Oracle Cloud Free Tier
Always-free cloud resources including 2 AMD VMs, 4 ARM cores, 24GB RAM, and 10TB egress.
Best for developers who want generous always-free compute with real VMs for serious projects.
Use Cases
Free Tier
2 AMD VMs (1GB each), 4 ARM cores (24GB), 10TB egress/month
How to Maximize the Free Tier
Oracle's free ARM VM (4 cores, 24GB RAM) is absurdly generous — sign up for it immediately even if you don't have a project yet (availability fills up). If your first signup attempt is rejected, try again with a different email or credit card — approval is inconsistent. Use this VM for anything compute-heavy: CI/CD runners, game servers, batch processing. The AMD VMs (1GB each) are better for always-on services like VPNs or DNS resolvers.
Getting Started
Sign up (may need CC for verification) → create VM → select Ampere A1 shape for free ARM → Ubuntu 24.04 → SSH in → install Docker/Hermes. The ARM 24GB VM is the standout free offering.
Pros
- Generous free tier: 24GB ARM VM with 4 cores is unmatched in the industry for always-free compute
- Always-free: No time limit or credit expiry — the resources remain free as long as your account is active
- Root access: Full root access to real VMs — install any software, run any service, no sandboxing
Cons
- Account approval: Sign-up can be difficult — many users report applications being rejected without clear reasons
- Region limits: Free tier ARM instances are only available in select regions with limited capacity
- Clunky UX: Oracle's cloud console is confusing and dated compared to AWS, GCP, or DigitalOcean