Oracle Cloud halves its Always Free Arm compute to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB

Oracle Cloud cut the Arm compute in its Always Free tier in half in June 2026. Oracle’s documentation now gives every tenancy 1,500 OCPU hours and 9,000 GB hours a month on the Ampere A1 shape, down from 3,000 and 18,000. InfoQ reports that the new limits took effect on June 15, 2026, and that Oracle published no announcement.

What changed

Always Free, Ampere A1 (Arm)	Oracle docs, June 3, 2026	Oracle docs now
OCPU hours a month	3,000	1,500
GB hours a month	18,000	9,000
Equal to	4 OCPUs, 24 GB memory	2 OCPUs, 12 GB memory
Number of A1 instances	Up to four	One or two

That is enough for one Arm server with 2 OCPUs and 12 GB of memory, or two servers with 1 OCPU each.

What stayed the same

The same page still lists two Always Free AMD micro instances (1/8 OCPU and 1 GB of memory each), 200 GB of block volume storage with five volume backups, and 10 TB of outbound data a month. Idle Always Free instances can still be reclaimed by Oracle.

Who is affected

InfoQ reports that on free-only accounts, instances above the new limit were shut down until they were resized to fit within 2 OCPUs and 12 GB. It also reports that Oracle support told some pay-as-you-go users the new limit applies only to free-tier accounts. Oracle hasn’t said so publicly, and its documentation says the 1,500 OCPU hours and 9,000 GB hours apply to all tenancies.

What to do

If you run a free Arm server on Oracle Cloud, check its shape in the console. If it uses more than 2 OCPUs or 12 GB, resize it before it is stopped, and back up its data first. If you are on pay-as-you-go, watch your next invoice for A1 charges you didn’t have before.