- A
AWS Cost Explorer to create a budget alert and AWS Budgets to view consolidated costs.
Why wrong: 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).
- B
AWS Budgets to create a budget and configure alerts, and AWS Cost Explorer to view consolidated cost data.
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.
- C
AWS Trusted Advisor to set a cost optimization budget and AWS Cost Explorer to send alerts.
Why wrong: AWS Trusted Advisor provides cost optimization recommendations and checks, but it does not support setting budgets or sending budget alerts. AWS Cost Explorer does not send alerts; it is an analytics tool.
- D
AWS Cost and Usage Report to generate a daily report and Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) to send email alerts.
Why wrong: 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.
Setting Up Budget Alerts and Consolidated Cost Views for Multiple AWS Accounts
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of billing, pricing, and support. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
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?
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.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS Trusted Advisor to set a cost optimization budget and AWS Cost Explorer to send alerts.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Trusted Advisor provides cost optimization recommendations and checks, but it does not support setting budgets or sending budget alerts. AWS Cost Explorer does not send alerts; it is an analytics tool.
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?”
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is confusing 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.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
AWS Budgets allows you to set cost, usage, and reservation budgets with up to 5 alert thresholds per budget, each with configurable actions (e.g., SNS topic, email). Cost Explorer uses the same underlying data as AWS Cost and Usage Report but provides pre-built visualizations and filtering by linked accounts, tags, or services. In a multi-account AWS Organizations setup, the management account can view consolidated costs across all member accounts in Cost Explorer, while Budgets can be set at the organization level to track total spend.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Billing, Pricing, and Support — This question tests Billing, Pricing, and Support — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: 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.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more ways this is tested on CLF-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company manages multiple AWS accounts under AWS Organizations. The finance team needs to set a monthly spending limit for each account, receive automatic email alerts when spending reaches 80% of that limit, and also view a graphical dashboard showing historical cost trends across all accounts. Which combination of AWS services should the company use to meet these requirements?
medium- A.AWS Budgets and Amazon QuickSight
- B.AWS Cost Explorer and Amazon CloudWatch
- C.AWS Cost Explorer and AWS Trusted Advisor
- ✓ D.AWS Budgets and AWS Cost Explorer
Why D: AWS Budgets allows you to set custom monthly spending limits per AWS account and configure alerts (via Amazon SNS or email) when actual or forecasted costs exceed a threshold, such as 80% of the budget. AWS Cost Explorer provides a graphical dashboard with historical cost trends and enables filtering by linked accounts, making it the correct service for visualizing trends across all accounts under AWS Organizations. Together, they satisfy the requirements for per-account limits, email alerts at 80%, and a historical cost dashboard.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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