# Getting help with your bills and payments
There are many resources available for you if you have any questions about your AWS Billing and Cost Management console tools, your charges, or payment methods. If you have any inquiries or appeals regarding your AWS bill, we recommend you open a case with Support so an associate can assist you directly.
**Topics**
+ [AWS Knowledge Center](#billing-support-KC)
+ [Contacting Support](#billing-support)
+ [Understanding your charged usage](#billing-support-usage)
+ [Monitoring your Free Tier usage](#billing-support-Free)
+ [Closing your AWS account](#closing-your-account)
## AWS Knowledge Center
All AWS account owners have access to account and billing support free of charge. You can find answers to your questions quickly by visiting the AWS Knowledge Center.
**To find your question or request**
1. Open [AWS Knowledge Center](http://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/).
1. Choose **Billing Management**.
1. Scan the list of topics to locate a question that is similar to yours.
## Contacting Support
Contacting Support is the fastest and most direct method for communicating with an AWS associate about your questions. Support does not publish a direct phone number for reaching a support representative. You can use the following process to have an associate contact to you by email or phone instead.
Only personalized technical support requires a support plan. For more information, visit [Support](https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/).
To open an Support case where you specify *Regarding: Account and Billing Support*, you must either be signed into AWS as the root account owner, or have IAM permissions to open a support case. For more information, see [Accessing Support](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/getting-started.html#accessing-support) in the *Support User Guide*.
If you have closed your AWS account, you can still sign in to Support and view past bills.
If you transferred your billing to a management account external to your AWS organization (bill transfer account), first reach out to the billing transfer account owner. That account controls the cost data available in your account, and receives the AWS invoice reflecting your usage. To find the bill transfer account information, go to the **Billing transfer** page, **Outbound billing** tab
**To contact Support**
1. Sign in and navigate to the [Support Center](http://aws.amazon.com/support). If prompted, enter the email address and password for your account.
1. Choose **Create case**.
1. On the **Create case** page, choose **Account and billing support** and fill in the required fields on the form.
1. After you complete the form, under **Contact options**, choose either **Web** for an email response, or **Phone** to request a telephone call from an Support representative. Instant messaging support is not available for billing inquiries.
**To contact Support when you can't sign in to AWS**
1. Recover your password or submit a form at [AWS account support](https://support.aws.amazon.com/#/contacts/aws-account-support).
1. Choose an inquiry type in the **Request information** section.
1. Fill out the **How can we help you?** section.
1. Choose **Submit**.
## Understanding your charged usage
If you want to see the usage behind your charged amount, you can check your usage yourself by enabling Cost Explorer. This tool enables you to analyze your costs in depth by providing you with premade reports and graphs.
Cost Explorer is available 24 hours after you activate the feature.
For more information about Cost Explorer, see [Analyzing your costs with AWS Cost Explorer](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cost-management/latest/userguide/ce-what-is.html).
If your AWS Organizations uses billing transfer, the bill transfer account controls the cost data shown in Cost Explorer.
## Monitoring your Free Tier usage
You can track your AWS Free Tier usage to keep you under the Free Tier limits. You can set up alerts on your AWS account when your Free Tier limits reach a threshold, and monitor your usage through the Billing and Cost Management console.
For more information about using these features, see [Trying services using AWS Free Tier (before July 15, 2025)](billing-free-tier.md).
To see details for usage that was charged beyond your Free Tier limit, see the [Understanding your charged usage](#billing-support-usage) section.
**Note**
If your AWS organization uses billing transfer, you can track your Free Tier usage on the **Free Tier** page. However, you can't view your Free Tier credits in Cost Explorer, AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR), or on the **Bills** page unless the bill transfer account enables this access. The Free Tier page doesn't process pro forma data, so there might be discrepancies. For example, the page might show usage covered by Free Tier that was removed from the pro forma bill.
## Closing your AWS account
For more information about closing your AWS account, see [Close your account](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/accounts/latest/reference/manage-acct-closing.html) in the *AWS Account Management Reference Guide*.