# Get started

> Get your first Cost Explorer report with the OpenStack CLI, showing what a project spent last month.

This page takes you from nothing to a report of what your project spent last month. It takes
about two minutes.

## Before you begin

You need the `openstack` CLI, signed in to the project you want to report on.
[Set up the CLI](/developer/cli) if you have not already.

## 1. Install the Cost Explorer commands

```sh
pip install vexxhost-costexplorerclient
```

## 2. Report last month's total

Ask for one monthly total, from the first day of last month to the first day of this month:

```sh
openstack cost report create \
  --start 2026-09-01 \
  --end 2026-10-01 \
  --granularity monthly \
  --no-group
```

```
+----------------------+----------------------+-----------+--------+-------------------+------+
| Start                | End                  | Estimated | Metric | Amount            | Unit |
+----------------------+----------------------+-----------+--------+-------------------+------+
| 2026-09-01T00:00:00Z | 2026-10-01T00:00:00Z | True      | cost   | 1084.296000000000 | USD  |
+----------------------+----------------------+-----------+--------+-------------------+------+
```

The project spent an estimated 1084.30 USD in September. The period includes its start date and
excludes its end date, and dates are midnight UTC.

## 3. See where it went

Break the first three days of the month down by service, one row per service per day:

```sh
openstack cost report create \
  --start 2026-09-01 \
  --end 2026-09-04 \
  --granularity daily \
  --group-by service \
  --metric cost \
  --detail
```

```
+----------------------+----------------------+-----------+---------+--------+-----------------+------+
| Start                | End                  | Estimated | service | Metric | Amount          | Unit |
+----------------------+----------------------+-----------+---------+--------+-----------------+------+
| 2026-09-01T00:00:00Z | 2026-09-02T00:00:00Z | True      | compute | cost   | 31.104000000000 | USD  |
| 2026-09-01T00:00:00Z | 2026-09-02T00:00:00Z | True      | volume  | cost   | 4.808000000000  | USD  |
| 2026-09-02T00:00:00Z | 2026-09-03T00:00:00Z | True      | compute | cost   | 31.104000000000 | USD  |
| 2026-09-02T00:00:00Z | 2026-09-03T00:00:00Z | True      | volume  | cost   | 5.040000000000  | USD  |
| 2026-09-03T00:00:00Z | 2026-09-04T00:00:00Z | True      | compute | cost   | 31.104000000000 | USD  |
| 2026-09-03T00:00:00Z | 2026-09-04T00:00:00Z | True      | volume  | cost   | 5.040000000000  | USD  |
+----------------------+----------------------+-----------+---------+--------+-----------------+------+
```

Servers cost about 31.10 a day and volumes about 5, with volume costs rising on September 2.

## Next steps

* [Break down your costs](/cost-explorer/guides/break-down-costs) by region, usage type or resource, and filter
  what a report counts.
* Learn what is charged and how in [Cost calculation](/cost-explorer/concepts/cost-calculation).
* [Forecast your spending](/cost-explorer/guides/forecast-spending) for the rest of the month.