Question: Does AWS Cost Explorer cost money?

Answer

AWS Cost Explorer is a tool provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables users to view and analyze their costs and usage. It provides detailed insights into where money is being spent on AWS resources and helps in identifying savings opportunities.

Does It Cost Money?

AWS Cost Explorer itself does not incur any additional charges when used in its basic form. It is free for AWS account holders to use, enabling them to analyze and visualize cost and usage patterns over time. This includes features such as cost and usage reports, forecasts, and recommendations for Reserved Instances.

However, there are additional features within the AWS Billing and Cost Management suite that might incur charges:

1. Cost and Usage Reports (CUR):

• CUR delivers detailed information about your cost and usage, and creating and accessing CUR in Amazon S3 is free. However, storing these reports in Amazon S3 can lead to costs depending on the frequency and size of the reports, and S3 pricing.

2. Savings Plans and Recommendations:

• Recommendations for Savings Plans and Reserved Instances are provided free of charge. It helps you evaluate potential savings against your current usage patterns.

3. Utilization Reports and Recommendations:

• While accessing these reports through Cost Explorer is free, you might incur costs depending on how you choose to manage or monitor changes based on the data supplied.

Using AWS Cost Explorer

To access AWS Cost Explorer:

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console.
2. Navigate to the Billing and Cost Management Dashboard.
3. In the navigation pane, choose Cost Explorer.

With Cost Explorer, you can:

• View data for up to the past 12 months.
• Get forecasts for future months to understand expected spending.
• Analyze costs and usage based on AWS service, tags, linked accounts, purchase options, and more.

Conclusion

AWS Cost Explorer is a valuable tool that provides essential insights into your AWS spending without direct charges for its basic features. However, as you leverage additional AWS services such as Amazon S3 to store cost-related data, or choose to implement the insights you gain, you could encounter costs associated with those specific services. It’s important to regularly review and optimize your AWS resources based on the insights from Cost Explorer for effective cost management.