What is pro forma billing data?
The pro forma billing data is an alternate version of the billing data. This version is the output of your configuration through Billing Conductor resources (pricing plans, pricing rules, and custom line items) applied to either a subset of accounts in the AWS Organizations (standard billing groups) or to an entire organization (billing transfer billing group) for customized showback or chargeback purposes.
Important
The pro forma data differs from the data shown in your AWS bill and doesn't reflect the actual charges due to AWS each month.
This section clarifies the differences between the pro forma bill, generated by AWS Billing Conductor, and the standard AWS bill. When you create a billing group, the AWS Billing Conductor computation generates a pro forma bill for that billing group using your custom pricing configuration. There are several fundamental differences between pro forma bill compared to the standard AWS bill.
Note
The pro forma billing data has no impact on the standard AWS bill. It doesn't change the way you or your organization are billed by AWS.
Glossary
This section defines key terms used throughout AWS Billing Conductor so you can use the service effectively.
- Pro forma bill
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The billing data that is generated for each billing group. Billing data is generated for each billing group type: standard billing groups configured when using Billing Conductor as a standalone service, and billing transfer billing groups configured when using billing transfer with Billing Conductor. AWS Billing Conductor computation takes the usage accrued by the billing group accounts and applies the custom rates that are defined by the billing group's pricing plan. The billing data is then vended downstream to the integrated services. If an account or AWS Organizations in a billing group views their costs through one of these services, they see the pro forma billing data instead of the standard AWS billing data.
- Standard AWS bill/ Chargeable AWS bill
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The standard AWS bill that represents the true costs payable to AWS.
- Domains
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The pro forma billing data set and standard AWS billing data sets are isolated from one another in separate billing domains. Pro forma data exists in the pro forma domain, while the standard billing data exists in the billable domain.
- Billable
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The billing output that's generated by AWS and used as the basis of calculating your AWS invoice.
- Resource values
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The inputs that are used to calculate percentage-based custom line items. Resource values can include the accrued costs for the billing group and any flat custom line items that are associated with a given billing group for a billing period.
Understanding your pro forma billing data
This section explains in depth the differences between pro forma and standard billing. It also provides use cases and best practices when using pro forma billing data.
What's the difference between pro forma billing data and standard AWS billing data?
Each billing group's pro forma bill is computed as if the accounts within the group are their own consolidated billing family or organization. As a result, there are several key differences between account charges in the pro forma domain, compared to the standard billable domain.
Reserved instances and Savings Plans are only applied and shared within the billing group if it was purchased by a billing group account.
Volume tiering discounts are calculated based on the usage accrued only by the accounts within the billing group.
Free Tier consumption is calculated based on the usage accrued only by the accounts within the billing group.
Note
These differences apply only when using Billing Conductor as a standalone service. When using billing transfer with Billing Conductor, the reserved instances, Savings Plans, and volume discounts are calculated based on the entire AWS Organizations. This calculation method is used because the entire organization is included in the billing group. As a result, the reserved instance and Savings Plans benefits are always visible to organizations transferring their bills.
Free Tier credits are not supported in pro forma billing for billing transfer users.
The following line item types are excluded from the pro forma domain:
Credits (redeemed at the payer or linked account level)
Free Tier credits
Support plans charges (Enterprise, Business, Developer)
Non-public discounts (for example, Solution Provider Program
) Usage-based discounts (for example, bundled discounts)
Tax
Refunds
Because of these factors, your billing group's margins varies month to month.
Note
Along with these factors, it is possible for the billing group margin to be a negative number, based on the pricing plan and the applied custom line items.
Configuring pricing in the pro forma domain for my billing group
You can adjust the pricing rates by creating pricing rules and associating them to a pricing plan. Then, that pricing plan can be applied to your billing group. Any markup or discount pricing rule is calculated against the Billing Conductor base rates (rates exclusive of negotiated discounts, Partner program discounts, credits, free tier credits, tax and support plan charges). If you apply an empty pricing plan to your billing group, then the pricing rates default to the Billing Conductor base rates.
You can then create custom line items to add credits or fees to a specific billing group account's pro forma bill.
Who can see the pro forma billing data and standard AWS bills?
When using Billing Conductor as a standalone service, the payer account can always view the standard AWS bill because they are responsible for paying these charges to AWS. They can also view the pro forma bill for each of their billing groups on the Bills page and AWS Cost and Usage Report and Cost Explorer.
When using Billing Conductor with billing transfer, the bill transfer account can always view the standard AWS bill because they are responsible for paying these charges to AWS. They can also view the pro forma bill for each of their billing groups on the Bills page, , and Cost Explorer.
For more information, see Viewing your billing group details and Configuring Cost and Usage Reports by billing group.
Accounts that are associated to a billing group can see the pro forma data when they view their bill details through an integrated service. When using Billing Conductor as a standalone service, the primary account has cross-account visibility, and can see the pro forma billing data for all of the accounts in the billing group. Other accounts in the billing group can see the pro forma billing data for their own account. For the full list of services that support pro forma data views, see AWS services that support pro forma-based billing view costs.
How Free Tier applies in the pro forma domain
The following considerations about Free Tier behavior in pro forma billing apply when using Billing Conductor as a standalone service or with billing transfer.
- 12-month Free Tier
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Billing Conductor removes this Free Tier from the pro forma bill. It is exchanged with the first paid offer for the given SKU.
- Always Free Tier
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Billing Conductor doesn't remove this Free Tier from the pro forma bill. You can deactivate this Free Tier by applying a tiering pricing rule to your billing group's pricing plan. For more information, see Pricing rules
- Free trials
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Billing Conductor removes most free trials from the pro forma data. However, we can't remove the free trial if there is no subsequent pricing tier data that can cover existing usage.
- Free Tier for accounts signing up after July 2025
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Accounts that sign up after July 2025 receive Free Tier credits when they choose their account plan. These credits don't appear in the pro forma billing by default. To include these credits in the pro forma billing, the payer account or bill transfer account must use the custom line item functionality in Billing Conductor.
Can you derive the pro forma bill costs from the standard AWS bill costs?
You can't reconcile the costs generated for a billing group's pro forma bill, based on the costs in the standard privately negotiated AWS bill. For example, you can't derive the pro forma cost for an account by subtracting private discounts and taxes charged in the standard AWS bill. For more information on why, see What's the difference between pro forma billing data and standard AWS billing data? and How Free Tier applies in the pro forma domain.
How are Reserved Instances and Savings Plans allocated in the pro forma domain?
This section applies only when using Billing Conductor as a standalone service. For users using billing transfer, the reserved instances and Savings Plans apply exactly as they do in the standard billing domain because there is a one-to-one mapping between the billing group and the AWS Organizations transferring its bills.
When using Billing Conductor as a standalone service, if an account outside your billing group purchases a reserved instance (RI) or Savings Plans, it is excluded from your billing group's pro forma billing. If an account within your billing group purchases an RI or Savings Plans, the benefits first apply to any eligible usage that accrues within the purchasing account. Any remaining benefits are distributed to other accounts within the group.
RI and Savings Plans discount sharing preferences made at the payer level have no effect on the pro forma domain. RI and Savings Plans purchased by an account in a billing group are always shared with accounts in the same group. As a result, the RI and Savings Plans discount allocation might differ between the pro forma and billable domains.
Do billing groups impact the way reserved instances and Savings Plans are allocated?
This section applies only when using Billing Conductor as a standalone service.
Billing Conductor resources and the resulting pro forma data have no impact on the actual AWS bill. Your billing group might impact how the RIs and Savings Plans are applied in the pro forma domain, but it has no effect on how the same RIs and Savings Plans apply in the billable domain.
