Forecast costs

Learn how to project your cloud spend with Forecast.

Forecast shows your projected spend, based on your actual cost history. You can also add growth-rate scenarios, to see how your spend changes if it grows faster or slower.

To open Forecast, select Analyze in the top navigation, then select Forecast. For how filters and Sync work across all three tabs, see Visibility.

Setting Up a Forecast

Click Filters at the top right to open the Filter & Forecast drawer.

Setting	What it sets
CMGR	CMGR (compound monthly growth rate) is the average rate at which your spend grows each month. CMGR scenarios show as extra lines on the chart. Select Base CMGR, the growth rate in your own history, or 1%, 3%, 5%, or 20%. You can also enter your own rate, from -50% to 50%.
Granularity	Daily or monthly.
Lookback	How much cost history Forecast uses: up to 365 days for a daily forecast, or up to 14 months for a monthly forecast.
Projection	How far ahead to forecast: up to 365 days for a daily forecast, or up to 24 months for a monthly forecast.

To forecast part of your spend, add filters in the same drawer, for example one service or one linked account. Filters work the same way as in Explore. Splits do not apply to Forecast. It shows the total of the filtered spend.

Reading the Forecast

The Forecast chart shows your Actual spend up to today, then the Model projection. The shaded band around the projection runs from the Low Estimate to the High Estimate. Each CMGR scenario that you select appears as its own line.

Limitations

• Daily and monthly only. Forecasts are daily or monthly. If Sync is on and Explore is set to hourly, no chart appears. Switch Explore to daily or monthly, or set the granularity in the Filter & Forecast drawer.