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What is AWS Budgets?

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AWS Budgets is a service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows you to set custom cost and usage budgets that alert you when you exceed your thresholds. It is a tool designed to help you manage your AWS costs effectively by providing insights into your spending patterns and notifying you when your actual costs or usage deviate from your planned budget.

Here's a technical breakdown of AWS Budgets:

  1. Budgets Dashboard:
    • AWS Budgets provides a centralized dashboard within the AWS Management Console where you can create, manage, and monitor your budgets.
  2. Budget Types:
    • There are two main types of budgets in AWS Budgets:
      • Cost Budgets: These budgets focus on the total cost incurred within a specified period.
      • Usage Budgets: These budgets track your usage of specific services, measured in terms of quantity (e.g., data transfer, API calls).
  3. Budget Creation:
    • You can create budgets based on various criteria such as:
      • Cost Filters: Allow you to filter the budget by AWS service, linked account, tag, or other criteria.
      • Time Periods: Specify the timeframe for the budget (monthly, quarterly, annually).
      • Budget Values: Set the cost or usage threshold for the budget.
  4. Alerts and Notifications:
    • AWS Budgets allows you to define alerts that notify you when your actual costs or usage exceed your budgeted amount. Notifications can be delivered through Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) or to an Amazon CloudWatch alarm.
  5. Integration with AWS Organizations:
    • For organizations with multiple AWS accounts, AWS Budgets integrates with AWS Organizations. This enables you to set up and manage budgets across multiple accounts.
  6. Actions and Remediation:
    • AWS Budgets can be configured to trigger AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles or Lambda functions in response to budget alerts. This allows you to automate actions to control or mitigate costs when thresholds are breached.
  7. Forecasting:
    • The service provides forecasting capabilities, helping you estimate future costs based on historical data. This can aid in planning and adjusting budgets accordingly.
  8. Programmatic Access:
    • AWS Budgets supports programmatic access through APIs, allowing you to automate the creation and management of budgets.
  9. Cost Explorer Integration:
    • AWS Budgets integrates with AWS Cost Explorer, providing additional analysis and visualization tools to understand your historical and current usage patterns.