Topics

Each page opens with the model, then earns it.

• How to read a line itemA line item is a usage type, an operation, and a charge type. Learn that grammar and the bill decodes.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesnot billed
  • Unitsnot billed
• What "free" means hereFree is a discount applied to a meter that already ran. Nothing was switched off.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesnot billed
  • Unitsnot billed
• The services that cost nothingA service that turns no meter is not the end of the question. What it creates turns three.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesnot billed
  • Unitsnot billed
• What EC2 actually charges forTime and outbound bytes. Calling the API is free.
  • Timebilled
  • Bytesbilled
  • Unitsnot billed
• Paying for time when nothing is runningThe Time meter measures existence, not activity. Only deleting stops it, and "stopped" rarely means deleted.
  • Timebilled
  • Bytesnot billed
  • Unitsnot billed
• Cold storage is not cheap storageA storage class sets five prices at once. Per-GB is the only one a colder class always improves.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesbilled
  • Unitsbilled
• Where "out" beginsEgress is not about the internet. It is about which ring you crossed.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesbilled
  • Unitsnot billed
• Minimums and roundingEvery meter rounds up to a minimum unit. You are billed for the box your usage landed in, not the usage.
  • Timebilled
  • Bytesbilled
  • Unitsbilled
• What counts as oneOne call is very often not one billed unit. The payload decides how many.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesnot billed
  • Unitsbilled
• The headline rate is nobody's rateTiered rates are marginal. Once you cross a boundary the headline rate is nobody's actual rate.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesbilled
  • Unitsbilled
• Where it runs is part of the priceThere is no AWS price. There is a price per region, and the usage type on your bill names which one.
  • Timebilled
  • Bytesbilled
  • Unitsbilled
• What a commitment actually buysA commitment changes the rate, not which meter turns. The meter runs the same; only the price moves.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesnot billed
  • Unitsnot billed
• Charges with no resourceSome charges attach to an account, not a thing. Nothing to tag, and deleting infrastructure will not move them.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesnot billed
  • Unitsnot billed
• Costing it before you build itAn estimate is a model of which meters will turn. It fails by omitting one, not by mispricing it.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesnot billed
  • Unitsnot billed
• Whose cost is thisThe bill records what AWS metered, not who caused it. Turning one into the other is a system you build in advance.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesnot billed
  • Unitsnot billed
• Charges AWS did not priceSome lines are software someone else sells, billed through AWS. The seller picked the meter; your levers stop there.
  • Timenot billed
  • Bytesnot billed
  • Unitsnot billed