AWS Free Tier Just Got a Major Upgrade: What’s New & How to Use It (July 2025)

AWS retired its traditional 12-month Free Tier for new accounts as of July 15, 2025.

• New users now get a $100 credit upon sign-up, and can earn up to $100 more by completing guided activities—a total of $200 in credits. (Amazon Web Services, Inc., AWS in Plain English, DEV Community)

• There are two plan options at sign-up: the Free Plan (6-month credit-limited sandbox) or Paid Plan (full access, pay-as-you-go beyond credits). (Amazon Web Services, Inc., AWS in Plain English, DEV Community)

• Always-Free services (30+ AWS services with monthly usage limits) remain part of both plans. (Amazon Web Services, Inc., DEV Community, AWS in Plain English)

• Choose the Free Plan for experimentation and proof-of-concepts; switch to Paid Plan when you're ready for production and scaling. (AWS in Plain English, DEV Community)

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What Changed (as of July 15, 2025)

1. Replaces the 12-Month Free Tier with a 6-Month Credit-Based Model

The old 12-month tier offering fixed usage limits for EC2, S3, RDS, etc., is now deprecated for new accounts. Instead, you'll get $100 at signup plus up to $100 more via activities—valid for 6 months or until credits are spent, whichever comes first. (Medium, DEV Community, AWS in Plain English)

2. Two Plan Options at Signup

• Free Plan (6-month sandbox): No charges unless you upgrade; some services—especially those that could exhaust credits quickly—are restricted. (Amazon Web Services, Inc., AWS in Plain English, DEV Community)

• Paid Plan: Full AWS access from day one; credits apply to eligible usage, and you pay for anything beyond them. (Amazon Web Services, Inc., AWS Documentation, DEV Community)

3. Earn Extra Credits via Guided Activities

Complete activities (e.g. launching an EC2 instance, creating an RDS database, using Lambda, Amazon Bedrock’s playground, and setting up AWS Budgets) to earn $20 per task, up to $100 more. (Amazon Web Services, Inc.)

4. Always-Free Services Still Available

Even beyond credits or plan type, you have access to 30+ always-free services, with usage limits like 1M Lambda requests/month, 5 GB S3 storage, 25 GB DynamoDB storage, etc. (DEV Community, AWS in Plain English)

5. Automatic Account Closure & Grace Period

If you’re on the Free Plan and either your credits run out or 6 months pass, your account will be automatically closed. AWS retains your data for 90 days before permanent deletion. Upgrade to Paid Plan during that window to keep everything active and retain unused credits. (AWS Documentation, DEV Community)

6. Legacy Accounts Unaffected

If your AWS account was created before July 15, 2025, you continue under the classic Free Tier model: 12-month trials, always-free services, and no auto-closure. (Amazon Web Services, Inc., AWS in Plain English, DEV Community)

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How to Use It — A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Sign Up and Choose a Plan

• Navigate to the AWS Free Tier page.

• Sign up and pick either Free Plan (sandbox) or Paid Plan (full access).

2. Get $100 of Free Credits Immediately

These are automatically applied; they are valid for 6 months. (Amazon Web Services, Inc., DEV Community)

3. Complete Guided Activities to Earn Up to $100 More

Via the Explore AWS widget in the console, complete tasks such as:

• Launch EC2

• Create RDS instance

• Use Lambda or Bedrock playground

• Set budget alerts via AWS Budgets (Amazon Web Services, Inc., DEV Community)

4. Track Your Balance and Alerts

Use AWS Billing and Cost Management dashboard for:

• Credit balance

• Days remaining in Free Plan

• Notifications at 50%, 25%, 10% credits left

• Alerts when approaching expiration (15, 7, 2 days) (Amazon Web Services, Inc.)

5. Use Always-Free Services Even After Credits

Even if your credits run out, services like Lambda, S3, DynamoDB remain free within usage limits. (DEV Community, AWS in Plain English)

6. Upgrade Before Closure if You Want to Continue

Go to the Billing console, select Upgrade to Paid Plan to:

• Retain remaining credits

• Avoid account closure

• Gain access to all AWS services (AWS Documentation, DEV Community)

7. Optimize Usage to Avoid Unnecessary Charges

• Stick to Free Tier–eligible services

• Stop or delete idle resources (EC2, EBS volumes, etc.)

• Use AWS Budgets and alerts

• Leverage automation (Lambda, EventBridge) to clean up or shut down unused resources (Medium)

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Why This Upgrade Matters

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Final Thoughts

The AWS Free Tier revamp effective July 15, 2025, offers a double-edged sword: more value ($200 credits) but a shorter timeline (6 months) and some limitations on high-cost services.

• Who should pick the Free Plan? Students, beginners, and developers doing experimentation or proof-of-concepts.

• Who should go Paid from day one? Startup teams or hobbyists wanting access to the full AWS ecosystem with seamless scaling.

Whichever you choose, this revamped Free Tier is a powerful opportunity to explore, learn, and prototype on AWS with minimal upfront cost—but be proactive to make the most of it before credits or time run out.

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