Unblended Rate

‍Understanding the true cost of AWS services at the account level requires more than blended views. This article examines unblended rates, explaining how they are calculated and when they should be applied.

What Are Unblended Rates?

Unblended rates represent the actual cost that AWS charges a specific account for a service, without any averaging across linked accounts. Each service usage line item is billed at its own distinct rate, reflecting discounts or pricing models (such as On-Demand, Reserved Instances, or Savings Plans) applied to that account.

The key distinction from blended rates is precision: while blended rates average costs across accounts in an organization, unblended rates show the true per-account, per-service charges. This makes them the most accurate view when you need to analyze costs at the individual account level, rather than across the organization.

How AWS Calculates Unblended Rates

Account-specific usage: Charges are based on the actual usage and pricing of each account, not averaged across the organization.

Discounts applied locally: Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, and tiered pricing discounts apply only to the account that earned them.

No shared cost: Unlike blended rates, there is no distribution of discounts or pricing benefits across linked accounts. Each account pays exactly what it consumes.

Example scenario:

• Account A runs an EC2 instance covered by a Reserved Instance → billed at the discounted RI rate.
• Account B runs the same EC2 instance but without an RI → billed at the standard On-Demand rate.

This approach ensures transparency, making unblended rates the most accurate view of true account-level spend.

When Are Unblended Rates Useful?

Unblended rates are most valuable when you need precision and transparency in cost reporting. Key use cases include:

• Team, department, or product-level reporting – Ensures each business unit is billed for its exact usage without hidden averages.
• Chargeback and showback models – Provides a fair and accurate basis for allocating cloud costs internally.
• Budget management and margin tracking – Helps finance and product teams monitor true service-level costs and profitability.
• Usage clarity – Eliminates cross-account smoothing, so you can see the real costs tied directly to each account’s consumption.

By relying on unblended rates, organizations gain a granular, trustworthy view of AWS spending, which is essential for FinOps and effective cost accountability.

Where to Find Unblended Rates

You can access unblended rates directly in AWS or through external FinOps tools:

• AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR): When generating a CUR, you can choose the unblended view to export raw, account-specific charges.
• AWS Billing Console: Within the Billing and Cost Management dashboard, select the unblended option to view charges per account and per service.
• External FinOps platforms: Most cloud cost management tools support unblended data, allowing for detailed cost allocation, reporting, and mapping at the account or business unit level.

This accessibility ensures that FinOps teams and cost managers can easily incorporate true per-account spend into their reporting and decision-making

What Unblended Rates Help You See

Unblended rates give you visibility into the real, account-level cost drivers behind your AWS bill. With this view, you can clearly identify:

• True hourly costs – Understand the exact per-hour rate of compute, database, or other services, without averaging across accounts.
• Reserved Instance impact – See how Reserved Instances and Savings Plans affect costs at the account level, showing precisely which workloads benefit from discounts.
• Usage-to-spend clarity – Map raw usage patterns directly to charges, helping you analyze consumption trends without distortion from blended views

By exposing these details, unblended rates enable accurate cost attribution and financial accountability, making them a cornerstone for FinOps reporting and governance.

Considerations and Drawbacks

While unblended rates provide accuracy at the account level, there are a few limitations to keep in mind:

• Perceived higher costs: Accounts without Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, or tiered discounts may appear more expensive compared to accounts that benefit from them.
• Invoice reconciliation challenges: The AWS invoice often reflects blended or amortized rates, making it harder to tie back directly to unblended data.
• Context gaps: Without a solid tagging strategy or well-structured accounts, unblended data still may not map cleanly to business units, products, or teams.

Because of these factors, many organizations use unblended rates alongside other views (blended or amortized) to balance accuracy with financial reporting needs.

Conclusion

Unblended rates provide the most realistic view of AWS usage and costs at the account level. While they may not offer the simplicity of blended rates, they are essential for accurate cloud cost management and reporting. By understanding unblended rates, organizations can achieve greater transparency, accountability, and smarter budget decisions across teams and services.