Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier FAQs

The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier program allows new customers to explore Amazon Web Services services at no cost for up to six months. New customers receive up to USD $200 in Amazon credits - USD $100 at sign up and USD $100 more as you explore foundational Amazon Web Services services. You can access over 30 services with always free offers. Services with an Always Free offer allow you to use the product for free up to specified limits as long as you are an Amazon customer.

The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is available to all new customers – students, entrepreneurs, and small businesses are all welcome to sign up online.

You can visit the Amazon Management Console or the Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier page and click on “Create an Amazon Account” to start the sign up process. During sign-up, you'll choose between two plans – Free and Paid. With both plans, you can receive up to $200 in Amazon credits and access over 30 always-free services that offer free monthly usage.

Refer to the Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier page for the list of eligible services for your account type.

Free Tier credits expire 12 months after their issuance date. You can view the credit expiration date in the Credits page in the Billing and Cost Management Console.

When your account joins Amazon Organizations or sets up an Amazon Control Tower landing zone, your Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier credits expire immediately and your account will not be eligible to earn more Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier credits. Additionally, your free account plan will also automatically be upgraded to a paid plan.

You would be ineligible for free plan or Free Tier credits if you have an existing Amazon Web Services account, or had one in the past. The free plan and Free Tier credits are available only to new Amazon customers.

No, your credits cannot be transferred to another Amazon Web Services account.

If you exceed the free usage limits, your account will begin incurring charges at the standard pay-as-you-go service rates (see each service page for full pricing details). Your Free Tier credits will automatically apply to these charges. If your account is under the free plan, you won't see any charges on your Amazon Bills. If your account is under a paid plan, you'll simply pay for charges that exceed your Free Tier credit balance.

The free plan allows you to experiment with Amazon Web Services services and build proof-of-concepts at no cost for up to six months until you upgrade to a paid plan.

You can monitor your free plan expiration date, credit balance, and days remaining through the Cost and Usage widget in the Amazon Management Console Home or programmatically through the Amazon SDK and command line at no cost. Please refer to the GetAccountPlanState API Reference for information about programmatically tracking your free plan expiration. You will also receive periodic email alerts regarding your credit balance and when you are approaching the end of your free plan period.

Your free plan expires the earlier of (1) 6 months from the date you opened your Amazon Web Services account, or (2) once you have exhausted your Free Tier credits.

No, you cannot extend your free plan beyond 6 months.

When your free plan expires, Amazon closes your account and you will lose access to your current resources and data. Amazon will retain your data for 90 days after your free plan expires. During this period, you have the option to upgrade to a paid plan to reopen your account and restore access to your resources. If you don't upgrade your account within 90 days, Amazon will permanently erase your Amazon Web Services account and all its content.

Yes. You can download data from your Amazon Web Services account within 90 days after your free plan expires. You will need to upgrade to a paid plan to download your data, then close your Amazon Web Services account to prevent future bills.

You will need to upgrade your account to paid plan. However, your account will automatically upgrade to a paid plan in certain cases, such as when you create or join an Amazon Organizations, set up an Amazon Control Tower landing zone, join Amazon Partner Network, create a Professional Services contract, enroll in an Enterprise Agreement with Amazon, or purchase an Amazon Skill Builder Team subscription, or designate your Amazon Web Services account as HIPAA or SEC compliant.

Upgrade your free plan account to paid plan by logging in to your Amazon Web Services account then select “Upgrade Plan” in the Cost and Usage widget in the Amazon Management Console. You can also find the “Upgrade Plan” option in the navigation bar and the information banner in the Amazon Billing and Cost Management console pages.

When you upgrade to paid plan, your remaining Free Tier credits will automatically apply to future Amazon bills until they expire. Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier credits expire 12 months after you create your account. However, if you upgrade to paid plan by joining Organizations or setting up an Amazon Control Tower landing zone, your Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier credits expire immediately, and your account will be ineligible to earn more Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier credits

Your free plan is limited from accessing a subset of Amazon Web Services services and offerings that would immediately consume the entire Free Tier credit amount or require hardware purchases to use Amazon. Please refer to the Amazon Free Tier page for list of eligible Amazon Web Services services on the free plan. Your free plan account is not eligible for other promotional credits and discounts. You can remove these limitations by upgrading to a paid plan.

Amazon requires a payment method for identity verification to prevent fraudulent sign-ups and abuse of Amazon resources. You will not need to reenter your payment method when you upgrade to the paid plan.

Basic Amazon Web Services Support is included with free plan.

The paid plan gives you full access to Amazon Web Services services and features to build production applications that scale beyond the Free Tier credit amount. You will be automatically charged for any usage beyond the credit balance or when you access a service where credits don't apply. Additionally, you will have access to all always free services and short-term trials. Always free services allow you to use the product for free up to specified limits as long as you are an Amazon customer, while short-term trials are free to use for a specified period or up to a one-time limit depending on the service selected. See Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier for a list of always free services and short-term trials.

You can track your actual usage against short-term trial and always free usage limits using the Free Tier GetFreeTierUsage API. Please refer to the GetFreeTierUsage API Reference to learn more about how to track your free usage limits. You can also see current month activity by service, usage type and region by logging into your account and going to the Amazon Billing and Cost Management console’s Free Tier page. This allows you to understand when your free usage will switch to pay-as-you-go pricing each month.

Yes, you are eligible for Free Tier credits if you select paid plan at sign up or upgrade to paid plan within six months of opening your Amazon Web Services account.

Please refer to Earning additional credits or visit the Explore Amazon widget in the Amazon Console home for the list of activities.

You can earn up to an additional $100 Free Tier credits by completing activities in the Explore Amazon widget by their specified completion date. To view activities, visit the Explore Amazon widget found on your Amazon Console home dashboard and set the filter to "Earn Amazon credits" or see Earning additional credits.

You will need to complete the activities within 6 months from the date you open your Amazon Web Services account to earn Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier credits. However, the activities will expire immediately, and you will become ineligible to earn more credits when you join Organizations or set up an Amazon Control Tower landing zone. For more information, see Earning additional credits. You can find an activity’s complete by date in the Explore Amazon widget in the Amazon Console home.

You can check by visiting the Credits page in the Billing and Cost Management Console. It may take up to 30 minutes for you to see the credits on this page.

The credits you earned from completing activities expire 12 months from the date you create your Amazon Web Services account. You can view the expiration date for each credit in the Credits page in the Billing and Cost Management console.

The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier credit applies to participating services across our global regions. Your usage is calculated each month across all regions. Your credits under Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier will be in USD and automatically applied to your bill. The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier credits and account plan selections are not available in the China (ZHY) and China (BJS) regions. Please refer to the ZHY and BJS Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier page for more information. The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is not available in the Amazon GovCloud (US) regions, with the exception of certain services such as Lambda for Amazon GovCloud (US).

All the benefits of the existing Free Tier program for existing customers will remain unchanged. Existing customers are not eligible for Free Tier credits or the free account plan.