Creating multiple VMs within the free tier limits of various cloud platforms is possible, but it depends on the specific limitations and resources provided by each platform. Here's a detailed overview for some major cloud providers:
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- Compute Engine Free Tier: You can create VMs using the `e2-micro` instance type, which is the current free tier offering. However, there are limits on the total number of cores and storage. You cannot have more than 8 cores running at the same time, and you are limited to 30GB of free storage across all VMs[1][3].- Storage Limit: The total storage across all VMs should not exceed 30GB to avoid charges. You can create multiple VMs as long as the total storage does not exceed this limit[3].
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
- Always Free Resources: Oracle provides a generous free tier with up to 4,500 hours of compute time and 500 GB of storage for high-performance VMs. You can create multiple VMs, but you must stay within the limits of 3,000 OCPU hours and 18,000 GB hours per month for Ampere A1 Compute instances[2][4].- Storage Limit: You have a total of 200 GB for block volumes and boot volumes combined. Creating multiple VMs requires managing this storage limit carefully to avoid charges[4].
Microsoft Azure
- Free Tier VMs: Azure offers a free tier with a B1S virtual machine, limited to 750 hours of compute time per month. While you can create multiple VMs, the total compute time across all VMs should not exceed this limit to avoid charges[5].- Network Limitations: Azure also limits outbound data transfer to 1 GB per month for free tier VMs. Exceeding this limit incurs charges[5].
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Free Tier: AWS provides a free tier with up to 400,000 GB-seconds or 3.2 million seconds of compute time per month for Lambda functions, but it does not directly apply to traditional VMs like EC2. However, AWS offers a free tier for EC2 instances through the AWS Free Tier, which includes 750 hours of EC2 usage per month for a t2.micro or t3.micro instance in the first year[8].In summary, creating multiple VMs within the free tier is possible, but you must carefully manage resources such as compute time, storage, and network usage to avoid exceeding the limits and incurring charges.
Citations:
[1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/63186893/google-cloud-platform-free-tier-limits-from-compute-engine
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/oraclecloud/comments/1g5rjkd/how_to_set_up_limits_quotas_and_usage_in_oracle/
[3] https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Infrastructure-Compute-Storage/Sharing-storage-limit-on-Google-Cloud-Free-Tier-among-VMs/m-p/683390
[4] https://docs.oracle.com/iaas/Content/FreeTier/freetier_topic-Always_Free_Resources.htm
[5] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1426641/network-traffic-limitations-on-azure-free-tier-vm
[6] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/951218/azure-vm-free-tier-limit
[7] https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/
[8] https://aws.amazon.com/free/