Free Amazon AWS/RDS Instance

Question

I have hosted a server app on AWS and RDS for relational DB. Though I opted for free account, RDS is being charged at $0.0025 per hour amounting to $18 a month.

I read some documentation but still not able to figure this out. Is this the way it is or is there a way to get free RDS account for testing purpose?

Thanks OpenTube

Answer 1

I've just started setting this up and I realized quickly that it was allowing me to make selections that couldn't possibly be free. When setting up your free teir instance, look on the left hand side of the screen for

Your current selection is eligible for the free tier.

Once you select something like "Multi-AZ Deployment" or use any DB Instance Class other than "db.t2.micro" it will slyly change the left column display:

The following selections disqualify the instance from being eligible for the free tier:

Multi-AZ Deployment

Just be careful in your selections and usage to maintain the free teir.

Answer 2

What type of database are you running ? The free tier only applies to SQL Server Micro DB Instance:

750 hours of Amazon RDS for SQL Server Micro DB Instance usage (running SQL Server Express Edition in a single Availability Zone)

See http://aws.amazon.com/free/

There is also a 60 day free trial for MySQL and Oracle:

See http://aws.amazon.com/rds/free-trial/

Answer 3

Your simplest option is to install the database on your instance.

Alternatively you could look at using a hosted MySQL service provided like http://xeround.com/ , or http://www.cleardb.com/ , both have limited but free options.

Answer 4

As of October 1st 2012, AWS free usage tier now includes Amazon RDS. The free tier applies to Single-AZ deployments of MySQL, Oracle “Bring-Your-Own-License (BYOL)” licensing model and SQL Server Express Edition.

See this link from Amazon for more details: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2012/10/01/amazon-rds-aws-free-tier/

Answer 5

you should use t1.micro. It is at the bottom of the options.