Amortized Costs - Recommended for Most Users
Think of this like a yearly gym membership spread into monthly payments:
- If you pay $365 upfront for a year, instead of showing $365 on day 1, it shows as $1 per day
- Makes it easier to track and budget your spending
- Most businesses use this method
- Perfect for understanding your "true" daily/monthly costs
Why use Amortized Costs?
- Easier to understand your daily costs
- Better for budgeting and planning
- No confusing spikes in cost reports
- Most commonly used in real companies
Other Cost Types (For Reference):
-
Unblended Costs: Shows charges on the exact day they happen (like seeing $365 on day 1)
-
Blended Costs: Average costs across all your AWS accounts
-
Net Costs: Final costs after all discounts (like coupons) are applied
Think of it like this: If you bought a $12 streaming service for a year upfront ($144):
- Unblended would show: $144 on day 1
- Amortized would show: $12 each month (easier to understand!)