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Always Free cloud servers (Oracle Cloud)
Always free Arm Card required Home region Reclaim rules
Oracle Cloud’s “Always Free cloud servers (Oracle Cloud)”: Ampere A1 (Arm): first 1,500 OCPU hours + 9,000 GB hours per month (equivalent to 2 OCPU / 12 GB RAM for Always Free tenants); up to 2 VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro (AMD) instances; 200 GB block storage; 10 TB outbound traffic per month; plus a US$300 trial credit (30 days). Duration: Always Free has no fixed end date (while the account stays active); the US$300 trial credit lasts up to 30 days or until used up. Card: Registration requires a credit/debit card for identity verification; temporary authorization holds are made periodically and usually released by the bank within 3–5 days. Debit cards with a PIN, virtual cards, single-use cards, and prepaid cards are not accepted. Verified 2026-11-12 — check the official page before claiming.
At a glance
| Free allowance | Ampere A1 (Arm): first 1,500 OCPU hours + 9,000 GB hours per month (equivalent to 2 OCPU / 12 GB RAM for Always Free tenants); up to 2 VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro (AMD) instances; 200 GB block storage; 10 TB outbound traffic per month; plus a US$300 trial credit (30 days) |
|---|---|
| Provider | Oracle Cloud |
| Group | Always free |
| Duration | Always Free has no fixed end date (while the account stays active); the US$300 trial credit lasts up to 30 days or until used up |
| Card & verification | Registration requires a credit/debit card for identity verification; temporary authorization holds are made periodically and usually released by the bank within 3–5 days. Debit cards with a PIN, virtual cards, single-use cards, and prepaid cards are not accepted. |
| Regions | Always Free compute instances can only be created in the home region; the A1 shape is not available in South Korea North (Chuncheon); Free Tier is available in all commercial OCI regions. |
| Verified | 2026-11-12 |
| Source | Oracle official docs · verified against official page (Official page) |
What is free
Per the official docs (Updated 2026-06-12), Always Free compute resources for all tenants include: Ampere A1 (Arm) shapes at the first 1,500 OCPU hours and 9,000 GB hours per month — equivalent to 2 OCPU and 12 GB of memory for Always Free tenants; up to 2 VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro (AMD) instances; 200 GB total block storage; 10 TB outbound traffic per month. The minimum boot volume per instance is 47 GB. There is also a US$300 trial credit, counted separately from Always Free — see below.
Change: June 2026 re-tiering (old tutorials outdated)
The official docs updated June 12, 2026 write the Always Free A1 allowance as 1,500 OCPU hours + 9,000 GB hours per month (equivalent to 2 OCPU / 12 GB). The 4 OCPU / 24 GB written in many earlier tutorials no longer applies to Always Free tenants; community reports say the new allowance took effect from August 18, 2026 (community claim, not an official announcement). If a tutorial you are reading still says 4 cores / 24 GB, that tutorial is out of date.
Disputed claim: there are claims online that after upgrading to PAYG (pay-as-you-go), 4 OCPU / 24 GB stays free, with zero-bill screenshots from users; but the official docs state the 1,500 / 9,000 hours apply to all tenants. The two conflict — it is marked “disputed”, not written as a promise; in the end, go by your own bill.
Requirements
Registration requires a credit or debit card for identity verification; Oracle periodically checks the card’s validity, producing temporary authorization holds that are usually released by the bank within 3–5 days and are not actual charges. Debit cards with a PIN, virtual cards, single-use cards, and prepaid cards are not accepted. One free account per person; contact and billing information must be accurate, valid, and used with the owner’s consent.
Regions & capacity
Always Free compute instances must be created in the home region; A1 instances can be created in any availability domain except South Korea North (Chuncheon), while E2.1.Micro can only be created in one availability domain. Free Tier is available in all commercial OCI regions. If creating an instance returns Out of host capacity, the home region temporarily has no Always Free capacity for that shape: the official guidance is to switch availability domain, wait and retry, or upgrade to PAYG for more compute resources (after upgrading, Always Free resources still cost nothing — only usage above the free limits is billed). The official FAQ says adding capacity may take several days.
Idle reclaim rules (official docs wording)
Idle Always Free compute instances may be reclaimed by Oracle. The official docs’ test is: over a 7-day period, CPU utilization 95th percentile below 20%, network utilization below 20%, and memory utilization below 20% (A1 shapes only). Separately, per the official FAQ, accounts idle for more than 30 days may be treated as abandoned and may be suspended or terminated.
What happens when the trial ends / over the limit
The US$300 trial credit ends at 30 days or when used up (whichever comes first); unused credit expires. Paid instances created with trial credit are reclaimed when the trial ends, while Always Free resources are kept. If total A1 instances exceed the Always Free limits when the trial ends, all A1 instances are stopped and deleted after 30 days unless you upgrade to a paid account — bring A1 totals within the limits before the trial ends. After upgrading to a paid account, Always Free resources still cost nothing; only usage above the free limits is billed.
How to claim
Register on the Oracle Cloud Free Tier official page → provide a credit/debit card for identity verification → choose a home region → create an A1 Flex instance (within 2 OCPU / 12 GB) or an E2.1.Micro instance in the home region → configure SSH keys and security rules, then use it.
Claim on the vendor’s official page →
Notes
- Idle reclaim: instances may be reclaimed if CPU 95th-percentile utilization is below 20%, network utilization below 20%, and memory utilization below 20% over 7 days (A1 shapes only)
- Out of host capacity: if Always Free capacity in the home region is exhausted, change availability domain or wait — the official FAQ says it may take several days
- Accounts idle for more than 30 days may be considered abandoned and suspended or terminated
- A1 instances above the Always Free limits are stopped when the trial ends and deleted after 30 days (unless upgraded to a paid account)
- Disputed: whether PAYG accounts get 4 OCPU / 24 GB free — the official docs state the 1,500/9,000 hours apply to all tenants; do not treat it as a promise
- No SLA; customers using only Always Free resources cannot get Oracle technical support
FAQ
Is Oracle’s free VPS 2 cores / 12 GB or 4 cores / 24 GB?
For Always Free tenants it is 2 OCPU / 12 GB: the official docs (Updated 2026-06-12) state the first 1,500 OCPU hours + 9,000 GB hours per month, equivalent to 2 OCPU and 12 GB of memory. 4 OCPU / 24 GB is the old allowance and no longer applies to Always Free tenants; the claim that PAYG accounts still get 4 cores / 24 GB free is disputed — the official docs and user bills conflict — and it is not a promise. Verified 2026-11-12.
Does Oracle registration require a card? Which cards are rejected?
Yes. Registration requires a credit or debit card for identity verification, with temporary authorization holds (usually released within 3–5 days). The official FAQ is explicit: debit cards with a PIN, virtual cards, single-use cards, and prepaid cards are not accepted. Verified 2026-11-12 — check the official page before claiming.
Will an Oracle free instance be reclaimed?
Yes, it can be. Per the official docs, idle Always Free instances may be reclaimed: within 7 days, CPU 95th-percentile utilization below 20%, network utilization below 20%, and memory utilization below 20% (A1 shapes only) counts as idle. Accounts idle for more than 30 days may also be treated as abandoned. Do not fake real usage with load scripts. Verified 2026-11-12.
Disclaimer: this page’s information comes from the vendor official page (verified 2026-11-12); allowances can change or end at any time — check the official page before claiming.