Major Change Effective July 15, 2025
AWS replaced the traditional 12-month Free Tier with a new $200 credit-based model for accounts created after July 15, 2025. Existing customers keep their current benefits.
Last Updated: November 13, 2025 • This guide compares both models and helps you choose the best option for your use case.
AWS Free Tier 2025 Restructuring: $200 Credits vs 12-Month Trial Complete Guide
Key Highlights
- New Credit Model: AWS accounts created after July 15, 2025 receive up to $200 in credits ($100 on signup + $100 conditional) valid for 6 months
- 12-Month Trial Discontinued: Traditional 12-month free trial with service-specific limits replaced by credit-based "Free Plan" for new accounts
- API Gateway Impact: Old model: 1M calls/month for 12 months; New model: Use $200 credits for 6 months (~171M HTTP API calls or ~48M REST API calls total)
- Existing Customers Protected: Accounts created before July 15, 2025 retain legacy Free Tier program with 12-month trials and Always Free services
- Which is Better: New model favors high-burst usage over 6 months; old model better for consistent monthly usage over 12 months
Old Model
Legacy (Before July 15)Total Value (12 months)
~$400+
With typical developer usage
New Model
Current (After July 15)Total Value (6 months)
$200
Use across any eligible service
What Changed on July 15, 2025
On July 15, 2025, AWS announced the biggest restructuring of its Free Tier program since its inception in 2010. The change fundamentally shifts from a time-based model with service-specific limits to a credit-based flexible spending model. This affects all new AWS accounts created on or after July 15, 2025.
The Old Free Tier Model (Pre-July 15, 2025)
The traditional AWS Free Tier offered three types of benefits:
-
1. 12-Month Free Trial: Service-specific allowances for the first 12 months after account creation
- Amazon EC2: 750 hours/month of t2.micro or t3.micro instances
- Amazon S3: 5 GB standard storage
- Amazon RDS: 750 hours/month of db.t2.micro, db.t3.micro, or db.t4g.micro
- Amazon API Gateway: 1 million REST/HTTP/WebSocket API calls per month
- AWS Lambda: 1 million requests + 400,000 GB-seconds of compute per month
-
2. Always Free: Perpetual allowances that never expire
- AWS Lambda: 1 million requests per month (ongoing)
- Amazon DynamoDB: 25 GB storage + 200M requests/month
- Amazon SNS: 1 million publishes per month
- 3. Short-Term Trials: 30-90 day trials for specific new services
The New Credit-Based Model (Post-July 15, 2025)
The new "Free Plan" operates on a credit system:
-
Base Credits ($100): Automatically applied upon account creation
- Available immediately after signup
- Can be used across all eligible AWS services
- No service-specific restrictions
-
Bonus Credits ($100): Earned by using specific services
- Requires running EC2 instances OR using Amazon Bedrock
- Unlocks additional $100 in flexible credits
- Must be earned within the 6-month window
-
Validity Period: 6 months from account creation
- All credits must be used within 6 months
- Unused credits expire after 6 months
- Credits cannot be refunded or transferred
- Can upgrade to paid plan anytime (credits still apply)
How to Earn the Full $200
Credit Unlock Strategy
Sign Up (Immediate)
Create AWS account after July 15, 2025
Use EC2 or Bedrock
Launch EC2 instance OR use Amazon Bedrock AI
Total Available Credits
$200
Valid for 6 months • Use across any eligible service
API Gateway: Old vs New Model Cost Analysis
Let's break down how the Free Tier restructuring affects API Gateway users with real-world cost calculations.
API Gateway Pricing (2025)
| API Type | Cost Per Million Requests | First 300M/1B Requests | After Threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| HTTP API | $1.00 | First 300M requests | $1.00/million |
| REST API | $3.50 | N/A (flat rate) | $3.50/million |
| WebSocket API | $1.00 | First 1B messages | $0.80/million |
Scenario Comparison: REST API Usage
Old Model (12 Months)
Best For:
Consistent monthly usage up to 1M calls
New Model (6 Months)
Best For:
Burst usage, development sprints, testing phases
HTTP API Comparison (More Cost-Effective)
HTTP APIs cost 71% less than REST APIs ($1 vs $3.50 per million). Here's how the models compare:
Old Model (12 Months)
- • 1M calls/month × 12 = 12M total calls
- • Value: 12M × $1.00 = $12.00
- • Avg per month: 1M calls
New Model (6 Months)
- • $200 ÷ $1.00 = 200M total calls
- • Value: $200.00
- • Avg per month: 33.3M calls
Winner for HTTP APIs: New Model
New model provides 16.7x more total calls, perfect for serverless applications with bursty traffic.
Real-World Usage Calculator
Which Model Saves You More?
Enter your expected API usage to see which Free Tier model is more cost-effective:
Which Model is Right for You?
Old Model Is Better If:
- You need consistent monthly usage (500K-1M API calls per month)
- Your project runs for 6-12 months continuously
- You're running production workloads with steady traffic
- You want predictable monthly limits for budgeting
- You're building a SaaS MVP with gradual user growth
- You created your account before July 15, 2025 (keep it!)
Ideal Use Cases:
Web apps, mobile app backends, REST API servers, webhooks, long-term learning projects
New Model Is Better If:
- You have burst or variable workloads (development, testing)
- Your project duration is under 6 months (prototypes, PoCs)
- You need flexibility across multiple services (not just API Gateway)
- Monthly usage exceeds 1M calls (3M+/month for development)
- You want to experiment with expensive services (Bedrock, SageMaker)
- You're doing load testing or stress testing (burst to 50M+ calls)
Ideal Use Cases:
Hackathons, proof of concepts, AI/ML experimentation, serverless prototypes, CI/CD pipelines, development sprints
Quick Decision Matrix
| Your Situation | Recommended Model | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 500K REST API calls/month for 12 months | Old Model | $0 with old model vs $26 with new model |
| 5M HTTP API calls/month for 3 months | New Model | $0 with new model vs $12 with old model |
| Testing + development (variable load) | New Model | Flexibility to use credits across all services |
| Production SaaS with 800K calls/month | Old Model | Consistent below 1M/month threshold |
| AI/ML project using Bedrock + API Gateway | New Model | Credits work across both services + unlock bonus $100 |
| Learning AWS for certification | New Model | More services to experiment with in 6 months |
Migration Guide & Action Plan
For Existing AWS Customers (Account Before July 15, 2025)
Good News: Your account is grandfathered into the legacy Free Tier program!
- ✓ No action required - Your existing benefits continue unchanged
- ✓ Keep 12-month trial - All service-specific limits remain active
- ✓ Always Free services - Lambda, DynamoDB, SNS perpetual allowances persist
- ✓ Future new services - You'll get access to new short-term trials as they're released
Recommendation:
DO NOT create a new account to switch to the new model unless you've done the math and confirmed it saves you money for your specific use case.
For New Users (Account After July 15, 2025)
Follow this step-by-step plan to maximize your $200 in credits:
Step 1: Sign Up & Claim Base Credits
Create your AWS account to receive $100 in immediate credits.
Step 2: Unlock Bonus $100 (Do This First Week)
Launch an EC2 instance or use Amazon Bedrock to unlock additional $100.
Pro Tip: Launch EC2, wait for $100 unlock confirmation, then terminate instance immediately. Total cost: ~$0.10
Step 3: Monitor Credit Usage
Track your remaining credits and expiration date.
Step 4: Optimize Credit Allocation
Prioritize expensive services first to maximize value.
- 1. AI/ML Services: Bedrock ($0.02/1K tokens), SageMaker ($0.05-0.10/hour)
- 2. Compute: EC2 ($0.01-0.10/hour depending on instance type)
- 3. Databases: RDS ($0.02-0.10/hour), Aurora Serverless
- 4. API Gateway: Use credits for REST APIs ($3.50/M) over HTTP APIs ($1/M)
- 5. Always Free Services: Don't waste credits on Lambda, DynamoDB, SNS (use their perpetual free tiers)
Step 5: Plan for Credit Expiration (Month 5-6)
Prepare transition before 6-month deadline.
- • Use remaining credits on learning/experimentation
- • Migrate production workloads to cost-optimized services
- • Consider switching to Always Free services (Lambda, DynamoDB)
- • Evaluate if paid plan is worth it for your use case
- • Export/backup any critical data before credits expire
Credit Optimization Strategies
Maximize Value
- • Use credits on expensive services first
- • Experiment with Bedrock AI models
- • Test SageMaker ML workflows
- • Try GPU instances (p3, g4)
Save Credits
- • Use Always Free services when possible
- • Choose HTTP APIs over REST APIs
- • Stop EC2 instances when not needed
- • Enable auto-scaling to optimize usage
Monitor Spending
- • Set up billing alerts ($20 threshold)
- • Review Cost Explorer weekly
- • Tag resources for cost tracking
- • Use AWS Budgets for forecasting
Always Free Services (Unchanged in Both Models)
Good news: Always Free services remain available in both the old and new Free Tier models. These perpetual allowances never expire and work for all AWS customers regardless of account age.
AWS Lambda
- 1 million requests per month
- 400,000 GB-seconds of compute time per month
- Perpetual: Never expires
- Perfect for: Serverless APIs, event processing, automation
Amazon DynamoDB
- 25 GB of indexed data storage
- 200 million requests per month
- 25 read + 25 write capacity units
- Perfect for: Serverless databases, session storage, IoT
Amazon SNS
- 1 million publishes per month
- 100,000 HTTP/S deliveries per month
- 1,000 email deliveries per month
- Perfect for: Notifications, pub/sub messaging, alerts
Amazon CloudWatch
- 10 custom metrics and alarms
- 1 million API requests per month
- 5 GB of log data ingestion
- Perfect for: Monitoring, logging, application insights
Pro Tip: Build Entirely on Always Free Services
You can run production workloads indefinitely at $0/month using this stack:
- • Frontend: S3 static hosting + CloudFront (150M requests/month free)
- • Backend: Lambda (1M requests/month) + API Gateway HTTP API
- • Database: DynamoDB (25 GB + 200M requests/month)
- • Auth: Amazon Cognito (50,000 MAU free)
- • Notifications: SNS (1M publishes/month)
- • Monitoring: CloudWatch (10 metrics, 5 GB logs)
Example: A typical CRUD API with 500K monthly requests costs $0 using this architecture.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to my old Free Tier if I created my account before July 15, 2025?
Nothing changes! Your account is grandfathered into the legacy Free Tier program. You keep all your existing benefits: 12-month trials, Always Free services, and future short-term trials. AWS will not force you to migrate to the new credit-based model.
Can I switch from the new model back to the old 12-month Free Tier?
No. Once you create an account after July 15, 2025, you're locked into the new credit-based model. You cannot retroactively switch to the old model. The only way to access the old model is to have created your account before July 15, 2025.
What happens after my $200 credits expire?
After 6 months or when you've used all $200 credits (whichever comes first), you'll start paying standard AWS rates for all services. Always Free services continue to work (Lambda, DynamoDB, SNS, etc.). You can upgrade to a paid plan anytime, and any remaining credits will automatically apply to your bills.
How do I unlock the bonus $100 credits?
You must either (1) launch an EC2 instance OR (2) make an Amazon Bedrock API call within your first 6 months. The bonus $100 unlocks automatically within 24-48 hours after your first use of either service. Pro tip: Launch a t2.micro EC2 instance, wait for credit unlock confirmation email, then terminate it immediately. Total cost: ~$0.10.
Can I use credits for any AWS service?
Credits apply to most AWS services, but not all. They cover: EC2, API Gateway, Lambda (beyond free tier), S3, RDS, DynamoDB (beyond free tier), Bedrock, SageMaker, and 100+ other services. They do not cover: AWS Support plans, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, Marketplace purchases, or Route 53 domain registrations.
Which model is cheaper for API Gateway?
It depends on your usage pattern: Old model wins if you use <1M calls/month consistently for 12 months. New model wins if you: (a) need >1M calls/month, (b) have burst workloads, (c) project lasts <6 months, or (d) use multiple expensive services simultaneously. Use the calculator above to determine which saves you more.
Do Always Free services count against my credits?
No! Always Free services (Lambda 1M requests, DynamoDB 25 GB, SNS 1M publishes, etc.) are completely separate from your Free Tier credits. You can use both simultaneously. Best practice: Use Always Free services to their limits first, then use credits for services without Always Free tiers.
Action Items Based on Your Situation
Existing Customers (Pre-July 15)
- ☐ Verify your Free Tier expiration date in AWS Billing Console
- ☐ Do NOT create a new account (you'll lose legacy benefits)
- ☐ Continue using service-specific limits as usual
- ☐ Monitor Always Free usage to maximize value
New Customers (Post-July 15)
- ☐ Sign up for AWS account to claim base $100 credits
- ☐ Launch EC2 or use Bedrock to unlock bonus $100 (Week 1)
- ☐ Set up billing alerts ($20 remaining threshold)
- ☐ Use calculator above to plan credit allocation
- ☐ Prioritize expensive services (Bedrock, SageMaker) early
- ☐ Plan transition before Month 6 (credit expiration)
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