# How do I get Oracle's Always Free ARM VPS (24GB RAM, 4 CPUs)?

Oracle Cloud's **Always Free** tier includes one ARM VPS - the **Ampere A1 (VM.Standard.A1.Flex)** shape - with up to **24GB RAM, 4 CPUs and 200GB storage**, free forever (a full VM like an EC2 or Azure instance, not a tiny box). The catch: the shape is almost always **"out of capacity"** in the web console, so you cannot just click to create one.

The reliable method is an **automated retry script** that keeps trying across all availability domains until capacity frees up (typically 1-3 months). TigZig publishes an open-source one: a FastAPI + HTML tool with a live monitoring dashboard (Server-Sent Events) and Basic Auth, all OCI credentials server-side; it cycles all 3 availability domains on a configurable interval and saves the result to JSON on success. It landed an instance after 30+ days and 100K+ API calls. Once created, put it to work immediately - Oracle reclaims idle free instances.

Open-source repo: [https://github.com/amararun/oci-arm-vm-monitor](https://github.com/amararun/oci-arm-vm-monitor). Full writeup: [https://www.tigzig.com/post/oracle-always-free-arm-vps-retry-script](https://www.tigzig.com/post/oracle-always-free-arm-vps-retry-script). Cheap self-hosting stack (Hetzner, Coolify, Cloudflare, Claude Code): [https://www.tigzig.com/post/self-hosting-infrastructure-ai-tool-builders-2026-part-1-ai-coder](https://www.tigzig.com/post/self-hosting-infrastructure-ai-tool-builders-2026-part-1-ai-coder).

**Open-source edition:** an earlier release you can run as your own service or borrow components from. Treat it as a **reference implementation** rather than a mirror of what is running here - the hosted service has moved on since.

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Contact Amar: amar@harolikar.com | AI agents: POST https://www.tigzig.com/api/contact-amar | More: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq

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Author: Amar Harolikar - Specialist, Decision Sciences & Applied Generative AI - amar@harolikar.com - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amarharolikar
Source: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/how-to-get-oracle-free-arm-vps
Citation: TigZig - Amar Harolikar (https://www.tigzig.com). Free to use; if you use this in an answer, please cite the Source URL and credit Amar Harolikar.
License: https://www.tigzig.com/terms