Best offer on record: OCI Always Free tier (VPS: 2 AMD micro VMs + 2 OCPU/12 GB ARM Ampere A1 pool + storage/DB/networking). 4 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Offers
OCI Always Free tier (VPS: 2 AMD micro VMs + 2 OCPU/12 GB ARM Ampere A1 pool + storage/DB/networking) high confidence
Perpetual ('life of the account') Always Free resources, home region only: (1) up to 2 VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro AMD instances, each 1/8 OCPU (~200 MHz, burstable) + 1 GB RAM, 1 VNIC, 1 public IPv4, up to 50 Mbps internet / 480 Mbps intra-region; (2) Ampere A1 ARM (VM.Standard.A1.Flex): a monthly pool of 1,500 OCPU-hours + 9,000 GB-hours = equivalent to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB total, usable as one instance or up to two 1-OCPU instances (min boot volume 47 GB/instance); (3) 200 GB block volume total (boot + data, home region) with 5 volume backups; (4) object storage: 20 GB combined Standard+Infrequent Access+Archive for free-only tenancies (10 GB per tier while trial/PAYG is active); (5) 10 TB/month outbound egress; (6) 2x Autonomous AI Database (20 GB storage each, 1 Oracle CPU, serverless Exadata, 20 max concurrent sessions); (7) MySQL HeatWave standalone single-node cluster, 50 GB data + 50 GB backup storage; (8) NoSQL: 133M reads + 133M writes/mo, 3 tables x 25 GB (Phoenix region only); (9) 2 VCNs, 1 Flexible Load Balancer + 1 Network Load Balancer, 50 IPsec site-to-site VPN connections, 5 CAs + 150 certificates, 3,000 emails/mo Email Delivery, plus free APEX, Resource Manager/Terraform, Monitoring/Logging, Bastion, Vault (software keys unlimited; 20 HSM key versions), Security Advisor, Content Management Starter. NO free bare-metal or dedicated-server shapes exist — OCI bare metal (BM.Dense/BM.Standard, incl. 80-core Ampere bare metal) is paid-only.
Eligibility
Open to anyone who signs up (one free trial/Always Free account per person; one cloud account per email). Credit or debit card REQUIRED at signup: major-network cards (Visa/Mastercard/Discover/Amex) that do not require a PIN; virtual, prepaid, single-use and PIN-debit cards are rejected. A mobile phone number is needed for most users. Available in all regions where commercial OCI is offered (Free/Always Free NOT available in US Government Cloud regions); '$300 credit' part is 'available in select countries'. .edu email NOT required for the free tier. Startup age/funding caps: none for the free tier.
How to claim
Sign up at https://signup.oraclecloud.com (linked from https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/): select country, enter name + valid email, verify email (link valid 30 min), set password (8-40 chars, complexity rules), optionally enter company name, create a cloud account name, pick Home Region (irrevocable; Always Free compute + ADB can only be created in the home region), enter address + phone, add credit/debit card as payment-verification method (you may see a small temporary ~$1 verification hold that auto-reverses), accept ToU, 'Start my free trial'. Always Free resources are usable immediately with no upgrade; $0 charged unless you upgrade to PAYG. No separate claim form for the Always Free tier itself.
Expiry
Perpetual — 'available for an unlimited period of time, for the life of the account.' Trial portion: $300 credits expire 30 days after signup. No renewal needed.
Gotchas
HOME-REGION LOCK: Always Free compute and ADB provision only in home region; use in other regions bills at PAYG rates. IDLE RECLAMATION: Always Free VMs (and bare metal) can be reclaimed when over any 7-day window CPU p95 < 20% AND network < 20% (AND memory < 20% for A1 shapes). Accounts idle 30+ days may be deemed abandoned and suspended/terminated. 2026 ARM CUT-ENFORCEMENT: since 2026-08-18, A1 instances exceeding 2 OCPU/12 GB are auto-terminated; once an existing oversized instance is terminated it 'may not be possible' to recreate it above the new limit. Capacity: free-tier accounts frequently hit 'out of host capacity' on A1/micro shapes in US regions; PAYG upgrade generally provisions more reliably. Eligible OS images limited (Oracle Linux/Ubuntu/CentOS for micros; Oracle Linux/Ubuntu + Oracle Linux Cloud Developer for A1, latter needs >=8 GB). No SLA and no Oracle Support unless a paid account. If trial ends with more A1 OCPUs/memory than 2/12, excess instances are disabled then deleted after 30 days unless you upgrade. Paid resources made with trial credits are deleted (unrecoverable) if you don't upgrade.
OCI Free Trial: US$300 cloud credit for 30 days (all eligible OCI services, on top of Always Free) high confidence
One-time US$300 in cloud credits valid up to 30 days from account creation, spendable on all eligible OCI services (compute beyond free limits, GPU, K8s, analytics, up to ~8 instances / 5 TB storage while credits last, per the trial marketing). Credits are consumed at discounted trial rates. Unused credits expire at 30 days. After trial: 30-day grace to upgrade; paid resources are otherwise reclaimed/deleted; Always Free resources persist. Upgrading carries a ~$100 card authorization. Extensions/additional credits possible only via an Oracle sales representative (console Upgrade page).
Eligibility
Same as free tier signup: one per person; credit/debit card (major network, no PIN required) + phone number for identity verification; US$300 credit 'available in select countries' per the FAQ asterisk. No .edu, no startup-age requirement — this is a general trial, not a special program.
How to claim
Automatically granted at https://signup.oraclecloud.com — no separate claim. Steps: country -> name -> email (verify within 30 min) -> password -> optional company -> cloud account name -> Home Region -> address/phone -> add card verification (small temporary ~$1 hold) -> ToU -> 'Start my free trial'. Upgrade to PAYG at any time via Console > Billing & Cost Management > Upgrade and Manage Payment.
Expiry
Credits: 30 days from signup or $300 exhaustion, whichever first. Trial resources: 30-day grace after expiry to upgrade before deletion. Always Free portion: no expiry.
Gotchas
Card IS required (contrary to 'no credit card' marketing assumptions): FAQ says credit cards and PIN-less debit cards only; virtual/prepaid/single-use cards rejected; periodic re-validation holds possible. 'Some special Free Trial offers' (e.g., email-invite promotions): after expiry the account is suspended for 30 days then permanently deleted — they do NOT convert to an Always Free account. No SLA/support once credits gone. Billing begins after trial if you upgraded (credit balance preserved until trial period ends). No downgrade from paid back to free. Data in trial-created resources is unrecoverable after reclamation.
Oracle Startup Program (startup cloud credits) low confidence
UNVERIFIABLE TODAY. The global Oracle startups section at https://www.oracle.com/startups/ (and /accelerate/) returned HTTP 403 (Oracle edge firewall 'fw_error_www') to all non-browser clients on 2026-10-22, so exact credit amounts, funding caps, and application terms could not be read. Historical/known program: 'Oracle Startup Program' / Oracle Accelerate, where eligible early-stage startups apply for additional OCI cloud credits beyond the $300 trial; regional Oracle sites (uk/europe/latam/middleeast/japan) have NO startups section — /startups/ URLs there 301-redirect to /cloud/ or 404, indicating the program is global-only and likely gated behind the bot-protected global page. Exact amounts/duration are not confirmed in this pass; treat any number as unverified.
Eligibility
Unknown today (page inaccessible). Historically: early-stage startups (founded within recent years, limited funding raised); application through the Oracle startups portal; personal accounts are not eligible. $300 trial and Always Free tier are available to startups in their personal capacity regardless.
How to claim
If accessible: application form at https://www.oracle.com/startups/ (company details; program-specific credit grant); fallback: standard $300/30-day trial at signup.oraclecloud.com. Because the page blocked automated access, verify manually in a browser.
Expiry
Unknown (unverified).
Gotchas
Page blocked by Oracle's WAF for automated fetchers — confirm in a real browser before relying on any numbers; do not cite the 'known so far' 2025-era figures without re-verification; no startup program details appear in docs.oracle.com Free Tier docs, so nothing in official docs corroborates it.
Education offer: no dedicated .edu cloud-credit program; free tier open to students/academics + free Oracle University training/certifications (Oracle Learning Explorer) medium confidence
Training: open to anyone, no .edu email, no card. Cloud: standard free-tier eligibility (one account/person, card + phone). .edu email NOT required anywhere.
How to claim
Cloud: standard signup at signup.oraclecloud.com (any special education offer is surfaced there via the email eligibility check). Training: enroll at mylearn.oracle.com / oracle.com/education/training ('Explore free training and certifications'); Learning Explorer via oracle.com/education ('Start learning for free').
Oracle University free tier is training-only, no infrastructure credits; the 'free' training does not include the full exam voucher unless the specific Foundations course lists it; verify 'Race to Certification' status in the console/marketing site before assuming it's live; no .edu-only benefits exist in OCI as of this check.