What is AWS Budgets?
AWS Budgets is a cost management service within AWS Cost Management that lets organizations define custom budgets for AWS spending, resource usage, and Reserved Instance or Savings Plans utilization. The service sends automatic alerts via email or Amazon SNS when actual or forecasted costs exceed defined thresholds.
Key Features
- Cost Budgets for fixed or variable spending limits
- Usage Budgets to monitor resource consumption
- Utilization and coverage budgets for Reserved Instances and Savings Plans
- Custom budget periods (e.g., for projects or fiscal years)
- Budget Actions for automated cost controls (IAM policy, SCP, stopping instances)
- Integration with AWS Organizations for multi-account budgets
Common Use Cases
Department-based Cost Limits: Assign each department or project its own budget with automatic alerts once a defined threshold is reached. Budget Actions can automatically restrict resources when a budget is exceeded.
Savings Plans and RI Monitoring: Monitor coverage and utilization of Savings Plans and Reserved Instances. AWS Budgets alerts when actual usage falls below purchased commitments.
Multi-Account Governance: Use AWS Organizations to create consolidated budgets across multiple accounts and enforce company-wide cost limits.
Benefits
- Proactive cost control instead of reactive billing surprises
- Basic budget monitoring at no additional cost
- Automated actions when budgets are exceeded
- Granular filters by service, region, tags, or linked accounts
Integration with innFactory
As an AWS Reseller, innFactory supports you with AWS Budgets: we help design your budget strategy, implement automated cost governance, and sustainably optimize your AWS spending.
Typical Use Cases
Frequently Asked Questions
What does AWS Budgets cost?
Creating and monitoring budgets, including notifications, is free. Charges apply only to Budget Actions starting with the third action-enabled budget per month, and to delivered budget reports; exact daily or per-unit prices are listed on the official pricing page.
What budget types does AWS Budgets support?
AWS Budgets supports Cost Budgets for spending limits, Usage Budgets for resource consumption, and separate utilization and coverage budgets for Reserved Instances and Savings Plans.
Can AWS Budgets automatically execute actions?
Yes, with Budget Actions you can define automatic responses: apply IAM policies, activate Service Control Policies, or stop EC2/RDS instances when budgets are exceeded.
How current is the budget data?
AWS Budgets updates cost data up to three times daily, typically with an 8 to 12 hour delay. For near real-time cost monitoring, combine Budgets with AWS Cost Explorer or CloudWatch Billing Alarms.
Can I create budgets for individual accounts in an organization?
Yes, AWS Organizations lets you centrally create budgets from the management account for individual member accounts or consolidated across the entire organization, controlled via IAM policy.
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