Oracle Cloud Always Free free tier: the verified facts
Last verified: 2026-10-06· official pricing page
FREE TIER EXISTS CARD REQUIRED
The most powerful free tier in existence — 4 ARM cores, 24 GB RAM, forever.
Current limits
| What | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ARM compute | 4 OCPU + 24 GB RAM total | Ampere A1, splittable across up to 4 VMs |
| AMD compute | 2 micro VMs (1/8 OCPU, 1 GB RAM each) | |
| Storage | 200 GB block storage total | |
| Bandwidth | 10 TB egress/month | |
| Databases | 2 Autonomous DBs (20 GB each) |
Gotchas that bite people
Card required for identity verification (never charged on Always Free resources)
Idle ARM instances can be reclaimed — keep CPU above ~15% or upgrade to Pay-As-You-Go (still $0 for free resources) to prevent reclaim
ARM capacity in popular regions is often 'out of capacity' at signup time — picking a less popular home region helps, but home region cannot be changed later
Signup rejections are common and support is unhelpful — use real details, no VPN
Notes for developers in India
Mumbai and Hyderabad regions available as home region. Mumbai ARM capacity is frequently exhausted — Hyderabad often easier.
Outgrowing the free tier?
When the limits above stop being enough, see our comparison guides for the cheapest reliable upgrade paths — including options with India regions.