Short Answer: Yes, AWS offers a Free Tier that allows hosting basic websites at no cost for 12 months. Services like Amazon S3 (static sites) and EC2 (dynamic sites) are included, but traffic, storage, and compute usage must stay within Free Tier limits. Beyond these thresholds or after the first year, costs apply.
What Are the Downsides of Shared Hosting? Understanding Limited Resources and Bandwidth
How Does the AWS Free Tier Work for Website Hosting?
The AWS Free Tier provides 12 months of access to core services like Amazon S3 (5 GB storage), EC2 (750 hours/month of t2.micro instances), and 15 GB of data transfer. Static websites can be hosted via S3 with no server costs, while dynamic sites require EC2 and may incur charges if usage exceeds Free Tier limits.
What Are the Steps to Host a Static Website on AWS S3 for Free?
To host a static site on S3: 1) Create an S3 bucket, 2) Enable static website hosting in bucket properties, 3) Upload HTML/CSS/JS files, 4) Set public read access, and 5) Configure bucket policy for public access. AWS provides no server costs, but data transfer beyond 15 GB/month incurs fees.
Which AWS Services Cost Money Even in the Free Tier?
Charges apply for: 1) Domain registration via Route 53 ($12/year), 2) EC2 usage beyond 750 hours/month, 3) S3 storage over 5 GB, and 4) Data transfer exceeding 15 GB/month. SSL/TLS certificates via AWS Certificate Manager are free but require manual setup with CloudFront.
| Service | Free Tier Limit | Cost Beyond Limit |
|---|---|---|
| EC2 | 750 hours/month | $0.0116/hour |
| S3 Storage | 5 GB | $0.023/GB |
| Data Transfer | 15 GB | $0.09/GB |
How to Monitor Costs to Avoid Unexpected AWS Charges?
Use AWS Budgets and Cost Explorer to track spending. Set alerts at 80% of Free Tier limits. Disable unused EC2 instances and delete orphaned Elastic IPs. For S3, enable storage analytics and versioning controls. Reserve resources like EC2 instances after the Free Tier expires to reduce long-term costs by up to 72%.
AWS Cost Explorer provides granular insights into daily spending patterns, while Budgets allows configuring custom thresholds. For example, setting a $0.10 alert when S3 storage reaches 4.5 GB helps prevent overages. EC2 instances left running idle can accumulate charges rapidly—using AWS Instance Scheduler automates start/stop times. Lambda functions can also trigger alerts via SNS notifications when usage patterns deviate from expectations.
What Are the Limitations of AWS Free Tier for Web Hosting?
The Free Tier supports only low-traffic sites (≤100 daily visitors). EC2’s t2.micro instances have 1 vCPU and 1 GB RAM, limiting performance. No free load balancing or auto-scaling. Databases like RDS offer 750 hours/month but require manual shutdown. After 12 months, standard pay-as-you-go pricing applies.
Developers often face bottlenecks with database performance on Free Tier RDS instances, which lack read replicas and automated backups. The t2.micro instance’s burstable CPU credits deplete quickly under sustained loads, causing website slowdowns. Static sites hosted on S3 also face bandwidth restrictions—15 GB equates to roughly 500 pageviews/day for a 1MB page. For dynamic applications, the absence of free Elastic Load Balancing means traffic spikes could overwhelm single EC2 instances.
“While AWS Free Tier is viable for prototypes, production sites often need $10-$15/month post-Free Tier. I recommend using S3 + CloudFront for static sites—it’s 40% cheaper than EC2 long-term. Always architect for scalability; a poorly configured Free Tier setup can lead to 300% cost spikes upon expansion.” — AWS Solutions Architect
Conclusion
AWS Free Tier enables risk-free website hosting for developers learning cloud infrastructure. While viable for low-traffic projects, monitor usage closely and plan for post-Free Tier costs. Combine S3, Route 53, and CloudFront for optimized static hosting, or use EC2 with auto-scaling groups for dynamic sites ready to scale.
FAQ
- Does AWS Free Tier include domain registration?
- No. Domain registration via Route 53 costs $12/year. Use free subdomains or third-party registrars like Freenom for $0 domains.
- Can I host a WordPress site on AWS Free Tier?
- Yes, using EC2 (Linux + Apache/MySQL/PHP). However, t2.micro instances may struggle with >500 monthly visitors. Optimize with caching plugins and LiteSpeed servers.
- Is AWS Free Tier available indefinitely?
- No. Most services expire after 12 months. Lambda (1M requests/month) and S3 (5 GB) have perpetual free tiers, but EC2/RDS do not.