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What is correct for EC2 free-tier instance?

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I am the first user of the AWS and confused about free-tier.

https://aws.amazon.com/free/?all-free-tier.sort-by=item.additionalFields.SortRank&all-free-tier.sort-order=asc&awsf.Free+Tier+Types=*all&awsf.Free+Tier+Categories=*all&ams%23interactive-card-vertical%23pattern-data.filter=%257B%2522search%2522%253A%2522free%2522%252C%2522filters%2522%253A%255B%255D%257D It says like this. "750 hours per month of Linux, RHEL, or SLES t2.micro or t3.micro* instance dependent on region" But when I go to Instance types and free-tier eligible = true, t3.micro, t3.small, c7i-flex.large, and m7i-flex.large comes out.

Here's the precise question.

  1. Is Ubuntu availabl for the EC2? I want to use Perforce and it requires Ubuntu 24.04 or 22.04. There is no mention about Ubuntu in the free-tier site.

  2. Is it fine to use t3.small, c7i-flex.large, and m7i-flex.large for the instance type? Those instance types have attribute free-tier eligible = true, but free-tier site only mention about the t3.micro.

  3. Can I set configuration storage to 30 GiB and gp3? Free-tier site mentions "30 GB of Amazon EBS: any combination of General Purpose (SSD) or Magnetic", then set to 1x 30 GiB gp3 is totally fine for free-tier?

I also confused about the changed free-tier benefits. I created my account on July 14th, but I got $100 credits. Below of the site mentions it will apply for the new AWS customers who created accounts after July 15th.

1 Answer
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Let me clarify the EC2 Free Tier details for you:

  1. Regarding Ubuntu availability: Yes, Ubuntu is available for EC2 under the Free Tier. While the Free Tier description mentions Linux, RHEL, or SLES, Ubuntu is considered a Linux distribution and is eligible. You can use Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 for your Perforce setup within the Free Tier limits.

  2. Regarding instance types: The eligible instance types depend on when you created your AWS account:

  • If you created your account before July 15, 2025 and it's less than 12 months old (which applies to you since you created it on July 14th), you can use t2.micro or t3.micro instances under the Free Tier.
  • If you had created your account on or after July 15, 2025, you would be eligible to use t3.micro, t3.small, t4g.micro, t4g.small, c7i-flex.large, and m7i-flex.large for 6 months.

Since you created your account before July 15th, you should stick with t2.micro or t3.micro to stay within the Free Tier. Using t3.small, c7i-flex.large, or m7i-flex.large would incur charges.

  1. Regarding storage: Yes, you can set your configuration storage to 30 GiB using gp3. The Free Tier includes 30 GB of Amazon EBS storage with any combination of General Purpose (SSD) or Magnetic storage. The gp3 is a General Purpose SSD type, so it falls within the Free Tier allowance.

Regarding the $100 credits: AWS sometimes offers promotional credits to new accounts regardless of the Free Tier structure. These credits can be used to explore services beyond the Free Tier limits. The $100 credits you received are separate from the standard Free Tier benefits and can be used according to their specific terms.

Remember that the Free Tier for EC2 offers 750 hours per month, which is enough to run one instance continuously for a month. If you run multiple instances simultaneously, the hours will be consumed faster.
Sources
Launch an EC2 instance using the launch instance wizard in the console - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
Option 2: Automatically connect an instance to an RDS database using the RDS console - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
EC2 Free 1 year | AWS re:Post
Billings in free tier | AWS re:Post
from when free-tier period counts? | AWS re:Post

answered 4 months ago
AWS
EXPERT
reviewed 4 months ago

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