Oracle Cloud Free Tier: Spinning Up the 2-Core 12GB Ampere A1 Instance (Oct 20, 2026)

One-line takeaway: After the June 2026 cut, Oracle's free tier is 2 OCPUs + 12GB RAM + 200GB storage + 10TB traffic — free forever. This walkthrough covers registration through SSH login, plus how to beat the infamous "out of capacity" error.

What you need

An email address (Gmail/Outlook recommended for verification)
A real credit card (identity verification only — a temporary $1–2 authorization hold, reversed in days; no charge unless you upgrade. Virtual/prepaid cards get rejected)
A phone number (SMS verification)
An SSH client (Terminal on macOS/Linux, PowerShell or PuTTY on Windows)
Patience: the free A1 pool is often "out of capacity" — Step 4 is all about working around that.

Step by step

Step 1: Register — your home region is permanent

Go to oracle.com/cloud/free and click Start for free. Enter your email → verify → name and address exactly as on your card statement → choose your home region → add card → SMS check.

[Image to be added: 把下面这段 alt 文字当作图注 — Oracle Cloud free page: Start for free registration]

Your home region can never be changed, and free A1 instances can only be created there. In the US, Ashburn (East) and Phoenix (West) tend to have the most capacity; smaller regions can paradoxically be easier. Do the whole signup without a VPN/proxy — mismatched IP and details are the #1 rejection trigger.

Step 2: Create the instance — Ampere A1.Flex at 2 OCPU / 12GB

In the console: hamburger menu → Compute → Instances → Create instance. Oracle's official docs break the form down field by field:

[Image to be added: 把下面这段 alt 文字当作图注 — Oracle official docs, Creating an Instance: selecting the Ampere shape]

Fill it in like this:

Image: Canonical Ubuntu (ARM build) — look for the "Always Free-eligible" label.
Shape: Change shape → Ampere → VM.Standard.A1.Flex, drag the sliders to 2 OCPUs / 12 GB — the current free ceiling since June 2026 (it used to be 4/24). Want two small servers? Split it 1C6G + 1C6G.
Networking: keep the default VCN, check Assign a public IPv4 address (otherwise you can't reach it).
SSH keys: paste your public key, or let Oracle generate a pair and download the private key (the console won't show it again).
Boot volume: the 47–50GB default is fine — it counts against your 200GB free block storage.
Click Create; status turns Running in 1–3 minutes.

Step 3: SSH in and open the firewall (both layers)

ssh -i ~/.ssh/your-key ubuntu@YOUR_PUBLIC_IP
uname -m   # aarch64 confirms ARM — correct

Then open the firewall — Oracle blocks inbound in two places: the console security list and the OS-level iptables. In the console go to Networking → VCN → Security Lists and add ingress rules (80/443 etc.); on the box:

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
sudo netfilter-persistent save

Opening only one layer is the classic beginner trap — your service stays unreachable.

[Image to be added: 把下面这段 alt 文字当作图注 — 2026 free-tier limits explained: 2 OCPU/12GB vs other free VPS options]

The limits breakdown above (updated October 2026) is worth saving: A1's 12GB is 12× Google's free e2-micro (1GB), and 10TB/month egress is in a different league — which is exactly why everyone's fighting over capacity.

Notes, costs, pitfalls

"Out of host capacity" is normal, not a rejection: the free ARM pool just empties out. Fixes: try a different availability domain, retry off-peak, or grab a 1C6G instance first as a placeholder. Scheduled retry scripts are standard practice.
The hard ceiling: 2 OCPUs + 12 GB total per free tenancy (1,500 OCPU-hours + 9,000 GB-hours/month). Instances above the old 4/24 limit were shut down in June 2026 — don't plan around the old numbers.
Don't accidentally upgrade: only resources tagged "Always Free" are free. A pay-as-you-go shape bills ~$0.01/OCPU-hour + $0.0015/GB-hour (about $27/month maxed out).
Signup rejection checklist: details not matching the card statement, virtual card, registering over VPN, repeated rapid submissions — any of these trips fraud prevention. Real details + real IP + one clean attempt.
What to run on it: Docker apps, personal blog/startpage, self-hosted VPN, cron jobs, small quantized AI inference — 12GB even fits a small local model.

Sources

Oracle free signup page (registration flow, card verification): https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/
Oracle official docs, Creating an Instance (Ampere shape selection, SSH keys): https://docs.oracle.com/en-us/iaas/Content/Compute/Tasks/launchinginstance.htm
2026 limits explained (2C12G cut, free-VPS comparison, both firewall layers): https://toolfreebie.com/oracle-free-arm-vps/

搜索此博客

jianyunyi