How to Prevent Unnecessary Charges on AWS: Free Billing Alerts for Beginners

Introduction

AWS is one of the most popular cloud platforms, but beginners often get surprised by unexpected charges. Luckily, AWS provides free tools to monitor your spending and prevent unnecessary costs. In this article, we will guide you step by step to set up free billing alerts, understand usage limits, and stay safe while learning AWS.

Target Audience: Beginners who want to avoid surprises in their AWS billing.

Step 1: Enable AWS Billing Alerts (Free)

Before creating alerts, you must enable billing alerts in your account. This allows AWS to track your usage and send notifications if you approach your free tier or budget limits.

Steps:

1. Log in to AWS Management Console.
2. Go to Billing & Cost Management → Billing Preferences.

Tick:

• Receive Free Tier Usage Alerts – This sends alerts when you are nearing the free tier limits, so you can avoid accidental charges.

Click Save to activate this alert.

Step 2: Create an AWS Budget Alert (Free)

The AWS Budget feature allows you to define a spending limit and get email notifications when your usage reaches specific thresholds. This gives beginners more control and peace of mind while learning.

Steps:

1. Go to Billing → Budgets → Create Budget.
2. Choose Cost Budget and set your monthly limit (for example, $2 USD). This is the maximum you are willing to spend in a month.
3. Add alert thresholds to receive notifications at 50%, 80%, and 100% of your budget. Each alert warns you before reaching the full limit.
4. Add your email address for notifications and click Save.

Tip: Always use email notifications, as SMS alerts may incur small charges.

Step 3: Enable Cost Explorer (Optional, Free)

AWS Cost Explorer helps you visualize your spending over time. By tracking daily usage and costs, you can better understand which services may contribute to charges and make adjustments before they become an issue.

Steps:

1. Go to Billing → Cost Explorer.
2. Click Enable to activate the tool. Once enabled, you can view your usage in graphs and tables.

Safe to use (Free):

IAM (users & permissions) – Manage access without creating cost.

Billing dashboard & CloudWatch billing alerts – Free tools to monitor your usage.

AWS Budgets & Cost Explorer – Tools to track spending and visualize data for free.

Additional Tips to Stay Safe

1. Regularly check Free Tier usage: Even small services can exceed limits if forgotten. Monitoring usage helps avoid surprises.
2. Use tags to track resources: Tags make it easy to identify and manage resources, especially if you try multiple services at once.
3. Delete resources you are not using: Unused resources, like instances or storage, can lead to unexpected charges.
4. Monitor daily billing with Cost Explorer: Keeping an eye on daily costs helps you react before reaching your budget.
5. Set low budgets initially: Beginners can start with $1–$2 per month to test alerts and get familiar with AWS billing.

Conclusion

Setting up AWS billing alerts is simple, free, and essential for beginners. By combining budget alerts, free tier alerts, and monitoring tools, you can confidently explore AWS without worrying about unexpected charges. Adding screenshots and visuals in your article or video will make these steps even clearer and more engaging for beginners.