This toolkit combines insights from seven primary sources. Each cited with date, trust signal, and what we use from it.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| URL | https://docs.oracle.com/iaas/Content/FreeTier/freetier_topic-Always_Free_Resources.htm |
| Type | Official Oracle Help Center |
| Date | Updated 2026-06-12 (cut applied 2026-06-15) |
| Trust | HIGHEST — primary authority for limits |
| What we use | Canonical ARM limit definition (1,500 OCPU-hours / 9,000 GB-hours / month = 2 OCPU / 12 GB equivalent). Idle-reclamation rules. Block-volume caps. Outbound 10 TB/mo. |
Key Oracle wording (verbatim):
"All tenancies get the first 1,500 OCPU hours and 9,000 GB hours per month
for free for VM instances using the VM.Standard.A1.Flex shape, which has
an Arm processor. For Always Free tenancies, this is equivalent to 2 OCPUs
and 12 GB of memory."
Implication: Always Free is hours-budgeted, not total-capacity. 2 OCPU × 24/7 × 30 d = 1,440 hours = fits exactly within 1,500. 4 OCPU × 24/7 × 30 d = 2,880 hours = OVER budget by 1,380 h.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| URL | https://reddit.com/r/oraclecloud/comments/1u4lzkk/new_free_tier_limits_confirmed_by_oracle_support |
| Thread title | "New Free Tier Limits (confirmed by oracle support)" |
| Date | 5 days before this toolkit version (June 2026) |
| Trust | High — direct Oracle Support call reported by user Upstairs-Bread-4545 |
| What we use | Confirmation that limits apply to PAYG too (not just Free-only). Downgrade workflow via Console → Instances → Actions → More Actions → Edit. |
Key user quotes:
- "Billing will start from 15th on and the Always Free Tier will from then on show the new values."
- "So Free Tier Users will have their instance(s) shut down and PAYG User will get charged if they dont change their shape."
- "even if you had a 4cpu/24gb ram instance running till right now" (must downsize)
- "Update your instances by then, otherwise free instances will be shut down and PAYG instances will be charged $10-15 at the end of the month."
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| URL | https://linuxiac.com/oracle-quietly-cuts-free-tier-ampere-a1-resources-in-half |
| Type | Linux/open-source tech news site |
| Date | June 14, 2026 |
| Trust | High — independent reporting with references to primary Oracle docs |
| What we use | Third-party confirmation of the order-of-magnitude cut. "no clear public announcement" angle. |
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| URL | https://gist.github.com/rssnyder/51e3cfedd730e7dd5f4a816143b25dbd |
| Type | Markdown gist + comments |
| Date | Active comments through June 16, 2026 |
| Trust | High — author acknowledges June 2026 cut |
| Stars/forks | 257 stars, 33 forks |
What we use:
- Region capacity reality (FRA/AMS/MIL/SG-2 dead)
- Docker miner risk verified (hashnoxt 90-day ban)
- PAYG wait can take up to 7 days
- IPv6 / no-public-IP edge cases
- codelesscody burst pattern ("12 oCPU / 64 GB for 10 days")
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| URL | https://github.com/mosesman831/OCI-OcC-Fix |
| Type | Python tool, multi-Availability-Domain rotation |
| License | GNU GPL v3 |
| Date | Actively maintained |
| Trust | Medium — AI-maintenance flagged in own README |
| What we use | Fallback path only, via Docker invocation. |
Why Docker: invoking via Docker keeps the GPL-licensed source outside
our repository. Treating it as aggregation (not a derivative work)
preserves MIT licensing on our wrapper code. See
LICENSE-GPL-mosesman-ref.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| URL | https://github.com/jitendhull/oracle-vps-script |
| Type | Bash + OCI CLI + Resource Manager (Terraform-backed) |
| License | MIT — vendored into vendor/jitendhull/ |
| Date | Active |
| Trust | Medium-High |
What we use as PRIMARY:
- The full
oracle_a1_automation-v2.shscript - "Save as Stack" GUI trick — Oracle auto-generates Terraform stack
- Adaptive backoff (1s → 600s) with jitter
- Anti-crash retry flow for transient PLAN/APPLY errors
- Graceful Ctrl+C exit without false crash alerts
- 429 protection with base delay 12s, max 180s
- Telegram integration via BotFather tokens
MIT license means we vendor it directly, no Docker dance required.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| URL | https://edunavajas.com/en/blog/servidor-gratis-oracle |
| Type | Tutorial blog post |
| Date | 2024-era (out of date on ARM limit and hours model) |
| Trust | Medium for onboarding flow, low for current numbers |
| What we use | The 6-step registration flow as user-facing narrative |
Divergences from current state:
- Says ARM =
4 OCPU / 24 GB. Wrong for June 2026. - Says bandwidth =
10 TB/mo. Likely correct (Oracle docs confirm). - Doesn't explain hours-based quota model.
| Claim | Oracle docs | Linuxiac | rssnyder | mosesman | jitendhull | edunavajas | Our position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARM shape | A1.Flex | A1.Flex | A1.Flex | A1.Flex | A1.Flex | A1.Flex | A1.Flex | A1.Flex |
| ARM quota model | hours | hours | hours | total-cap | (config) | (config) | total-cap | hours |
| ARM quota value | 1500 / 9000 | 1500 / 9000 | 1500 / 9000 | 2/12 GB limit | (configurable) | (configurable) | 4/24 GB | 1500 / 9000 hours |
| Equivalent continuous | 2 OCPU/12 GB | 2 OCPU/12 GB | 2 OCPU/12 GB | 2 OCPU/12 GB | n/a | n/a | 4 OCPU/24 GB | 2 OCPU/12 GB |
| PAYG required | n/a (F-tier) | YES for resize | YES | recommended | assumed | recommended | recommended | YES |
| Applies to PAYG too | n/a | YES | YES | not stated | n/a | n/a | n/a | YES |
| Idle reclamation | 7-day rule | confirmed | confirmed | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | enforced |
| Region choice | n/a | n/a | n/a | avoid FRA/AMS/MIL | any | any | EU/US/AS | SG / Sydney / Ashburn |
| CC fee | n/a | not stated | not stated | $93 hold | n/a | $93 hold | $1 + $0.93 | $0.93 + $93, refund both |
| Docker miner ban | n/a | confirmed | n/a | confirmed | n/a | n/a | n/a | confirmed warning |
| Auto-retry | n/a | not asked | n/a | n/a | Python | Bash + RM | manual | 2 fallbacks |
| Burst scaling | n/a | n/a | n/a | codelesscody | n/a | n/a | n/a | documented as alt |