Oracle Cloud Always Free Tier: Full Resource Guide
Oracle Cloud's Always Free tier is the most generous permanent free cloud offering from any major provider. Unlike AWS free tier (12-month limit) or GCP ($300 credit), Oracle's Always Free resources never expire.
What's included permanently in Oracle Always Free: - 2x AMD-based Compute VMs (1/8 OCPU, 1GB RAM each) - 4x ARM-based Ampere A1 Compute instances (4 OCPUs, 24GB RAM total — can be allocated as 1x 4vCPU/24GB or 4x 1vCPU/6GB) - 2 Block Volumes (200GB total) - 10GB Object Storage + 10GB Archive Storage - 1 Flexible Load Balancer (10Mbps bandwidth) - 2 Autonomous Databases (Autonomous JSON, APEX, Transaction Processing, or Data Warehouse) - Resource monitoring (full OCI observability stack) - VCN (virtual cloud network), public IPs, and internet gateway
What expires (only on free trial, not Always Free): the $300 in promotional credits are valid for 30 days. After 30 days, if you haven't upgraded to a paid account, you keep all Always Free resources but lose access to resources created with trial credits.
What's NOT free: Paid compute beyond the ARM A1 and AMD free allotment, database instances beyond the 2 autonomous DBs, and enhanced support.
Our Oracle New Account ($40) provides access to all Always Free resources with no time limit. Our Oracle Upgraded Account ($130) adds Pay As You Go billing, allowing resources beyond the free tier.