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Exploring Oracle Cloud's Always Free Tier: Essential Services, Use Cases, and Setup Tips

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Sunny Dsouza
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5 min read

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I recently stumbled upon Oracle Cloud. Previously, I ahve experiences with using AWS Free tier services (valid for 12 months) for spwaning EC2 instances. However, upon some research, it seems Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) offers one of the most generous Always Free Tiers, providing developers and tech enthusiasts access to powerful compute, storage, and database services without expiration.

In this guide, we'll cover:

  1. Key services included in the Always Free Tier.

  2. Interesting use cases for homelab projects and personal applications.

  3. Step-by-step registration tips to avoid common mistakes.

🌟 What Is Oracle Cloud's Always Free Tier?

The Oracle Always Free Tier includes permanent, free access to several essential cloud services. Unlike time-limited trials, these resources remain available forever (with reasonable usage limits). This allows you to experiment, build applications, and maintain personal projects without ongoing costs.

Overview of Always Free Services

Here are the major services included:

1. Compute (Virtual Machines)

Oracle provides two types of virtual machines under the Always Free Tier. Please refer to FreeTier docs for inpdepth details and conditions:

(a) VM.Standard.A1.Flex (ARM-based)

  • Up to 4 OCPUs (ARM cores).

  • Up to 24 GB of RAM (shared across instances).

  • Highly scalable for containerized apps, development, and testing.

(b) VM.Standard.E2.Micro (Intel/AMD-based)

  • 1 OCPU and 1 GB RAM.

  • Great for lightweight services like web servers, monitoring, or DNS.

Use Case Ideas:
Run Docker containers, deploy personal apps (e.g., Nextcloud, Home Assistant), or set up development/test environments.

2. Autonomous Databases

  • Two databases with 20 GB storage each.

  • Choose between:

    • Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) for apps with high transactional workloads.

    • Autonomous Data Warehouse (ADW) for analytics and data processing.

Use Case Ideas:
Backend for personal apps, experimenting with SQL queries, and lightweight data analytics.

3. Storage Services

(a) Block Volume Storage

  • 200 GB total free block storage, which can be attached to compute instances.

(b) Object Storage

  • 20 GB Object Storage (similar to AWS S3).

(c) Archive Storage

  • 10 GB of Archive Storage for long-term data storage (low-cost, infrequent access).

Use Case Ideas:
Backup important files, host static websites, or create a network-attached storage (NAS) solution.

4. Networking

  • Virtual Cloud Network (VCN): Create custom private networks with subnets, firewalls, and routing rules.

  • Load Balancer: 1 free load balancer with 10 Mbps bandwidth.

  • Site-to-Site VPN: Securely connect on-premise infrastructure to OCI.

Use Case Ideas:
Simulate enterprise-level networking, set up a homelab-to-cloud VPN, or distribute traffic across multiple instances.

5. Monitoring and Logging

  • Resource monitoring with metrics, alerts, and logging tools.

  • Track CPU usage, disk space, and service health.

Use Case Ideas:
Set up proactive alerts for uptime monitoring or aggregate logs from multiple services.

6. Developer Tools

  • Cloud Shell: Browser-based terminal with pre-installed tools (Git, OCI CLI, Python).

  • Functions (Serverless): Deploy event-driven serverless functions.

Use Case Ideas:
Automate tasks (e.g., backups), build APIs, or create cloud-native microservices.

💡 Interesting Use Cases for Oracle Cloud's Always Free Tier

Here are some creative and practical ways to use these services for personal and professional projects:

1. Self-Hosting Services (Homelab Setup)

With the VM.Standard.A1.Flex instances and block storage, you can deploy your own infrastructure for personal use, such as:

  • Nextcloud for personal file storage.

  • Home Assistant for smart home automation.

  • Hosting MySQL/MariaDb, InfluxDB, Postgres and several other databases.

2. Backup and Disaster Recovery

  • Use Object Storage to store encrypted backups of important files.

  • Set up database snapshots or application backups.

  • Create a NAS solution using block storage and file-sharing tools like NFS or Samba.

3. DevOps and CI/CD Pipelines

  • Run Dockerized services for development, testing, or CI/CD workflows.

  • Use the Cloud Shell and serverless functions to automate deployments and builds.

  • Set up monitoring and alerts to track app performance and uptime.

4. Learning and Experimentation

  • Experiment with Kubernetes (Container Engine) and serverless apps.

  • Use Autonomous Databases to learn SQL, optimize queries, or build small apps.

  • Simulate enterprise networking scenarios with VCNs, load balancers, and VPNs.

5. Small Business Applications

  • Host lightweight business websites or web apps on the VM.Standard.E2.Micro instance.

  • Leverage free databases and object storage for backend services.

📝 Account Registration and Setup Tips

To fully utilize Oracle Cloud’s Always Free Tier, follow these important setup tips to avoid common issues during registration.

1. Register with Accurate Address and Payment Details

  • Oracle requires a valid credit card (for verification only) and accurate address details.

    • Note: I realized that when my billing address wasnt correct, I ran into errors at the payment step. Make sure you give out the full accurate address.

  • No charges will be applied unless you explicitly upgrade to paid resources.

2. Select the Right Home Region

Your Home Region determines where your Always Free resources are hosted. Choose carefully because this cannot be changed later. Personally, I went with the Mumbai(West) region. I guess they have a Hyderabad region also avaiable for India.

Factors to Consider:

  • Geographical proximity: Choose a region closer to you to reduce latency.

  • Available services: Some services may not be available in all regions (e.g., newer regions may lack features like Autonomous Databases).

  • Check Oracle’s region availability page to compare service availability across regions.

  • Search for user experiences (blogs, forums) to learn about performance and reliability for your preferred region.

3. Verify Free Resource Limits

Before provisioning services, check the limits in the Limits, Quotas, and Usage section of the OCI console. This will help you avoid unintentional upgrades to paid resources.

🎯 Final Thoughts

Oracle Cloud’s Always Free Tier is a game-changer for developers and homelab enthusiasts. It provides scalable, persistent resources that enable a wide range of use cases—from self-hosted apps to enterprise-grade cloud environments.

Start exploring OCI today, and let us know in the comments how you're using the Always Free services!

What’s next? Check out our step-by-step Docker guide to set up containers on Oracle Cloud's Always Free VM instances!

Happy cloud computing! ☁️🚀

Let me know if you'd like to tweak any sections or add more details! 😊

Oracle CloudCloud ComputingDevopsHomelabLinuxSelfHostingdatabaseDockerARMarm64networking