Data Transfer Cost Analyzer

Data Transfer Cost Analyzer

Data transfer is one of the most opaque AWS cost categories. This script digs into your Cost and Usage Report exports to surface exactly where your transfer costs are coming from — inter-AZ traffic, NAT Gateway charges, CloudFront origin pulls — ranked by spend so you know where to focus first.

What Is Included

A Python script that reads your exported CUR data (S3 or local CSV), groups charges by transfer type and direction, and outputs a ranked breakdown with month-over-month trend. Includes commentary on common remediation patterns: VPC endpoints to cut NAT costs, CloudFront configuration to reduce origin pull volume, and AZ-aware architecture tips to reduce cross-AZ traffic.

Developer Experience

• Works with CUR exports — no additional AWS API calls required once CUR is set up
• Human-readable ranked output plus CSV export
• Covers the three most common high-spend transfer categories

What You Get

• transfer_cost_analyzer.py
• requirements.txt
• README.md

Requirements

Python 3.10+, pandas, boto3. AWS Cost and Usage Reports must be enabled and exported to S3 (free, daily exports). CUR setup takes 24 hours to populate.