Getting set up with Billing - AWS Billing
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Getting set up with Billing

This section provides information that you need to get started with using the AWS Billing and Cost Management console. Prerequisites include signing up for AWS and setting up IAM users, reviewing your AWS bills, and other pages in the console you can use to customize your Billing and Cost Management preferences.

Topics

If you're new to AWS, create an AWS account. For more information, see Getting Started with AWS.

Sign up for an AWS account

If you do not have an AWS account, complete the following steps to create one.

To sign up for an AWS account

  1. Open https://portal.aws.amazon.com/billing/signup.

  2. Follow the online instructions.

    Part of the sign-up procedure involves receiving a phone call and entering a verification code on the phone keypad.

    When you sign up for an AWS account, an AWS account root user is created. The root user has access to all AWS services and resources in the account. As a security best practice, assign administrative access to a user, and use only the root user to perform tasks that require root user access.

AWS sends you a confirmation email after the sign-up process is complete. At any time, you can view your current account activity and manage your account by going to https://aws.amazon.com/ and choosing My Account.

Create a user with administrative access

After you sign up for an AWS account, secure your AWS account root user, enable AWS IAM Identity Center, and create an administrative user so that you don't use the root user for everyday tasks.

Secure your AWS account root user

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console as the account owner by choosing Root user and entering your AWS account email address. On the next page, enter your password.

    For help signing in by using root user, see Signing in as the root user in the AWS Sign-In User Guide.

  2. Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) for your root user.

    For instructions, see Enable a virtual MFA device for your AWS account root user (console) in the IAM User Guide.

Create a user with administrative access

  1. Enable IAM Identity Center.

    For instructions, see Enabling AWS IAM Identity Center in the AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide.

  2. In IAM Identity Center, grant administrative access to a user.

    For a tutorial about using the IAM Identity Center directory as your identity source, see Configure user access with the default IAM Identity Center directory in the AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide.

Sign in as the user with administrative access

  • To sign in with your IAM Identity Center user, use the sign-in URL that was sent to your email address when you created the IAM Identity Center user.

    For help signing in using an IAM Identity Center user, see Signing in to the AWS access portal in the AWS Sign-In User Guide.

Assign access to additional users

  1. In IAM Identity Center, create a permission set that follows the best practice of applying least-privilege permissions.

    For instructions, see Create a permission set in the AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide.

  2. Assign users to a group, and then assign single sign-on access to the group.

    For instructions, see Add groups in the AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide.

Activating IAM access to the AWS Billing and Cost Management console

By default, IAM roles within an AWS account can't access the Billing and Cost Management console. This is true even if the IAM user or role has IAM policies that grant access to specific Billing features. The root user can allow IAM users and roles access to Billing and Cost Management console by using the Activate IAM access setting.

To provide access to the Billing and Cost Management console

  1. Sign in to the Account page in the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home?#/account.

  2. Under IAM user and role access to Billing information, choose Edit.

  3. Select Activate IAM access.

  4. Choose Update.

For more information about this feature, see Activating access to the Billing and Cost Management console.

Use features in the Billing and Cost Management console to view your current AWS charges and AWS usage.

To open the Billing and Cost Management console and view your usage and charges

  1. Sign into the AWS Management Console and open the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/.

  2. Choose Bills to see details about your current charges.

  3. Choose Payments to see your historical payment transactions.

  4. Choose AWS Cost and Usage Reports to see reports that break down your costs.

For more information about setting up and using AWS Cost and Usage Reports, see the AWS Cost and Usage Reports User Guide.

AWS Billing closes the billing period at midnight on the last day of each month and calculates your bill. Most bills are ready for you to download by the seventh accounting day of the month.

To download or print your bill

  1. Sign into the AWS Management Console and open the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/.

  2. On the navigation pane, choose Bills.

  3. For Date, choose the month of the bill you want to work with.

  4. Choose Download CSV to download a comma-separated variable file or choose Print.

Adding or updating alternate contacts

Alternate contacts allows AWS to contact another person about issues with your account, even if you're unavailable. The alternate contact doesn't have to be a specific person. You could instead add an email distribution list if you have a team that manages billing, operations and security related issues.

Examples for alternate contacts

AWS will reach out to each contact type in the following scenarios:

  • Billing – When your monthly invoice is available, or your payment method needs to be updated. If you enabled Receive PDF Invoice By Email in your Billing preferences, your alternate billing contact also receives the PDF invoices. Notifications can be from AWS service teams.

  • Operations – When your service is, or will be, temporarily unavailable in one of more AWS Regions. Your contacts will also receive any notification related to operations. Notifications can be from AWS service teams

  • Security – When you have notifications from the AWS Security, AWS Trust and Safety, or AWS service teams. These notifications might include security issues or potential abusive or fraudulent activities on your AWS account. Notifications can be from AWS service teams concerning security related topics associated with your AWS account usage. Don't include sensitive information in the subject line or full name fields since this might be used in email communications to you.

For more information about managing your alternate account contacts, see Alternate account contacts in the AWS Account Management Reference Guide.

Learn more about Billing features

Understand the features available to you in the Billing and Cost Management console.

What do I do next?

Now that you can view and pay your AWS bill, you're ready to use the features available to you. The rest of this guide helps you navigate your journey using the console.

Optimize your spending using AWS Cost Management features

Use the AWS Cost Management features to budget and forecast costs so you can optimize your AWS spends and reduce your overall AWS bill. Combine and use the Billing and Cost Management console resources to manage your payments, while using AWS Cost Management features to optimize your future costs.

For more information about AWS Cost Management features, see the AWS Cost Management User Guide.

Using the Billing and Cost Management API

Use the AWS Billing and Cost Management API Reference to programmatically use some AWS Cost Management features.

Learn more

You can find more information about Billing features including presentations, virtual workshops, and blog posts on the marketing page Cloud Financial Management with AWS.

You can find virtual workshops by choosing the Services dropdown list and selecting your feature.

Get help

If you have questions about any Billing features, there are many resources available for you. To learn more, see Getting help with your bills and payments.