How to Get a Free Oracle Cloud Always Free Virtual Machine (2026 Guide)

By Shicheng Guo

Want a real virtual server that runs 24/7 and costs nothing — not for a 12-month trial, but indefinitely? Oracle Cloud’s Always Free tier is one of the few offers that genuinely delivers this. In this guide, you’ll set one up from scratch: account, network, VM, and the guardrails that keep it free forever.

Why Oracle Cloud Free Tier?

Among the major cloud providers, Oracle Cloud offers one of the most generous free tiers available today:

• Up to 2 AMD micro VMs (VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro)
• Ampere A1 (ARM) instances — up to 4 OCPUs and 24 GB RAM, capacity permitting
• 200 GB of block storage
• A public IPv4 address
• A choice of Linux operating systems
• No automatic expiration for Always Free resources

That combination makes Oracle Cloud an excellent home for personal websites, APIs, AI agents, Docker containers, cron jobs, and full development environments — without a recurring bill.

Always Free vs. Free Trial: New accounts also get a 30-day, US$300 trial credit. Anything labeled “Always Free” stays free after the trial ends. The rest of this guide sticks to Always Free–eligible resources.

Step 1 — Create an Oracle Cloud Account

1. Visit oracle.com/cloud/free.
2. Sign up with a valid email address.
3. Complete phone verification.
4. Add a credit card for identity verification — Always Free resources won’t be charged.
5. Choose your Home Region carefully.

⚠️ Home Region is permanent. Always Free compute is tied to your tenancy’s Home Region and can’t be changed later. Pick the region closest to you or your users.

Step 2 — Create a VCN (Virtual Cloud Network)

Before creating a VM, you need a network for it to live in.

1. Open the Oracle Cloud Console.
2. Go to Networking → Virtual Cloud Networks.
3. Click Start VCN Wizard → Create VCN with Internet Connectivity.

Suggested values:

The wizard automatically provisions a public subnet, a private subnet, an Internet Gateway, a NAT Gateway, and a Service Gateway.

Step 3 — Create an Always Free VM

Navigate to Compute → Instances → Create Instance.

Basic information — give it a memorable name, e.g. free-a1-server.

Shape — open Change Shape and pick one:

• Preferred: VM.Standard.A1.Flex (ARM Ampere — far more powerful)
• Fallback: VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro (AMD — always available)

For an A1.Flex instance, 1 OCPU / 6 GB RAM is a safe Always Free starting point (the cap is 4 OCPUs / 24 GB total across all A1 instances).

Image — choose a Linux image such as Oracle Linux 9 or Ubuntu LTS (22.04 / 24.04).

Step 4 — Configure Networking

In the networking section of the create form:

• Select Existing VCN (the one from Step 2)
• Select the existing public subnet
• Automatically assign a public IPv4 address ✅
• Leave IPv6 disabled

SSH keys — upload your own public key (.pub) or let Oracle generate a key pair.

🔑 If Oracle generates the key, download the private key immediately — you can’t retrieve it later. Store it somewhere safe.

Step 5 — Configure Storage

• Boot volume: 47–50 GB
• Performance: Balanced (10 VPU)
• No additional block volumes
• No backup policy

This keeps you comfortably inside the 200 GB Always Free storage allowance.

Step 6 — Launch the Instance

Click Create and wait for the state to turn green (Running).

If you see “Out of capacity for shape VM.Standard.A1.Flex”, don’t worry — this is a capacity message, not a billing problem. Try:

• A different Availability Domain in your region
• A smaller A1 configuration (e.g. 1 OCPU instead of 4)
• Retrying later — capacity frees up frequently

If A1 stays unavailable, fall back to VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro, which is essentially always free and available.

Step 7 — Connect via SSH

Grab the Public IP from the instance details page, then connect with your private key.

Oracle Linux (default user opc):

ssh -i id_rsa opc@<PUBLIC_IP>

Ubuntu (default user ubuntu):

ssh -i id_rsa ubuntu@<PUBLIC_IP>

Example:

ssh -i id_rsa opc@129.146.255.135

If you get a “permissions too open” error, tighten the key file: chmod 600 id_rsa.

Step 8 — Create a Budget Alert

This is your safety net against accidental charges.

Go to Billing & Cost Management → Budgets → Create Budget:

• Budget amount: US$1 / month
• Alert thresholds: 50%, 80%, 100%

You’ll get an email the moment any paid resource sneaks in.

Step 9 — Verify Free Tier Usage

Go to Storage → Boot Volumes and:

• Delete boot volumes left behind by terminated instances (they still count against your quota)
• Keep your active VM’s boot volume
• Confirm total storage stays under 200 GB

Recommended Always-Free Setup

For a rock-solid, never-expires configuration:

• Shape: VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro (or A1.Flex if available)
• OS: Oracle Linux 9
• Boot volume: ~47 GB
• Public IPv4 address
• Monthly budget alert at $1

This setup can run indefinitely at no cost while comfortably hosting static and dynamic websites, REST APIs, Docker containers, Python services, AI agents, and personal dev environments.

Final Thoughts

Oracle Cloud’s Always Free tier remains one of the best long-term free cloud offers around. The A1 ARM instances in particular punch well above their weight — when you can get capacity. Set up the budget alert, keep an eye on your storage, and you’ve got a capable always-on server for the price of a credit-card verification.

Happy hosting. 🚀