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Free VPS tiers compared: Oracle, AWS, Google and Azure

Only Oracle and Google give a VM that stays free with no end date. AWS gives up to $200 for 6 months, Azure 12 months of small VMs. Limits as of October 2026.

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Quick comparison

ProviderFromStarting planFree tierOur rating
Hetzner CloudChecked
$6.49/moCX23 (Cost-Optimized, Intel/AMD)2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 40 GB NVMeNoNot ratedVisit
VultrChecked
$2.50/moCloud Compute Regular Performance, IPv6-only 0.5 GB1 vCPU · 0.5 GB RAM · 10 GB SSDNo free tierNot ratedVisit
DigitalOceanChecked
$4/moBasic Droplet 512 MiB1 vCPU · 0.5 GB RAM · 10 GiB SSDOccasional promo credit for new usersNot ratedVisit
HostingerChecked
$2.49/moPremium (web hosting)20 GB SSDNo (30-day money-back guarantee)Not ratedVisit

Two big clouds give you a server that stays free with no end date: Oracle Cloud (one Arm VM with up to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB of memory, plus two small AMD VMs) and Google Cloud (one e2-micro VM in three US regions). AWS gives new customers up to $200 in credits for up to 6 months, and Azure gives $200 for 30 days plus 12 months of small VMs. All four limits are as of October 28, 2026. If none of them fits, the cheapest paid VPS in our data costs $2.50 to $6.49 a month.

We haven’t run servers on these free tiers ourselves. Everything below comes from each provider’s own free-tier pages and docs, read on October 28, 2026. Paid VPS prices come from the site’s price data, with the date each was checked.

Which free VPS tiers exist, and how long do they last?

There are three kinds of “free” here, and they behave very differently:

  • Always free: a fixed monthly allowance with no end date. Oracle and Google.
  • Free for 12 months: an allowance that ends a year after sign-up. Azure.
  • Credits: a dollar amount you spend on any eligible service until it runs out or expires. AWS, plus the trial credits Oracle, Google and Azure add on top.
Oracle Cloud Google Cloud AWS Azure
Type Always Free + trial credit Always free (Free Tier) + trial credit Credits (Free plan) 12 months free + trial credit
Free server 1 or 2 Arm VMs (2 OCPUs, 12 GB total) + 2 AMD micro VMs (1/8 OCPU, 1 GB each) 1 e2-micro VM None fixed; credits pay for EC2 or Lightsail 750 hours each of B1s, B2pts v2 and B2ats v2 a month
How long No end date No end date Up to 6 months, or until credits run out 12 months
Trial credit US$300 for 30 days $300 for 90 days $100 at sign-up, up to $100 more $200 for 30 days
Free outbound data 10 TB a month 1 GB a month from North America Not stated as a free allowance Not stated on the pages we read
Free disk 200 GB block storage (boot and data combined) 30 GB-months standard persistent disk Paid from credits Not stated on the pages we read
Card at sign-up Credit card or credit-style debit card; no prepaid or virtual cards Credit card or other payment method required “Not required for most new customers” Credit or debit card (non-prepaid) and a phone number

What does Oracle Cloud’s Always Free tier include?

Oracle is the most generous, but it was cut in half in 2026. Oracle’s docs now say every tenancy gets “the first 1,500 OCPU hours and 9,000 GB hours per month for free” on the Ampere A1 (Arm) shape, which Oracle says equals 2 OCPUs and 12 GB of memory. It was 4 OCPUs and 24 GB before June 2026 (see our news report on the cut).

The full Always Free compute and network allowance:

  • Arm: 2 OCPUs and 12 GB of memory a month on VM.Standard.A1.Flex, as one VM or split across two.
  • AMD: up to two VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro instances, each with 1/8 of an OCPU (able to use more CPU when available), 1 GB of memory and up to 50 Mbps of internet bandwidth.
  • Storage: 200 GB of block volume in total, boot volumes included, plus five volume backups.
  • Outbound data: 10 TB a month.
  • Load balancer: one flexible load balancer at 10 Mbps.

The rules that matter:

  • Home region only. Always Free compute must be created in your tenancy’s home region. Volumes created elsewhere are billed at normal rates.
  • Idle servers get reclaimed. Oracle deems an instance idle if, over 7 days, 95th-percentile CPU use is under 20%, network use is under 20% and, for A1 shapes, memory use is under 20%.
  • The trial is separate. Oracle’s Free Tier page says you start with a US$300 credit to use within 30 days. “If you do nothing after 30 days, you’ll continue to get Always Free Services.” Upgrading to Pay As You Go keeps the Always Free resources free; Oracle charges only for use above the limits.
  • Accounts. Oracle’s FAQ says creating multiple free accounts is prohibited, and accounts left idle for 30 days or more “may be deemed abandoned.”

What does Google Cloud’s free tier include?

Google’s Compute Engine Free Tier is small but permanent. Its docs list:

  • 1 non-preemptible e2-micro VM a month in Oregon (us-west1), Iowa (us-central1) or South Carolina (us-east1). The limit is “by time, not by instance,” so two e2-micros running all month use twice the allowance.
  • 30 GB-months of standard persistent disk.
  • 1 GB of outbound data a month from North America to all destinations except China and Australia.
  • No GPUs or TPUs.

Google is explicit that “Free Tier limits aren’t credit; they don’t accumulate or roll over,” and use beyond them “is billed at standard rates.” The Free Trial adds a $300 credit to spend over 90 days, for people who have never been paying users of Google Cloud, Google Maps Platform or Firebase. Google says you won’t be billed during the trial, but you must provide a valid payment method.

The 1 GB of outbound data is the real limit. A small website or a chat bot can stay inside it; anything that serves files or images will pass it quickly.

What do you get free on AWS and Lightsail?

AWS changed its free tier to a credit model. Its Free Tier page and FAQ say:

  • New customers get $100 in credits at sign-up and can earn up to $100 more by trying key services.
  • The Free plan lasts up to 6 months from account opening, or until the credits run out, whichever comes first. It can’t be extended.
  • When the Free plan expires, AWS suspends the account, keeps the data for 90 days, and then permanently erases the account if you haven’t upgraded.
  • The Free plan is limited to select services. EC2 is listed as available on both plans.
  • Over 30 services are “always free” within monthly limits; AWS’s pages don’t name a free server among them.
  • A payment method “isn’t required to sign up for most new customers,” though AWS may ask for one to verify identity.
  • On the Paid plan you can set a monthly project spend limit starting at $20.

For Lightsail, AWS’s Free Tier page lists virtual private servers, containers, storage, databases and CDN distributions among what the credits pay for. It doesn’t list a free bundle or a number of free months. The cheapest Lightsail Linux bundles are $3.50 a month (IPv6 only, 512 MB memory, 2 vCPUs, 20 GB SSD, 1 TB transfer) and $5 a month with a public IPv4 address (0.5 GB memory, 2 vCPUs, 20 GB SSD, 1 TB transfer), per AWS’s Lightsail pricing. See our AWS Lightsail page for the bundles above that.

Worked example: how far $100 of AWS credit goes on Lightsail

  • $5 bundle × 6 months = $30, well inside the $100 sign-up credit.
  • Even the $100 alone would cover the $5 bundle for 20 months, but the Free plan ends at 6 months.
  • Month 7: either upgrade to the Paid plan and pay $5 × 12 = $60 a year, or the account is suspended.

So on AWS, “free VPS” means a free first 6 months, not a free server.

What does the Azure free account include?

Azure’s account page lists a $200 credit to use within 30 days, and 12 months free of “750 hours each of B1s, B2pts v2 (Arm-based), and B2ats v2 (AMD-based) burstable VMs,” for Linux or Windows. 750 hours is enough to run one VM of each size all month.

The catch is the upgrade rule. Azure’s free services page says customers “must move to pay as you go within 30 days to continue receiving 12 months free services.” If you don’t move, the account and services are disabled once the 30 days end or the credit is used. After the 12 months, VMs keep running and are billed at pay-as-you-go rates. The pages we read don’t list the free disk or bandwidth allowance that comes with these VMs, so check them in the Azure portal before you rely on them.

Students get a separate offer: Azure for Students gives “$100 credit” with no credit card, for people with an academic email.

Is there a free VPS with no credit card?

Of the four, only AWS says a payment method isn’t required for most new customers, and its free plan ends after 6 months. Oracle, Google and Azure all ask for a card to verify you. Azure’s page says the card may see a temporary hold of about one dollar; Oracle’s FAQ describes a temporary authorization hold that doesn’t result in a charge. Azure for Students needs no card but needs an academic email.

One other option: Railway lets you start a free 2 vCPU, 2 GB VM with no account, but it lasts 60 minutes unless you claim it (our report). That’s for trying things, not hosting.

What to watch for

  • Idle reclaim. Oracle reclaims instances that stay under 20% CPU, network and (on Arm) memory for 7 days. A quiet personal site can trip this.
  • Egress beyond the allowance. Google’s free tier includes 1 GB of outbound data a month; beyond that you pay standard rates. Lightsail’s overage outside the allowance is $0.09 per GB in US regions, per its FAQ.
  • Account suspension on AWS. The Free plan suspends the account at 6 months or when credits run out. Upgrade before then if the server matters, and set a spend limit.
  • Azure’s 30-day switch. Miss the move to pay-as-you-go and you lose the 12 months of free VMs.
  • Region locks. Google’s free e2-micro is only in three US regions; Oracle’s free compute only in your home region.
  • Billing after the free period. Azure’s VMs after 12 months, and anything above Oracle’s or Google’s limits, bill at normal rates. Set budget alerts.
  • Capacity. Oracle’s FAQ says Pay As You Go accounts “are subject to different capacity limits than Always Free accounts.” Free-only accounts get lower limits.

The cheapest paid VPS if the free tiers don’t fit

A paid VPS has none of the reclaim, region or 6-month rules. The cheapest entry plans in our data:

Provider and plan Price vCPU / RAM Transfer Price per GB of RAM Checked
Vultr Regular, IPv6 only $2.50/mo 1 / 0.5 GB 0.5 TB $5.00 Oct 17, 2026
Vultr Regular 1 GB $5/mo 1 / 1 GB 1 TB $5.00 Oct 17, 2026
DigitalOcean Basic 1 GiB $6/mo 1 / 1 GiB 1,000 GiB $6.00 Oct 25, 2026
AWS Lightsail with IPv4 $5/mo 2 / 0.5 GB 1 TB $10.00 Oct 28, 2026
Hetzner CX23 $6.49/mo 2 / 4 GB 20 TB (EU locations) $1.62 Oct 25, 2026
Hostinger KVM 1 $6.49/mo intro, renews at $11.99/mo 1 / 4 GB 4 TB $1.62 intro, $3.00 renewal Oct 25, 2026

Over a year, Hetzner’s CX23 is $6.49 × 12 = $77.88 for 4 GB of memory, a third of Oracle’s free Arm allowance. Hetzner’s CX23 is available in Germany and Finland. For more plans, see Hetzner vs Vultr and our VPS hosting hub.

Which free tier should you choose?

  • You want the most free compute and can live with Oracle’s rules: Oracle Cloud Always Free. 2 OCPUs and 12 GB of Arm memory with 10 TB of outbound data is the largest permanent allowance here. Keep the server busy enough to avoid idle reclaim, and keep backups.
  • You need something small that runs forever in the US: Google’s e2-micro, if your traffic fits in 1 GB of outbound data a month.
  • You’re learning AWS or testing an idea for a few months: the AWS Free plan. $100 covers a $5 Lightsail server for the full 6 months. Plan the upgrade or the exit before month 6.
  • You want a Windows VM for a year: Azure’s 12-month B-series VMs, after moving to pay-as-you-go within 30 days.
  • You’re running something that matters, like a client site or a bot that must stay up: a paid VPS. Hetzner’s CX23 at $6.49 a month has the lowest price per GB of memory in our data; Vultr’s $5 plan is the cheapest in the table with 1 GB of memory.

For other free offers across hosting, AI and app tools, see our free tools page.

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