Here's a detailed overview of the limitations on disk size for free tier Virtual Machines across major cloud providers:
Azure
Azure does not offer a traditional free tier for Virtual Machines with specific disk size limits. However, it provides a free account with $200 credit for the first 30 days, which can be used to provision VMs with various disk configurations. The disk size limits depend on the type of storage and VM tier. For example, Standard managed disks can be up to 4,095 GB in size, but there are no specific free tier limits on disk size for VMs[1][6].Oracle Cloud
Oracle Cloud offers a free tier with up to 200 GB of Block Volume storage, which includes both boot volumes and block volumes. When creating a compute instance, it automatically receives a 50 GB boot volume, which counts toward the 200 GB limit. You can customize the boot volume size up to 200 GB, but this will use your entire free storage allotment. Launching four instances with the minimum 50 GB each will also use up all your free storage resources[2][3].Google Cloud Platform
Google Cloud's free tier includes a limit of 30 GB of persistent disk storage for Compute Engine instances. Each instance typically comes with a 10 GB boot disk, and you can add additional storage up to the 30 GB limit. You cannot create two VMs with 30 GB each without exceeding the free tier limit, so you need to manage storage across instances to avoid charges[4][5].In summary, each cloud provider has different approaches to free tier VM storage:
- Azure: No specific free tier limits on disk size; uses a credit-based system.
- Oracle Cloud: 200 GB total for Block Volume storage, with a minimum boot volume size of 50 GB per instance.
- Google Cloud: 30 GB total persistent disk storage across all instances, with typical boot disks being 10 GB each.
Citations:
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/disks-scalability-targets
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/oraclecloud/comments/zqk3ky/how_much_space_i_can_use_with_free_tier/
[3] https://docs.oracle.com/iaas/Content/FreeTier/freetier_topic-Always_Free_Resources.htm
[4] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/63186893/google-cloud-platform-free-tier-limits-from-compute-engine
[5] https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Infrastructure-Compute-Storage/Sharing-storage-limit-on-Google-Cloud-Free-Tier-among-VMs/m-p/683390
[6] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/951218/azure-vm-free-tier-limit
[7] https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/
[8] https://gist.github.com/rssnyder/51e3cfedd730e7dd5f4a816143b25dbd?permalink_comment_id=4015735