Understanding the CUR Schema and File

The AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) offers the most detailed billing data available, providing insights into service cost and consumption, with reports that can reach sizes of tens to hundreds of gigabytes. To effectively work with CUR data, users must understand its complex schema, which includes tables such as identity, bill, lineItem, pricing, and product, among others that populate under specific conditions like savings plans or tagged resources. CUR data must be enabled in the AWS billing console and stored in an S3 bucket, after which it becomes available for daily updates, though it is not finalized until the end of the month. Users can parse CUR data using various methods, including opening CSV files in Excel or using programming languages to extract useful information. The report is essential for understanding billing details, managing costs, and identifying savings opportunities, while integrations with tools like Athena, Quicksight, and Redshift enable deeper data queries for cost visibility and optimization.