# AWS FinOps Agent (preview) — adoption decision matrix

Use this when someone asks *"should we turn on the FinOps Agent?"* The preview (announced **June 9, 2026**) is free for the agent itself, but it is not a substitute for ownership, tagging, or commitment discipline.

> Confirm current preview scope in the [User Guide](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/finops-agent/latest/userguide/what-is.html) — console in **us-east-1**; cost data covers all commercial Regions except GovCloud and China.

## 1. What job are you hiring the agent for?

| Job | FinOps Agent fit | Existing alternative |
|-----|------------------|----------------------|
| **Investigate cost anomalies** with CloudTrail correlation + owner routing | Strong — event-triggered workflow → Slack/Jira | Manual triage from [Cost Anomaly Detection](/blog/how-to-use-aws-cost-anomaly-detection-catch-surprise-bills/) alerts |
| **Answer engineer cost questions** in plain language | Strong — NL queries over Cost Explorer data | FinOps analyst + saved Cost Explorer reports |
| **Recurring cost reports** (HTML/PDF/PPT on a schedule) | Strong | Cost Explorer scheduled reports + manual slides |
| **Rank optimization backlog** from COH + Compute Optimizer | Strong — summarizes into Jira tickets | [Cost Optimization Hub](/blog/aws-cost-optimization-hub-guide/) console + spreadsheet |
| **Enforce tagging / chargeback** | Weak — agent reads tags; does not create policy | [Tag policies + SCPs](/blog/aws-tagging-chargeback-finops-ownership-2026/) |
| **Buy Savings Plans / RIs** | Weak — recommends; does not commit | [RI vs SP decision guide](/blog/aws-reserved-instances-vs-savings-plans-decision-guide-2026/) + finance approval |
| **Multi-cloud cost** | No — AWS-only data sources | Third-party FinOps platform |

## 2. Prerequisites (do these before the wizard)

- [ ] **Named FinOps owner** — agent automates triage; it does not own the bill ([FinOps gap](/blog/aws-finops-gap-engineering-cost-ownership/))
- [ ] Cost allocation **tags activated** in Billing console
- [ ] **Cost Optimization Hub** opted in org-wide
- [ ] **Cost Anomaly Detection** monitors configured with real thresholds
- [ ] **Context file** drafted: account → team → Slack/Jira routing (template in this folder)
- [ ] Security review of Bedrock-powered agent + IAM roles the wizard creates

## 3. Preview constraints (June 2026)

| Constraint | Implication |
|------------|-------------|
| Console / agent creation in **us-east-1** only | Global orgs still OK — data spans commercial Regions |
| **No GovCloud / China** cost coverage | Do not enable for those estates; keep manual process |
| **Preview — no SLA**, APIs may change | Pilot on non-critical workflows first |
| Agent is **free with monthly usage limit**; underlying APIs are not | Cost Explorer, CloudTrail lookups still bill at standard rates (per [AWS CFM blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws-cloud-financial-management/aws-finops-agent-is-now-public-preview/)) |
| Set up in **management account** for org-wide coverage | Agent runs in us-east-1 but can manage cross-Region/linked accounts |
| Built on **Amazon Bedrock** | Falls under your existing Bedrock governance / data policies |

## When NOT to adopt yet

- No account-to-owner mapping — the agent will route findings to the wrong team.
- Anomaly detection is not tuned — you'll automate noise, not signal.
- Legal has not reviewed an AI agent with CloudTrail + cost data access.
- You have not closed the [post-migration handoff](/blog/aws-post-migration-optimization-finops-handoff-2026/) basics (owner, tags, COH) — the agent amplifies a broken baseline, it does not fix one.