# Enabling Cost Explorer You can enable Cost Explorer for your account by opening Cost Explorer for the first time in the AWS Cost Management console. You can't enable Cost Explorer using the API. After you enable Cost Explorer, AWS prepares the data about your costs for the current month and the previous 13 months, and then calculates the forecast for the next 12 months. The current month's data is available for viewing in about 24 hours. The rest of your data takes a few days longer. Cost Explorer updates your cost data at least once every 24 hours. As part of the process of enabling Cost Explorer, AWS automatically configures Cost Anomaly Detection for your account. Cost Anomaly Detection is an AWS Cost Management feature. This feature uses machine learning models to detect and alert on anomalous spend patterns in your deployed AWS services. To get you started with Cost Anomaly Detection, AWS sets up an AWS services monitor and a daily summary alert subscription. You're alerted about any anomalous spend that exceeds \$1100 and 40% of your expected spend across the majority of your AWS services in your accounts. For more information, see [limitations](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cost-management/latest/userguide/management-limits.html) and [Detecting unusual spend with AWS Cost Anomaly Detection](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cost-management/latest/userguide/manage-ad.html). **Note** You can opt out of Cost Anomaly Detection at any time. For more information, see [Opting out of Cost Anomaly Detection](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cost-management/latest/userguide/opting-out-cad.html). You can launch Cost Explorer if your account is a member account in an organization where the management account enabled Cost Explorer. Know that your organization's management account can also deny your account access. For more information, see [Consolidated billing for AWS Organizations](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awsaccountbilling/latest/aboutv2/consolidated-billing.html). **Note** An account’s status within an organization determines what cost and usage data are visible: A standalone account joins an organization. After this, the account can no longer access cost and usage data from when the account was a standalone account. A member account leaves an organization to become a standalone account. After this, the account can no longer access cost and usage data from when the account was a member of the organization. The account can access only the data that's generated as a standalone account. A member account leaves organization A to join organization B. After this, the account can no longer access cost and usage data from when the account was a member of organization A. The account can access only the data that's generated as a member of organization B. An account rejoins an organization that the account previously belonged to. After this, the account regains access to its historical cost and usage data. Signing up to receive the AWS Cost and Usage Reports or the Detailed Billing Report doesn't automatically enable Cost Explorer. To do so, follow this procedure. **To sign up for Cost Explorer** 1. Open the Billing and Cost Management console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/). 1. In the navigation pane, choose **Cost Explorer**. 1. On the **Welcome to Cost Explorer** page, choose **Launch Cost Explorer**. For more information about controlling access to Cost Explorer, see [Controlling access to Cost Explorer](ce-access.md). # Controlling access to Cost Explorer You can manage access to your Cost Explorer in the following ways: + Using the management account, you can enable Cost Explorer as a root user, automatically enabling all member accounts. + After member accounts are enabled, you can change Cost Explorer settings from within the management account. You can control the information that can be accessed in Cost Explorer. This includes costs, refunds or credits, discounts, and Reserved Instance (RI) recommendations. + After you enable Cost Explorer at the management account level, you can manage user IAM policies. For example, you can grant users full access or deny users access to Cost Explorer. This topic provides information about how to control access in Cost Explorer. For information about managing access to Billing and Cost Management pages, see [Overview of managing access permissions](control-access-billing.md). To reference Cost Explorer IAM policies, see [Using identity-based policies (IAM policies) for AWS Cost Management](billing-permissions-ref.md). For more information about consolidated billing, see [Consolidated billing for AWS Organizations](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awsaccountbilling/latest/aboutv2/consolidated-billing.html). **Topics** + [ ## Granting Cost Explorer access ](#grant-ce-access) + [ ## Controlling access using Cost Explorer preferences ](#ce-controlling-access) + [ ## Managing Cost Explorer access for users ](#ce-iam-users) ## Granting Cost Explorer access If you're signed into the management account with your root account credentials, you can enable Cost Explorer access. Your root account credentials are through the Billing and Cost Management console. Enabling Cost Explorer at the management account level enables Cost Explorer for all of your organization accounts. All accounts in the organization are granted access, and you can't grant or deny access individually. ## Controlling access using Cost Explorer preferences A management account can grant access to Cost Explorer for all or none of the member accounts. Access isn’t customizable for each individual member account. The management account in AWS Organizations has full access to all Billing and Cost Management information for costs incurred by both the management account and member accounts. Member accounts only have access to their own cost and usage data in Cost Explorer. By default, the management account in AWS Organizations sees all costs at the chargeable rate. If an organization is onboarded to Billing Conductor, the management account also sees costs at the proforma rate. The Cost Explorer view for member accounts depends on the configuration in Billing Conductor. The owner of a management account can do the following: + View all costs in Cost Explorer. + Grant all member accounts the permission to see the costs for their own member account, refunds, credits, and RI recommendations. Member account owners can't see costs, refunds, and RI recommendations for other accounts in the Organizations. For more information about consolidated billing, see [Consolidated billing for AWS Organizations](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awsaccountbilling/latest/aboutv2/consolidated-billing.html). If you're an AWS account owner and not using consolidated billing, you have full access to all Billing and Cost Management information including Cost Explorer. If you're onboarded to Billing Conductor, the Cost Explorer view for member accounts depends on whether a member account is part of a billing group. If a member account is part of a billing group: + The member account sees all costs at the proforma rate. + Cost Explorer preferences, such as **Linked Account Access**, **Linked Account Refunds and Credits**, **Linked Account Discounts**, **Hourly and Resource Level Data**, and **Split cost allocation data** are not applicable to the member account. If a member account is not part of a billing group: + The member account see costs at the chargeable rate. + Cost Explorer preferences apply to the member account. For more information about Billing Conductor, see the [Billing Conductor User Guide](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/billingconductor/latest/userguide/what-is-billingconductor.html). ### Organizations account status use cases An account’s status within an organization determines what cost and usage data are visible in the following ways: + A standalone account joins an organization. After this, the account can no longer access cost and usage data from when the account was a standalone account. + A member account leaves an organization to become a standalone account. After this, the account can no longer access cost and usage data from when the account was a member of their previous organization. The account can only access the data that's generated as a standalone account. + A member account leaves organization A to join organization B. After this, the account can no longer access cost and usage data from organization A. The account can access only the data that's generated as a member of organization B. + An account rejoins an organization that it previously belonged to. After this, the account regains access to its historical cost and usage data. ### Controlling member accounts’ access using Cost Explorer preferences You can grant or restrict the access to all member accounts in your Organizations. When you enable your account at the management account level, all member accounts are granted access to their cost and usage data by default. **To control member account access to Cost Explorer data** 1. Open the Billing and Cost Management console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/). 1. In the navigation pane, choose **Cost Management Preferences**. 1. On the **Preferences** page, under **Member account permissions** in the **General** tab, select or clear **Linked account access**. 1. Choose **Save preferences**. ## Managing Cost Explorer access for users After you enable Cost Explorer at the management account level, you can use IAM to manage access to your billing data for individual users. This way, you can grant or revoke access on an individual level for each account, rather than granting access to all member accounts. A user must be granted explicit permissions to view pages in the Billing and Cost Management console. With the appropriate permissions, the user can view costs for the AWS account that the user belongs to. For the policy that grants the necessary permissions to a user, see [Overview of managing access permissions](control-access-billing.md).