Which service can AWS partners use for cost management?

AWS Cost Explorer is an essential tool for AWS partners focused on cost management as it provides the ability to visualize, understand, and manage AWS spending over time. With Cost Explorer, users can analyze their spending patterns, identify trends, and forecast future costs based on historical data. This capability enables partners to make informed decisions regarding resource optimization and budget adjustments.

The functionality of AWS Cost Explorer includes customizable reports that allow users to view costs by service, linked accounts, tags, and usage types. Additionally, it helps in identifying opportunities for cost savings by highlighting underutilized resources and suggesting ways to optimize spending. This level of insight is crucial for partners who need to manage costs effectively while ensuring that they are using AWS resources efficiently.

Alternative services such as the AWS Savings Plan Calculator are designed to estimate potential savings from purchasing savings plans, but they do not provide ongoing insights or reporting capabilities. AWS Budgets enables users to set custom cost and usage budgets with alerts, serving a different purpose focused on budget tracking rather than historical analysis. The AWS Pricing API gives programmatic access to pricing information for AWS services, which is useful but does not offer the analytical tools present in Cost Explorer. Thus, the robustness in visualization and analysis makes AWS Cost Explorer the best choice for cost management