Prerequisites

Prerequisites

Before starting this workshop, ensure you have the following set up.

AWS Account

You need an AWS account with administrative access to complete the hands-on labs.

  1. Go to https://aws.amazon.com/free/ and click “Create a Free Account”
  2. Follow the registration process (requires email, credit card, and phone verification)
  3. Sign in to the AWS Management Console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/

AWS Free Tier 2025 — New Credit-Based Model

Major Update (July 15, 2025): AWS has completely revamped the Free Tier program. Instead of per-service usage limits, new accounts now receive direct credits to freely explore AWS services.

What’s New?

CriteriaOld Free Tier (before 07/15/2025)New Free Tier (from 07/15/2025)
Duration12 months free6 months (or until credits run out)
MechanismFree usage per service (e.g., 750 hrs EC2 t2.micro)$100 credit at sign-up + up to $100 more from tasks
UsageStay within limits or get chargedFreely use supported services within credit balance
ExpirationAccount stays active, charged if over limitsAccount suspended if not upgraded after 6 months or credits depleted
Account TypesSingle typeTwo types: Free Plan and Paid Plan
Always FreeYes (30+ services)Yes (30+ services, unchanged)

Free Plan vs. Paid Plan

CriteriaFree PlanPaid Plan
Initial Credit$100 at sign-up$100 at sign-up
Bonus CreditUp to $100 more (5 tasks × $20)Up to $100 more (5 tasks × $20)
Service AccessPopular services only, some restrictedFull access to all 150+ AWS services
ChargesNo charges until credits run out or 6 monthsPay-as-you-go after credits are used
Duration6 months or until credits run outUnlimited
After CreditsAccount suspended (90 days to upgrade)Continue with on-demand pricing
Best ForLearning, demos, POCProduction workloads

How to Earn an Extra $100 in Credits

Complete 5 hands-on tasks (each worth $20):

#TaskService
1Set up a cost budgetAWS Budgets
2Launch and terminate an EC2 instanceAmazon EC2
3Create and delete an RDS databaseAmazon RDS
4Create a web app with a Lambda functionAWS Lambda
5Use a foundation model in the playgroundAmazon Bedrock

Track your progress via the Explore AWS widget on the AWS Management Console homepage.

Important: Always terminate/delete resources after completing each task to avoid wasting credits!

Always Free Services (No Time Limit)

These services remain free regardless of your plan:

  • AWS Lambda: 1 million requests/month
  • Amazon DynamoDB: 25 GB storage + 25 RCU/WCU
  • Amazon S3: 5 GB standard storage
  • Amazon CloudWatch: 10 custom metrics + 1 million API requests
  • Amazon SNS: 1 million publishes
  • Amazon SQS: 1 million requests

Services to Avoid (Credit Drainers)

These services can drain your credits in hours:

  • Large EC2 instances: t3.large, m5.xlarge, GPU instances (p3, p4, g4 — $5-20/hr)
  • Dedicated Hosts: Most expensive, avoid completely
  • RDS Multi-AZ: Doubles the cost vs single-AZ
  • NAT Gateway: $0.045/hr + data transfer charges
  • SageMaker training jobs: ml.p3.xlarge costs $4.9/hr
  • Bedrock with large models: Claude 3 Opus, large foundation models

Budget-Friendly Services for Study

  • EC2 t2.micro/t3.micro: ~$8.5/month
  • RDS t3.micro (Single-AZ): ~$15/month
  • ElastiCache t3.micro: Small Redis/Memcached
  • API Gateway: First 1 million calls are cheap
  • Region tip: us-east-1 is usually the cheapest

Cost-Saving Tips

  1. Always terminate EC2 instances after practice
  2. Use Spot Instances when possible (50-90% savings)
  3. Choose us-east-1 region for lowest prices
  4. Delete unused resources: EBS volumes, Elastic IPs, Load Balancers
  5. Set up billing alerts at $50, $100, $150 thresholds
  6. AWS sends email notifications at 50%, 75%, and 90% credit usage

Legacy accounts: If your account was created before July 15, 2025, you remain on the old Free Tier program (per-service usage limits for 12 months). The “Always Free” tier still applies to both programs.

Tools Required

AWS CLI

Install the AWS CLI v2 for running commands in the hands-on labs:

  • Windows: Download the MSI installer from AWS CLI Install Guide
  • macOS: brew install awscli or download the PKG installer
  • Linux: curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip" && unzip awscliv2.zip && sudo ./aws/install

Configure your credentials:

aws configure
# Enter your Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, default region (e.g., us-east-1), and output format (json)

Web Browser

A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari) for accessing the AWS Management Console.

Text Editor

Any text editor for reviewing JSON policies and CloudFormation templates. VS Code is recommended.

  • Basic understanding of cloud computing concepts
  • Familiarity with networking fundamentals (IP addressing, subnets, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS)
  • General understanding of databases (relational vs non-relational)
  • Basic command line experience