Today, we will look at the list of all major cloud platforms that offer a free tier.
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is an internet-based computing service that is synthesized by the power to use IT resources on demand for computing, data storage, networks, and applications in shared environments in an integrated way through the internet, anywhere, and platform-independent, without having to invest in equipment. In the cloud, pricing is per usage; you pay for what you consume. The benefit of this approach is not just the reduction of costs with on-premises servers; the cloud is a dynamic way to adjust the IT resource needs of your business in a simple, secure, and cost-effective manner. Unlike standard models, the cloud comprises a series of servers that represent a large storage and data processing device, allowing full elasticity in all its provided resources. You can allocate the resources of these linked servers for your use, adjusting processing capacity, space, memory, and bandwidth on demand. All this without having to reinstall anything and without wasting time. The following are some of the best cloud platforms that offer a free tier to get hands-on experience in building, deploying, and testing cloud applications.
Google Cloud
In its free tier, Google Cloud offers 20 free products, including Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, and BigQuery, that you can use without any time limit. It also provides over $300 in free credits for 90 days. Credits are exclusive of the free products and are only billed when you exceed the maximum limit.
IBM Cloud
IBM Cloud offers 350+ free products that you can use to get hands-on experience. Always free products include IBM Watson Machine Learning and IBM Watson Studio. The free tier comes with a $200 credit and 30-day trial, including IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service and Code Engine.
Oracle Cloud
Oracle Cloud offers $300 free credit to create and test cloud applications for 30 days. The free tier comes with over 25+ always-free services, including Oracle Autonomous Databases and Arm Ampere A1 Compute.
Azure Cloud
Azure Cloud’s free tier offers 40+ free services, including AVM and Azure SQL Database, for 12 months. The free tier includes free Azure DevOps and AKS for 30 days and free $200, which you can use to access any Azure service.
Digital Ocean
Digital Ocean’s free tier offers $100 for 60 days which you can use to get hands-on experience working with the cloud. The services you access using the free credit include droplets, Kubernetes, Load Balancer, Floating IPs, different managed databases, and Terraform.
Linode
Linode cloud platform offers $100 credit in its free tier for 60 days, giving you access to services such as Kubernetes, MultiCloud, API, and other services from different geographical locations.
AliBaba
Alibaba Cloud Platform’s free tier offers 50+ free services worth around $1700-$8500 for one month. It also provides a free enterprise tier. The free tier includes several always-free and trial services, including ECS and Global Accelerator.
OVH Cloud
OVH offers a free public cloud tier which comes with a $100 credit that you can use for 60 days. OVH Cloud’s services in its free tier include Kubernetes, Redis, and managed MongoDB.
Tencent Cloud
Tencent Cloud offers two different free tiers for individuals and corporates. The individual tier gives you $50 credit to use 10+ products, and the corporate tier offers $100 credit to use 100+ products.
Final Words
Most large cloud platforms offer free tiers, but their services vary, so it’s essential to pick a cloud platform that matches the service you want to try. Another important thing is learning about their billing policy ahead of using the free tier to avoid unnecessary charges. You may also look at some of the best cloud platforms for enterprises.
