Compare Costs and Trends Over Time

See how your costs have changed compared to a previous period. Explorer offers two comparison tools: Cost Trends for a quick default summary and Compare Periods for full control over which period to compare and how the results are visualized.

Cost Trends

Cost Trends shows how your spend compares to the previous period. It is on by default; Explorer compares your selected time range against the preceding period of the same length.

When enabled, Explorer adds:

• Compared to previous X days summary above the chart
• Cost of Change and % of Change columns in the cost table

When disabled, these values are hidden.

Turn Cost Trends on or off

Each user controls the toggle independently.

1. In Explorer, click Customize Table under the Results table.
2. Click Cost Trends to turn trends on or off.

When to disable Cost Trends

Disabling Cost Trends reduces the data Explorer needs to retrieve, which significantly improves load times for larger time ranges.

Disable Cost Trends when:

• You are analyzing longer lookback periods and want faster load times
• You are focused on the current period's spend and do not need a comparison

Enable Cost Trends when:

• You want to see period-over-period cost changes
• You are reviewing Cost of Change and % of Change in the cost table

For more on how Cost of Change works, see Explorer Overview.

Change the default for all users

Administrators can set whether Cost Trends starts on or off for all users.

1. Go to Settings > Organization Settings.
2. Toggle Show Trends by Default in Explorer under Explorer Trends Default.

Compare Periods

Spot spikes, regressions, and shifts in spend by comparing two time periods side by side in Explorer. Compare Periods shows the difference between your current period and a previous one, both visually on the chart and numerically in the cost table.

1. In Explorer, click the Compare Periods icon (calendar icon) at the top right of the Explorer page.
2. Choose Aligned or Overlay.
3. Choose your comparison period. Select a predefined period from Quick picks, or a custom range from the Custom range section.
4. (Optional) To change your base range, click the expand icon in the Compare Periods panel, then click the date in Base range to select a new range.
5. To close the comparison, click the X next to the Compare Periods icon.

The cost summary above the chart updates to show both periods: the base period total, the compared period total, and the dollar and percentage difference.

Chart display

• Aligned (default): Both periods appear as side-by-side bars for each interval. The compared period is shown in subdued tones so the current period stands out. Switching to the line chart view in the Explorer toolbar renders the compared period as a line while the current period remains as stacked bars.

• Overlay: Both periods appear as lines on the same chart. The current period is a solid line; the compared period is a dotted line.

Comparison table columns

When a comparison is active, the cost table adds columns for the compared period:

• Base Cost: Spend for the base (current) period
• Compared Cost: Spend for the compared period
• Cost Difference: The dollar difference between the two periods; increases appear in red with a + prefix, decreases appear in green with a - prefix
• % of Change: The percentage change between the two periods

Share a comparison

Comparison settings are saved in the URL. When you share or bookmark a link from Explorer with a comparison active, anyone opening that link sees the same comparison.