AWS Free Tier: Unlock $200 in Free Credits for New Users
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced significant updates to its AWS Free Tier program, effective July 15, 2025. New users will transition to a credit-based system, while existing users retain the current structure. This article outlines the changes, benefits, and management tips.
AWS Muggle
Accounts created on or after July 15, 2025, will adopt a credit-based Free Tier, replacing the traditional 12-month model:
In this blog post, we’ll walk through:
- What’s New in the AWS Free Tier (Post–July 2025)
- Free Plan vs. Paid Plan: What's the Difference?
- What Do You Get for Free?
- Free Plan: Which Services Are Eligible vs. Ineligible?
- Credit Expiration: How Long Do You Have?
- Tips to Maximize Your Free Tier
Let’s dive in 👇
1. What’s New in the AWS Free Tier (Post–July 2025)?
Previously, new AWS accounts came with a 12-month Free Tier with fixed monthly usage limits. Starting July 15, 2025, AWS has shifted to a credit-based Free Tier model for all new accounts.
Here’s how it works:
Credit Type | Amount | How You Get It |
|---|---|---|
Signup Credit | $100 | Automatically granted at signup |
Earned Credit | Up to $100 | Complete tasks in the Explore AWS widget |
You can use these credits for most AWS services — but with some restrictions depending on the plan you choose.
2. Free Plan vs. Paid Plan: What's the Difference?
When creating your AWS account, you'll now choose between two options:
✅ Free Plan
- Designed for learners, builders, and side projects
- Comes with up to $200 in total credits
- Lasts for 6 months or until your credits run out
- Access is limited to a curated list of eligible services
- No access to certain advanced services or hardware-related products
💳 Paid Plan
- Intended for production-ready applications and startups
- Also gets the same $200 in total credits
- Full access to all AWS services (including those excluded from Free Plan)
- Once your credits are used, you’ll be billed at standard AWS rates
⚠️ Important: If you're on the Free Plan and try to use an ineligible service, AWS will ask you to upgrade to the Paid Plan.
3. What Do You Get for Free?
Total Potential Free Credits: Up to $200
- $100 signup credit (granted immediately)
- Up to $100 additional credits earned by:
- Launching an EC2 instance
- Creating an RDS database
- Building a Lambda function
- Setting an AWS Budget
- Using Amazon Bedrock playground
Always Free Services (No Expiration, Monthly Quotas)
Over 30 AWS services are always free — with usage caps — whether you're on a Free or Paid Plan.
Examples:
- AWS Lambda – 1 million requests/month
- Amazon S3 – 5GB standard storage
- Amazon DynamoDB – 25GB of storage
- Amazon SNS – 1M publishes
- CloudWatch – 10 custom metrics
4. Free Plan: Which Services Are Eligible vs. Ineligible?
To help you manage your credits, AWS restricts which services are available in the Free Plan. You can download list of eligible or ineligible services in this link FreePlan-Service.
Here’s a simplified breakdown:
✅ Examples of Eligible Services
These are commonly used, beginner-friendly, and cost-efficient:
Category | Services |
|---|---|
Compute | EC2, Lambda, ECS, EKS, Beanstalk |
Storage | S3, EBS, EFS |
Databases | RDS, DynamoDB |
AI/ML | Bedrock, SageMaker, Rekognition, Lex |
Monitoring | CloudWatch, CloudTrail, CodePipeline |
Security | IAM, KMS, Shield Standard, Secrets Manager |
Integration | EventBridge, DMS, AppFlow |
❌ Examples of Ineligible Services
These are either enterprise-scale, high-cost, or specialized — and only available on the Paid Plan.
Category | Ineligible Services |
|---|---|
Big Data & Analytics | Redshift, Athena, EMR, QuickSight |
AI/ML | Textract, Comprehend, Personalize, Transcribe |
Enterprise Security | GuardDuty, Inspector, Security Hub |
Hardware / Edge | Snowball, Outposts, Panorama |
Commercial Tools | AWS Marketplace |
You won’t be able to launch these under the Free Plan — AWS will ask you to upgrade.
5. Credit Expiration: How Long Do You Have?
- Your $100 signup and $100 earned credits are valid for 12 months from account creation
- Free Plan itself expires after 6 months, or earlier if you use all credits
- You must upgrade to a Paid Plan within 90 days after expiration if you want to retain your resources
6. Tips to Maximize Your Free Tier
Here are a few ways to avoid surprise charges and get the most out of your Free Tier:
- Stick to Eligible Services – Especially when on the Free Plan
- Track Usage – Use the AWS Billing dashboard or Cost Explorer
- Set Alerts – Create AWS Budgets to notify when nearing limits
- Automate Cleanup – Use SSM or Lambda to shut down idle resources
- Always Free = Your Best Friend – Services like Lambda, S3, DynamoDB won’t consume credits if used within quota
Conclusion
AWS Free Tier is your golden ticket to explore AWS services without the cost! New users can unlock up to $200 in free credits—$100 upon signing up and another $100 by completing fun tasks in the AWS Console. With 6 months to use these credits, you can dive into services like EC2, Lambda, and Bedrock without worrying about bills. Just remember, once your credits are used up, it's time to upgrade or say goodbye to your resources. So, gear up, explore, and make the most of your AWS adventure! 🚀
References
Visit AWS Free Tier Documentation for more information
Enjoyed reading this content? Let the author know!
Your likes, comments, shares, and saves help creators reach more builders.
Loading recommendations
Loading article