# AWS Cost Explorer

> The AWS screen that shows what you spent, on what, and what you will likely spend.

- Level: Basic
- Topics: AWS, Cloud
- URL: https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/aws-cost-explorer/
- In Spanish: [AWS Cost Explorer](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/es/aws-cost-explorer/)

**AWS Cost Explorer** is the tool inside the AWS console for looking at your bill as charts instead of line items. It answers questions like: how much did we spend last month, which service grew the most, which team or project is behind that jump.

You can group and filter spending by service, account, region or tag, and switch between daily and monthly views. It keeps up to the last 13 months of history and forecasts up to the next 18 months based on your trend. It also includes reports on Reserved Instances and Savings Plans, the discounts you get by committing to a level of usage, and recommendations on what to buy.

Using it in the console is free; the API, for pulling the data into your own tools, charges a small fee per request. The data refreshes at least once a day, so it is good for spotting trends and surprises, not for watching costs minute by minute. It is often the first stop when someone asks why the AWS bill went up.

## An analogy

The spending charts in your bank app: instead of a long list of purchases, you see a pie of where the money went this month and a guess of how the month will end.

## Keep in mind

- Charts your AWS costs by service, account, region or tag.
- Shows up to 13 months of history and a forecast of up to 18 months.
- Free in the console; the API charges per request.
- Data updates about once a day, not in real time.

## Go deeper

- [Analyzing your costs with AWS Cost Explorer (official docs)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cost-management/latest/userguide/ce-what-is.html)
- [AWS Cost Explorer product page](https://aws.amazon.com/aws-cost-management/aws-cost-explorer/)

## Related terms

- [Cloud console](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/cloud-console/): The website where you log in to see and manage everything you rent in the cloud.
- [Regions and Availability Zones](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/regions-and-availability-zones/): Where AWS physically lives: cities worldwide, each split into separate data centers.
- [Forecasting](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/forecasting/): Using past data to estimate future numbers, with an honest range around the guess.
- [Reserved instances and Savings Plans](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/reserved-instances-and-savings-plans/): Cheaper cloud prices in exchange for promising to keep using it for one or three years.
- [API](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/api/): The menu of things one program lets another program ask for.
- [AWS account and billing](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/aws-account-and-billing/): What an AWS account is, how you get charged, and how to avoid a surprise bill.