What happens when you don't use your AI commitment

Committed-spend AI contracts with OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure and cloud marketplaces: how a shortfall happens, how to see it coming, and what to do before the period ends.

By Keyveve, Inc. · Updated 2026-10-30

Many AI contracts trade a discount for a commitment: you promise to spend a set amount over a year or term, and the vendor prices your usage lower. Spend less, and you pay the difference anyway.

How a shortfall happens

• The commitment was sized on a forecast, often a launch that slipped or a migration that didn't happen.
• Usage moved: to a cheaper model, another provider, or caching that cut tokens.
• The commitment counts only some spend: one provider's API, but not the same models through a cloud marketplace.

See it coming

Carry your recent daily spend to the end of the commitment period:

projected = spent so far + last 28 days' daily average × days left

If the projection is short of the commitment by 10% or more with a quarter to go, it's time to act. Agreements does this per term, year or month, and warns owners, admins and finance once per period when it happens.

What to do about it

1. Move eligible spend onto it. Workloads on another provider, or the same models bought through a different channel, may count if you route them through the committed account.
2. Bring planned work forward. Evaluation runs, backfills and batch jobs you'd run next quarter.
3. Negotiate early. Vendors would rather extend a term or roll part of a shortfall into a renewal than lose the account. Ask before the period ends, not after.
4. Size the next one on actuals. Use your effective rate and real pace, not a forecast. See What to bring to an AI vendor renewal.

The opposite problem

Passing a commitment can be expensive too, when overage is billed at a premium. The same projection shows when you'll cross it, and whether the next tier would have been cheaper.