Does AWS Free Tier start counting before I complete registration?

The AWS Free Tier period begins when your AWS account is fully activated and ready to use AWS services, not during the registration process itself. Since you have not yet entered payment information or completed phone verification, your account registration is incomplete and your Free Tier period has not started counting down.

The Free Tier clock starts ticking from the moment your account activation is complete - which requires providing valid payment information and completing all verification steps. Simply being able to log into the AWS Management Console during an incomplete registration does not trigger the start of your Free Tier period.

Regarding your specific situation: If you stop now and later correct your information to complete the registration properly, your Free Tier period will begin from the date the account becomes fully activated with all required information provided. This means you won't lose any of your Free Tier time by pausing the registration process at this stage.

As for leaving an incomplete registration, AWS may eventually close accounts that remain incomplete for extended periods, but this would not prevent you from registering a new account later with corrected information. The key point is that no Free Tier benefits are being consumed while your account remains in an incomplete state.

To ensure you get the full benefit of your Free Tier period, complete your registration with accurate information when you're ready, and your 12-month Free Tier period (note: it's 12 months, not 6 months) will begin from that activation date.

To clarify a few points.

The re:Post Agent is correct, Free Plan period begins when your account is fully activated that is, after you provide valid payment information and complete verification. Being able to see the AWS Management Console partway through signup does not start the clock. Since you have not entered billing details or completed phone verification, your account is not yet activated and no Free Tier time is being consumed.

If you stop now and later complete registration with correct information, the period will begin from that activation date, you lose nothing by pausing.

On the duration - you were right, it's 6 months, not 12

AWS updated the Free Tier in July 2025. For a new account created today, there are two separate clocks people often confuse:

So the "12 months" figure refers to credit expiry, not the Free Plan period itself. The plan period is 6 months. (The legacy 12-month Free Tier applied to accounts created before the July 2025 change and does not apply to new signups.)

There are also Always Free offers (for example, 1 million AWS Lambda requests per month) that remain available regardless of the plan period and do not expire.

What happens after the Free Plan expires

When the Free Plan period ends (6 months, or credits exhausted), the account closes automatically. AWS retains your content for 90 days afterward, during that window you can upgrade to a Paid Plan to keep everything and continue using your resources.

Leaving an incomplete registration

An incomplete registration:

• Consumes no Free Tier benefits (nothing is running).
• Will not prevent you from registering a new account later with corrected information.

When you're ready, simply complete registration with accurate details and your 6-month Free Plan period will begin from that activation date.

References:

• AWS Free Tier
• AWS Free Tier terms
• Choosing a Free Plan or Paid Plan (AWS Billing User Guide)