Innovations for quota-based resource management are described herein. For example, quota-based resource management is implemented as part of an application layer framework and/or operating system of a computing device. With the quota-based resource management, a budget is established at design time for the resources of the computing device. Each type of workload primarily draws from resources dedicated to that type of workload in the budget, as enforced by the operating system. This can help provide acceptable performance for those workloads that are permitted to run, while preventing resources of the mobile computing device from becoming spread too thin among workloads. It can also help maintain a good overall balance among different types of workloads.