Lightsail Instance gone rogue?

Hi,

Lightsail instances in the stopped state continue to count towards Lightsail's free trial usage and accrue charges (when beyond free trial). If you no longer need the instances please delete them.

And the free trial includes 750 hours of usage for the eligible bundle sizes across the total number of instances you have (not 750 hours per instance).

Please refer our FAQ here and here for more details.

Thanks.

Based on the information you've provided, it seems you're experiencing a discrepancy between what you're seeing in your Lightsail console and the actual usage being reported by AWS. This situation can occur for a few reasons:

1. Stopped vs. Deleted: It's important to note that "stopped" instances in Lightsail are different from "deleted" instances. Stopped instances still consume some resources and count towards your Free Tier usage, even though they're not actively running. Only terminated instances stop accruing charges.
2. Free trial usage is cumulative: All 6 instances you have if of the free trial eligible bundle size (or plan size) together count towards the 750 hours of usage per month that the free trial includes and it isn't instead 750 hours per instance.

To address this issue:

3. Consider deleting instances you no longer need instead of just stopping them to ensure you're not accruing any charges.

4. Confirm all the instances' total lifetime all put together matches what is reported in the billing usage.

5. Monitor your usage closely over the next few days to see if the reported usage aligns with your expectations.

6. Continue with your plan to contact AWS customer service as they can provide more detailed information about your account's usage and help resolve any discrepancies.

Remember, the Free Tier has limits, and it's possible to exceed them even with stopped instances if you're not careful. Always monitor your usage and delete (or terminate) resources you're not actively using to avoid unexpected charges.

Sources
Force stop stuck Lightsail instances - Amazon Lightsail
Start, stop, or restart your Lightsail instance - Amazon Lightsail
RDS still 18G available but exceeded 85% of the usage limit for one or more AWS Free Tier-eligible services for the month | AWS re:Post