---
title: Monitors
description: Learn how to create a monitor with Cloud Cost data.
breadcrumbs: Docs > Cloud Cost Management > Cost Changes > Monitors
---

# Monitors

## Overview{% #overview %}

Cloud Cost Monitors help you proactively identify cost changes, and understand if you're projected to go over budget, so you can investigate the cause.

- Instantly view all your cost monitors and filter or search by team, service, tag, provider, or alert status.
- See a summary of how many monitors are set up, which are alerting, and what areas of cloud spend are tracked.
- Create new cost monitors using templates and take action on monitors that need attention.

In order to configure Cloud Cost monitors, you need to have [Cloud Cost Management](https://docs.datadoghq.com/cloud_cost_management/) set up.

Cloud Cost monitors use a 30-minute evaluation frequency and a 48-hour delayed evaluation window, since cost data may not be available until 48 hours after usage. For example, a 7-day lookback evaluated on January 15 examines cost data from January 6 to January 13.

## Create a monitor{% #create-a-monitor %}

To create a Cloud Cost monitor in Datadog, navigate to [**Cloud Cost > Analyze > Cost Monitors** ](https://app.datadoghq.com/cost/analyze/monitors)and click **+ New Cost Monitor**.

Alternatively, you can set one up from [**Monitors** –> **New Monitor** –> **Cloud Cost**](https://app.datadoghq.com/monitors/create/cost), the main navigation, the [Cloud Cost Explorer](https://app.datadoghq.com/cost/explorer), or through [Terraform](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/DataDog/datadog/latest/docs/resources/monitor).

{% image
   source="https://datadog-docs.imgix.net/images/monitors/monitor_types/cloud_cost/cost-monitors-create-new.bb2d6d2ed56f8cb34720830ed040b61d.png?auto=format"
   alt="The Create Monitor button on the Cost Monitor page" /%}

### Select a cost monitor type{% #select-a-cost-monitor-type %}

You can select from the following monitor types:

| Monitor Type | Cost Metric-based | Purpose                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Example                                                                                            |
| ------------ | ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Changes      | Yes               | Detect daily, weekly, or monthly cost changes.                                                                                                                                                                                                 | Alert when the difference between today's cost and the week before is over 5%.                     |
| Anomalies    | Yes               | Identify unusual or unexpected cost patterns.Incomplete days are excluded from analysis to ensure accuracy. Anomaly monitors require at least 1 month of cloud cost data to evaluate since historical data is required to train the algorithm. | Alert if 3 days from the past 30 days show significant cost anomalies compared to historical data. |
| Threshold    | Yes               | Alert when costs exceed a set value.                                                                                                                                                                                                           | Set alerts when today's total cost exceeds $10,000.                                                |
| Forecast     | Yes               | Alert if forecasted costs will exceed a threshold.                                                                                                                                                                                             | Alert daily if the forecasted cost for this month is projected to exceed $500.                     |
| Budget       | No                | Alert if costs exceed your [budget](https://docs.datadoghq.com/cloud_cost_management/planning/budgets/).                                                                                                                                       | Alert if the total cost for the month exceeds the budget of $10,000.                               |

### Specify which cost to track{% #specify-which-cost-to-track %}

{% tab title="Cost metric-based" %}
Any cost type or metric reporting to Datadog is available for monitors. You can use custom metrics or observability metrics alongside a cost metric to monitor unit economics.

| Step                     | Required | Default           | Example                 |
| ------------------------ | -------- | ----------------- | ----------------------- |
| Select the cost metric   | Yes      | All providers     | `azure.cost.actual`     |
| Define the `filter by`   | No       | Nothing           | `aws_product:s3`        |
| Group by                 | No       | Nothing           | `aws_availability_zone` |
| Add observability metric | No       | `system.cpu.user` | `aws.s3.all_requests`   |

Use the editor to define the cost types or exports.

{% image
   source="https://datadog-docs.imgix.net/images/monitors/monitor_types/cloud_cost/cost-monitors-specify-cost.9df887db78dd586476ba26ee7ed0d97c.png?auto=format"
   alt="Cloud Cost and Metrics data source options for specifying which costs to track" /%}

{% /tab %}

{% tab title="Budget-based" %}
Select an existing budget to monitor from the dropdown.

{% image
   source="https://datadog-docs.imgix.net/images/monitors/monitor_types/cloud_cost/budget-monitor-select-budget.8b414b5d93dcf7ffad65bb50e33ac737.png?auto=format"
   alt="Dropdown for specifying which budget to track cost against" /%}

{% /tab %}

For more information, see the [Cloud Cost Management documentation](https://docs.datadoghq.com/cloud_cost_management/).

### Set alert conditions{% #set-alert-conditions %}

{% tab title="Changes" %}
If you are using the **Cost Changes** monitor type, you can trigger an alert when the cost `increases` or `decreases` more than the defined threshold. The threshold can be set to either a **Percentage Change** or set to **Dollar Amount**.

If you are using the **Percentage Change**, you can filter out changes that are below a certain dollar threshold. For example, the monitor alerts when there is a cost change above 5% for any change that is above $500.
{% /tab %}

{% tab title="Anomalies" %}
For the **Cost Anomalies** monitor type, you can trigger an alert if the observed cost is `above`, `below`, or `above or below` a threshold compared to historical data.

The `agile` [anomaly algorithm](https://docs.datadoghq.com/dashboards/functions/algorithms/) is used with two bounds and monthly seasonality.
{% /tab %}

{% tab title="Threshold" %}
If you are using the **Cost Threshold** monitor type, you can trigger an alert when the cloud cost is `above`, `below`, `above or equal`, or `below or equal to` a threshold.
{% /tab %}

{% tab title="Forecast" %}
If you are using the **Cost Forecast** monitor type, you can trigger an alert when the cloud cost is `above`, `below`, `above or equal`, `below or equal to`, `equal to`, or `not equal to` a threshold.
{% /tab %}

{% tab title="Budget" %}
If you are using the **Budget** monitor type, you can trigger an alert when the cloud cost exceeds the budget you selected in the previous step.

| Step        | Purpose                                                        | Values                            |
| ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Granularity | Level of detail at which the cost is evaluated.                | `overall` (total cost), `per_row` |
| Threshold   | Percentage of budget that is utilized to trigger the alert.    | Number between 0 and 100 (%)      |
| Timeframe   | Evaluation window used to assess if the threshold is breached. | `all_months`, `current_month`     |

{% /tab %}

### Configure notifications and automations{% #configure-notifications-and-automations %}

For detailed instructions on the **Configure notifications and automations** section, see the [Notifications](https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/notify/) page.

### Define permissions and audit notifications{% #define-permissions-and-audit-notifications %}

Choose which teams, roles, users, or service accounts are allowed to **view** or **edit** the monitor. By default, all members of your organization have access.

You can also turn on **Audit Notifications** to alert the monitor creator and recipients whenever the monitor is changed.

## Other actions you can take{% #other-actions-you-can-take %}

{% image
   source="https://datadog-docs.imgix.net/images/monitors/monitor_types/cloud_cost/cost-monitors-other-actions.23ac160a6560bc5fb776e6ab720dd1f8.png?auto=format"
   alt="The actions menu open with options to view the monitor in the Cloud Cost Explorer, as well as options to edit, clone, and delete the monitor." /%}

- **View in Monitors** to see your monitor's alert history, adjust visualizations, and review how often it has triggered alerts.
- **View in Explorer** to open the monitor in the Cloud Cost Explorer for deeper analysis.
- **Edit** a monitor to update the monitor's settings or configuration.
- **Clone** a monitor to create a copy of an existing monitor by choosing **Actions > Clone**.
- **Delete** a monitor to permanently remove a monitor you no longer need.

## Further Reading{% #further-reading %}

- [Manage and optimize your OCI costs with Datadog Cloud Cost Management](https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/cloud-cost-management-oci)
- [Cloud Cost Management](https://docs.datadoghq.com/cloud_cost_management/?tab=aws#overview)
- [Configure your monitor notifications](https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/notify/)
- [Schedule a downtime to mute a monitor](https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/downtimes/)
- [Consult your monitor status](https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/status/)
- [React quickly to cost overruns with Cost Monitors for Datadog Cloud Cost Management](https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/ccm-cost-monitors/)
- [Empower engineers to take ownership of Google Cloud costs with Datadog](https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/google-cloud-cost-management/)