CLI-Based Cost Explorer and Budget Alerts

Beginner8 minTrending

Analyze AWS spending from the command line using Cost Explorer APIs and configure budget alerts to catch unexpected cost spikes early.

Prerequisites

-AWS CLI v2 installed and configured
-Cost Explorer enabled in the billing console

Steps

Get current month's total cost

Query Cost Explorer for the total unblended cost in the current billing period, broken down by service.

$ aws ce get-cost-and-usage --time-period Start=$(date +%Y-%m-01),End=$(date +%Y-%m-%d) --granularity MONTHLY --metrics UnblendedCost --group-by Type=DIMENSION,Key=SERVICE --query 'ResultsByTime[0].Groups[*].{Service:Keys[0],Cost:Metrics.UnblendedCost.Amount}' --output table

UnblendedCost shows actual charges. Use AmortizedCost if you have Reserved Instances or Savings Plans to see their distributed cost.

Compare costs with previous month

Pull last month's cost data to compare spending trends and identify services with significant cost changes.

$ aws ce get-cost-and-usage --time-period Start=$(date -d 'first day of last month' +%Y-%m-%d),End=$(date -d 'first day of this month' +%Y-%m-%d) --granularity MONTHLY --metrics UnblendedCost --group-by Type=DIMENSION,Key=SERVICE --query 'ResultsByTime[0].Groups | sort_by(@, &to_number(Metrics.UnblendedCost.Amount)) | reverse(@) | [0:10].{Service:Keys[0],Cost:Metrics.UnblendedCost.Amount}' --output table

Get daily cost breakdown

View day-by-day spending for the current month to spot sudden cost spikes.

$ aws ce get-cost-and-usage --time-period Start=$(date +%Y-%m-01),End=$(date +%Y-%m-%d) --granularity DAILY --metrics UnblendedCost --query 'ResultsByTime[*].{Date:TimePeriod.Start,Cost:Total.UnblendedCost.Amount}' --output table

Look for days where cost is significantly higher than average. These often indicate runaway resources or unexpected data transfer charges.

Create a monthly budget with alerts

Set up a budget that sends email notifications when spending reaches 80% and 100% of your defined threshold.

$ aws budgets create-budget --account-id $(aws sts get-caller-identity --query Account --output text) --budget '{"BudgetName":"monthly-total","BudgetLimit":{"Amount":"500","Unit":"USD"},"TimeUnit":"MONTHLY","BudgetType":"COST"}' --notifications-with-subscribers '[{"Notification":{"NotificationType":"ACTUAL","ComparisonOperator":"GREATER_THAN","Threshold":80,"ThresholdType":"PERCENTAGE"},"Subscribers":[{"SubscriptionType":"EMAIL","Address":"team@example.com"}]},{"Notification":{"NotificationType":"ACTUAL","ComparisonOperator":"GREATER_THAN","Threshold":100,"ThresholdType":"PERCENTAGE"},"Subscribers":[{"SubscriptionType":"EMAIL","Address":"team@example.com"}]}]'

Budget alerts are not real-time. AWS evaluates budgets a few times per day, so there may be a delay before you receive a notification.

List existing budgets

View all configured budgets and their current spend versus limit to get a quick overview of your cost guardrails.

$ aws budgets describe-budgets --account-id $(aws sts get-caller-identity --query Account --output text) --query 'Budgets[*].{Name:BudgetName,Limit:BudgetLimit.Amount,Actual:CalculatedSpend.ActualSpend.Amount,Forecast:CalculatedSpend.ForecastedSpend.Amount}' --output table

Full Script

full-script.sh

#!/bin/bash
# AWS Cost Analysis Report
# Usage: ./cost-report.sh [month-offset]
# month-offset: 0 = current month (default), 1 = last month, etc.

set -euo pipefail

OFFSET="${1:-0}"

if [ "$OFFSET" -eq 0 ]; then
  START=$(date +%Y-%m-01)
  END=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
  LABEL="Current month (through today)"
else
  START=$(date -d "$OFFSET months ago" +%Y-%m-01)
  END=$(date -d "$((OFFSET - 1)) months ago" +%Y-%m-01)
  LABEL="$(date -d "$OFFSET months ago" +%B %Y)"
fi

echo "========================================="
echo " AWS Cost Report: $LABEL"
echo " Period: $START to $END"
echo "========================================="

echo ""
echo "=== Top 10 Services by Cost ==="
aws ce get-cost-and-usage \
  --time-period "Start=$START,End=$END" \
  --granularity MONTHLY \
  --metrics UnblendedCost \
  --group-by Type=DIMENSION,Key=SERVICE \
  --query 'ResultsByTime[0].Groups | sort_by(@, &to_number(Metrics.UnblendedCost.Amount)) | reverse(@) | [0:10].{Service:Keys[0],Cost:Metrics.UnblendedCost.Amount}' \
  --output table

echo ""
echo "=== Total Cost ==="
aws ce get-cost-and-usage \
  --time-period "Start=$START,End=$END" \
  --granularity MONTHLY \
  --metrics UnblendedCost \
  --query 'ResultsByTime[0].Total.UnblendedCost.{Amount:Amount,Unit:Unit}' \
  --output table

if [ "$OFFSET" -eq 0 ]; then
  echo ""
  echo "=== Daily Breakdown (Current Month) ==="
  aws ce get-cost-and-usage \
    --time-period "Start=$START,End=$END" \
    --granularity DAILY \
    --metrics UnblendedCost \
    --query 'ResultsByTime[*].{Date:TimePeriod.Start,Cost:Total.UnblendedCost.Amount}' \
    --output table

  echo ""
  echo "=== Budget Status ==="
  ACCOUNT_ID=$(aws sts get-caller-identity --query Account --output text)
  aws budgets describe-budgets --account-id "$ACCOUNT_ID" \
    --query 'Budgets[*].{Name:BudgetName,Limit:BudgetLimit.Amount,Actual:CalculatedSpend.ActualSpend.Amount}' \
    --output table 2>/dev/null || echo "No budgets configured."
fi

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#!/bin/bash # AWS Cost Analysis Report # Usage: ./cost-report.sh [month-offset] # month-offset: 0 = current month (default), 1 = last month, etc. set -euo pipefail OFFSET="${1:-0}" if [ "$OFFSET" -eq 0 ]; then START=$(date +%Y-%m-01) END=$(date +%Y-%m-%d) LABEL="Current month (through today)" else START=$(date -d "$OFFSET months ago" +%Y-%m-01) END=$(date -d "$((OFFSET - 1)) months ago" +%Y-%m-01) LABEL="$(date -d "$OFFSET months ago" +%B %Y)" fi echo "=========================================" echo " AWS Cost Report: $LABEL" echo " Period: $START to $END" echo "=========================================" echo "" echo "=== Top 10 Services by Cost ===" aws ce get-cost-and-usage \ --time-period "Start=$START,End=$END" \ --granularity MONTHLY \ --metrics UnblendedCost \ --group-by Type=DIMENSION,Key=SERVICE \ --query 'ResultsByTime[0].Groups | sort_by(@, &to_number(Metrics.UnblendedCost.Amount)) | reverse(@) | [0:10].{Service:Keys[0],Cost:Metrics.UnblendedCost.Amount}' \ --output table echo "" echo "=== Total Cost ===" aws ce get-cost-and-usage \ --time-period "Start=$START,End=$END" \ --granularity MONTHLY \ --metrics UnblendedCost \ --query 'ResultsByTime[0].Total.UnblendedCost.{Amount:Amount,Unit:Unit}' \ --output table if [ "$OFFSET" -eq 0 ]; then echo "" echo "=== Daily Breakdown (Current Month) ===" aws ce get-cost-and-usage \ --time-period "Start=$START,End=$END" \ --granularity DAILY \ --metrics UnblendedCost \ --query 'ResultsByTime[*].{Date:TimePeriod.Start,Cost:Total.UnblendedCost.Amount}' \ --output table echo "" echo "=== Budget Status ===" ACCOUNT_ID=$(aws sts get-caller-identity --query Account --output text) aws budgets describe-budgets --account-id "$ACCOUNT_ID" \ --query 'Budgets[*].{Name:BudgetName,Limit:BudgetLimit.Amount,Actual:CalculatedSpend.ActualSpend.Amount}' \ --output table 2>/dev/null || echo "No budgets configured." fi