Cloud computing never disappeared. It has and will always be there. But have we forgotten about it? I think not. This is why we need to maximise what these Cloud providers have offered for free. That is to have a sandbox environment to test not only our knowledge on these services but also perform our own benchmark.
You cannot automate what you don’t know. Or atleast you haven’t done it manually.
This is why basic knowledge in cloud services is still a must. We suggest to get familiar on atleast Compute instances, Networking and Storage. Free tiers usually cover these features out of the box. At the minimum, you can instantiate a new server and access it.
Take note that cloud services that offer free trial allow you to use their services but there is a minimum requirement. You should have a credit card that is acceptable by their platform. This is a mechanism in place by these services to assure them that any extra services you use that is not part of the free tier or exceed the credits will be billed to your credit card. So take note of this condition.
There are also some services that will always be free even after the free tier has elapsed or the credits have been consumed. Some services can also have a free usage limit, meaning a service is free until you go pass the set limit. This could be something like a storage that is free if you consume 5GB or less per month.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Free Tier
Credits and duration: 12 months free
Has an all Free Tier services: Yes
Microsoft Azure Free Account
Credits and duration: $200 credit Up to 30 days
Has an all Free Tier services: Yes
Google Cloud Free Trial
Credits and duration: $300 credit for 90 days
Has an all Free Tier services: Yes
IBM Cloud Free Tier
Credits and duration: 200 cloud credit for 30 days
Has an all Free Tier services: Yes
Oracle Cloud Free Tier
Credits and duration: $300 cloud credit for 30 days
Has an all Free Tier services: Yes
Alibaba Cloud Free Trial
Credits and duration: $300 in credits
Has an all Free Tier services: Yes
DigitalOcean Free Credits
Credits and duration: $200 credit for 60 days
Linode (Akamai Cloud) Free Trial
Credits and duration: $100 credit for 60 days
Vultr Free Tier Program
Credits and duration: $100 credit for 30 days
Note that the amount of credits, duration, and terms might change depending on these cloud providers.
