🌐 Cloud

Best Free Alternatives to AWS

Looking for free alternatives to Amazon Web Services? These cloud platforms offer free credits, hosting, and infrastructure for students, startups, and open source projects.

16 alternatives · Updated March 2026

$120,000 credits

Alibaba Cloud

Startup credits up to $120K

🌐 CloudStartups

Step 1: Apply at alibabacloud.com/startups

Free via GitHub Pack

Appwrite

Appwrite is an open-source, developer infrastructure platform for building web, mobile, and AI apps. It includes both a

🌐 CloudStudents

Step 1: Visit https://education.github.com/pack/offers

$100,000

AWS Activate

Up to $100K in AWS credits for startups

🌐 CloudStartups

Step 1: Go to aws.amazon.com/activate

$240/year

Cloudflare

Free Pro plan and startup program

🌐 CloudStartupsOpen Source

Step 1: Apply at cloudflare.com/forstartups

$200+ credits

DigitalOcean

Free cloud credits via GitHub Education

🌐 CloudStudentsStartups

Step 1: Sign up via GitHub Student Developer Pack

$200,000

Google Cloud for Startups

Up to $200K in Google Cloud credits

🌐 CloudStartups

Step 1: Apply at cloud.google.com/startup

$156 credits

Heroku

Platform credits via GitHub Education

🌐 CloudStudents

Step 1: Get GitHub Student Developer Pack

$100 credit

Linode (Akamai)

$100 free credit for new users

🌐 CloudStartups

Step 1: Sign up at linode.com

Free via GitHub Pack

LocalStack

LocalStack emulates AWS services right on your laptop, so you can build and test cloud applications without connecting t

🌐 CloudStudents

Step 1: Visit https://education.github.com/pack/offers

$100 credits

Microsoft Azure for Students

$100 Azure credits without credit card

🌐 CloudStudents

Step 1: Go to azure.microsoft.com/free/students

$228/year

Netlify

Free Pro plan via GitHub Student Developer Pack

🌐 CloudStudents

Step 1: Get the GitHub Student Developer Pack

Free forever

Oracle Cloud

Always-free cloud tier — no credit card needed

🌐 CloudStudentsStartups

Step 1: Go to cloud.oracle.com/free

$60/year

Railway

Free hosting for open source projects

🌐 CloudOpen SourceStudents

Step 1: Sign up at railway.app

Startup credits

Scaleway

European cloud with startup program

🌐 CloudStartups

Step 1: Apply at scaleway.com/startups

$240/year

Vercel

Free Pro plan for open source & startups

🌐 CloudStartupsOpen Source

Step 1: Apply at vercel.com/contact/sales

$250 credit

Vultr

$250 free credit for new accounts

🌐 CloudStartups

Step 1: Sign up at vultr.com

Frequently Asked Questions

Can students get free AWS credits?

Yes, through AWS Educate and the GitHub Student Developer Pack, students can access free AWS credits and learning resources.

What are the best free alternatives to AWS for students?

Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Railway, and Vercel all offer generous free tiers or student credits for cloud hosting and compute.

How much free cloud credit can startups get?

Startups can get up to $100K through AWS Activate, $200K via Google Cloud for Startups, and various amounts from DigitalOcean, Azure, and other providers.

More Alternatives

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