Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the leading cloud service providers in the world. Whether you’re a developer, student, entrepreneur, or hobbyist, creating a free AWS account gives you access to a wide range of services to build and test applications in the cloud.
In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps to create a free AWS account and explain what you get under the AWS Free Tier.
Table of Contents
Prerequisites
Before you begin, make sure you have the following:
- A valid email address that hasn’t been used to register on AWS before.
- A credit/debit card for identity verification (you won’t be charged if you stay within the Free Tier limits).
- Access to a phone number for verification.
Step-by-Step Guide to Create a Free AWS Account
Step 1: Go to the AWS Website
- Open your browser and go to https://aws.amazon.com
- Click on the “Create an AWS Account” button.
Step 2: Enter Your Account Information
- Enter your email address and choose an AWS account name (this will be your root user name).
- Click “Verify email address”.
3. Confirm you are you: enter verification code and click on “Verify” button.
Step 3: Create your password
After successful email verification, you’ll be asked to create your root user password.
- Create password – Enter your password and confirm the password.
- Click the “Continue” button.
Step 4: Provide Contact Information
Choose Account type:
- Personal – for learning, experimentation, or personal projects.
- Business – for business-related usage.
👉 Choose Personal, unless this is for a company or organization.
Now, fill in the following details:
- Full Name
- Phone number
- Country
- Address
Tick the checkbox to agree to AWS’s terms and click the “Agree and Continue” button.
Step 5: Payment Information
To verify your identity, AWS will ask for your credit or debit card information:
- Enter your card number, name as written on the card, expiry, and billing address.
- AWS may charge a temporary authorization fee ($1 or similar) to check your card’s validity, which will be refunded.
Click “Verify and Continue”, and complete the payment process.
Step 6: Confirm your identity (mobile number verification)
- Enter your mobile number and country code.
- You will receive an automated call or SMS with a verification code.
- Enter the verification code and click on the “Continue” button.
Step 7: Choose a Support Plan
You’ll be asked to select one of the AWS support plans:
- Basic support (Free) – Ideal for new users and learners.
- Developer
- Business
- Enterprise
👉 Choose the Basic Plan and click “Complete Sign Up”.
Step 8: Sign In to AWS Console
After completing registration:
- Go to https://aws.amazon.com/console/
- Click on “Sign In to the Console”, then choose “Sign in using root user email.”
- Use the email address and password you created.
Once you log in to your account successfully, you will see the user dashboard as the image below.
🎉 Congratulations! You now have a free AWS account.
What is Included in AWS Free Tier?
AWS offers three types of Free Tier benefits:
1. Always Free
- Available to all accounts indefinitely.
- Examples:
- 1 million AWS Lambda requests per month.
- 1 GB of Amazon S3 storage.
2. 12 Months Free
- Applies from the date you sign up.
- Examples:
- 750 hours/month of Amazon EC2 t2.micro or t3.micro.
- 5 GB Amazon S3 storage.
- 750 hours/month of Amazon RDS (free tier DB instance).
3. Trials
- Short-term offers for specific services.
- Example: Amazon Redshift offers a 2-month trial.
👉 Always monitor your usage in the Billing Dashboard to avoid exceeding Free Tier limits.
Tips to Stay Within Free Tier Limits
- Set up billing alerts: Use AWS Budgets to get email alerts if you near the limit.
- Use the Free Tier filter in the AWS Console when launching services.
- Explore with caution: Always check if a service is free or chargeable before using it.
Useful AWS Services to Try for Free
- Amazon EC2: Launch virtual servers (750 hours/month).
- Amazon S3: Stores files and static websites (5 GB storage).
- AWS Lambda: Run code without managing servers.
- Amazon RDS: Managed relational databases.
- Amazon CloudWatch: Monitor your AWS services.
Conclusion
Creating a free AWS account is a great way to learn about cloud computing and start building applications in the cloud. AWS’s generous Free Tier lets you try many services risk-free for 12 months or even longer.
So go ahead, sign up, explore, and start building your next cloud-powered idea!
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