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What's the Difference Between AWS Compute Optimizer and AWS Cost Explorer?

Compare AWS Compute Optimizer and AWS Cost Explorer side by side — features, pricing, and ideal use cases to help you choose the right product.

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Comparisons
AWS Compute Optimizer
AWS Cost Explorer
Category

Management & Governance, Optimization

Management & Governance, Cost Management

Description

Recommendation engine that analyzes usage to optimize cost and performance

Visualize, understand, and manage your AWS costs and usage over time.

Best for
  • Right-sizing
  • Cost optimization
  • Performance improvement
  • Resource planning
  • Cost analysis
  • Usage reporting
  • Savings recommendations
  • Forecasting
Key features
  • EC2 recommendations
  • EBS recommendations
  • Lambda recommendations
  • Auto Scaling group recommendations
  • Enhanced infrastructure metrics
  • Cost visualization
  • Filtering & grouping
  • Savings Plans recommendations
  • RI recommendations
  • Cost forecasting
Pricing model

No additional charge for default recommendations

No additional charge for console; API calls charged

Free tier

Yes

Yes

Expert take

“Compute Optimizer analyzes utilization metrics and recommends right-sized instance types. It considers CPU, memory, network, and storage patterns over 14 days to suggest savings.”
— Giovanni Lauria, re:Post Top Contributor [profile]

“Cost Explorer identifies spending patterns and forecasts future costs. The rightsizing recommendations alone typically save 20-30% on EC2 spend.”
— Oleksii Bebych, re:Post Top Contributor [profile]

Product page

When to use AWS Compute Optimizer or AWS Cost Explorer

Use AWS Compute Optimizer when:

  • Right-sizing
  • Cost optimization
  • Performance improvement
  • Resource planning

Learn more about AWS Compute Optimizer »

Use AWS Cost Explorer when:

  • Cost analysis
  • Usage reporting
  • Savings recommendations
  • Forecasting

Learn more about AWS Cost Explorer »

AWS product comparisons

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