Ec2 has a very specific 1 small instance free for the first year after account creation. This is the free tier. Aws is in the business of selling ec2 etc so can't be all free forever Answer from ephemeral_resource on reddit.com
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › ec2 free tier?
r/aws on Reddit: Ec2 free tier?
December 21, 2020 -

Hello! I'm currently working on a Unity game. The only problem is servers. I have been looking at EC2, but don't want to spend money on this project. To start, Does EC2 with the free tier get deactivted after 12 months? If it doesn't, what would force me to pay for it?(Server being up to long, Too many players connecting etc)

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The " Free Tier " in AWS gives you some stuff for free for a certain time period. For example, you get 5GB of S3 storage for the first 12 months. If you go over 5Gb, you pay for what's above that. After 12 months, you pay for all of it. For EC2 instances, the "free tier" gives you "750 hours per month" of t2.micro (or t3.micro) instance for the first 12 months after creating the account. There are just under 750 hours in a month, so you can run one t2.micro instance free for a year. If you run two t2.micro instances, the daily cost explorer will show that they are both free for the first 15 days, and after that you pay for them for the rest of the month. You could also run 750 of them for one hour once a month for free. Or anything in between. Do also spend time reading up on the costs of AWS resources. The virtual disk on an EC2 instance is called an EBS volume . It has a separate lifecycle, and a separate billing line, and its own free tier allocation. You will also pay for data out of AWS (first GB out per month is free - and doesn't expire after 12 months) and everything after that is billed at $0.09 per GB out to the internet. Do make time to read the docs so you don't get nasty surprises. Also switch on Billing Alarms , and set yourself a reminder to visit the Cost Explorer every day. For further best practice advice, try this for bedtime reading . Good luck
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Server being up too long. There is a limit of how long it can be up in free tier. Also egress might be billed. If you use any other features like load balancer it will also be billed
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › new aws free tier launching july 15th
r/aws on Reddit: New AWS Free Tier launching July 15th
July 11, 2025 - You will be billed and charged monthly for any usage beyond Free Tier limits, or upon expiry of the Free Tier offers , at the rates on the AWS pricing page. You can view costs, manage usage, terminate resources, or close your account at any time through the AWS Management console. ... yeah I got charged for an ec2 instance on day one of a new account.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › aws free tier just got an upgrade (july 2025 onward) – $100 free credits for new accounts!
r/aws on Reddit: AWS Free Tier Just Got an Upgrade (July 2025 Onward) – $100 Free Credits for New Accounts!
July 14, 2025 -

Hey guys

If you’re planning to explore AWS, there’s a new Free Tier structure in place for accounts created after July 15, 2025 — and it’s packed with benefits!

What’s New in the Updated AWS Free Tier?

  • $100 free credits instantly when you sign up

  • Earn up to $100 more in credits by completing certain activities

  • Access to 30+ always-free AWS services with monthly usage limits

  • Free usage for up to 6 months under the Free Plan

You have two options now:

  1. Free Plan – Ideal for testing, learning, and POCs

    • Some high-usage services are restricted to avoid rapid credit consumption

    • Great for students and beginners

  2. Paid Plan – For building scalable, production-grade apps

    • More flexibility, includes all AWS services

    • Can go beyond initial credit limits

Learn more and sign up here: AWS Free Tier Overview

Note: If your AWS account was created before July 15, 2025, you’ll follow the previous Free Tier model instead.

This is a great opportunity to get started with hands-on AWS learning without any upfront cost.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › aws announces actual free tier (for 6 months) plus $200 in credits for new customers.
r/aws on Reddit: AWS Announces actual free tier (for 6 months) plus $200 in credits for new customers.
July 16, 2025 - free tier that will allow new users to learn without shooting themselves in the foot with a surprise bill because they made some mistake. Continue this thread ... AWS. Haven't read the details yet, but should be better with credit based system. ... This is just a hidden price increase.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › is aws free tier free forever?
r/aws on Reddit: is AWS free tier free forever?
July 20, 2022 -

On the website it says. That I get 750 hours per month but a month has 730 hours so how does that work if you run a compute instance 24/7 a month it will never expire as it is 730 hours not 750? Does it renew time every month and is it free forever or you have to pay after a year or certain period od time, i'd like to use it to host a small personal website.

Find elsewhere
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › i dont understand the ec2 free tier description
r/aws on Reddit: I dont understand the ec2 free tier description
July 4, 2023 -

Hi, im thinking about deploying an django application and im looking for options, yesterday i saw a youtube video in which it was used an ec2 instance so i read about it in the aws description but i feel lost in the part that says 750 montly hours of t2.micro or t3.micro, i did the numbers and one month with 31 days has 744 hours so, how it works or how it count the usage?

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › i signed up for the free tier because i had to use aws for a web dev class. but this is what it’s saying. what do i do? not sure what i did wrong
r/aws on Reddit: I signed up for the free tier because I had to use AWS for a web dev class. But this is what it’s saying. What do I do? Not sure what I did wrong
March 20, 2023 - That's why I describe "Free tier" as a quota of free stuff. Well done by the way for checking your bill promptly. I recommend you check the bill and the cost explorer daily, and you set up billing alarms too. AWS is amazing, but it is a commercial service. You can do most learning for very little cost, especially if you delete all the resources at the end of that tutorial. Hope this helps. ... It says there it's ec2.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › aws ec2 pricing
r/aws on Reddit: AWS EC2 Pricing
March 15, 2024 -

I got an email with this: Product AWS Free Tier Usage as of 08/23/2024 Usage Limit AWS Free Tier Usage Limit AmazonEC2 658.754723 Hrs 750 Hrs 750.0 Hrs for free for 12 months as part of AWS Free Usage Tier (Global-BoxUsage:freetrial)

What do they means that my free tier is almost over?

I pay around 600/mo for my instances

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › best way to get pricing for all ec2 instances?
r/aws on Reddit: Best Way to Get Pricing for All EC2 Instances?
2 weeks ago -

I’m trying to retrieve the pricing for all AWS EC2 instance types programmatically. I’m looking for the most efficient and up to date method. Should I use:

AWS Pricing API
AWS CLI/SDK calls
or is there any other approach to do?

I want to get both, on demand and spot pricing for all regions.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › hi everyone, is the always free free tier good for hosting small size website or an api with low traffic ? is it rally costs free forever
r/aws on Reddit: Hi everyone, is the always free free tier good for hosting small size website or an API with low traffic ? Is it rally costs free forever
August 18, 2024 - Beware - AWS free tier is a scam! r/aws • · comments · Do all EC2 instances now effectively have a $4/mo hidden fee? r/aws • · upvotes · · comments · Is there an app like love 8 but free? r/LongDistance • · upvotes · · comments ...
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › unexpected charge on aws for a single free-tier ec2 instance
r/aws on Reddit: Unexpected Charge on AWS for a Single Free-Tier EC2 Instance
October 10, 2023 -

Hi everyone,

I'm reaching out for some insights into an issue I've encountered with AWS billing. In August, I created an AWS account and set up the smallest EC2 instance using a free-tier AMI. I was aware of the 750 free hours per month and used this instance for personal projects. My usage didn't exceed this limit, and I didn't run any additional instances or services.

However, in October, I received a bill for $10 from AWS. This was surprising as I had not expected any charges given my usage was within the free tier limits. AWS has sent me several reminder emails to pay this amount, but without an option to reply or query the charge.

I've checked my usage, and I'm quite certain that I didn't exceed the free tier's parameters. There wasn't significant traffic or data transfer either, as it was just for experimentation.

I'm seeking advice on the following:

  1. Has anyone experienced similar billing issues with AWS, particularly with free-tier services?

  2. What could be the possible reasons for this charge?

  3. How should I approach AWS for clarification, given the no-reply nature of their emails?

Any insights, experiences, or suggestions on how to handle this situation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help!

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › multiple ec2 instances within the free tier plan and the use of a public ipv4 address
r/aws on Reddit: Multiple EC2 instances within the FREE Tier plan and the use of a public IPv4 address
February 12, 2024 -

I understand with Free Tier I get (750 Hours of t2.micro + 30GiB of EBS)/months, I want to create a few EC2 instances that I will use for learning/lab purposes, I will not be using each of them for more than 100 hours/month, most of the time they will be shutdown/hibernate, that's for the CPU usage (750 Hours), but the storage for each instance will count, even if shutdown/hibernated.

Can I create the instances with 5GiB or 10Gib of EBS instead of the 30GiB default? Example I create 3 EC2s with 10GiB EBS each, therefore I will be within the 30GiB/month overall for all 3 EC2 instances, will that work to not get charged?

Also, if I assign a public IPv4 to any EC2 instance, I will be charged $0.005/hour, will that charge also apply if the instance is Shutdown or in Hibernation?

Thank you

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › i don't understand the aws free tier changes!
r/aws on Reddit: I don't understand the AWS free tier changes!
June 6, 2024 -

Hello,

I have recently created 2 AWS accounts for my clients and it is charging a SQL server db.t3.micro bill (which there is no way to select anything less than that even with Postgress or SQL on any versions).

I understand that half a penny is charged now for public IPs so the virtual private cloud is understandable.

Even if I try to use Postgress the monthly cost would should at the end of the creation process.

What should I do?

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › how much would this ec2 setup cost me.
r/aws on Reddit: How much would this EC2 setup cost me.
August 19, 2025 -

First off, my apologies if this is not the right sub, I've been searching for appropraite subs to ask my question, but only found this.

I'm a forestry researcher, I'm trying to use an opensource software for 3D photogrammetry, but my computer keeps crashing whenever I use it. My last option is to host it on a cloud machine, but I want to estimate how much it will cost me to operate. How does EC2 billing work? Do I get charged the per hour billing every hour that I have it set up or every hour that I'm actually using it?

The software is opendronemap and I'm following this tutorial to set it up. I basically have drone imagery that I need to process to produce orthomosaics and 3D point clouds. The popular software for these are extremely expensive so I'm resorting to this. The specs I need is simply a 16GB ram, 100GB storage cloud computer. My entire work will probably take up to 2-3 days to process. I'd appreciate your advice.

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Random bits from a life science person who heavily uses AWS - AWS bills ec2 by the second. You pay for what you PROVISION not what you actively use so the charges you are going to be paying for include: - The cost of the ec2 instance server itself - The cost of the storage you allocate to the server or attach to the server as an EBS volume - The cost of a public IP address (these are no longer free) - The cost of any storage used for snapshots or backups AWS has some cost calculators that will help you figure this out. For the EC2 server cost use instances.vantage.sh website and select Linux and On-demand for pricing info. The vantage website scrapes the EC2 APIs and presents a far better searchable EC2 cost explorer than anything AWS native has developed I hate video tutorials so I just skimmed that video but it was a pretty generic intro to setting up an Ubuntu server on AWS The big thing to make sure you understand is that it can be a very bad mistake to just fire up an AWS account and instantly create a public facing server hanging out on the naked internet. There are MANY MANY things you need to do to secure your AWS account, your credentials and set up billing alerts and budgets before you even think about setting up or securing your server and app. Just browse this reddit to see all the horror stories of people who got their credentials leaked and are now facing a $30,000 AWS bill AT a minimum you should be: - Securing your root user account with MFA - Deleting any root user API credentials and NEVER use root user to create stuff - Carefully create an IAM user with MFA for your real deploy work - Set up AWS Budgets - Set up AWS Budget Alert (best first sign of an account compromise) - etc. etc. You need to do all of that before you create your first EC2 keypair and server
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If you just need 'a machine hosted somewhere else', AWS is not a good fit, you'll have to bite off far more than you'd be willing to chew. If you are going to use it with multiple people, use multiple services, and already have knowledge and time to manage public cloud estates, then AWS is definitely the best place. For everything else: get a hosted/managed VM. There's flavours for Windows, macOS, Linux, and the costs and support are well-known quantities. Which provider works best depends on your location. Example: if you need a fat Mac do to some hardcore desktopping, MacStadium has you covered. Companies like Leaseweb also will give you exactly what you want, or perhaps Hetzner, or OVH. You'll want a Desktop server, not a Webserver. Example: renting an entire Dell R6515 just for yourself, $120 per month. 64GB RAM, 16 EPYC cores at 3GHz, 2TB NVMe storage. Want to get something cheaper? Random OVH box with about half the specs, and only 200GB storage, $40 per month. Comes with Windows Server Standard 2025. Some providers only have Linux, if that's what you want, you'd check out DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr etc.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › is it actually possible to stay in the free tier?
Is it actually possible to stay in the free tier? : r/aws
September 23, 2024 - otherwise I think you can get a cheap vps instead if all you want is an EC2 instance ... AWS Solutions Architect here. A couple options for free tier. Basically either its time based or perpetually free up to a certain usage amount. Check out this page for free tier caps by service.