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Hello, That second link is the information I referred to above when I said I was researching before I started. On hat link it mentions Amazon WorkSpaces. Third Column says "Free Tier Offer Details" then Free Trial for up to 50 users. Well reading that I assume, 1. I am signed up for Free Tier, 2. I am testing on my own at the moment so under 50 users and I am a new WorkSpace customer. The Standard Offer should suffice for my testing purposes. So how does this not check off that I could spin something up at no charge. When clicking the link for Amazon WorkSpace Pricing, scroll down to Free Tier and it says WorkSpaces Personal. This is exactly what I setup and chose the Standard option.
Just saying, after following the links and reading the details for WorkSpaces, I followed exactly what was mentioned and still got charged. That's what I am talking about experience... I didn't do anything more than what I needed for testing purposes, try to utilize the free options to test if this is a good solution and get charged for a services that says free trial.
I apologize for the confusion you're experiencing with AWS WorkSpaces and the Free Tier. Let me clarify the situation for you.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a misunderstanding about AWS WorkSpaces and the Free Tier. While AWS does offer a Free Tier for many services, WorkSpaces is not typically included in the standard Free Tier offerings. The Free Tier generally includes services like EC2, S3, and RDS, but not WorkSpaces.
AWS WorkSpaces is a managed, secure Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution that usually incurs charges as soon as you provision a WorkSpace, even if it's for testing purposes. This is because WorkSpaces are fully provisioned virtual desktops that consume resources immediately upon creation.
However, AWS does occasionally offer promotional periods or limited-time trials for WorkSpaces, but these are separate from the standard Free Tier and are not always available.
For testing purposes, AWS recommends using their WorkSpaces free trial when it's available. This trial typically allows you to run up to two Standard bundle WorkSpaces for a limited time (often 30 days) at no charge. However, this trial is not part of the regular Free Tier and may not always be available.
Given that you've already deleted the Directory and WorkSpace, you've taken the right steps to prevent further charges. For future testing, I would recommend:
- Check if there's a current WorkSpaces free trial available before provisioning.
- If no free trial is available, carefully review the pricing for WorkSpaces and estimate costs before creating any resources.
- Consider using other Free Tier eligible services like EC2 instances for initial testing if your use case allows.
If you need to test WorkSpaces specifically for your team and there's no free trial available, you may need to accept some charges for the testing period. Always monitor your billing dashboard closely when testing new services.
For a cost-effective way to test AWS services for your company, focus on the services that are included in the Free Tier, and reach out to AWS support or your account manager for guidance on testing paid services like WorkSpaces in a controlled, cost-effective manner.
Sources
Trying services using AWS Free Tier - AWS Billing
Using the Free Tier API - AWS Billing
Check your AWS Free Tier usage programmatically with a new API | AWS News Blog
Thank you for the quick reply. As a new user in this space and signing up for the Free Tier, you should really indicate what is included when setting things up and some kind of notification that the service(s) select are not part of the Free Tier. With this not being easily pointed out, I am not left with a good experience with AWS. How soon will I be able to pay these charges so I can disconnect once complete. I will most likely need to move to other resources this is has not been a pleasant experience.
Items in scope of Free Tier are here https://aws.amazon.com/free/
End User Computing offers in Free Tier are here https://aws.amazon.com/free/euc/
You'll notice that, on that second link, there's a Free Trial offer for Workspaces, which is not exactly analogous to Free Tier but may be useful for your use case.
If you feel you have been erroneously billed or you wish for charges to be waived, you can log a billing support call at https://support.console.aws.amazon.com/support/home#/case/create?issueType=customer-service
- Type: Account and billing
- Service: Billing
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Have you actually received an invoice with a non-zero amount on the bottom line, and that amount has been taken from your payment method (usually a credit card)? Or are you seeing an amount in the Cost and usage section of the AWS Console home screen, and/or the current month's billing in the billing section?
It can be the case that you see a non-zero amount here during the month, but at month-end, when your invoice is generated, any credits and other promotions may be applied before arriving at the final figure.
But if you are still concerned, your best option is to raise a billing support case and explain your situation in the same detail as you have here. AWS Billing has the ability to waive or reverse any charges, whereas AWS re:Post is a community forum which doesn't have access to the billing section of your AWS account.