The best things in life are Always Free
Who doesn’t like something for nothing?
Especially when it comes to leading technology from the best cloud service providers.
Now when it comes to cloud services; most of the biggest cloud service providers offer 2 types of free offers:
- Free for a limited time, or maximum credit amount.
- Always free.
Either offer is generous, but the free offers don’t apply to all cloud services.
What if we had a specific criteria?
What if we are interested in an always free offer for just compute and relational database services?
So now the question is, what do the biggest cloud service providers offer for always free compute and relational database services?
Let’s find out.
Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba are recognized as having the largest cloud presence in the Asian region. They offer a free trial (limited period), and an always free offer too.
Their free trial allows a user to try each product for free once in 12 months. Elastic compute is part of the free trial for 12 months. Other products are covered in the free trial, but only for 1 month.
Always free offer
There is an always free offer, but it applies to just features of a paid product, and not to the product itself.
Therefore compute and relational database services are not in their always free offer.
https://www.alibabacloud.com/campaign/free-trial?spm=a3c0i.239195.3156523820.420.7af912bd4PinIy
Microsoft Azure
Azure is certainly one of the biggest cloud providers in the world. They offer a generous $200 credit to explore Azure for 30 days, a free trial (limited period), and an always free offer.
There is a 12 month free trial which covers compute and relational database services.
Always Free offer
There are more than 25 always free services, which includes compute and databases. They offer a distributed NoSQL database, and an ETL database service.
Azure are quite generous when it comes to always free, however relational database services are not included in the always free offer.
Therefore our criteria for always free compute and relational database services is not satisfied.
AWS
AWS is the giant of the cloud industry. They offer a 12 months free trial, short term trial offers, and always free. The 12 month free trial includes elastic compute services.
For the short term trial offers, once the trial period expires you simply pay standard, pay-as-you-go service rates.
Always Free offer
There is an AWS Lambda 1 Million free requests per month. However this is a feature for a paid compute service. Relational database services are not included in the always free offer.
Therefore our criteria for always free compute and relational database services is not satisfied.
Google Cloud
Google offer a 12 month free trial (with $300 credit limit), plus they have an always free offer too.
Always Free offer
A compute engine is included in this offer, but it has a region restriction. ie only for US regions of Oregon, Iowa, South Carolina.
For database services, there is Big Query (datawarehouse). However it’s noted that a relational database is not part of the always free offer.
Therefore our criteria for always free compute and relational database services is not satisfied.
Oracle Cloud
Oracle offers a 30-day free trial (with US$300 in free credits), and always free services. The 30-day free trial includes compute and relational database services.
Always Free Offer
Their always free offer was introduced just last year. It is generous, and includes elastic compute and database services.
The database services can be 2 databases total (Autonomous Transaction Processing or Autonomous Data Warehouse).
Their always free offer has compute and relational database services.
Therefore our criteria for always free compute and relational database services is satisfied.
https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/?source=:ow:o:h:po:Search&intcmp=:ow:o:h:po:Search
Summary
You may need compute and relational database services for proof-of-concept application, and self-education purposes.
An always free offer will give you the biggest bang for no bucks.
For always free compute and relational database services, it was found that the Oracle cloud was the only place to be.
Paul Guerin is an international consultant that specialises in Oracle database. Paul is based from a global delivery center in South East Asia, but has clients from Australia, Europe, Asia, and North America. Moreover, he has presented at some of the world’s leading Oracle conferences, including Oracle Open World 2013. Since 2015, his work has been featured in the IOUG Best Practices Tip Booklet, and in publications from AUSOUG, Oracle Technology Network, and Oracle Developers (Medium). In 2019, he was awarded as a most valued contributor for the My Oracle Support Community. He is a DBA OCP, and continues to be a participant of the Oracle ACE program.
