Cost Processing Dates and Timezones

Understanding Cost Processing at Yotascale

Aligning with Service Provider Reporting

Yotascale's cost processing closely mirrors the reporting practices of major service providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP. These providers base their cost line items on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This means that a cost of $100 reported for January 15th indicates it occurred within the UTC time zone on that date.

Daily Processing Schedule

We process costs daily at approximately 9:00 AM UTC, which translates to 1:00 AM PST or 4:00 AM EST. For US-based users, this means cost processing is typically completed by the time you log in around 7:00 AM EST or 4:00 AM PST.

Considering AWS CUR Delays

It's important to note that AWS Cost and Usage Reports (CUR) can experience delays of 2-3 days. For example, on January 1st, the 9:00 AM UTC cost processing might not reflect a complete CUR file for that date. Entries for January 1st may continue to appear for a few days, while discounts, refunds, and EDPs can take up to 20 days to stabilize. In essence:

• On-demand resource usage costs: Typically finalize within 2-3 days.

• Charges and refunds: May require a couple of weeks to fully settle.

AWS CUR File Dynamics

The AWS CUR file is a point-in-time export to an S3 bucket, usually occurring a few hours after midnight UTC. Yotascale's 9:00 AM UTC cost processing relies on this exported CUR file. However, it's crucial to understand that the Cost Explorer within the AWS console doesn't directly use the CUR file itself. Instead, it leverages a separate cost database. This means you might see additional cost line items in the Cost Explorer at 1:00 PM PST (11:00 PM UTC) that aren't yet visible in Yotascale, as they haven't been included in the exported CUR file.