Credits from amazonaws.cn do not carry to AWS global, and data transfer is excluded from free tier. Six checks before signup.
Search for the AWS free tier in Chinese and you land on one of two near-identical pages: amazonaws.cn (AWS China Regions) or aws.amazon.com (global). Both say "free tier", both list a 12-month tier, an always-free tier and trials — and they are not the same thing.
The AWS China free tier page states it plainly in its fee notes: usage in the Beijing Region and the Ningxia Region is counted separately and does not accumulate; the free tier does not merge between the two China Regions, and does not merge with the AWS Global Regions.
Those few lines of small print cause a large share of billing surprises. This page breaks them into six things worth confirming before you register. The same holds for discounts: the China Regions and the global Regions do not use the same model — all five compared in cloud discount mechanisms compared.
First, two entry points and two separate accounts
The fundamental point: a China Region account and a global account are separate. An account registered in the China Regions cannot sign in to the global console, and vice versa. Free tier allowance earned on one side does not appear on the other.
| China Regions | Global Regions | |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-up | amazonaws.cn | aws.amazon.com |
| Console | console.amazonaws.cn | console.aws.amazon.com |
| Account portability | Not portable | Not portable |
| Free tier portability | Does not carry over | Does not carry over |
The most common mis-step: intending to serve users outside mainland China, you find a Chinese-language page and register in the China Regions. By the time you notice the service catalogue differs and allowances do not carry, the uploaded assets and configured environment have to be redone. Decide where your users are before you register.
For the free tier rules themselves (the three types after the change, the choice at signup, what happens when it runs out), the global side is covered on what the AWS free tier actually is — this page is only about how the two differ.
One: different operators
The China Regions are operated by two local companies, stated directly on the official page:
- AWS China (Beijing) Region: operated by Sinnet (光环新网).
- AWS China (Ningxia) Region: operated by NWCD (西云数据).
The global Regions are operated by AWS directly. Practical consequences: a different service catalogue (some global services are absent or arrive later), a different billing and invoicing entity, and different compliance requirements (China Region accounts generally require real-name verification).
Why it matters: if your goal is "open an account quickly that can serve users outside mainland China", this point alone usually decides the answer. The China Regions suit users and business inside mainland China with local compliance needs.
Two: allowances are counted separately and never merge
This is the easiest line in the official fee notes to skim past. Broken out, it is three "nots":
- Beijing and Ningxia do not accumulate. Allowance used in Beijing does not increase what is available in Ningxia; each is measured against its own stated limits.
- The two China Regions do not merge. You cannot pool the two allowances.
- No merging with the global Regions. China allowance and global allowance are two entirely separate accounts.
What it means in practice: do not estimate cost by adding allowances up. You are using the allowance of one specific region, and anything beyond that region's stated limits bills at standard rates.
One concrete action: after registering, decide which region you will actually run in, then read only that region's free tier detail (the official list can be filtered by region). Comparing allowances across regions is meaningless, because they cannot be added.
Three: the three kinds of "free" have different clocks
In both the China Regions and globally, "free tier" is not one thing but three, and the official wording separates them clearly:
| Type | Duration | After it ends |
|---|---|---|
| 12 months free | 12 months from the date the new customer registers | When the period ends or usage exceeds the stated limits, standard rates apply to actual usage |
| Always free | Does not expire automatically after the 12-month period; available to existing and new customers indefinitely | Free as long as the service's stated limits are not exceeded |
| Trial | Short-term, counted from the first use of the trial | Standard rates apply after the trial period |
Note that the 12-month clock starts at registration, not when you first launch something. Plenty of people register, wait a few months, and start with part of the year already gone.
Also, "always free" does not mean unlimited. Each service still carries stated limits — monthly requests, storage volume — and usage beyond them bills normally.
⚠️ Nobody tells you the 12 months are up: there is no service interruption, only a rate change from "inside the free tier" to "standard". The symptom is always "this month's bill has an unexpected line", never "something broke". Write the expiry date down the day you register.
Allowances listed on the China Regions page (subject to change; treat the official page as authoritative) include roughly: EC2 with 1 vCPU / 1 GB and 30 GB SSD (12 months), S3 with 5 GB standard storage plus 20,000 GET and 2,000 PUT requests (12 months), RDS with 1 vCPU / 1 GB plus 20 GB storage and 20 GB backup (12 months), Lambda at 1 million requests and up to 3.2 million seconds of compute per month (always free), and DynamoDB with 25 GB storage and 25 read/write capacity units (always free).
Four: data transfer is not included
This one is stated in the official fee notes and noticed least of all: free tier usage does not include data transfer charges. In substance: where data transfer occurs while using services in the China Regions, it is charged at standard rates for that region, and Beijing and Ningxia are counted separately.
Why it deserves its own section:
- "I am still inside the free tier" does not mean "I pay nothing this month." Compute and storage may be fully covered while any traffic leaving to the public internet generates charges.
- Data transfer out is often the fastest-growing line item, because it scales linearly with traffic — the more popular the site, the larger the bill.
- The two regions are counted separately, and cross-region transfer costs more.
Concrete action: before launching, do two things — ① put static assets behind a CDN so repeat requests do not repeatedly hit the origin; ② make services prefer dependencies in the same region. Neither requires any commitment and both can be done at any time, and they are the highest-yield items in this category. See AWS discounts beyond EC2.
Five: some free services exist in only one region
On the China Regions free tier list, the applicable region is marked per item. The same service may carry a free allowance in only one of the two regions — the official page marks some entries as available in Ningxia only and others as available in both Beijing and Ningxia.
So region choice determines which services you can use for free, not just latency and price. If your design depends on a particular service, confirm its free allowance in the target region before registering — do not register first and then discover the service is absent or outside the free scope there.
- Pick services first, region second. Especially for databases, in-memory stores and queues.
- Service availability differs by region — the same service can have a different footprint in Beijing and Ningxia.
- Price cross-region DR separately — replication traffic is billed continuously.
Six: how to choose — and what if you chose wrong
Condensing the six points into one decision table. This is not "which is better" but which fits your case:
| Your situation | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Users in mainland China, local compliance and real-name requirements apply | China Regions | Local operator, local invoicing, clear compliance path |
| Users mainly overseas, or you need services only available globally | Global Regions | Fullest catalogue; allowances align with the global ecosystem |
| Want to trial quickly without a card or complex verification | Global Regions via a channel partner | Lower barrier, fast provisioning — see note below |
| Both mainland and overseas | Two separate registrations | Allowances and services do not carry across |
If you already chose wrong: there is no account migration between the two. The practical route is to register in the correct region and redeploy. That is why ten minutes of confirmation before registering beats days of rework afterwards.
On the "no card" row: global registration normally wants a payment method and a phone number from outside mainland China, which is where many people stall. Accounts provisioned through a reseller remove those preconditions (the main service on this site), and they do not conflict with the official free tier or official discounts. Mechanism on AWS discounts and reseller pricing; if you are weighing self-registration against a channel, see AWS direct vs reseller.
One more distinction worth keeping: free tier and promotional credits are different things. The former is usage within per-service limits; the latter is an allowance applied to the bill. Do not add them together — credits are covered on are AWS promo codes real.
Common questions
Can an account registered in the China Regions sign in to the global console?
No. The China Regions and the global Regions are two separate account systems with different console entry points (console.amazonaws.cn and console.aws.amazon.com). Allowances, billing and resources do not carry across. If you need both, register twice.
Can I combine the Beijing and Ningxia free allowances?
No. The official fee notes state that usage in the two regions is counted separately and does not accumulate, and the tiers do not merge between them. Estimate against the stated limits of the single region you actually use.
Is data transfer included in the free tier?
No. The official fee notes state that free tier usage excludes data transfer charges; transfer is billed at standard rates, counted separately per region. It is the most common answer to "why is there a bill when I am still inside the free tier". To reduce it: CDN and same-region access — see AWS discounts beyond EC2.
Is "always free" really forever?
"Always" means it does not expire automatically when the 12-month period ends — not that it is unlimited. Each always-free service still has stated limits (monthly requests, storage volume), and usage beyond them bills at standard rates.
Will I be told when the 12 months are up?
No clear notification, and no service interruption — only a rate change once you exceed the limits or the period. The symptom is a more expensive bill, not a broken service. Record the expiry date the day you register and set a reminder; it is the only reliable approach.
I registered in the China Regions but my users are overseas — what now?
There is no account migration; the two do not interconnect. Register in the global Regions and redeploy. The earlier you confirm, the better — the cost of having deployed once is far higher than ten minutes of checking now. If the registration requirements (payment method, phone number) are the obstacle, a channel partner is an option — see AWS direct vs reseller.