Getting started - Amazon Cost Management
Sign up for an Amazon Web Services accountSecure IAM usersAttach the required IAM policy to an IAM identityReview your bills and usageSet up your Amazon Cost Management featuresWhat do I do next?
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Getting started

This section provides information that you need to get started with using the Amazon Cost Management console.

Sign up for an Amazon Web Services account

If you do not have an Amazon Web Services account, use the following procedure to create one.

To sign up for Amazon Web Services

  1. Open http://www.amazonaws.cn/ and choose Sign Up.

  2. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Amazon 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 http://www.amazonaws.cn/ and choosing My Account.

Secure IAM users

After you sign up for an Amazon Web Services account, safeguard your administrative user by turning on multi-factor authentication (MFA). For instructions, see Enable a virtual MFA device for an IAM user (console) in the IAM User Guide.

To give other users access to your Amazon Web Services account resources, create IAM users. To secure your IAM users, turn on MFA and only give the IAM users the permissions needed to perform their tasks.

For more information about creating and securing IAM users, see the following topics in the IAM User Guide:

Attach the required IAM policy to an IAM identity

Amazon account owners can provide permissions to specific users who need to view or manage the Billing and Cost Management data for an Amazon account. To start activating access to the Billing and Cost Management console, see IAM tutorial: Delegate access to the billing console in the IAM User Guide.

For more information about IAM policies specific to Billing and Cost Management, see Using identity-based policies (IAM policies) for Billing and Cost Management.

For a list of Billing and Cost Management policy examples, see Billing and Cost Management policy examples.

Review your bills and usage

Use features in the Billing console to view your current Amazon charges and Amazon usage.

To open the Billing console and view your usage and charges

  1. Sign into the Amazon Web Services Management Console and open the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/billing/.

  2. Choose Bills to see the details for your current charges.

    Choose Payments to see your historical payment transactions.

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

For information about Billing console features, see the Billing User Guide.

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

Set up your Amazon Cost Management features

Review the process that's needed to activate your Amazon Cost Management features.

What do I do next?

Now that you have Amazon Cost Management set up, you're ready to use the features available to you. The rest of this guide helps you navigate your journey using the console.

Using the Billing and Cost Management API

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

Learn more

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

You can find virtual workshops by choosing the Services drop-down and selecting your feature.

Getting help

There are several resources that you can use if you want to learn more about or need help with any of the Amazon Cost Management features.

Amazon Knowledge Center

All Amazon account owners have access to account and billing support free of charge. You can find answers to your questions quickly by visiting the Amazon Knowledge Center.

To find your question or request

  1. Open Amazon Knowledge Center.

  2. Choose Billing Management.

  3. Scan the list of topics to locate a question that is similar to yours.

Contacting Amazon Web Services Support

Contacting Amazon Web Services Support is the fastest and most direct method for communicating with an Amazon associate about your questions. Amazon Web Services Support doesn't publish a direct phone number for reaching a support representative. You can use the following process to have an associate reach out to you by email or phone instead.

Only personalized technical support requires a support plan. For more information, visit Amazon Web Services Support.

To open an Amazon Web Services Support case where you specify Regarding: Account and Billing Support, you must either be signed into Amazon as the root account owner, or have IAM permissions to open a support case. For more information, see Accessing Amazon Web Services Support in the Amazon Web Services Support User Guide.

If you closed your Amazon account, you can still sign in to Amazon Web Services Support and view past bills.

To contact Amazon Web Services Support

  1. Sign in and navigate to the Amazon Web Services Support Center.

  2. Choose Create case.

  3. On the Create case page, choose Account and billing and fill in the required fields on the form.

  4. After you complete the form, under Contact options, choose either Web for an email response or Phone to request a telephone call from an Amazon Web Services Support representative. Instant messaging support isn't available for billing inquiries.

To contact Amazon Web Services Support when you can't sign in to Amazon

  1. Recover your password or submit a form at Amazon Web Services account support.

  2. Choose an inquiry type in the Request information section.

  3. Fill out the How can we help you? section.

  4. Choose Submit.