AWS Budget Setup

Enabling Billing Access for IAM Users

By default, IAM users cannot access billing data even with AdministratorAccess.

Steps to Enable (Root Account Required)

1. Login as Root User (not IAM user)
2. Click account name → Account
3. Scroll to IAM user and role access to Billing information
4. Click Edit → Activate IAM Access
5. Save changes

Root Account Settings
└── Account
    └── IAM user and role access to Billing information
        └── Activate IAM Access ✓

Billing Dashboard

Access: Account Menu → Billing and Cost Management

Key Information Available

Bills Breakdown

Navigate: Bills → Select Month → Charges by Service

Bills
└── December 2023
    └── Charges by Service
        ├── EC2 (EU Ireland): $43
        │   ├── NAT Gateway: $35
        │   ├── EBS: $5
        │   └── Elastic IP: $3
        ├── S3: $2
        └── Lambda: $0.50

Free Tier Dashboard

Shows usage against free tier limits:

Creating Budgets

Zero-Spend Budget

Alerts when you spend even $0.01.

Steps:

1. Budgets → Create Budget
2. Template: Zero spend budget
3. Name: My Zero Spend Budget
4. Email: your-email@example.com
5. Create Budget

Monthly Cost Budget

Set a spending limit with multiple alerts.

Steps:

1. Budgets → Create Budget
2. Template: Monthly cost budget
3. Budget amount: $10
4. Email: your-email@example.com
5. Create Budget

Default Alerts:

• 85% of budget reached (actual)
• 100% of budget reached (actual)
• 100% of budget forecasted

Budget: $10/month
├── Alert 1: $8.50 actual spend (85%)
├── Alert 2: $10.00 actual spend (100%)
└── Alert 3: $10.00 forecasted (100%)

Best Practices

Questions & Answers