AWS Free Tier 2025: How to Get $200 in Credits and What Changed?

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💡 On July 15, 2025, the new AWS Free Tier went live! Discover the best services, get up to $200 in free credits, and gain firsthand experience with the cloud—but with some new guidelines. Everything you need to know is right here 👇

🧭 What's Changed in AWS Free Tier (Post–July 15, 2025)?

Welcome to the updated Free Tier program if you're registering for AWS after July 15, 2025:

$200 in AWS credits 🎁
A 6-month Free Plan period ⏳
Account auto-expiry unless upgraded 🔒
30+ always-free services ✅

Let’s dive into the key benefits, usage paths, and how to maximize all $200 like a pro 👇

🎯 Get Up to $200 Credits — In Action!

When you sign up for either Free or Paid Plan, you receive:

✅ $100 credit instantly
🏆 Up to $100 more by completing 5 beginner-friendly AWS activities (Each one gives $20)

🛠️ Activities to Earn Extra Credits:

AWS Service	Activity
Amazon EC2	Launch & terminate an EC2 instance
Amazon RDS	Learn to configure and deploy an RDS DB
AWS Lambda	Build a basic web app using a Lambda function with a URL
Amazon Bedrock	Submit a prompt using Bedrock Text Playground
AWS Budgets	Set a cost budget that alerts you when you exceed it

👉 Start with AWS Budgets — it's fast and easy:

Go to [Billing Console → Budgets].
Choose Use a template (simplified) → Monthly cost budget.
Set your budget amount (e.g. $5 or $10).
Save and confirm.

You’ll start getting alerts when your spending exceeds the budget, and $20 credits will appear on your [Credits page] within ~10 minutes.

After completing all 5 activities, you’ll unlock the full $200 in credits to explore AWS services or build your first cloud app!

📦 Free Plan vs. Paid Plan — Choose Wisely

Feature	Free Plan	Paid Plan
Initial Credits	$100	$100
Extra Activity Credits	✅	✅
Account Duration	6 months or till credits used	No limit
Access to Services	Limited (30+ services)	Full access
Auto Deletion	Yes (after 90 days if not upgraded)	No
Upgrade Option	Available anytime	Already upgraded

📬 Notifications and Expiry Timeline

🔔 Credit Usage Alerts:
- Email at 50%, 25%, and 10% remaining
🕒 Plan Expiry Alerts:
- 15, 7, and 2 days before your Free Plan ends
❗ After 6 months:
- You’ll get an email to upgrade to a Paid Plan
- 90 days to upgrade and reopen account before it's deleted

✅ Always-Free Services (Both Plans)

These 30+ services remain always free:

Service	Free Tier Limit
AWS Lambda	1M requests/month
Amazon S3	5 GB
DynamoDB	25 GB
CloudWatch	10 custom metrics
API Gateway	1M REST API calls/month

🔗 Full list: AWS Always Free

Legacy Accounts (Before July 15, 2025)

If your AWS account was created before July 15, 2025, you're still on the Legacy Free Tier:

12-month trials (e.g. EC2, RDS, S3)
Always-Free Tier services
No credit program, but no service restrictions
No auto-deletion

💡 Pro Tip

If you're a student, startup, or cloud beginner:

Start with the Free Plan, complete all 5 activities
Upgrade before the 6-month window closes
Use your $200 credits smartly: build a small project, test services, learn cloud economics