Oracle has quietly reduced the resources available under the Oracle Cloud Free Tier’s Always Free Ampere A1 Compute offering, cutting the documented allowance from 4 OCPUs and 24 GB of RAM to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB of RAM.
Oracle Cloud Free Tier is Oracle’s entry-level cloud offering that lets users run a limited set of OCI services at no cost, including selected compute, storage, networking, and database resources
According to Oracle’s current Always Free Resources documentation, OCI Ampere A1 Compute instances now include 1,500 OCPU hours and 9,000 GB-hours per month for VM.Standard.A1.Flex instances. Oracle says that, for Always Free tenancies, this is equivalent to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB of memory.
That is half of the previous Ampere A1 Always Free allowance, which was widely known as 3,000 OCPU hours and 18,000 GB-hours per month, equivalent to 4 OCPUs and 24 GB of RAM.
The change matters because Oracle Cloud’s Ampere A1 instances have been widely used by self-hosting users, developers, and Linux enthusiasts for small servers, test environments, personal services, and lightweight workloads. The previous 4 OCPU and 24 GB RAM configuration was notably generous for a free cloud offering, especially compared to the smaller AMD-based Always Free instances.
However, Oracle’s approach to implementing this change could cause annoyance among users. To date, there has been no clear public announcement, blog post, or customer notice explaining the reduction, its effective date, or its impact on existing deployments.
At the same time, billing is a particular concern for users who have upgraded their Oracle Cloud account to Pay As You Go. Free-only accounts generally cannot be billed directly, although resources exceeding the Always Free limit may be disabled or reclaimed. For PAYG accounts, continued usage above the new documented allowance may result in charges.
Reddit users have also reported that Oracle Support confirmed the new Ampere A1 limits apply to PAYG accounts as well, meaning paid-account users may be charged if they continue running instances above the new documented Always Free allowance. However, this confirmation comes from user-reported support conversations, not from a public Oracle announcement.
So, users running Ampere A1 instances configured with the previous 4 OCPUs and 24 GB RAM allowance should review their Oracle Cloud tenancy promptly. Under the new documented limit, only 2 OCPUs and 12 GB RAM are included in the Always Free allowance.
On top of that, Oracle’s inconsistent public information adds to the confusion. While the current Always Free documentation lists the reduced 1,500 OCPU-hour and 9,000 GB-hour limits, some Oracle-facing materials and indexed documentation still display the previous 3,000 OCPU-hour and 18,000 GB-hour figures.
At this time, Oracle Cloud users should review all Ampere A1 instances and ensure total Always Free usage does not exceed 2 OCPUs and 12 GB of RAM to remain within the current documented allowance. The lack of notice is already drawing criticism from affected users, including PAYG customers who say they did not receive a direct email from Oracle before the change.
Until Oracle provides a clear explanation, it appears that the company has quietly updated its documentation to halve the Ampere A1 Always Free allowance, while users await an official public notice.
