AWS Cost Explorer

AWS Cost Explorer is a tool that enables you to visualize and analyze your AWS spending. It helps you understand where your money is going, discover spending patterns, and find opportunities to optimize your costs.

Key Features

Cost and Usage Reports: View detailed reports on your AWS usage and costs, broken down by service, region, and other dimensions.
Customizable Filters: Apply filters to narrow down your analysis by time period, account, service, and more.
Forecasting: Generate cost forecasts to predict future spending based on historical data.
Cost Allocation Tags: Use tags to organize and track costs across different projects, departments, or cost centers.
RI and Savings Plans Recommendations: Get recommendations on Reserved Instances (RI) and Savings Plans to optimize your spending.

Visualization and Reporting

The following diagram illustrates how AWS Cost Explorer visualizes and reports your cost and usage data:

Cost Breakdown: View your costs broken down by various dimensions like service, region, and linked account.
Time-Series Analysis: Analyze how your costs have changed over time with customizable time periods.
Monthly and Daily Views: Switch between monthly and daily cost views for more granular analysis.

Use Cases

Budget Tracking: Monitor your spending against budgets to ensure you're on track with financial goals.
Cost Optimization: Identify areas where you can save money by optimizing resource usage or purchasing Reserved Instances.
Business Planning: Use cost forecasts to plan future budgets and anticipate upcoming costs.

Integration with Other AWS Services

AWS Cost Explorer integrates with several AWS services to provide comprehensive cost management capabilities:

AWS Budgets: Set and track budgets for your AWS spending directly from Cost Explorer.
AWS Cost and Usage Report: Dive deeper into your cost data with the detailed reports available in Cost Explorer.
AWS Trusted Advisor: Get cost optimization recommendations alongside security and performance best practices.