# Understand AMI billing information Understand AMI billing There are many Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) to choose from when launching your instances, and they support a variety of operating system platforms and features. To understand how the AMI you choose when launching your instance affects the bottom line on your AWS bill, you can research the associated operating system platform and billing information. Do this before you launch any On-Demand or Spot Instances, or purchase a Reserved Instance. Here are two examples of how researching your AMI in advance can help you choose the AMI that best suits your needs: + For Spot Instances, you can use the AMI **Platform details** to confirm that the AMI is supported for Spot Instances. + When purchasing a Reserved Instance, you can make sure that you select the operating system platform (**Platform**) that maps to the AMI **Platform details**. For more information about instance pricing, see [Amazon EC2 pricing](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/). **Topics** + [ # AMI billing information fields ](billing-info-fields.md) + [ # Finding AMI billing and usage details ](view-billing-info.md) + [ # Verify AMI charges on your bill ](verify-ami-charges.md) # AMI billing information fields AMI billing fields The following fields provide billing information associated with an AMI: Platform details The platform details associated with the billing code of the AMI. For example, `Red Hat Enterprise Linux`. Usage operation The operation of the Amazon EC2 instance and the billing code that is associated with the AMI. For example, `RunInstances:0010`. **Usage operation** corresponds to the [lineitem/Operation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/Lineitem-columns.html#Lineitem-details-O-Operation) column on your AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) and in the [AWS Price List API](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awsaccountbilling/latest/aboutv2/price-changes.html). You can view these fields on the **Instances** or **AMIs** page in the Amazon EC2 console, or in the response that is returned by the [describe-images](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/ec2/describe-images.html) or [Get-EC2Image](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/latest/reference/items/Get-EC2Image.html) command. ## Sample data: usage operation by platform The following table lists some of the platform details and usage operation values that can be displayed on the **Instances** or **AMIs** pages in the Amazon EC2 console, or in the response that is returned by the [describe-images](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/ec2/describe-images.html) or [Get-EC2Image](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/latest/reference/items/Get-EC2Image.html) command. | Platform details | Usage operation 2 | | --- | --- | | Linux/UNIX | RunInstances | | Red Hat BYOL Linux | RunInstances:00g0 3 | | Red Hat Enterprise Linux | RunInstances:0010 | | Red Hat Enterprise Linux with HA | RunInstances:1010 | | Red Hat Enterprise Linux with SQL Server Standard and HA | RunInstances:1014 | | Red Hat Enterprise Linux with SQL Server Enterprise and HA | RunInstances:1110 | | Red Hat Enterprise Linux with SQL Server Standard | RunInstances:0014 | | Red Hat Enterprise Linux with SQL Server Web | RunInstances:0210 | | Red Hat Enterprise Linux with SQL Server Enterprise | RunInstances:0110 | | SQL Server Enterprise | RunInstances:0100 | | SQL Server Standard | RunInstances:0004 | | SQL Server Web | RunInstances:0200 | | SUSE Linux | RunInstances:000g | | Ubuntu Pro | RunInstances:0g00 | | Windows | RunInstances:0002 | | Windows BYOL | RunInstances:0800 | | Windows with SQL Server Enterprise 1 | RunInstances:0102 | | Windows with SQL Server Standard 1 | RunInstances:0006 | | Windows with SQL Server Web 1 | RunInstances:0202 | 1 If two software licenses are associated with an AMI, the **Platform details** field shows both. 2 If you are running Spot Instances, the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/Lineitem-columns.html#Lineitem-details-O-Operation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/Lineitem-columns.html#Lineitem-details-O-Operation) on your AWS Cost and Usage Report might be different from the **Usage operation** value that is listed here. For example, if `[lineitem/Operation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/Lineitem-columns.html#Lineitem-details-O-Operation)` displays `RunInstances:0010:SV006`, it means that Amazon EC2 is running Red Hat Enterprise Linux Spot Instance-hour in US East (N. Virginia) in Zone 6. 3 This appears as RunInstances (Linux/UNIX) in your usage reports. # Finding AMI billing and usage details Find AMI billing information The following properties can help you verify AMI charges on your bill: + **Platform details** + **Usage operation** + **AMI ID** ------ #### [ Console ] **To find the AMI billing information for an AMI** 1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/). 1. In the navigation pane, choose **AMIs**. 1. Select the AMI. 1. On the **Details** tab, find **Platform details** and **Usage operation**. **To find the AMI billing information for an instance** 1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/). 1. In the navigation pane, choose **Instances**. 1. Select the instance. 1. On the **Details** tab, expand **Instance details** and find **Platform details** and **Usage operation**. ------ #### [ AWS CLI ] **To find the AMI billing information for an AMI** Use the [describe-images](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/ec2/describe-images.html) command. ``` aws ec2 describe-images \ --image-ids ami-0abcdef1234567890 \ --query "Images[].{PlatformDetails:PlatformDetails,UsageOperation:UsageOperation}" ``` The following is example output for a Linux AMI. ``` [ { "PlatformDetails": "Linux/UNIX", "UsageOperation": "RunInstances" } ] ``` **To find the AMI billing information for an instance** Use the [describe-instances](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/ec2/describe-instances.html) command. ``` aws ec2 describe-instances \ --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0 \ --query "Reservations[].Instances[].{PlatformDetails:PlatformDetails,UsageOperation:UsageOperation}" ``` The following is example output for a Windows instance. ``` [ { "PlatformDetails": "Windows", "UsageOperation": "RunInstances:0002" } ] ``` ------ #### [ PowerShell ] **To find the AMI billing information for an AMI** Use the [Get-EC2Image](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/latest/reference/items/Get-EC2Image.html) cmdlet. ``` Get-EC2Image ` -ImageId ami-0abcdef1234567890 | ` Format-List PlatformDetails, UsageOperation ``` The following is example output for a Linux AMI. ``` PlatformDetails : Linux/UNIX UsageOperation : RunInstances ``` **To find the AMI billing information for an instance** Use the [Get-EC2Instance](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/latest/reference/items/Get-EC2Instance.html) cmdlet. ``` (Get-EC2Instance ` -InstanceId i-1234567890abcdef0).Instances | ` Format-List PlatformDetails, UsageOperation ``` The following is example output for a Windows instance. ``` PlatformDetails : Windows UsageOperation : RunInstances:0002 ``` ------ # Verify AMI charges on your bill To ensure that you're not incurring unplanned costs, you can verify that the billing information for an instance in your AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) matches the billing information that's associated with the AMI that you used to launch the instance. To verify the billing information, find the instance ID in your CUR and check the corresponding value in the `[lineitem/Operation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/Lineitem-columns.html#Lineitem-details-O-Operation)` column. That value should match the value for **Usage operation** that's associated with the AMI. For example, the AMI `ami-0123456789EXAMPLE` has the following billing information: + **Platform details** = `Red Hat Enterprise Linux` + **Usage operation** = `RunInstances:0010` If you launched an instance using this AMI, you can find the instance ID in your CUR, and check the corresponding value in the `[lineitem/Operation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/Lineitem-columns.html#Lineitem-details-O-Operation)` column. In this example, the value should be `RunInstances:0010`.