- New AWS accounts get 100 USD in credits at sign-up and can earn up to 100 USD more, and choose a Free plan or a Paid plan; RDS usage is paid from those credits.
- The Free plan never bills you but ends after 6 months or when the credits run out, and the account then closes; on the Paid plan, usage beyond the credits is billed at normal rates.
- Accounts that signed up before the July 2025 change keep the legacy offer: 750 hours a month of Single-AZ micro instances, 20 GB of gp2 storage and 20 GB of backup storage, for 12 months from sign-up.
- Free tier RDS covers MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB and SQL Server Express on db.t3.micro or db.t4g.micro, Single-AZ only.
- Storage, snapshots, Multi-AZ, larger instances and public IPv4 addresses are the usual sources of surprise charges; set an AWS Budgets alert on day one.
Which AWS RDS free tier applies to your account?
The answer to "is AWS RDS free?" now depends on the date your AWS account was created. AWS announced the change on 15 July 2025: new customers receive credits instead of a fixed 12 months of free instance hours. AWS pages give slightly different cut-off dates: the RDS pricing page and RDS free tier page say 15 July 2025, while the RDS User Guide refers to customers who were on the free tier before 17 July 2025. If your account was created on or around those dates, check the Explore AWS widget or the Billing console to see which offer it has.
| Legacy free tier | Free plan (new accounts) | Paid plan (new accounts) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who | Accounts that activated the free tier before mid-July 2025 | New accounts that choose the Free plan | New accounts that choose the Paid plan, or upgrade |
| What you get for RDS | 750 hours a month of Single-AZ micro instances, 20 GB gp2 storage, 20 GB backup storage | 100 USD credits, plus up to 100 USD more for completing activities | The same credits |
| How long | 12 months from sign-up | 6 months or until credits run out, whichever comes first | Credits valid up to 12 months |
| After that | Standard pay-as-you-go rates | Account closes; data kept 90 days unless you upgrade | Standard rates for usage beyond the credits |
| Can you be charged? | Yes, above the limits | No, unless you upgrade | Yes, once credits are used or expire |
New accounts: the credit-based free tier
Every new account gets 100 USD in credits after sign-up, whichever plan it chooses, and can earn up to another 100 USD. AWS's July 2025 announcement lists five activities worth 20 USD each, one of which is launching an RDS database. Credits are applied automatically to eligible usage, including RDS.
Free plan. AWS states that the Free plan ends after six months or when your credits are fully used, whichever occurs first, and that you will not be charged during that period. When it ends, the account closes automatically; AWS keeps your content for 90 days, during which you can upgrade to keep access. Free plan accounts cannot use some services and features that could exhaust credits, including Reserved Instances.
Paid plan. You can use all services, and the same credits are applied first. The RDS pricing page says Free Tier credits are valid for up to 12 months; once they are used up or expire, usage is billed at standard On-Demand rates. The RDS pricing page also notes that Free Tier credits are not available in AWS GovCloud (US) Regions or the China (Beijing) Region.
For RDS specifically, the RDS free tier page says the Free plan is available on db.t3.micro and db.t4g.micro instances for MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB and SQL Server Express Edition. Aurora PostgreSQL Serverless is also available on the Free plan up to 4 ACUs and 1 GiB of storage per cluster.
Older accounts: the legacy 750-hour RDS free tier
If you signed up before the change, the legacy offer continues until 12 months after your sign-up date. According to the RDS pricing page it gives up to 750 hours a month on select Single-AZ instance databases, aggregated across instance types, plus 20 GB of General Purpose SSD (gp2) storage and 20 GB of automated backup storage each month. The RDS User Guide lists the eligible classes as db.t3.micro and db.t4g.micro for MySQL, MariaDB and PostgreSQL, and db.t3.micro for SQL Server Express Edition.
The 750 hours are shared. The RDS FAQs give the example of two micro instances running 400 hours each in one month: 800 hours in total, of which 750 are free and 50 are billed at standard prices. One micro instance running all month (about 730 hours) fits; two do not.
What the RDS free tier does not cover
The RDS User Guide lists features you cannot use with the AWS Free Tier on RDS: RDS Custom engine options, Reserved DB instances, deployment options other than Single-AZ, migrating snapshots, the query editor and creating Aurora read replicas. Oracle and Db2 are not in the free tier at all, and SQL Server is limited to Express Edition.
On the legacy offer, anything outside the limits is billed straight away at standard rates: a larger instance class, a second instance running all month, storage above the 20 GB of gp2 the offer includes, Multi-AZ, or backup storage above 20 GB. On the new plans, the same usage draws down your credits faster.
How to avoid charges on the RDS free tier
- Choose a micro class. Pick db.t4g.micro or db.t3.micro, Single-AZ, and keep storage small.
- Keep the database private. A publicly accessible instance incurs the standard public IPv4 address charge, and the RDS User Guide notes this continues even while the instance is stopped.
- Stop or delete what you are not using. Stopping ends instance-hour charges but not storage or backup charges, and the instance restarts on its own after 7 days. Deleting is the only way to end all charges; retained automated backups and manual snapshots are billed until you delete them too.
- Watch snapshots. Manual snapshots never expire, so a final snapshot taken at deletion keeps costing until removed.
- Set a budget alert. See the next section.
For how the full bill is built once you leave the free tier, see AWS RDS pricing.
Setting up billing alerts
AWS offers three documented ways to be warned before a bill arrives:
- Free Tier usage alerts are sent by email automatically when you exceed 85 percent of a service's Free Tier limit (individual accounts; an Organizations management account must opt in under Billing preferences).
- AWS Budgets. Create a monthly cost budget, or use the zero spend budget template, and choose email or Amazon SNS notifications for actual and forecasted spend. AWS warns that budget data updates up to three times a day, so a notification can lag behind the charge.
- CloudWatch billing alarm. Enable "Receive CloudWatch Billing Alerts" in Billing preferences, switch to US East (N. Virginia), and create an alarm on the Billing / Total Estimated Charge metric with a static threshold. AWS notes it takes about 15 minutes after enabling before billing data appears.
On the Free plan, the console home and periodic emails also show your credit balance and days remaining.
Pricing
Prices from the provider's official pricing pages, checked 8 October 2026, region US East (N. Virginia), in USD, excluding tax. List prices only; discounts, commitments and your actual usage change the bill.
New accounts receive 100 USD in credits at sign-up and can earn up to 100 USD more, 200 USD in total. Once you are outside the free tier (or drawing on credits), RDS for PostgreSQL lists db.t4g.micro at 0.016 USD per hour and db.t3.micro at 0.018 USD per hour Single-AZ On-Demand, and gp3 storage at 0.115 USD per GB-month. The example shows how quickly a typical free tier database uses credits.
Example: one micro database on credits
- New account on the Free or Paid plan, RDS for PostgreSQL, db.t4g.micro, Single-AZ, running all month (730 hours)
- 20 GB gp3 storage; backups within the free backup allowance
- Excluded: CPU credits above baseline, data transfer, public IPv4 address, tax
| Item | Basis | Estimated per month |
|---|---|---|
| Instance | 730 hours x 0.016 USD | 11.68 USD |
| Storage | 20 GB x 0.115 USD | 2.30 USD |
| Estimated total | About 13.98 USD of credits per month; 100 USD of credits covers roughly 7 months of this usage, but Free plan credits end after 6 months |
Worked examples are estimates calculated from the list prices above; they are not quotes or measured bills.
Frequently asked questions
Is AWS RDS free?
Not indefinitely. New accounts get up to 200 USD of credits (100 USD at sign-up, up to 100 USD more for activities) that can pay for RDS; on the Free plan they last up to 6 months. Accounts created before the July 2025 change keep 750 free micro-instance hours a month for 12 months from sign-up.
Which RDS engines are in the free tier?
MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB and SQL Server Express Edition, on db.t3.micro or db.t4g.micro (SQL Server Express on db.t3.micro only under the legacy offer). Oracle and Db2 are not included.
Can I use Multi-AZ on the RDS free tier?
No. The RDS User Guide lists deployment options other than Single-AZ among the features you cannot use with the AWS Free Tier on RDS.
What happens when the Free plan ends?
AWS closes the account automatically after six months or when the credits are used, whichever comes first, and retains your content for 90 days. You can upgrade to the Paid plan in that time to keep access; remaining credits carry over.
Why was I charged for RDS on the free tier?
Common causes are storage or backups above the free amounts, a second instance pushing usage over 750 hours, a non-micro class, Multi-AZ, a public IPv4 address, or snapshots kept after deleting the instance. On the new plans, charges start once credits are used or expire on the Paid plan.
Sources
- AWS Free Tier
- AWS Free Tier with Amazon Aurora and RDS
- Amazon RDS pricing
- Amazon RDS FAQs
- AWS News Blog: AWS Free Tier update (15 July 2025)
- AWS Billing User Guide: Explore AWS services with AWS Free Tier
- AWS Billing User Guide: Choosing a plan
- AWS Billing User Guide: Tracking your Free Tier usage
- AWS Budgets: Managing your costs
- CloudWatch: Create a billing alarm
- Amazon RDS User Guide: What is Amazon RDS (Free Tier section)
- Amazon RDS User Guide: Stopping a DB instance
- AWS price data: RDS for PostgreSQL 1-year No Upfront RIs (includes On-Demand rates), US East (N. Virginia)
- AWS price data: RDS for PostgreSQL On-Demand (all Regions)
Checked 8 October 2026.
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