Billing, Pricing, and Support · Topic 2 of 4
Billing, Budgets and Cost Management
Learn AWS cost tools for CLF-C02: Cost Explorer, Budgets, Cost and Usage Report, cost allocation tags, Pricing Calculator and consolidated billing.
- 4 min
- The Pricing Calculator estimates the cost of planned workloads.
- Cost Explorer analyses past cost and forecasts future cost.
- The Cost and Usage Report gives the most detailed billing data.
What it is
AWS gives you tools to understand what you are spending, to plan what you will spend, and to be warned before costs grow too large.
The tools fall into three jobs. Estimating cost before you build, tracking cost as you go, and controlling cost with alerts and good account structure.
The exam asks you to pick the right tool for each job.
How it works
Estimating before you build
The AWS Pricing Calculator lets you model a planned design and get an estimate of the monthly cost. You add services, sizes and expected usage.
It estimates the future. It does not show what you have already spent.
Tracking cost
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| AWS Billing and Cost Management console | Home for your bills, payments and cost tools |
| AWS Cost Explorer | Charts and filters for past spending, with a forecast of future cost |
| AWS Cost and Usage Report | The most detailed data on cost and usage, delivered to an Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) bucket for analysis |
| AWS Cost Anomaly Detection | Spots unusual spending and alerts you |
Cost Explorer is the usual starting point. You can group the view by service, account or tag, and see trends over time.
The Cost and Usage Report is for deep analysis. It contains line items for each product and usage type, so it is often loaded into analytics tools.
Controlling cost
AWS Budgets lets you set a budget for cost or usage and sends alerts when actual or forecast values pass a threshold you choose. You can also set budgets for reserved instance or Savings Plans coverage.
Budgets can trigger actions, such as applying a policy when a limit is reached. An alert on its own does not stop spending.
Cost allocation tags
A tag is a label with a key and a value, such as Project = Apollo. Cost allocation tags let you group costs by project, team or environment.
Tags must be activated for cost reporting before they appear in billing tools. AWS can generate some tags for you, and you can create your own.
Consolidated billing with AWS Organizations
With AWS Organizations, you can join many accounts under a management account and receive one bill. This is called consolidated billing.
Usage from all accounts combines, which can earn volume pricing discounts. Reserved Instance and Savings Plans benefits can also be shared across accounts in the organisation.
AWS Marketplace
AWS Marketplace is an online catalogue where you find and buy software from other vendors. The charges appear on your AWS bill, which keeps purchasing in one place.
Other cost saving helpers
- AWS Compute Optimizer recommends better resource sizes based on use.
- AWS Trusted Advisor includes cost optimization checks, such as idle or underused resources. The full set of checks needs a Business or higher support plan.
- Billing alarms in Amazon CloudWatch can alert you when charges pass a level.
Who can see billing
By default, only the account owner and users with the right permissions can reach billing information. Access to the billing pages through AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) must be given on purpose.
What to remember for the exam
- The Pricing Calculator estimates the cost of planned workloads.
- Cost Explorer analyses past cost and forecasts future cost.
- The Cost and Usage Report gives the most detailed billing data.
- AWS Budgets alerts you when cost or usage passes, or is forecast to pass, a threshold.
- Cost allocation tags group costs by project or team, and must be activated.
- Consolidated billing gives one bill and can combine usage for volume discounts.
- AWS Marketplace purchases are billed through your AWS account.
- Compute Optimizer and Trusted Advisor help find savings.
"Estimate before building" means Pricing Calculator. "See what I spent" means Cost Explorer. "Warn me at a limit" means Budgets.
Common mistakes
Using Cost Explorer to alert on spending. Cost Explorer shows data, while Budgets sends the alerts.
Expecting a budget to stop spending. Alerts do not block usage unless you set up an action.
Forgetting to activate cost allocation tags. An unactivated tag does not appear in cost reports.
Confusing the Pricing Calculator with the Cost and Usage Report. One estimates future cost and the other reports past usage.
Consolidated billing combines the bill, not the permissions. Accounts in an organisation still need their own access controls.
Check yourself
Which tool sets alerts when cost passes a threshold?
AWS Budgets.
Which tool visualises past spending and forecasts future cost?
AWS Cost Explorer.
What does consolidated billing provide?
One bill for several accounts, with combined usage that can earn volume discounts.
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