AWS Cost Explorer

Correct Answer: AWS Cost Explorer, which provides a set of tools to visualize, understand, and manage your AWS costs and usage over time, including identifying cost drivers and providing optimization recommendations.

AWS Cost Explorer is the most effective service for analyzing cost and usage data, identifying cost drivers, and providing optimization insights. It offers a set of tools to visualize and understand AWS costs and usage over time, allowing you to identify trends, anomalies, and areas for cost optimization. AWS Budgets is primarily used for setting custom budgets and receiving notifications when costs exceed the budgeted amount, but it does not provide the same level of detailed analysis and insights as Cost Explorer. The Cost and Usage Report generates detailed spreadsheets with cost and usage data, but it requires further analysis using third-party tools or services, making it less efficient for the given task. AWS Trusted Advisor provides real-time guidance for optimizing infrastructure, improving security and performance, and reducing costs, but it focuses more on best practices rather than in-depth cost analysis and optimization insights specific to the company's usage patterns.

Correct Answer: AWS Cost Explorer, which provides cost and usage reports, forecasts, and recommendations for cost optimization.

AWS Cost Explorer is the most helpful service for identifying the services and resources contributing to increased AWS costs. It provides detailed cost and usage reports, allowing you to analyze your spending by service, resource, and tags. Cost Explorer also offers forecasting and recommendations for cost optimization, helping you identify areas where you can reduce costs. Amazon CloudWatch focuses on monitoring AWS resources and applications, providing metrics and logs for performance and health monitoring. While it can help identify resource utilization issues that may contribute to higher costs, it does not provide a detailed cost breakdown like Cost Explorer. AWS Budgets is useful for setting custom budgets and receiving alerts when your costs or usage exceed the budgeted amount. However, it does not provide the same level of detailed cost analysis as Cost Explorer. AWS Trusted Advisor offers real-time guidance and best practice recommendations, including cost optimization suggestions. While it can help identify potential cost-saving opportunities, it does not provide a comprehensive breakdown of your AWS costs and usage like Cost Explorer does.

Correct Answer: AWS Cost Explorer, which provides a set of tools to view and analyze your AWS costs and usage, including graphical breakdowns and detailed reports by service, account, and tags.

AWS Cost Explorer is the most suitable service for analyzing cost and usage data to identify cost optimization opportunities. It provides a set of tools to visualize costs over time, understand top cost-contributing services, and identify usage patterns through graphical breakdowns and detailed reports by service, account, and tags. AWS Budgets is used for setting custom cost and usage budgets and receiving alerts when costs exceed budgeted amounts, but it does not provide the same level of detailed analysis as Cost Explorer. The Cost and Usage Report delivers raw data to an S3 bucket for further analysis using other tools, but it does not provide the built-in visualization and analysis capabilities of Cost Explorer. AWS Trusted Advisor provides guidance on optimizing costs, performance, and security based on best practices, but it is not specifically designed for analyzing historical cost and usage data like Cost Explorer is.