Best offer on record: NGINX Open Source - free forever (2-clause BSD). 7 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Offers
NGINX Open Source - free forever (2-clause BSD) high confidence
NGINX Open Source is free software. nginx.org says it was 'distributed under the 2-clause BSD License'. The LICENSE file (copyright 2002-2021 Igor Sysoev; 2011-2026 Nginx, Inc.) imposes no fee, registration, or usage limit. Its only conditions are that source and binary redistributions keep the copyright notice and disclaimer. nginx.org says 'Enterprise distributions, commercial support and training are available from F5, Inc.' (paid).
Eligibility
Anyone and any organization in any region. The license has no student, startup, or company-size criteria and no sign-up step.
How to claim
Download from nginx.org or your OS package repository and deploy. No account, license key, or card is needed.
Expiry
None. Perpetual open-source license.
Gotchas
Open Source lacks the NGINX Plus feature set. F5 pages list Plus-only features such as advanced traffic control, active health checks, and the NGINX Plus API and dashboard. Commercial support is paid through F5 or partners.
NGINX One free trial (includes NGINX Plus) - 30 days high confidence
F5's NGINX One free trial page is headed 'Try NGINX One: Free Enterprise Trial' and says 'Get your 30-day free trial started.' F5's trials hub lists NGINX Plus among the 'Trial Includes' products, along with NGINX Ingress Controller, NGINX Instance Manager, NGINX Gateway Fabric, and NGINX App Protect. A separate F5 page for NGINX Plus with NGINX App Protect says 'Try them free for 30 days.'
Eligibility
Anyone with a MyF5 account, which is free to create. No student, startup, or company-size criteria are stated. The pages read do not mention a business email, region limits, or a credit-card requirement.
How to claim
1) Log in or register at MyF5 (account.f5.com/myf5). 2) Under My Products & Plans, select Trials. 3) Find the NGINX One free trial tile and click 'Start your trial'. 4) Download the licenses from MyF5 and use them to license the trial instance.
Expiry
30 days. The page does not say when the clock starts or what happens when it ends.
Gotchas
The NGINX One page has no end-of-trial terms (no statement on auto-conversion or expiry), so read the MyF5 terms before starting. NGINX Plus R33 and later require a valid JWT license. Traffic is not processed until the initial usage report reaches F5, unless enforce_initial_report is set to off, which starts a 180-day grace period. Whether trial licenses follow the same rules is not stated. Source for the JWT rules: https://docs.nginx.com/solutions/about-subscription-licenses/getting-started/
NGINXaaS for Google Cloud free trial - up to USD 100 credit, 30 days max medium confidence
F5's June 1, 2026 changelog entry 'NGINXaaS for Google now supports free trials' says the trial is sold through the Google Cloud Marketplace. The billing doc describes it as 'up to USD 100 in credits for a maximum of 30 days, whichever comes first' and says the credit is tied to 'solution provider fees'. The doc does not say whether infrastructure charges are covered.
Eligibility
Not stated on the changelog or the billing doc. No first-time, startup, student, or card rules are listed. Sign-up is through the Google Cloud Marketplace listing.
How to claim
Open the NGINXaaS for Google Cloud listing in Google Cloud Marketplace (the changelog links console.cloud.google.com/marketplace/product/f5-7626-networks-public/nginxaas-google-cloud) and subscribe to the free trial.
Expiry
Ends at 30 days or when the USD 100 credit is used up, whichever comes first.
Gotchas
At the end of the trial you are charged under the Enterprise plan unless you stop or end the subscription. You can cancel before the trial ends. Per the billing doc's cancelation section, all active deployments move to a suspended state immediately on cancelation. The billing doc says the product has moved to 'F5 Application Delivery Service for Google Cloud', so terms may have changed. Whether Google Cloud credits can pay for NGINXaaS charges is not stated.
NGINX Plus Standard on AWS Marketplace - 30-day free trial, then hourly billing high confidence
AWS Marketplace listings sold by NGINX, Inc. say 'Try this product free for 30 days according to the free trial terms set by the vendor.' The Amazon Linux 2023 listing (prodview-wp322f6mkwxbo) was read directly. The RHEL 10 listing (prodview-hrntvqzgmpu4i) shows the same 30-day trial in search results only. After the trial, hourly software charges apply. Every visible rate row (10 of 516 entries) is $0.50 per hour, for example c5.large and t3.micro. Standard support is business hours (9am-5pm customer time zone) by email and phone, with a 30-minute SLA for urgent Severity 1 issues.
Eligibility
Any AWS account that can subscribe to Marketplace software. The listing states no student or startup criteria and does not describe payment-method rules.
How to claim
Subscribe to the NGINX Plus listing in AWS Marketplace and launch the AMI on EC2. The trial covers the software charge, and AWS bills EC2 separately. Cancel before the trial ends to avoid conversion.
Expiry
30-day trial. The listing text read does not state the exact start point.
Gotchas
The listing says the trial 'gets automatically converted to a paid subscription when the trial ends' unless it is canceled first. There are no refunds for hourly usage after the trial expires. 'Additional AWS infrastructure costs may apply.' The listing says free-tier credits can cover eligible AWS infrastructure for Free Tier customers. Legacy EC2 Micro benefits apply only to accounts created before July 15, 2025. Only 10 of 516 price rows were visible, so the lowest price across all instance types is not confirmed.
F5 WAF for NGINX preview in NGINXaaS - free during the preview period high confidence
F5 changelog entries say F5 WAF for NGINX is in Preview for NGINXaaS and is 'free to use during the preview period'. The May 15, 2026 entry covers NGINXaaS for Google. The September 1, 2026 entry covers the AWS offering. The preview does not support custom security policies or custom logging profiles.
Eligibility
Customers of NGINXaaS on the named cloud. No student or startup criteria.
How to claim
Not described in the changelog entries read. No enablement steps are given.
Expiry
The preview period end date is not stated.
Gotchas
Preview only. The price after the preview is not stated. The September 1 entry is named 'F5 ADS for AWS' on the fetched page, while a search excerpt named it 'NGINXaaS for AWS'. The fetched page notes that NGINXaaS is now F5 Application Delivery Service. Confirm the current product name before relying on it.
NGINX Fundamentals digital badge (F5 Academy) - listed as Cost Free medium confidence
The Credly listing for F5's NGINX Fundamentals badge shows Type 'Experience', Level 'Foundational', Time 'Days', and Cost 'Free'. The earning criteria are the 'F5 NGINX Plus Fundamentals Accreditation Track'. The program is described as hands-on lab journeys across the F5 NGINX portfolio.
Eligibility
Not stated. No student or startup criteria are listed.
How to claim
Not stated on the listing. The listing links to an 'Additional Details' PDF, which was not read.
Expiry
None shown.
Gotchas
This is a learning credential, not a software license. The listing does not say how to enroll, whether an F5 account is needed, or how long lab access lasts.
F5's webinar page says 'NGINX and F5 are offering this complimentary 2-hour NGINX introductory session conducted by an official NGINX trainer.' Topics are NGINX as a web server, reverse proxy use, load balancing and cache, and the NGINX Plus API and dashboard.
Eligibility
Open to anyone. No criteria are listed.
How to claim
Register through the F5 webinar page. The registration steps were not shown in the text read.
Expiry
No date or end date shown. It may be a past event or a recurring one.
Gotchas
The page shows no date, delivery format (live or recorded), or sign-up steps. Confirm it is still running before planning around it. It is not a student or startup offer.
1) NGINX Plus for Development free annual license: NOT CONFIRMED. The nginx.com/developer-license URL now returns a 301 redirect to https://www.f5.com/products/nginx, which describes no free developer or development license. The F5 trials hub lists NGINX only as the NGINX One trial. A third-party reseller (WorldTech IT, not an official source) lists paid NGINX Plus non-production and WAF developer SKUs, priced per instance per month or per 5/10/25-user block per month. Drop the claim unless F5 confirms a current offer. Whether F5 removed the dedicated page is not confirmed.2) Changed or new in 2025-2026: NGINXaaS for Google Cloud free trial added June 1, 2026. NGINXaaS was renamed F5 Application Delivery Service, and the Google billing doc says the product has moved. NGINX Plus has published LTS and Continuous Release tracks since May 13, 2026 (a release-model change, not an offer change). Archived F5 article K40429408 (originally Oct 2020, updated Dec 2024) describes an older form-based 30-day NGINX Plus trial; it is superseded by the MyF5 NGINX One trial. NGINX Plus R33 (late 2024) introduced JWT licensing and usage reporting.3) Not found, student or education: no NGINX student or academic license was found. The F5 education portal homepage shows paid options only, for example Administering NGINX for Web Services self-directed training at $480 for 8 training units, and NGINX Learning Path bundles valid for 1 year with no automatic renewal and all sales final. The free-tagged course catalog page returned zero courses, so no free course list is verified. F5 Academic Alliance and other student programs were not checked because the WebSearch budget ran out.4) Not found, startup: no NGINX or F5 startup credits or discounts on nginx.org, the F5 trial pages, or the education portal. Cloud startup programs do not confirm NGINX coverage. AWS Activate (up to $200,000 in credits per its page) says credits are redeemable on third-party models on Amazon Bedrock and says nothing about Marketplace software. The Google for Startups Cloud Program perks page returned truncated content, and no NGINX or F5 entry was visible. Using Activate or Google credits to buy NGINX Marketplace listings is unverified.5) Not checked: Azure Marketplace and Google Cloud Marketplace NGINX Plus listings other than NGINXaaS; NGINX Ingress Controller and Gateway Fabric licensing; nonprofit or open-source-project discounts.6) Third-party only: itechguides (checked 20 Sep 2026) says NGINX Plus has no free plan, a 30-day trial, and pricing on request. This is not an official source.7) Method and limits: nginx.org, the NGINX license, F5 product and trial pages, the NGINXaaS changelog and billing docs, the AWS Marketplace listing, the AWS Activate page, Credly, and the F5 education portal were read directly with WebFetch on 2026-10-22. The WebSearch quota (200 calls per session, shared across agents) ran out after four searches, so search-based checks for student, startup, and academic programs were not possible.