I started running a t2.nano instance yesterday, and I've noticed some unexpected costs on my billing report from Cost Explorer. The charges I'm seeing include $0.13 for EC2-Instances, $0.13 for VPC, and $0.10 for EC2-Other. Before setting up this instance, I had no costs at all, and I just created the t2.nano with default settings while running Amazon Linux 2023. I'm wondering if the instance pulled some data when I installed Docker (which I did only once), but that doesn't seem enough to account for the charges. Also, I'm not quite sure what the 'EC2-Other' costs refer to. Can anyone help me figure this out, or suggest how to track my billing more precisely on a per-resource basis?
5 Answers
Don’t forget that a public IPv4 address costs $0.005 per hour, billed by the second after the first minute. That could add to your costs if it’s attached to your instance.
Some of those costs could come from storage provisioned for your server. If you’re using a NAT gateway in a private subnet, remember those have hourly charges too.
You might want to group by Usage Type in Cost Explorer. It gives you a clearer view of what's costing you money.
When in doubt, it's best to open a case with AWS Billing support through your Support Center. They can provide detailed insights into your billing, including what 'EC2-Other' includes. I found a great article that explains it as well: [AWS Article Link](https://go.aws/4jRshFp).
If your instance has a public IP address, that's likely what's causing the VPC charges. Also, check if there's an EBS volume attached; even a small one can incur costs. Those things add up!
I have both a public IP and an 8 GB EBS volume attached. I thought those costs were included in the EC2 charges. Isn't that the case?
That worked! I can see the costs much more clearly now, thanks!