Cloud cost analytics (FinOps) · Amazon Web Services, Inc.

AWS Cost Explorer

AWS's native cost visualization and forecasting tool, free for the console UI with small per-request fees for programmatic API access.

Visit AWS Cost Explorer Alternatives

AWS Cost Explorer is the native cost analysis tool built into the AWS console, letting account owners visualize spend trends, forecast future cost, and break down usage by service, tag, account or cost category without any third-party tool. It is the starting point most AWS customers use before adopting a dedicated FinOps platform, and its data underlies several third-party cost tools that ingest AWS billing via its API. The console UI itself is free; charges apply only to programmatic API calls (per request, with a small additional fee for enabling hourly-granularity data), making it effectively free for manual, ad hoc use and only metered for automated/high-frequency querying.

At a glance

Vendor Amazon Web Services, Inc.
Pricing model Usage-based
Free tier Yes
Deployment Cloud
Open source No
Best for AWS-only accounts wanting native cost visibility without adopting a separate multi-cloud FinOps platform.

Pricing

Console UI is free; the API charges $0.01 per request (more for combined custom billing views), plus a small fee to enable hourly-granularity usage records.

Plan Price Notes
Console access Free browsing and basic reports in the AWS console
API requests $0.01/request $0.01 per source per request for combined custom billing views
Hourly granularity $0.01 per 1,000 usage records billed daily based on the trailing 14 days of hourly records stored

Prices read from the vendor's own page on September 21, 2026. Vendors change prices; check the source before you budget.

Features

  • Cost and usage visualization by service, account, tag or cost category
  • 12-month spend forecasting
  • Reserved instance and savings plan recommendations
  • Anomaly detection on spend patterns
  • Custom cost allocation tags
  • API access for feeding data into other tools

Integrations

Profile last reviewed September 21, 2026

Alternatives

Vantage Self-serve cloud cost management platform with transparent per-tier pricing based on monthly tracked cloud spend. IBM Apptio Cloudability Multi-cloud cost management platform for allocation, budgeting and rightsizing, now under IBM's Apptio FinOps portfolio. Infracost Shows cloud cost estimates directly in pull requests before Terraform/OpenTofu changes are applied, shifting FinOps left into code review.

AWS Cost Explorer in the index now

Terms to know

FP&A (financial planning and analysis) The finance function responsible for budgeting, forecasting and analyzing company performance against plan. Anomaly detection Identifying data points or patterns that deviate significantly from expected or normal behavior. Cost allocation Assigning shared or indirect costs, such as overhead, to the departments, products, or customers that use them. FinOps An operating model for managing cloud spending collaboratively across engineering, finance, and business teams.

Related guides

How to choose a cloud cost management tool Decide whether you need a tool that reports cloud spend or one that acts on it automatically — that split matters more than which clouds it supports.