CLF-C02 Billing, Pricing, and Support Practice Question
A company manages multiple AWS accounts through AWS Organizations. The finance team wants to receive a consolidated view of costs across all accounts and track costs against a monthly budget of $50,000 for the entire organization. They want to be alerted when actual costs reach 90% of the budget and again when they exceed 100%. Which combination of AWS services should the finance team use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse the roles of AWS Cost Explorer (analysis/visualization) and AWS Budgets (budget creation/alerting), leading candidates to reverse their responsibilities or choose Trusted Advisor, which is for optimization recommendations, not budget management.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
AWS Budgets to create a budget and configure alerts, and AWS Cost Explorer to view consolidated cost data.
AWS Budgets is the correct service for setting a monthly budget of $50,000 and configuring alerts at 90% and 100% thresholds. AWS Cost Explorer provides the consolidated view of costs across all accounts in AWS Organizations. Together, they meet both requirements: Budgets handles the alerting, and Cost Explorer provides the consolidated cost visualization.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Cost Explorer to create a budget alert and AWS Budgets to view consolidated costs.
Why it's wrong here
This option reverses the roles. AWS Cost Explorer is used for cost analysis and visualization, not for creating budget alerts. AWS Budgets is used to create budgets and configure alerts, not for viewing consolidated costs (though it can display cost data, Cost Explorer is the dedicated tool for consolidated views).
When this WOULD be correct
If the question asked for a service to view historical cost trends and forecast future costs without needing budget alerts, then AWS Cost Explorer would be the correct choice for visualization, and AWS Budgets would not be required.
- ✓
AWS Budgets to create a budget and configure alerts, and AWS Cost Explorer to view consolidated cost data.
Why this is correct
Correct. AWS Budgets allows you to set a monthly budget and configure alerts at specified threshold percentages (e.g., 90% and 100%). AWS Cost Explorer provides a consolidated view of costs across multiple accounts in an organization, enabling the finance team to track spending against the budget.
- ✗
AWS Trusted Advisor to set a cost optimization budget and AWS Cost Explorer to send alerts.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Trusted Advisor offers cost optimization checks and recommendations, such as identifying idle resources or reserved instance opportunities, but it cannot set budgets or enforce threshold-based alerts. AWS Cost Explorer is an interactive analytics dashboard for visualizing and exploring cost and usage data, yet it lacks native alerting capabilities and will not send notifications on its own. Creating a budget with alert thresholds at 90% and 100% usage is the specific function of AWS Budgets, which integrates with Amazon SNS and Amazon CloudWatch for alert delivery.
When this WOULD be correct
A company wants to identify cost optimization opportunities across accounts and receive recommendations to reduce spending. AWS Trusted Advisor would be the correct service to use for cost optimization checks and recommendations.
- ✗
AWS Cost and Usage Report to generate a daily report and Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) to send email alerts.
Why it's wrong here
The AWS Cost and Usage Report provides detailed cost data but does not natively handle budget alerts. While Amazon SES could be used to send custom notifications, this approach requires building a custom solution rather than using the native AWS Budgets service, which is designed for this exact use case.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question asked for a solution to generate a detailed daily cost report and send it via email to stakeholders, without needing budget alerts or consolidated views in AWS Cost Explorer.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The CLF-C02 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓AWS Budgets to create a budget and configure alerts, and AWS Cost Explorer to view consolidated cost data.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
Correct. AWS Budgets allows you to set a monthly budget and configure alerts at specified threshold percentages (e.g., 90% and 100%). AWS Cost Explorer provides a consolidated view of costs across multiple accounts in an organization, enabling the finance team to track spending against the budget.
✗AWS Cost Explorer to create a budget alert and AWS Budgets to view consolidated costs.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
AWS Cost Explorer does not create budget alerts; it only visualizes cost data. AWS Budgets is the service that creates budgets and sends alerts, not Cost Explorer.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question asked for a service to view historical cost trends and forecast future costs without needing budget alerts, then AWS Cost Explorer would be the correct choice for visualization, and AWS Budgets would not be required.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse the roles of AWS Cost Explorer and AWS Budgets, thinking Cost Explorer can both visualize and alert, or they may misremember which service handles budget creation versus cost viewing.
✗AWS Trusted Advisor to set a cost optimization budget and AWS Cost Explorer to send alerts.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
AWS Trusted Advisor provides cost optimization recommendations but does not support creating budgets or sending alerts based on budget thresholds. It cannot be used to set a budget or trigger alerts at 90% and 100% of a monthly budget.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company wants to identify cost optimization opportunities across accounts and receive recommendations to reduce spending. AWS Trusted Advisor would be the correct service to use for cost optimization checks and recommendations.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse Trusted Advisor's cost optimization recommendations with budget management, assuming it can set budgets and alerts because it deals with cost-related advice.
✗AWS Cost and Usage Report to generate a daily report and Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) to send email alerts.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
AWS Cost and Usage Report provides detailed cost data but does not create budgets or send alerts; Amazon SES is an email service but not integrated with AWS Budgets for threshold alerts. The question requires budget creation and alerting, which AWS Budgets handles directly.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question asked for a solution to generate a detailed daily cost report and send it via email to stakeholders, without needing budget alerts or consolidated views in AWS Cost Explorer.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that generating a report and using SES for email is a valid way to monitor costs, overlooking that AWS Budgets provides built-in alerting for budget thresholds without custom email setup.
Analysis generated from the official CLF-C02blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CLF-C02 exam.