What is the AWS Free Tier?
The AWS Free Tier lets new customers explore AWS at no cost for limited usage across 100+ services.
12-Month Free — for new accounts. Examples: 750 hrs/month of
t2.microort3.microEC2, 5 GB S3 standard storage, 750 hrs of RDS db.t2.micro.Always Free — never expires. Examples: 1 M Lambda requests/month, 25 GB DynamoDB, 10 custom CloudWatch metrics.
Short Trials — service-specific (e.g., Amazon Inspector 90-day trial).
2024+ refresh — AWS now offers a credit-based free trial model alongside the classic tier for new sign-ups.
Watch out: the Free Tier covers usage, not data egress and not premium service tiers. Set a
Billing Alarmto avoid surprise charges.
Always set a billing alarm — Free Tier doesn't include data egress, and that's where surprise bills come from. Mention Always Free (Lambda 1M req/mo) for bonus points.