I'm currently using several Docker containers for personal projects on my computer, and I'm thinking about moving them to AWS. I'm running GitLab, Jenkins, SonarQube, and SonarQube DB. My setup generally uses around 7.3 GiB of RAM and 9% CPU load, but I'd like to aim for stable operation with approximately 8-9 GiB of RAM and 4-5 CPU cores. I'm looking for advice on free AWS solutions that could handle this setup. Specifically, I have a few questions: 1. Are there free-tier services on AWS where I can run multiple Docker containers utilizing around 8 GiB RAM combined? 2. Can anyone suggest ways to optimize these containers to save on resource usage before I deploy them? 3. Does the free tier support Docker Compose or linked containers?
3 Answers
The AWS free tier is pretty limited—you're looking at a maximum of 2 vCPUs and 1 GiB of RAM. If you want to run anything more powerful, you’ll have to pay. So generally, you'll exceed the free tier limits pretty quickly with your setup.
If you're set on AWS for learning, be careful, they charge you based on usage and mistakes can lead to high bills. For personal projects, consider alternatives like Oracle's free tier, which gives more resources (4 cores and 24 GB RAM), but be aware it’s an ARM server which might complicate things.
While the AWS free tier doesn’t really support your needs, they do offer new customers up to $200 in credits. But honestly, 8 GiB is way beyond what you get on the free tier. For those specs, you might want to consider a used micro desktop from eBay instead, something that should be under $100.

What do you mean by losing data? Will Oracle cut me off after some time?