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

# Cost Reports

> Schedule recurring cloud cost reports to Slack, Microsoft Teams, or email from dashboards, widgets, or Explorer context.

Cost dashboards only work if people see them. **Cost Reports** deliver multi-cloud cost breakdowns directly to Slack, Microsoft Teams, or email on a recurring schedule.

<Frame caption="Monthly cost report configured with schedule, destinations, and period comparison">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/costory/42bBN-TVANXyiZnv/images/reports/monthly-cost-by-env.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=42bBN-TVANXyiZnv&q=85&s=67bb494ea99c7287278c3eee34c2dc1b" alt="Costory report editor showing monthly cost by environment with schedule and email delivery settings" width="1918" height="918" data-path="images/reports/monthly-cost-by-env.png" />
</Frame>

## Overview

Cost Reports deliver a dashboard, dashboard widget, or Explorer-backed cost view as a formatted snapshot on a schedule you define. Each report includes the cost breakdown, a comparison against a previous period, and a direct link back to Costory.

Where it fits in your day-to-day:

* Sending weekly cost updates to each squad's Slack channel so engineers see their infrastructure spend without logging into a dashboard
* Delivering monthly executive summaries to leadership with pre-filtered views scoped to their business unit
* Keeping SRE and platform teams informed about infrastructure cost trends as part of their existing review cadence

## Get started

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create or open the source view">
    Open the [dashboard](/features/dashboards), dashboard widget, or [Explorer](/features/cost-explorer) query you want to deliver on a schedule.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Schedule Report">
    Open the action menu and select **Schedule Report**. This opens the scheduling
    configuration panel.

    <Frame caption="Scheduling a report from cost context in Costory">
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/costory/42bBN-TVANXyiZnv/images/reports/create-report.gif?s=0d6b53ac9a2c0c0a645d8ac4e819ae02" alt="Configuring a scheduled cost report in Costory from the Explorer, including chart, cadence, and destinations" width="1156" height="720" data-path="images/reports/create-report.gif" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose a delivery channel">
    Select where the report should be delivered. Costory supports Slack,
    Microsoft Teams, and email.

    <Info>
      You can create multiple scheduled reports from the same source view, each
      targeting a different channel or cadence.
    </Info>

    <Info>
      Before first delivery, complete channel setup for
      [Slack](/setup/collaboration/slack), [Microsoft
      Teams](/setup/collaboration/teams), or
      [Email](/setup/collaboration/email).
    </Info>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure cadence and comparison">
    Set the delivery schedule and the comparison period for the report.

    <ResponseField name="Cadence" type="weekly | monthly">
      How often the report is generated and delivered.
    </ResponseField>

    <ResponseField name="Comparison Period">
      The reference period shown alongside the current period, so recipients see
      the cost change at a glance.
    </ResponseField>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm and send a test report">
    Review the configuration and click **Save**. You can send a test report
    immediately to verify the channel, format, and data before the first
    scheduled delivery.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Check title="Scheduled Reports are free" icon="check">
  There is no additional cost for scheduling reports. Send as many as you need
  across Slack, Teams, and email.
</Check>

## Use cases

### Squad cost updates

Send weekly reports to each engineering squad's Slack channel with a dashboard or widget scoped to their services, accounts, or [dimensions](/features/tagging/dimensions). Engineers see their cost impact as part of their regular workflow, which builds cost awareness without requiring anyone to open a dashboard. See the [Decentralize FinOps guide](/automate-reporting/decentralize-finops) for a full walkthrough.

### SRE and platform reviews

Platform teams can subscribe to a cost view grouped by infrastructure service (compute, networking, storage) and receive a weekly or monthly report. This surfaces cost trends alongside their existing reliability and capacity review cadence.

### Leadership briefings

Create a high-level dashboard grouped by business unit or provider and deliver it monthly to a leadership channel or mailing list. The comparison period gives executives a one-glance summary of how cloud spend changed, without needing to learn the Explorer interface. See [Executive Cost Reports](/use-cases/what_your_exec_team_wants/value) for more on building views for stakeholders.

## Frequently Asked Questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Which delivery channels does Costory support?">
    Costory supports Slack, Microsoft Teams, and email. You can send the same
    report to multiple channels by creating separate schedules from the same
    source view.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I send different views to different channels?">
    Yes. Each scheduled report is tied to a specific dashboard, widget, or Explorer context. You can create as
    many source views as you need and schedule each one to a different channel with its own cadence.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How often can reports be sent?">
    Reports can be sent weekly or monthly. The cadence is configured per
    schedule, so one source view can have a weekly report going to the engineering
    channel and a monthly report going to leadership.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What's the difference between Cost Reports and Digest?">
    Cost Reports deliver a snapshot of a dashboard, widget, or [Explorer](/features/cost-explorer) context on a recurring schedule.
    [Digest](/features/digest) is broader: it automatically analyzes your entire
    cost structure, ranks changes by dollar impact, and generates AI
    explanations for each change. Many teams use both, Cost Reports for ongoing
    team-level visibility and Digest for monthly cost reviews and anomaly
    triage.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is there a limit on the number of scheduled reports?">
    No. Scheduled reports are included at no additional cost, and there is no
    cap on the number of active schedules.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Dashboards" icon="chart-pie" href="/features/dashboards">
    Build persistent cost dashboards with multiple widgets
  </Card>

  <Card title="Explorer" icon="magnifying-glass" href="/features/cost-explorer">
    Build the query context behind a report
  </Card>

  <Card title="Digest" icon="bolt" href="/features/digest">
    Auto-triage cost anomalies with AI-generated incident reports
  </Card>

  <Card title="Decentralize FinOps" icon="sitemap" href="/automate-reporting/decentralize-finops">
    Give each squad ownership of their cloud costs
  </Card>

  <Card title="Automate Cloud Budgets" icon="money-bill-trend-up" href="/use-cases/automate_budget">
    Define per-team budgets and automate alerts when teams exceed targets
  </Card>

  <Card title="Executive Cost Reports" icon="chart-line" href="/use-cases/what_your_exec_team_wants/value">
    Build the dashboards your leadership team wants to see
  </Card>

  <Card title="Monthly Reviews" icon="calendar" href="/automate-reporting/monthly-reviews">
    Automate your monthly cloud cost reporting workflow
  </Card>
</CardGroup>