Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier FAQ

Q: What is the Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier?

The Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region and the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region are collectively referred to as the Amazon Web Services China Region. The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is comprised of Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier. Subject to the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier terms, the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier provides customers the ability to explore and try out Amazon Web Services free of charge up to specified limits for each service provided by the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region. Subject to the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier terms, the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier provides customers the ability to explore and try out Amazon Web Services free of charge up to specified limits for each service provided by the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region.

The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is comprised of three different types of offerings, (1) 12-month Free Tier, (2) Always Free offer, and (3) short-term trials. Services with a 12-month Free Tier is available for 12 months following the customer’s Amazon Web Services China Region sign-up date. If your account is created within 12 months from the launch date of Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier, you will enjoy Free Tier from the launch date till the account has been created for 12 months. If your 12-month term has already expired, then you will not be entitled to any such new benefits. Services with an Always Free offer allow customers to use the product for free up to specified limits as long as they have a valid Amazon Web Services China Region account. Services with a short-term trial are free to use for a specified period of time or up to a one-time limit depending on the service selected. Details on the limits and services provided for free are detailed in each card on the Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier page. If your application use exceeds the free tier limits, you simply pay standard, pay-as-you-go service rates (see each service page for full pricing details). Restrictions apply; see Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier terms and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier terms for more details.

Q: When is the launch date of the Amazon Web Services China region Free Tier?

The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is comprised of Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier. The Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier operated by NWCD was launched on November 1st 2019. The Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier operated by Sinnet was launched on August 1st 2022.

Q: If I have used up or am using the 12-month Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier, can I use the 12-month Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier? When does it take effect?

The Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier operated by Sinnet was launched on August 1st 2022. For accounts created within 12 months before the launch date, the 12-month Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier is effective from August 1st 2022 till the account has been created for 12 months. For accounts created after the launch date, the 12-month Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier is effective from your initial sign-up date. For accounts created more than 12 months before the launch date, they will not get the 12-month Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier, but you can still choose Always Free or short-term trials base on your needs.

Q: Will the Free Tier usage of the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region and the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region be calculated separately?

Yes. The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is comprised of Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier. The Free Tier usage of the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region is calculated by the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region operated by Sinnet. The Free Tier usage of the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region is calculated by the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region operated by NWCD. The Free Tier usage of the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region, and the Free Tier usage of the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region, will be calculated separately and will not accumulate.

Q: When does the Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier expire?

The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is comprised of Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier. The Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier operated by NWCD was launched on November 1st 2019. The Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier operated by Sinnet was launched on August 1st 2022.

The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is comprised of three different types of offerings, (1) 12-month Free Tier, (2) Always Free offer, and (3) short-term trials. Services with a 12-month Free Tier is available for 12 months following the customer’s Amazon Web Services China Region sign-up date. If your account is created within 12 months from the launch date of Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier, you will enjoy Free Tier from the launch date till the account has been created for 12 months. If your 12-month term has already expired, then you will not be entitled to any such new benefits. Services with an Always Free offer allow customers to use the product for free up to specified limits as long as they have a valid Amazon Web Services China Region account. Services with a short-term trial are free to use for a specified period of time or up to a one-time limit depending on the service selected. Details on the limits and services provided for free are detailed in each card on the Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier page. If your application use exceeds the free tier limits, you simply pay standard, pay-as-you-go service rates (see each service page for full pricing details). Restrictions apply; see Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier terms and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier terms for more details.

Q: What do I need to do to qualify for the Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier?

The Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region and the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region are collectively referred to as the Amazon Web Services China Region. The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is comprised of Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier.

To qualify, you must be a China legal entity and required to register an Amazon Web Services China region account, and then choose Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region or Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region in the console. If you are linked to an Organization (i.e., Amazon Organizations) in the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region, only one account within the Organization can benefit from the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier offers. To calculate the Organization’s use of the services under any Offers, Sinnet will aggregate the usage across all accounts in the Organization. You will be charged standard rates for use of the services in the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region operated by Sinnet if Sinnet determines that you are not eligible for the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier or have exceeded the limits for a particular service. Same rule applies for the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region. If you are linked to an Organization (i.e., Amazon Organizations) in the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region, only one account within the Organization can benefit from the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier offers. To calculate the Organization’s use of the services under any Offers, NWCD will aggregate the usage across all accounts in the Organization. You will be charged standard rates for use of the services in the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region operated by NWCD if NWCD determines that you are not eligible for the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier or have exceeded the limits for a particular service.

Q: Are there any limitations to how I use the Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier?

The Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region and the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region are collectively referred to as the Amazon Web Services China Region. The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is comprised of Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier.

Amazon Web Services China Region’s Free Tier is not limited to specific use cases. This offering provides new and existing Amazon Web Services China Region customers with free usage tiers for certain services of Amazon Web Services to help you get started. If you have a new idea that you’d like to launch or if you have an existing application you want to run in the cloud, this is a great way to get started for free. Some ideas include but are not limited to hosting low traffic websites or blogs, social media applications, development and test projects, proof of concepts, and more.

Q: Are the service types or free quotas provided in the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region and the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region the same?

No, the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier and the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier provide different products with different functions, so the service types and free quotas will be different between the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier and the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier. For more details, please refer to free types of offers.

Q: If we create an Organization, can we get the Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier for each account in the Organization?

No, the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region operated by Sinnet and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region operated by NWCD are collectively referred to as the Amazon Web Services China Region. The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is comprised of Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier. In the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region, customers that use Organization to consolidate payment across multiple accounts will only have access to one Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier per Organization. In the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region, customers that use Organization to consolidate payment across multiple accounts will only have access to one Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier per Organization.

Q: If I don’t use all of my free usage per month, will it roll over to the next month?

No. The Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier applies to your monthly usage in the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region. It expires at the end of each month and will not accumulate. In the same way, the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier applies to your monthly usage in the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region. It expires at the end of each month and will not accumulate.

Q: If I go over the Free Tier limit in a given month, how much will I have to pay?

Referring to the last question, if your usage exceeds the monthly free tier limits, you simply pay standard, pay-as-you-go service rates of the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region operated by NWCD or the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region operated by Sinnet. See each service page for full pricing details.

Q: How do I know how much I’ve used and if I’ve gone over the free usage tiers?

You can see current and past usage activity by service and region by logging into your account and going to the Billing Dashboard. Click ‘free tier’ in the left navigation of billing console, you can find the percentage of each free tier offerings you have used by region. Also, you can click ‘Billing preference’ in the left navigation, and check ‘Receive Free Tier Usage Alerts’. If you wish to receive these alerts at an email address that is not the primary email address associated with your account, please specify the email address.

In the Amazon Web Service China (Ningxia) region, the following services support the functions of free tier usage check and email alerts mentioned above: Amazon EC2, Amazon Lambda, Amazon S3, Amazon EFS, Amazon EBS, Amazon DMS, Amazon Security Hub, Amazon ECR, Amazon ElastiCache , Amazon RDS, Amazon SWF, Amazon Step Functions, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon CodeCommit, Amazon CodeBuild, Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon SNS，Amazon SQS. For the other services, you could monitor and view the free tier usage through the Billing Dashboard and Billing.

In the Amazon Web Service China (Beijing) region, the functions of free tier usage check and email alerts mentioned above are planned to be available in the middle of September 2022 to the following services: Amazon EC2, Amazon Lambda, Amazon S3, Amazon EFS, Amazon EBS, Amazon DMS, Amazon Security Hub, Amazon ECR, Amazon ElastiCache, Amazon RDS, Amazon SWF, Amazon Step Functions, Amazon CodeBuild, Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon SNS, Amazon SQS. For the other services, you could monitor and view the free tier usage through the Billing Dashboard and Billing.

Q: I’m eligible for the Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier, but I received a charge. Why?

The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is comprised of Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier. The Free Tier applies to certain participating services of the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region and the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region up to a specific maximum amount of usage each month. Applicable services and usage limits are defined at amazonaws.cn/en/free. When an account goes over the free tier limit in the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region or the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region, the standard service rates of the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region operated by Sinnet or the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region operated by NWCD will be applied.

If you have not exceeded the limits of the Free Tier, you may have been charged for other services that are not covered under the Free Tier. Some examples include: if you are running an Amazon EC2 t2.small instance rather than a t2.micro instance, or if you are using a service not included in the offer, such as Amazon Aurora. To review your Amazon Web Services usage activity in Amazon Web Services China Region, log into your Billing & Cost Management Dashboard. If you need to terminate active resources that are no longer needed in your Amazon Web Service account, please visit the specific guideline. 

Q: Can I use Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier in any region?

No, The Amazon Web Services China Region Free Tier is comprised of Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier and Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier. The Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region Free Tier is only valid towards usage in the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region operated by Sinnet; The Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region Free Tier is only valid towards usage in the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region operated by NWCD. The Free Tiers will not be consolidated between the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region and the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region, nor consolidated with Amazon Web Services global regions.