AWS Replaces the Free Tier — How the New Credit-Based System Works
AWS has replaced the 12-month Free Tier with a credit-based model that gives you two paths: a Free plan and a Paid plan. The change tightens eligibility and shifts how long you can explore before costs show up. If you’re learning AWS, preparing for certification, or evaluating services, this guide explains how the plans differ, who’s eligible for credits and simple ways to avoid surprise bills.
Free vs. Paid: What’s Different and Why It Matters
Both plans can include signup credits for new customers. The Free plan gives you a safe sandbox with access to a large set of services and no charges while you stay on that plan. The trade-off is scope and time: you’re limited to certain features or smaller instance sizes, and the account ends after six months or once your credits run out. You can reopen the account as Paid within a short grace window to retrieve data and keep going.
The Paid plan removes most feature limits and unlocks short-term trials across the broader AWS catalog. You still get credits (if you’re new), but you’ll pay once your usage exceeds that balance. There’s no automatic expiration.
If you want a risk-free place to explore the console, learn IAM basics, S3, Lambda, and small EC2 instances, start with Free. If you need fuller access for capstone projects or multi-service labs, Paid is the better fit as long as you set basic cost controls.
Eligibility: Who Actually Gets Credits
Signup credits are for new customers only. If you’ve held an AWS account before, you likely won’t qualify for the “new” credit again. Credits are tied to the account that received them and can’t be transferred.
What You Can Use on Each Plan
The Free plan includes many core services, but AWS limits features that could drain your credits quickly. For example, EC2 offers only specific small instance types; RDS restricts engines and instance families; S3 is fully available but still consumes credits as you store data and make requests. You can see the current catalog on the AWS Free Tier page by filtering for “Free,” then checking service-level details.
Which Plan Should You Choose?
Think about your next 60–90 days:
- Learning the basics or preparing for an entry-level exam? The Free plan is ideal. You get real practice without billing anxiety. When the six months end (or credits run out), you get to decide if you want to continue on Paid.
- Building larger, more complex labs? Go Paid, keep your signup credits, and put cost alerts in place. You’ll have the access you need without being blocked by service limits.
- Need continuity beyond six months? Paid is the only option that won’t auto-expire.
Cost Control That Actually Works
A few simple habits go a long way:
Set a monthly budget and alerts in AWS Budgets for both actual and forecasted spend. Turn on Free Tier usage alerts and route them to an inbox you check. Get familiar with Cost Explorer and Anomaly Detection so odd spikes don’t surprise you.
Before you start building, open the AWS Pricing Calculator and get a rough estimate for EC2 hours, EBS storage, data transfer, and any load balancers. Then, clean up after every session. Stop instances. Delete idle load balancers, snapshots, and buckets you no longer need. A forgotten ALB can eat credits faster than you expect.
Upgrading Without Losing Credits
Some actions force an upgrade to Paid — for example, creating an AWS Organization. If you plan to use Organizations, upgrade to Paid first so your remaining credits carry over. Remember: the Free plan ends after six months, but unspent credits tied to your account can still be used within their credit-life window once you’re on Paid.
Where Extra Promotional Credits Come From
Beyond signup credits, AWS runs programs that sometimes grant promotional credits based on who you are and what you’re doing — for instance, AWS Activate (startups), AWS Educate (students and educators), selective Training and Certification promos, nonprofit grants, enterprise discounts, and migration programs. Free-plan accounts typically aren’t eligible for these extras. Use your Free plan to learn, then upgrade to Paid and apply if you qualify.
What This Means for Learners and Career Builders
If you’re studying for certification or building a project portfolio, the new model still supports real, affordable practice. The Free plan is perfect for learning the console, IAM policies, S3 buckets and lifecycle rules, Lambda functions, and small EC2 labs. When you’re ready to simulate production-style work — multi-AZ RDS, container orchestration, load-balanced web tiers, or more advanced VPC layouts — switch to Paid with budgets and alerts. You’ll keep costs low while gaining the practical experience employers are looking for.
Here’s how to approach it:
- Do your research. Map each to services and confirm whether the Free plan covers what you need.
- Practice in short bursts. Spin resources up, do the task, capture notes or screenshots, and tear everything down.
- Review costs weekly. Fifteen minutes in Cost Explorer saves you credits and stress.
- Capture outcomes. Turn labs into portfolio artifacts: diagrams, READMEs, Git repos, and short demos. That’s what hiring teams want to see.
Level up your Cloud Skills
AWS’s move to credits changes how you start, not how you succeed. The fundamentals remain the same: pick the plan that matches your goals, stay on top of costs, and focus on hands-on work that looks like the real world.
Use the Free plan to explore safely, upgrade when you need more room, and keep building practical experience so you’re ready for production-grade work and confident in the interview room.
If you’re serious about accelerating your tech career and want a structured path with guidance, the Cloud Mastery Bootcamp is a great way to build job-ready cloud skills fast — with guided labs, real projects, and expert support to keep you moving.
