You might be using Tailpipe to get insights into your cloud access and security posture, but did you know you can also use it to analyze your cloud cost and usage data? The latest version of the [AWS plugin](https://hub.tailpipe.io/plugins/turbot/aws) for Tailpipe includes tables for cost and usage reporting based on your [CUR 2.0](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/table-dictionary-cur2.html) and [Legacy CUR](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/what-is-cur.html) data, as well as [FOCUS 1.0 schema](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/table-dictionary-focus-1-0-aws.html) data. And with the new [AWS Cost and Usage Insights Mod for Powerpipe](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-aws-cost-usage-report-insights), you can visualize your cost and usage data in [Powerpipe](https://powerpipe.io). ## Configure and collect logs With the [AWS plugin](https://hub.tailpipe.io/plugins/turbot/aws), configure a [partition](https://tailpipe.io/docs/reference/config-files/partition) for your cost and usage data: ```hcl connection "aws" "billing_account" { profile = "my-billing-account" } partition "aws_cost_and_usage_report" "my_cur" { source "aws_s3_bucket" { connection = connection.aws.billing_account bucket = "aws-cur-billing-bucket" prefix = "my/prefix/" } } ``` With this partition configured, we collect our logs. ```shell tailpipe collect aws_cost_and_usage_report ``` ## Select * from dollars With the logs collected, we can run some queries to get a sense of our costs. For example, we can see the total cost for each month. ```sql select date_trunc('month', bill_billing_period_start_date) as billing_month, round(sum(line_item_unblended_cost), 2) as total_cost from aws_cost_and_usage_report group by billing_month order by billing_month asc; ``` ```shell +---------------------+------------+ | billing_month | total_cost | +---------------------+------------+ | 2025-03-01 00:00:00 | 454 | | 2025-04-01 00:00:00 | 5324.29 | +---------------------+------------+ ``` What about our top 10 services by cost? ```sql select product_service_code, round(sum(line_item_unblended_cost), 2) as total_cost from aws_cost_and_usage_report where product_service_code is not null group by product_service_code order by total_cost desc limit 10; ``` ```shell +----------------------+------------+ | product_service_code | total_cost | +----------------------+------------+ | AmazonRDS | 1647.1 | | AWSLambda | 846.72 | | AmazonEC2 | 765.01 | | AmazonElastiCache | 430.99 | | AmazonECR | 331.86 | | AmazonCloudWatch | 245.78 | | AmazonS3 | 229.73 | | awskms | 120.51 | | AmazonVPC | 118.18 | | AWSELB | 108.09 | +----------------------+------------+ ``` ## Visualize in Powerpipe Running queries in Tailpipe for quick answers to your questions can be helpful, but if you're looking to understanding spending over time, or other dimensions, the [AWS Cost and Usage Insights Mod for Powerpipe](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-aws-cost-usage-report-insights) provides dashboards for just this purpose.

Let's explore a few different dashboards. ### Cost and Usage Report Overview [This dashboard](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-aws-cost-usage-report-insights/dashboards/dashboard.overview_dashboard) provides a high-level overview of your cost and usage data. It includes a summary of your total costs (with monthly and daily trending) and as well as a breakdown of costs by account and region.

### Cost by Service If you want to focus on the cost of individual services, [this dashboard](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-aws-cost-usage-report-insights/dashboards/dashboard.cost_by_service_dashboard) provides a breakdown of costs by service. This can help identify which are the most expensive AWS services in an account, as well as the detailed costs per service.

### Cost by Tag Tags are a great way to organize and manage your AWS resources. The [Cost and Usage Report: Cost by Tag](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-aws-cost-usage-report-insights/dashboards/dashboard.cost_by_tag_dashboard) gives you a view of the total costs associated with a specific tag key, as well as how costs break down by tag value. You can also see which top 10 tag values contributed the most to your AWS spend.

Cost and Usage Report: Cost by Tag dashboard in Powerpipe

## See it in action

## Start exploring your AWS cost and usage data The [Tailpipe AWS Cost and Usage tables](https://hub.tailpipe.io/plugins/turbot/aws/tables/aws_cost_and_usage_report) and the [Powerpipe AWS Cost and Usage Insights Mod](https://hub.tailpipe.io) are available now. [Let us know](https://turbot.com/community/join) what you think!

Interrogate your cloud cost & usage data with Tailpipe