AWS Effective Cost
The extended metric Effective Cost aligns with the FOCUS Effective Cost concept. It shows what your AWS usage actually cost after Reserved Instance (RI) and Savings Plan (SP) commitments are applied, with the commitment fees spread across the hours they cover.
The difference between Effective Cost and Amortized Cost is how discounts are treated:
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Amortized Cost folds discounts such as the AWS Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) into the cost of the usage or fee line item.
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Effective Cost records the commitment share and each discount as separate amounts under their respective Savings Types.
For instance, the example report shows
Unused CommitmentandEDPas two distinct values forRIFeeandSavingsPlanRecurringFeeunder Effective Cost, whereas under Amortized Cost they are combined.
Values for Effective Cost are populated after the AWS billing recalculation processes the period.
The first full month of data with the Effective Cost metric is September 2026 (effective September 1, 2026).
Effective Cost by cost type
The table below describes how Effective Cost is calculated for each cost type.
| Cost type | Effective Cost |
|---|---|
Usage (On-Demand and Spot) | The cost before discounts, plus a separate negative amount for each discount on the line item, for example EDP or Private Pricing. The amounts add up to the billed cost. |
DiscountedUsage | That hour's share of the RI commitment, plus its share of the discounts. |
RIFee | The unused portion of that hour's RI commitment, with the EDP on the recurring charge recorded as a separate negative amount. Fully used hours have 0 unused commitment. The total for this cost type is negative when the EDP is higher than the unused commitment. |
SavingsPlanCoveredUsage | That hour's share of the SP commitment, plus its share of the discounts. |
SavingsPlanRecurringFee | The unused portion of that hour's SP commitment, with the EDP on the recurring charge recorded as a separate negative amount. Fully used hours have 0 unused commitment. The total for this cost type is negative when the EDP is higher than the unused commitment. |
SavingsPlanNegation, SavingsPlanUpfrontFee, and the RI purchase Fee (Heavy Usage or Exchange) | Always 0. The prepaid value is recognized on the covered usage and the unused hours instead. |
BundledDiscount | Always 0. The discount is applied to the matching Usage line items instead. |
FlexsaveCoveredUsage | The cost of the usage covered by Flexsave, with the Flexsave discount recorded as a separate negative amount. |
FlexsaveNegation, FlexsaveRecurringFee, and other Flexsave items | Always 0. You are not charged for unused Flexsave commitment. |
Credit, Refund, Tax, and other fees | Same as the billed cost. |
Effective Cost and Cost
Over the life of a commitment, Effective Cost adds up to the billed Cost (basic metric). Within a single month, the two can differ by the amortized upfront payment, because cash paid once is recognized across the months it covers.
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The difference is expected for Partial Upfront and All Upfront commitments, especially when the purchase was made in an earlier month.
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For No Upfront commitments, the monthly Effective Cost and billed cost usually match.
In a month that is still in progress, hours that AWS has not yet reported are not counted as unused commitment, so a commitment does not appear wasted for the remainder of the month.
Hourly RI fees
The monthly RIFee is split into hourly line items across the hours that the reservation covers, for both the Cost and the Effective Cost metric.
The monthly total per reservation does not change. This matches how Savings Plan recurring fees are already reported, and it lets you see unused commitment in the hours where it occurred.
Example report
See below an example report that compares the metrics Cost, Effective Cost, and Amortized Cost, grouped by Cost Type and Savings Type.
Each discount and each portion of unused commitment is stored with its own savings type, for example EDP, Private Pricing, Flexsave, Bundled Discount, or Unused Commitment. Discounts are negative amounts and unused commitment is a positive amount.