> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.nops.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Explorer

> Analyze cloud spend with charts, heat maps, filters, and breakdowns across dimensions.

**Explorer** is the cornerstone of nOps Inform. It helps your team move from raw billing data to actionable insight—so you can optimize costs, improve allocation, and make faster decisions. Explorer supports AWS and multi-cloud environments with flexible filters and granularity for both finance and engineering stakeholders.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Reports" icon="file-chart-column" href="/inform/reports">
    Save views and schedule email delivery.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Explorer Dashboard" icon="objects-column" href="/inform/explorer-dashboard">
    Combine saved reports into live dashboards.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Get started

1. Sign in to [nOps](https://clara.nops.io/dashboard).
2. In the sidebar, open **Inform → Explorer**, or go to [clara.nops.io/explorer](https://clara.nops.io/explorer).
3. Use the filter panel to narrow your view. Results update as you change filters.
4. Save your view as a report, or open **Manage Reports** to load a saved report.

## Key features

### Filters

Use the left **Filters** panel to shape what you see:

* **Date range** — presets such as 7D, 30D, MTD, and YTD, or a custom range.
* **Cost type** — Unblended, Amortized, Blended, List, and discounted variants (Discounted Unblended, Discounted Amortized, Discounted List).
* **Usage chart** — Hide, Usage, or Normalized Usage to overlay usage trends. To see a usage overlay, select exactly one Cost Unit dimension.
* **Group by** — dimensions organized by category:
  * Billing & Cost
  * Product & Services
  * Resource & Usage
  * Tags
  * Compute
  * Storage
  * Kubernetes

Click into any dimension to open its filter panel. From there you can:

* **Include** or **exclude** specific values.
* Use **Contain** or **Doesn't contain** to match values by substring.
* For **Tags** and **Cost Allocation Tags**, choose a tag key and combine multiple keys with **AND** or **OR**.

The **Selected Filters** panel on the right lists every active filter so you can review or remove them individually, or use **Clear All** to reset everything at once. Some advanced key-value filters (like Labels) may show as coming soon depending on your workspace.

### Spend summary

Summary cards give you a quick read on spend:

* **Yesterday's total spend** — compared to the day before.
* **Month to date spend** — compared to the same period last month.
* **Total spend** — for the selected date range, compared to the previous interval.

Granularity affects which cards appear:

| Granularity                | Cards shown               |
| -------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| Hourly or Daily            | Yesterday, MTD, and Total |
| Weekly or Monthly          | MTD and Total             |
| Quarterly or custom ranges | Total only                |

If your billing data hasn't fully processed for a period yet, a card may show a "data pending" state instead of an incomplete \$0 total.

### History chart and table

* Spend is shown as a bar chart; when Usage Chart is enabled, usage is overlaid as a dashed line on the same chart.
* Change **Granularity** to Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Quarterly.
* Use the chart's **Show 10 / 20 / 30 / 50 / all** control to change how many series appear before the remainder rolls up into an **Other spend** series. Use the legend to search series, or enable/disable individual series.
* The **Cost Explorer Table** below gives a detailed breakdown by your selected dimension, with sorting, a name search, and server-side pagination.
* When you group by Tags or Cost Allocation Tags, the table shows each tag key as an expandable row so you can drill into its values.
* Use **Download CSV** on the table to export the current breakdown.

### Heat map

Switch from the time-series history chart to a **heat map** when you want to compare spend across two dimensions at once—for example, which services drive cost in which accounts, or how regions break down by environment tag.

* Click the **grid** icon above the chart to open the heat map. The chart area shows spend as colored cells: darker cells mean higher spend for that X/Y pair.
* Click **History** to return to the bar chart.
* Click **Axes** (while the heat map is open) to choose the **X axis** and **Y axis** dimensions. The two axes must be different.
* When you first enable the heat map, the **X axis** defaults to your current **Group by** dimension and the **Y axis** defaults to **Account name**. Change either axis anytime with **Axes**.
* The heat map uses your selected **cost type**, **date range**, and **filters**. It shows the top spend combinations (up to 50 pairs) for the period you have selected.
* Hover a cell to see the exact spend for that combination.
* **Tag dimensions**: you can use a specific tag key (for example, `Environment`) as an axis. The generic Tags category column is not available as an axis—pick a tag key instead.
* The heat map is **not available** while a **budget overlay** is active. Switch back to **Default View** first, then open the heat map.

Saved reports remember whether the heat map was enabled and which axes you chose. Pinned reports, [Explorer Dashboard](/inform/explorer-dashboard) widgets, and scheduled emails use that saved view when the heat map is part of the report.

### Budget view

If your organization uses [Budgets](/operate/budgets), you can overlay one directly on Explorer:

* Open **View By** and pick a budget from the list.
* Explorer applies that budget's filters and adds a target line to the chart, plus a **Budget Targets** table below it so you can compare actual spend against your plan without leaving Explorer.
* Switch back to **Default View** at any time to remove the overlay.

### Saved reports

From Explorer you can:

* Open **Manage Reports** to search and load Private, Shared, or **nOps Global** reports.
* **Save report** to store your current filters, date range, chart settings, and heat map layout (when enabled).
* **Pin** a Shared or nOps Global report to your home [Dashboard](/inform/dashboard#pinned-widgets) for quick access.
* **Email Explorer report** to send now or on a recurring schedule (daily, weekly, or monthly), with an optional **Include Clara AI analysis** summary for recipients.
* **Create budget** directly from a saved report to start a new [Budget](/operate/budgets) using that report's dimensions.

Report links use this format: `https://clara.nops.io/explorer?report={id}`

For full report management, see [Reports](/inform/reports).

### Data freshness

Explorer shows a **Data updated** label near the top of the page so you always know how current the numbers are.

## How Explorer compares to AWS Cost Explorer

AWS Cost Explorer covers basics well. **nOps Explorer** adds:

* **Richer dimensions** — group and filter across billing, product, resource, tag, and Kubernetes dimensions in one place.
* **More granularity** — hourly views and flexible custom date ranges.
* **Saved reports and sharing** — save views, share URLs, and email reports with PDF attachments.
* **Budget overlays** — compare actual spend against a budget's target line without switching tools.
* **Heat maps** — compare spend across two dimensions in one view (for example, service × account or region × tag).
* **Team workflows** — private, shared, and nOps Global report libraries, plus optional Clara summaries in scheduled emails.

## Examples

**Analyze costs by tag**

1. Open **Group by** and choose a tag dimension (for example, Environment).
2. Add tag filters in the Filters panel if needed.
3. Review the chart and table for spend by tag value.

**Track usage trends**

1. Set **Usage chart** to Usage or Normalized Usage.
2. Pick a granularity that matches your question (hourly for intraday peaks, monthly for trends).
3. Group by the dimension that matters most (service, account, region, and so on).

**Focus on a project window**

1. Choose a custom **Date range** for the project timeline.
2. Save the view as a **Private** or **Shared** report for repeat access.

**Check spend against a budget**

1. Open **View By** and select a budget.
2. Compare the target line on the chart against actual spend, and use the **Budget Targets** table for period-by-period detail.

**Spot high-spend combinations across two dimensions**

1. Set your **date range**, **cost type**, and any filters you need.
2. Click the **grid** icon above the chart to open the heat map.
3. Click **Axes** and pick the two dimensions you want to compare (for example, **Service** on the X axis and **Region** on the Y axis).
4. Hover cells to read exact spend, then **Save report** if you want your team to reopen the same heat map view.

## FAQs

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How does granularity affect the spend summary and chart?">
    Granularity controls which summary cards appear and how the history chart is bucketed. Hourly and daily views show Yesterday, MTD, and Total spend. Weekly and monthly views show MTD and Total only. Quarterly granularity and custom date ranges show Total spend only.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What filters are available?">
    You can filter by date range, cost type, usage chart mode, and dimensions across billing, product, resource, tag, compute, storage, and Kubernetes categories. Each dimension supports include/exclude values, and most support Contain / Doesn't contain text matching. Filters apply as you change them—use **Clear All** to reset.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I share a report with my team?">
    Save the view as a **Shared** report, copy the report link from Explorer or the Reports page, or use **Email Explorer report** to send a one-time or scheduled email with a chart preview and PDF attachment.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What are Private, Shared, and nOps Global reports?">
    **Private** reports are visible only to you. **Shared** reports are visible to everyone in your organization. **nOps Global** reports are pre-built templates from nOps that you can open or duplicate to customize.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I compare spend against a budget in Explorer?">
    Yes. Use **View By** to pick a budget—Explorer applies that budget's filters, adds a target line to the chart, and shows a **Budget Targets** table. See [Budgets](/operate/budgets) for how to set one up.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What is the Explorer heat map?">
    The heat map is an alternate chart view that shows spend across two dimensions at once. Each cell is one X/Y combination; color intensity reflects spend for your selected date range and filters. Use the **grid** icon to switch from the history chart, **Axes** to change dimensions, and **History** to switch back. It is saved with reports and appears in emails and dashboard widgets when enabled on the report.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why can't I open the heat map?">
    The heat map is disabled while a **budget overlay** is active. Open **View By** and choose **Default View** to remove the budget overlay, then click the **grid** icon again.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How long before I see data in Explorer?">
    Data is typically available within 24 to 48 hours after your cloud integration is active. Spend reflects roughly a 24-hour delay aligned with Cost and Usage Report (CUR) processing.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related

* [Dashboard](/inform/dashboard) — account-wide spend summary on your home page
* [Reports](/inform/reports) — browse and manage all saved reports
* [Explorer Dashboard](/inform/explorer-dashboard) — multi-report dashboards for your team
* [Budgets](/operate/budgets) — set spend targets from Explorer reports and track them over time