Why CloudYali totals differ from your provider's console
Most differences come from which adjustments are counted, from the last day or two still arriving, or from cash versus amortized cost. Match those three first.
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| CloudYali is higher than AWS by about your credits or refunds | AWS credits and refunds count in CloudYali only when ticked in Include | Tick Credits and Refunds, or untick them in AWS |
| The last day or two are lower | Providers deliver billing a day or two late, and CloudYali collects once a day | Compare ranges that end at least two days ago |
| A month is spread out in AWS but lumpy in CloudYali | CloudYali shows cash (unblended) cost; AWS can show amortized cost | Choose Unblended costs in AWS Cost Explorer |
| Azure differs by a few percent | CloudYali shows Azure's US dollar amount, not your billing currency | View Azure Cost Management in USD |
| A Google Cloud day is shifted | CloudYali counts Google Cloud days in US Pacific time | Compare by usage date in Pacific time |
| An older range shows $0.00 | Cost Explorer holds about seven months for AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Databricks and Fastly | Stay within the last seven months |
| CloudYali is higher than AWS by a discount | Some AWS line types, such as EdpDiscount, are not counted | Group by Cost type to see what is counted |
Adjustments: credits, discounts, refunds and tax
Include in Cost Explorer decides which adjustments count. Discounts and Taxes are ticked by default. Some reductions always count, whatever the boxes say:
- AWS: discounts always count. Credits and refunds count only when ticked.
- Google Cloud: credits always count, all of them, including committed use, promotional and free tier credits. Tax counts when Taxes is ticked.
- Microsoft Azure: refunds always count. Tax counts when Taxes is ticked.
- Anthropic, OpenAI, Cursor, Databricks and Fastly: the boxes change nothing.
To match your provider, tick the same adjustments it includes. Cost types has the full table.
Timing
CloudYali collects each provider's billing once a day, and providers deliver it a day or two late, so the newest days are incomplete and can still change. Compare ranges that end at least two days ago.
Days are counted as each provider exports them: AWS by the usage start date, Azure by the export's date, and Google Cloud by the usage date in US Pacific time. Fastly bills monthly, so all of a month's Fastly cost appears on the 1st.
Months are calendar months, and weeks start on Monday.
Cash versus amortized cost
CloudYali shows cost on a cash basis: AWS unblended cost, and a commitment's upfront or monthly fee on the day it is billed. If your provider's report spreads those fees (amortized cost), the two differ from day to day and agree only over the whole term. Match with Unblended costs in AWS Cost Explorer, or Actual cost in Azure Cost Management. Amortized commitment cost is in Commitments.
By provider
AWS Cost Explorer
- Choose Unblended costs.
- CloudYali counts these line types: usage, discounted usage, Savings Plan covered usage, fees,
Reserved Instance and Savings Plan fees, subscriptions, discounts, bundled discounts and Savings Plan
negation, plus credits, refunds and tax when ticked. Other line types, such as Enterprise Discount
Program (
EdpDiscount) or private rate (PrivateRateDiscount) discounts, are not counted, so CloudYali reads higher by those amounts. - Amounts are in the currency AWS bills you, not converted, and shown with
$. - CloudYali does not re-read a month AWS has already invoiced, so later corrections to that month do not arrive.
Azure Cost Management
- Choose Actual cost and show it in USD. CloudYali reads the US dollar amount from the export, at Azure's exchange rate.
- Charge types other than usage, purchases, refunds and tax are not counted.
Google Cloud Billing
- CloudYali reads cost at your prices, net of every credit, converted to US dollars at the rate in the billing export.
- Group Google's report by usage date, not invoice month.
- Days are in US Pacific time, as in Google's reports. A UTC-day query on the BigQuery export does not line up.
Anthropic, OpenAI, Cursor, Databricks and Fastly
- Databricks is priced at Databricks' list price. Negotiated discounts are not applied, so CloudYali reads higher than your invoice if you have them.
- Cursor seat cost is $40 per seat per month by default, spread across the days of the month, not read from Cursor's invoice.
- Fastly cost is the monthly invoice, dated the 1st.
- Anthropic and OpenAI cost is read as the provider reports it, in US dollars.
Inside CloudYali
Figures can also differ between CloudYali pages:
- Cost Views apply Include to every provider, so with the defaults they leave out Google Cloud credits and Azure refunds, and read higher than Cost Explorer for those providers.
- Budgets count AWS usage line items only, so an AWS budget can read lower than Cost Explorer.
- The daily email counts AWS usage line items only, and leaves Google Cloud tax and adjustments out. See Email reports.
- Tag Governance totals leave out credits and refunds.
Still stuck
Email support@cloudyali.io with the provider, the account, the date range, the two totals, and a screenshot of each page with its settings. Do not send keys or passwords.