Cost Explorer: group and compare your cost
Cost Explorer lists the cost of the selected scope by the grouping you choose: service, resource group, resource, meter or subscription. Every item shows its share and its change against the period just before, and a filter finds any item by name.
What this page is for
Cost Explorer answers one question: for the grouping you choose, what did each item cost in this scope, and how did it move against the period just before? Choose service, resource group, resource, meter or subscription, and the list, its figures and its comparison follow the choice.
Open it when the fixed cost pages do not answer your question: to see which resources or meters carry the cost, to compare subscriptions, or to find one item by name. The Cost overview, Cost by service and Cost by resource group keep their own views; this page lets you choose the grouping and lists every item of it.
Every figure is in one currency and covers the same scope and date range. The page never adds two currencies together and converts nothing.
Before you start
The page shows figures once an Azure connection has imported its cost data. Until then it shows “No cost data yet” and a link to Getting started, which walks you through connecting Azure and the first import.
Read the Getting started guide
Cost analytics is part of the Starter plan and every plan above it. On the Free plan the page shows a labelled sample instead of your data.
Choose the scope: subscription, currency and dates
The bar at the top of the page sets the scope. Every figure, table and list below it is calculated again for what you select.
- “Subscription”: “All subscriptions” or one subscription. The list holds the subscriptions that have recorded cost.
- “Currency”: shown only when the scope is billed in more than one currency. CostGuard holds no exchange rate, so it never adds two currencies. Every figure is in the one currency you select.
- The date range: “Last 7 days”, “Last 30 days” (the page opens with it), “Month to date”, “Previous month”, “Last 90 days”, “Last 12 months” or “Custom range”. The last two presets are offered on this page so that you can compare longer periods.
- “Refresh” reads everything again for the same scope.
When you have not chosen a currency, the page uses the same one as the Dashboard and the Cost overview for the same scope, so one scope reads in one currency on every cost page. “Last 12 months” runs from the day after the same date a year ago through today.
When the scope changes, the list and its figures are read again. The grouping you chose stays, and the filter is cleared.
Set a custom range
- Open the date range list and choose “Custom range”.
- Enter a date under “From” and a date under “To”. Both days are included.
- Select “Apply”. “Cancel” closes the fields and keeps the range you had.
Limits to know
A custom range covers at most 366 days, starts on or before its end date and cannot end after today. When a date does not fit, a message beside the fields says what to correct, and nothing is reloaded until you do.
How far the cost data reaches
“Cost data through” shows the latest day CostGuard holds cost for. Azure reports cost with a delay of a day or two, so the latest days can still change, and a range that ends today is not final yet.
Choose a grouping
“Group by” sets what the list is made of. There are five groupings:
- “Service”: each Azure service, such as Azure SQL Database. The page opens with this grouping.
- “Resource group”: each resource group. A group is known by its subscription and its name, so two groups of the same name in two subscriptions stay two items.
- “Resource”: each resource, listed under its name, or under the last part of its Azure identifier when Azure recorded no name. The identifier itself is never shown.
- “Meter”: each meter a service bills by, such as compute hours or stored data. A meter that several resources are billed by is one item, the sum of all of them.
- “Subscription”: each subscription of the workspace. It is offered only when the scope is “All subscriptions”, because one subscription would be a list of one item.
Watch it in motion
The sentence beside the choices says what the chosen grouping lists. Choose another grouping, and the same scope is read again and the filter is cleared. The choices are unavailable only while a read runs.
Note
When you narrow the scope to one subscription while the list is grouped by “Subscription”, the page switches to “Service”.
The figures of the list
Four figures describe the list, all in its one currency and all calculated from the list itself, so they cannot disagree with it:
- “Total of the list”: the sum of every listed item, with the number of items under it.
- “Change”: the total minus the total of the same number of days just before the range, in money and as a percentage of that earlier total, which the line under it names. The percentage is shown only when the earlier total was above zero.
- “Largest item”: the first item of the list, with its share of the total.
- “New items”: how many listed items had no cost in the days before, with the number of items billed only in those days under it.
Note
When the scope is also billed in another currency, a sentence under the figures names it. Those costs are in no figure: choose that currency in the scope bar to see them.
Read the ranked list
The list is named after the grouping, for example “Services ranked” or “Resources ranked”. It holds every item with cost in the selected range and currency, largest first; items of equal cost follow the order of their names. Each row shows:
- The rank and the name of the item, and under the name what places it: the subscription of a resource group; the service, resource group and subscription of a resource; the service of a meter. A subscription is named only when all subscriptions are in scope.
- “Cost”: what the item cost in the range. “Share”: its part of the total of the list, drawn as a bar beside the percentage.
- “Previous period”: what the item cost in the same number of days just before the range. “Change”: the difference in money and as a percentage of that earlier cost; the percentage is shown only when the earlier cost was above zero. “New” means the item had no cost in the days before.
- Under the list, the items billed in the days before and not in this range, each with what it cost then.
The list shows the first 25 items. When there are more, a button under it lists every one, and then shows the first 25 only again.
A change wears no colour: a rise or a fall is neither money saved nor a risk by itself. When the days before could not be read, the list stays without its two comparison columns, and a sentence under it says so.
Note
Each share is measured against the total of the list, which adds up the same read as the items themselves, so the shares cannot disagree with the costs.
Filter the list
Type in “Filter by name” to keep the rows whose name, or the text under the name, contains what you type; case is ignored. Typing the name of a resource group, for example, keeps the resources of that group.
The filter narrows what is listed, never what is counted: every item keeps its rank and its share of the whole list, and the figures above stay those of the whole list. The line beside the field says how many items are shown of how many.
While a filter is typed, the items billed only in the days before are not listed. When nothing matches, the page says “No item matches this filter.” Choosing another grouping or scope clears the filter.
Items without a name
Azure does not record every value for every cost. Such cost is listed as an item of its own under a label, never left out:
- “No resource group”: cost Azure recorded against a subscription itself rather than a resource group, for example a reservation purchase. There is one such item in each subscription, and a note under the list says what it is.
- “No resource”: cost Azure recorded against no single resource, such as a support plan or a reservation purchase. There is one such item in each subscription, placed by its subscription only, and a note under the list says what it is.
- “Unnamed meter”, “Unnamed service” and “Unnamed subscription”: a meter, a service or a subscription for which Azure recorded no name.
Tip
The filter matches these labels too: type one of them to find such items.
Go further
Three links at the bottom of the page lead on. Each page opens with its own settings, not the scope or the grouping chosen here. “See the top services, resource groups and subscriptions” opens the Cost overview, which shows where the money went by service, subscription and resource group. “See one service and where it runs” opens Cost by service, which shows one service and the subscriptions and resource groups it runs in. “See the resource groups ranked and one in detail” opens Cost by resource group, which ranks every resource group and opens one.
What you may see instead of figures
While the figures load, grey placeholder bars stand where they will appear. After that, the page shows one of these instead of figures when there is nothing to show:
- “No cost data yet”, with “Open Getting started”: no connection has imported cost yet.
- “No cost in this range”: the workspace has cost data, but none of it falls in the selected range and scope.
- “Not available” under “Change” and “New items”, with “The previous period could not be loaded.”, and a list without its two comparison columns: the days before could not be read. The list and its total still show; “Refresh” in the scope bar tries again.
- “The cost of this scope could not be loaded.”, with “Try again”: the cost of the scope could not be read. Nothing was changed.
- A notice that your session has expired, with a link to sign in again. The page shows no figures until you do.
Sample data when your plan has no cost analytics
When your plan does not include cost analytics, the page shows a fixed example under the label “Sample data”, with the sentence “Your current plan does not include this feature. The figures shown here are an example, not your data.”
The sample lists nine example Northwind resources, grouped by resource, with the four figures of the list, one new item and one billed only in the period before, for a fixed period of 30 days in US dollars. The figures are the same for everyone and never your data; there is no scope bar, no grouping choice and no filter, and nothing in it can be changed.
What each plan includes
The table shows the first plan that includes each part of the page. Every plan above it includes it too.
| Feature | Free | Starter | Growth | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A labelled sample of the page | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Cost Explorer with your own cost data | Not included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Troubleshooting
The page says “No cost data yet”
You have no connection yet, or its first import has not finished. Open Getting started and follow the steps; the figures appear when the first import completes.
The last days look too low
Azure reports cost with a delay of a day or two. Check the date beside “Cost data through” in the scope bar. Days after it hold no cost yet, so a range that ends today reads lower than it will be.
An item is missing from the list
The list holds the items with cost in the selected range, subscription and currency. An item billed in another currency appears when you choose that currency in the scope bar; an item with no cost in the range appears when you choose a range in which it had a cost. An item billed only in the days before is named under the list, unless a filter is typed.
The page says “No cost in this range”
The selected subscription has no recorded cost on the selected dates, or the range starts before your cost history does. Choose a wider range or all subscriptions.
No item matches the filter
The filter looks only at the names of the current grouping and the text under them. Clear the field, type a shorter part of the name, or choose the grouping the name belongs to: a resource name is found only when the list is grouped by “Resource”.
A resource has an unfamiliar name
When Azure recorded no name with the cost of a resource, the list shows the last part of its Azure identifier instead, which is where Azure puts the resource's name. The identifier itself is never shown.
The “Subscription” grouping is missing
It is offered only when the scope is “All subscriptions”. Choose “All subscriptions” in the scope bar, and the grouping returns.
The page shows sample data
Your plan does not include cost analytics. The table above shows which plan does, and the link under it opens the pricing page.