---
title: Using CloudMonitor
canonical: "https://cloudmonitor.ai/docs/using-cloudmonitor/"
description: "How CloudMonitor is organised, where to find each report, and how the menu, filters and settings fit together."
---

CloudMonitor answers one question in a lot of different ways: **where is our cloud and AI money
going, and what should we do about it?**

This section explains how the app is laid out, so you can find the report you need without hunting
for it. If you'd rather learn by clicking, everything described here is live and needs no login at
[demo.cloudmonitor.ai](https://demo.cloudmonitor.ai/) — it runs on made-up data from a fictional
company, so you can press anything.

## The menu follows what you're trying to do

The sidebar has **Overview** pinned at the top, then three groups. They're ordered the way a cost
question usually unfolds.

| Group | The question it answers | Start with |
|---|---|---|
| **Inform** | Where did the money go? | [The Ledger](/docs/using-cloudmonitor/reports/the-ledger/) — your whole bill, one row per charge |
| **Optimize** | Where can we spend less? | [Savings & Waste](/docs/using-cloudmonitor/reports/savings-and-waste/) and [Commitments](/docs/using-cloudmonitor/reports/commitments/) |
| **Operate** | What needs attention today? | [Anomalies](/docs/using-cloudmonitor/reports/anomalies/) and [Budgets & Forecasts](/docs/using-cloudmonitor/reports/budgets-and-forecasts/) |

[The reports](/docs/using-cloudmonitor/reports/) lists every one of them against the question it
answers, which is the faster route if you already know what you're trying to find out.

You may see a fourth group, **Tokenomics**, covering spend on AI tools. It's an optional module, so
it isn't switched on for every organization.

**Settings** has its own menu, reached from the bottom of the sidebar. That's where cost groups,
allocation rules, budgets, virtual tags and workspace configuration live. Most of it needs an admin
role — if you don't see something described in these docs, that's usually why.

## Filters live at the top, and apply everywhere

The controls along the top bar — the date range, the provider, the cost group, virtual tags — are
**global**. Set them once and every report you open honors them, until you change them again. No
report has its own private copy.

Two things that surprise people:

- A filter chip sometimes greys out. That means the report you're looking at can't honor it. The
  Unallocated Costs report ignores the cost-group filter, for instance, because unallocated spend is
  by definition the spend that belongs to no cost group.
- The **cost basis** — whether you're looking at what you were invoiced or what you actually used —
  is *not* on the top bar. It's a personal preference, on
  [Profile & preferences](/docs/using-cloudmonitor/profile-and-preferences/), because you'll set it
  once and leave it.

## Getting help while you're in the app

- Most page titles have a small **ⓘ** next to them. Hover it for a sentence on what the page is for.
- **Help & support** at the bottom of the sidebar reopens the guided tour and links back to these
  docs.
- **Send feedback**, just above it, goes straight to the team.

## Where to go next

If you're setting CloudMonitor up for the first time, start with
[Getting started](/docs/cloudmonitor-on-fabric/getting-started-with-the-cloudmonitor-app/) and
[granting access to your Azure environment](/docs/cloudmonitor-on-fabric/granting-cloudmonitor-access-to-your-azure-environment/).

If CloudMonitor is already showing your data and you want to get it organised — spend grouped by
team, budgets in place, alerts going to the right people — work through the
[how-to articles](/docs/how-to/).