A completely free VPS that is better than the one you're paying for

**StevenNL2000** · July 30, 2021 at 11:59 PM

Maybe the title is a bit clickbaity, but if you have a VPS that costs less than $25/month, it's most likely not wrong.

You might know that platforms like AWS and Google Cloud have a free tier for their cloud services. You might also know that signing up for it is not worth it at all because you really don't get that much, and if you accidentally go beyond the free tier limits, you'll suddenly start racking up costs. Oracle apparently wants to challenge that, because they offer the following configuration for free, forever:

Quote

CPU: 4x Ampere Altra ARMv8.2-A @ 3.00GHz
RAM: 24GB DDR4 ECC
Storage: 200GB NVMe SSD
Network: 1Gbit/s, 10TB bandwidth/month
IPs: 2 IPv4, 2x /56 IPv6
Other: running 24/7, root access, VNC, choice from 23 locations

I've been testing it out for myself, and I can confirm that these specs are actually what they look like. You can't tell that it's an ARM CPU from the performance. I've also been trying to find the hidden gotchas of this deal, but it looks like there really aren't any. They've even made it so that your account can't get billed by default, so you can never accidentally go beyond the limits.

Link:
https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/

Benchmark:

Quote
! ```plaintext

Yet-Another-Bench-Script

v2021-06-05

https://github.com/masonr/yet-another-bench-script

! Thu Jul 29 10:55:29 UTC 2021
! ARM-compatibility is considered experimental
! Basic System Information:

Processor : Neoverse-N1
CPU cores : 4 @ ??? MHz
AES-NI : ✔ Enabled
VM-x/AMD-V : ❌ Disabled
RAM : 23.3 GiB
Swap : 12.0 GiB
Disk : 193.7 GiB
! fio Disk Speed Tests (Mixed R/W 50/50):

Block Size 4k (IOPS) 64k (IOPS)

Read 90.05 MB/s (22.5k) 321.67 MB/s (5.0k)

Write 89.99 MB/s (22.4k) 331.23 MB/s (5.1k)

Total 180.04 MB/s (45.0k) 652.91 MB/s (10.2k)

Block Size 512k (IOPS) 1m (IOPS)

------ --- ---- ---- ----

Read 204.63 MB/s (399) 184.65 MB/s (180)

Write 222.13 MB/s (433) 206.02 MB/s (201)

Total 426.77 MB/s (832) 390.67 MB/s (381)

! iperf3 Network Speed Tests (IPv4):

Provider Location (Link) Send Speed Recv Speed

Clouvider London, UK (10G) 1.01 Gbits/sec 1.02 Gbits/sec

Online.net Paris, FR (10G) 1.00 Gbits/sec 996 Mbits/sec

WorldStream The Netherlands (10G) busy busy

Biznet Jakarta, Indonesia (1G) 186 Mbits/sec 43.7 Mbits/sec

Clouvider NYC, NY, US (10G) 818 Mbits/sec 819 Mbits/sec

Velocity Online Tallahassee, FL, US (10G) 572 Mbits/sec 694 Mbits/sec

Clouvider Los Angeles, CA, US (10G) 520 Mbits/sec 472 Mbits/sec

Iveloz Telecom Sao Paulo, BR (2G) 236 Mbits/sec 399 Mbits/sec

! iperf3 Network Speed Tests (IPv6):

Provider Location (Link) Send Speed Recv Speed

Clouvider London, UK (10G) 1000 Mbits/sec 999 Mbits/sec

Online.net Paris, FR (10G) 979 Mbits/sec 984 Mbits/sec

WorldStream The Netherlands (10G) 1000 Mbits/sec 1.00 Gbits/sec

Clouvider NYC, NY, US (10G) 723 Mbits/sec 875 Mbits/sec

Clouvider Los Angeles, CA, US (10G) 489 Mbits/sec 373 Mbits/sec

! Geekbench 5 Benchmark Test:

Test Value

Single Core 834

Multi Core 3197

Full Test https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/9060105
Code
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RedEastWood · July 31, 2021 at 12:00 AM

wtf

Is this actually 100% genuine? So I can cancel my Hetzner VPS right now and start using this?

**videogamesm12** · July 31, 2021 at 12:14 AM

This could come in handy for downloading and storing TF content temporarily for archival purposes.

enchy · July 31, 2021 at 1:11 AM

"your vps is gay"

root · July 31, 2021 at 2:43 AM

alright, ive checked this out and i can also confirm everything except for storage. i appear to be limited to uhhh about 45GB with no clear way to change that.

Quote

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev 12G 0 12G 0% /dev
tmpfs 2.4G 1.3M 2.4G 1% /run
/dev/sda1 45G 1.5G 44G 4% /
tmpfs 12G 0 12G 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock
tmpfs 12G 0 12G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda15 98M 290K 98M 1% /boot/efi
/dev/loop1 62M 62M 0 100% /snap/lxd/21032
/dev/loop2 37M 37M 0 100% /snap/oracle-cloud-agent/15
/dev/loop0 49M 49M 0 100% /snap/core18/2073
/dev/loop3 29M 29M 0 100% /snap/snapd/12397
tmpfs 2.4G 0 2.4G 0% /run/user/1001

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**StevenNL2000** · July 31, 2021 at 12:27 PM

↩ root Hamburger button in the top left > "Compute" > "Instances" > Select your instance > Scroll down and select "Boot Volume" on the left > Select your boot volume > "Edit".

root · July 31, 2021 at 12:29 PM

↩ StevenNL2000

ahh, thanks -- completely missed this somehow

Tizz · August 8, 2021 at 1:41 PM

I've tried to sign up and it fails at the very end. I don't have details but looks like it refuses to complete the test transaction after verifying my card.

Shdwo · August 8, 2021 at 1:47 PM

↩ Tizz Try turning off your browser plugins, it did the same for me. I had to disable one of my movie plugins and my adblocker to get it working.

**StevenNL2000** · August 8, 2021 at 3:15 PM

↩ StevenNL2000 can you run minecraft ??

**StevenNL2000** · August 8, 2021 at 4:21 PM

↩ Tizz If shdwo's solution doesn't work, check if the test transaction appears on your credit card statement. If it doesn't, ask your bank how you can approve it. If it does, contact Oracle through https://go.oracle.com/LP=96969?elqCampaignId=260306 and they will whitelist your card.

↩ @'billy7oblos' A Minecraft server, yes.

Tizz · August 8, 2021 at 4:51 PM

↩ StevenNL2000 I successfully add and verify my card but no transaction appears when I click on "Start free trial". Looks like I have to contact my bank or Oracle customer service.

elmon · August 9, 2021 at 9:57 AM

I only see an option for 1GB of ram, the others don't fall under the "always free eligible"

https://prnt.sc/1llesh6

**StevenNL2000** · August 9, 2021 at 10:14 AM

↩ elmon You need the "Ampere" option:

Folfy_Blue · August 9, 2021 at 10:49 AM

↩ StevenNL2000 Note that if you click that little arrow, it'll tell you you can't use it all the time, there's a cap per month

Folfy_Blue · August 9, 2021 at 10:49 AM

Also thanks btw dude, free VPS is epic

**StevenNL2000** · August 9, 2021 at 11:00 AM

↩ Folfy_Blue If you have 4 cores and 24GB RAM, there are not enough hours in a month to be able to exceed the cap.

**StevenNL2000** · August 9, 2021 at 7:03 PM

↩ StevenNL2000 not a client??

**StevenNL2000** · August 9, 2021 at 8:03 PM

↩ @'billy7oblos' Technically you can, but you really don't want that because like most servers, it doesn't have a graphics card.

**StevenNL2000** · August 13, 2021 at 8:18 PM

↩ StevenNL2000 there is no way to connect remotely with a gui? or does it have graphics but just trash

Block Size	4k (IOPS)	64k (IOPS)
Read	90.05 MB/s (22.5k)	321.67 MB/s (5.0k)
Write	89.99 MB/s (22.4k)	331.23 MB/s (5.1k)
Total	180.04 MB/s (45.0k)	652.91 MB/s (10.2k)

Block Size	512k (IOPS)	1m (IOPS)
------	--- ----	---- ----
Read	204.63 MB/s (399)	184.65 MB/s (180)
Write	222.13 MB/s (433)	206.02 MB/s (201)
Total	426.77 MB/s (832)	390.67 MB/s (381)

Provider	Location (Link)	Send Speed	Recv Speed
Clouvider	London, UK (10G)	1.01 Gbits/sec	1.02 Gbits/sec
Online.net	Paris, FR (10G)	1.00 Gbits/sec	996 Mbits/sec
WorldStream	The Netherlands (10G)	busy	busy
Biznet	Jakarta, Indonesia (1G)	186 Mbits/sec	43.7 Mbits/sec
Clouvider	NYC, NY, US (10G)	818 Mbits/sec	819 Mbits/sec
Velocity Online	Tallahassee, FL, US (10G)	572 Mbits/sec	694 Mbits/sec
Clouvider	Los Angeles, CA, US (10G)	520 Mbits/sec	472 Mbits/sec
Iveloz Telecom	Sao Paulo, BR (2G)	236 Mbits/sec	399 Mbits/sec

Provider	Location (Link)	Send Speed	Recv Speed
Clouvider	London, UK (10G)	1000 Mbits/sec	999 Mbits/sec
Online.net	Paris, FR (10G)	979 Mbits/sec	984 Mbits/sec
WorldStream	The Netherlands (10G)	1000 Mbits/sec	1.00 Gbits/sec
Clouvider	NYC, NY, US (10G)	723 Mbits/sec	875 Mbits/sec
Clouvider	Los Angeles, CA, US (10G)	489 Mbits/sec	373 Mbits/sec

Test	Value
Single Core	834
Multi Core	3197
Full Test	https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/9060105

Yet-Another-Bench-Script

v2021-06-05

https://github.com/masonr/yet-another-bench-script

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