustion** resolves when the interval resets.
* **Funding exhaustion** (separate from budgets—see [Bidding → Bid statuses](/features/bidding#bid-statuses)) resolves when the customer's wallet is topped up.

No manual intervention is required to bring a bid back online once the underlying condition clears.