Responsibility map
| Tool or concept | Main question | Typical action |
|---|---|---|
| Billing Dashboard | What are the current bill and payments? | Review charges, invoices, and payment details |
| AWS Budgets | Are actual or forecast values crossing a target? | Threshold alerts and controlled actions |
| Cost Explorer | Where was money spent and how is it trending? | Filter, group, report, and forecast |
| Pricing Calculator | What might a planned architecture cost? | Pre-deployment estimate |
| Cost Allocation Tags | Which team or project owns the cost? | Allocate and filter spend |
| Organizations | How are multiple accounts governed and billed? | Consolidated billing, OUs, and SCPs |
| Compute Optimizer | Is a resource appropriately sized? | Right-sizing candidates |
| Trusted Advisor | Which best-practice improvements are available? | Cost, security, performance, resilience, and quota checks |
| Support Plans | What level of AWS assistance is available? | Case response, TAM, and proactive guidance |
| Marketplace / APN | Buy a product or find a partner? | Marketplace buys products; APN finds expertise |
Exam traps
- Budgets does not stop all overspending resources by default, and Pricing Calculator does not read the actual bill.
- Cost Explorer is not real-time performance monitoring; consolidated billing does not merge identities or resources.
- Current plans are Basic, Business Support+, Enterprise Support, and Unified Operations; older questions may use legacy plan names.
Key takeaway
Billing shows, Budgets guards, Explorer analyzes, Calculator estimates; Marketplace sells products and APN connects partners.