AWS credits are a form of promotional funding offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help individuals, startups, educational institutions, and other organizations offset the costs associated with using AWS services. Think of them as a virtual currency specifically for paying for your AWS bill.
Here’s a breakdown of key aspects of AWS credits:
Purpose:
- Incentivize Adoption: AWS uses credits to encourage new users to try their platform and explore various services.
- Support Innovation: Credits are often provided to startups and researchers to help them build and experiment without significant upfront costs.
- Enable Learning: Educational institutions and students may receive credits for training and project work.
- Reward Engagement: AWS sometimes provides credits to attendees of their events or participants in specific programs.
How They Work:
- Monetary Value: AWS credits have a specific monetary value (usually in USD).
- Automatic Application: When you incur charges for eligible AWS services, the credits are automatically applied to your bill to reduce the amount you owe.
- Usage-Based: Credits are consumed as you use AWS services.
- Expiration Dates: AWS credits always have an expiration date. It’s crucial to use them before they expire, as unused credits are typically forfeited.
- Specific Services: Credits may be applicable to all AWS services or restricted to certain services. Always check the terms and conditions of your credits.
- One-Time Use: Typically, a credit code can only be redeemed once per AWS account.
- Non-Transferable and No Cash Value: AWS credits cannot be transferred to another account, sold, or redeemed for cash.
Where You Might Get AWS Credits:
- AWS Activate: A program for startups offering credits, support, and resources.
- AWS Educate: Provides credits and learning resources for students and educators.
- AWS Research Grants: Offers credits to researchers for cloud-based projects.
- AWS Promotional Programs: Various promotions and offers may include AWS credits.
- AWS Events: Attendees of AWS conferences and summits sometimes receive credits.
- Partnerships: AWS partners may offer credits to their customers.
How to Check Your AWS Credit Balance:
You can usually view your available AWS credits, their expiration dates, and usage history in the AWS Billing and Cost Management Console. Look for a section labeled “Credits” or “Promotional Credits.”
Important Considerations:
- Read the Terms and Conditions: Understand which services the credits apply to and their expiration date.
- Monitor Usage: Keep track of your credit consumption to avoid unexpected charges when the credits run out. You can set up billing alerts in the AWS console.
- Strategic Use: Plan how to best utilize your credits to achieve your goals, whether it’s experimentation, development, or scaling.
- Not Applicable to Everything: Credits typically don’t apply to upfront costs for Reserved Instances or Savings Plans, AWS Marketplace fees, or certain support plans.
In summary, AWS credits are a valuable tool for reducing the initial cost of using AWS services, encouraging exploration and innovation. However, it’s essential to understand their terms and conditions and manage their usage effectively.
How AWS Credits Work for Payment:
- When you have AWS credits in your account, they are automatically applied to offset the charges you incur for eligible AWS services.
- As you use these services, the cost is first deducted from your available credit balance.
- You will only be charged to your designated payment method (like a credit card) once your credits are fully used or have expired.
Which AWS Services Can Credits Typically Pay For?
AWS credits can usually be used to pay for a wide range of foundational and emerging AWS services, including but not limited to:
- Compute:
- Amazon EC2 instances
- AWS Lambda functions
- Storage:
- Amazon S3
- Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)
- Amazon Glacier
- Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
- EC2 ephemeral storage
- Data Transfer: Outbound data transfer costs.
- Databases:
- Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)
- Amazon DynamoDB
- Machine Learning: Amazon SageMaker.
- Networking: Services like Amazon CloudFront and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).
- Emerging Technologies: Services like data lakes, analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
- Third-Party Models on Amazon Bedrock: Some AWS Activate credits can be used for third-party foundation models on Amazon Bedrock.
- AWS Support (in some cases): Some specific credit programs, like AWS Activate, may allow credits to be applied towards certain AWS Support plans (e.g., Developer and Business Support).
Which AWS Services Credits Typically Cannot Pay For?
Generally, AWS credits cannot be used for:
- Upfront costs for Reserved Instances (RIs) or Savings Plans. However, they can often be applied to the hourly usage rates of these.
- AWS Marketplace fees (with the exception of charges incurred through the use of third-party foundation models available on Amazon Bedrock in some cases).
- AWS Managed Services.
- Ineligible AWS Support plans (e.g., Enterprise Support, Enterprise On-Ramp, Resold Support, Partner-Led Support).
- AWS Professional Services.
- AWS Training and AWS Certification fees.
- Amazon Route 53 domain name registration or transfer.
- Amazon Mechanical Turk.
- Any upfront fees for any services.
- Taxes.
How to Check Eligible Services:
The most reliable way to determine which services your specific AWS credits can be applied to is to:
- Log in to your AWS Billing and Cost Management Console.
- Navigate to the “Credits” page.
- Look for a column or section detailing the “Applicable Products” or similar information. This will list the services your credits can offset.
In summary, AWS credits are designed to help you pay for a wide range of standard AWS usage costs, allowing you to explore and build on the platform. However, always review the specific terms and conditions associated with your credits to understand their limitations and the eligible services.