AWS - How my single EC2 micro instance can cross 750 hour limit?

Question

I am new to AWS, my site is up and running since three weeks. While my billing shows:

Service      Month-to-date   actual usage   Month-end    forecasted usage   Free Tier usage limit
EC2 -Linux   750.00 Hrs      100.00%        930.00 Hrs   124.00%            750 Hrs

Also Amazon site states that:

750 hours of Amazon EC2 Linux t2.micro instance usage (1 GiB of memory and 32-bit and 64-bit platform support) – enough hours to run continuously each month*

While there can be maximum 31*24 = 744 hours in a month, so how can my single EC2 instance exceed the limit just in three weeks in terms of number of hours? Would appreciate any help to make me understand.

thank you.

Answer 1

The AWS Free Usage Tier provides particular services for free during the first 12 months of an AWS account.

Full details are available at: https://aws.amazon.com/free/

The free tier for Amazon EC2 provides 750 hours per month for a t2.micro Linux instance and 750 hours per month for a t2.micro Windows instance (but make sure you choose an AMI that is "free tier eligible").

These hours can be used by one instance running for the full month (31 days * 24 hours = 744 hours) or by multiple Amazon EC2 instances used during the month. Any hours in excess of the free tier will be charged at On-Demand prices (unless a Reserved Instance applies, or an instance is launched as a Spot instance).

If you have used more than 750 hours in a month, it would be because more than one instance was running. This includes instances running across all regions, so check whether instances have been run in other regions.

The AWS billing pages can provide details about which services have been used, and also provide a breakdown of usage of the Free Usage Tier.