Oracle's Always Free ARM Limits Just Got Slashed

Urgent Action Required: Resolve your configuration before August 18, 2026, to avoid automatic termination.

Oracle has quietly announced a significant reduction in its "Always Free" ARM resource allocation. If you are currently utilizing Ampere A1 instances that exceed the new thresholds, you must adjust your setup before the enforcement date of August 18, 2026.

📉 What Exactly Changed?

Previously, Oracle provided a very generous allowance for ARM-based compute. That window is closing. The limits are being cut exactly in half.

Resource	~~Old Limit~~	New Limit (Enforced Aug 18, 2026)
ARM (Ampere A1) OCPU	~~Up to 4 OCPUs~~	Up to 2 OCPUs
ARM Memory	~~Up to 24 GB~~	Up to 12 GB
x86 Micro Instances	2 $\times$ 1 OCPU / 1 GB	2 $\times$ 1 OCPU / 1 GB (No Change)
Other Free Services	Available	Remain Available

⚠️ The "Pool" Concept

It is critical to understand that the ARM limit is a tenancy-wide pool, not a per-instance limit. This means the total sum of all your ARM instances must fit within the following equation:

$\sum \text{OCPUs} \le 2 \quad \text{and} \quad \sum \text{RAM} \le 12\text{GB}$

You can distribute this as one large instance ( $2\text{ OCPU} / 12\text{GB}$ ) or two smaller ones ( $1\text{ OCPU} / 6\text{GB}$ each), but exceeding the total will trigger termination.

❓ Why is this happening?

While Oracle hasn't provided an official explanation in their communications, it's widely assumed to be a matter of capacity management and curbing abuse. The original tier was an outlier in the industry—essentially "too good to be true"—and Oracle is now normalizing it.

🛠️ Your Action Plan: Choose Your Scenario

Depending on your current setup, follow the corresponding path below:

Scenario A: You have one large 4 OCPU / 24 GB instance

This is the simplest fix. You just need to downsize.

Navigate to Compute $\rightarrow$ Instances.
Select your instance $\rightarrow$ More Actions $\rightarrow$ Edit.
Adjust the OCPU to 2 and Memory to 12 GB.
Save changes.

Pro Tip: Always create a boot volume snapshot before resizing. While usually seamless, any shape change carries a small risk.

Scenario B: You have multiple ARM instances (e.g., two 2/12 instances)

If you have two instances that each use 2 OCPUs and 12 GB, you are currently at $4\text{ OCPUs} / 24\text{GB}$ , which is double the new limit.

The Fix: You must consolidate. Snapshot the instance you intend to delete, migrate the essential data to the surviving instance (or move it to Object Storage), and then terminate the redundant instance.

Scenario C: You only use the x86 micro instances

No action is required. The Intel/AMD micro instances are governed by a separate allowance and are not affected by this ARM-specific cut.

Decision Logic Flow

🚫 Common Pitfalls to Avoid

The "Stop" Fallacy: Simply stopping an instance does not remove it from your resource allocation. To lower your pool usage, you must Terminate the instance.
Procrastination: The OCI Console often becomes sluggish or buggy when thousands of users try to resize instances right before a deadline.
Data Loss: Once Oracle terminates an instance for exceeding limits, the boot volume is typically deleted. There is no undo button.

If you need to back up your data via CLI before terminating, you might use a command like:

# Example: Syncing data to a remote backup server
rsync -avz /home/ubuntu/data/ backup-user@remote-server:/backups/oracle-arm/

✅ Pre-Deadline Checklist

Review Limits, Quotas and Usage in the OCI Console.
Create snapshots of all critical ARM boot volumes.
Resize or terminate instances to fit the $2\text{ OCPU} / 12\text{GB}$ limit.
Verify that the "Always Free" label is still active on remaining instances.

🏁 The Bottom Line

The era of the massive free ARM tier is over. You have until August 18, 2026, to shrink your footprint. If you fail to do so, Oracle will handle the "shrinking" for you by deleting your instances.

"Free is the most expensive."

If your business relies on these servers for critical operations, this is a wake-up call. Relying on a free tier for production is a risk. For stability and guaranteed uptime, consider transitioning to a paid provider, such as Hostgator.