Daniel Compton

If you or your company ever receive AWS credits, your bill the next month will probably show a decrease in spending. This is great because you spent less money. However, at first glance, it can make comparing this month’s bill to the previous month difficult.

The trick is to use AWS Cost Explorer, and exclude the Credit and Tax Charge Types:

If you don’t see “Charge Type” in the Cost Explorer sidebar, you might need to expand Advanced Options.

You want to exclude taxes because these aren’t charged when you use credits. When you were paying for AWS services, you likely paid tax on that usage (depending on your location). Once you start paying for your AWS bill with credits, tax is not charged on the credit spend. Removing the tax Charge Type gives you a like-for-like comparison with previous months.