Hosts a WordPress site on Oracle PAYG using only free-tier resources, with weekly boot volume backups.
75signal
201reviewsi
A score out of 100. Negative and mixed reviews take points off, and so does having only a few reviews, so a handful of glowing reviews can’t beat a product many people like.
52% Positive12%36% Negative
Generous free tier for small servers, but free instances can be hard to get or vanish unannounced.
What customers love, and what they don’tWhat customers noticed
Customer reviews (201)
Add your reviewShowing 49 reviews mentioning reliable Show all
Left a free ARM instance idle for over a year after a Minecraft server and it was never terminated.
More than a year on the free tier, never charged and rock solid, though they now keep serious off-site backups.
Has run a free-tier VM with a Minecraft server and side projects for about two years without issues, apart from a Next.js exploit that planted a crypto miner.
Three years on Oracle's free tier hosting Uptime Kuma and beszel; paid the refundable verification so servers aren't deleted.
Very stable Oracle Ampere instances for 2+ years after converting to pay-as-you-go; better than Google's free tier.
Three years on Oracle's Always Free Arm instance with no gotchas, though they had to upgrade to a paid account to provision.
Two years with 4 free ARM and x86 instances and no problems, though speed from Vancouver to Toronto isn't great.
Has used Oracle's free ARM VM for a couple of years and finds it very stable.
Five years on Oracle free tier with no issues or downtime.
A free ARM instance has idled for three years, used only for the occasional VPN, without being terminated.
Uses an OCI instance with Pangolin tunneling to their home network and says it works flawlessly.
Two x86 free-tier instances more than five years old run 24/7, plus an Ampere one added about six months ago.
Same Ubuntu install on the free instance for almost four years, upgraded from 22.04 to 24.04 LTS, pretty solid.
Rock solid for four years after converting to PAYG, advising picking a home region with Ampere availability.
Has hosted a Minecraft server on the free tier for about three years without ever being charged.
Runs Pangolin and Netbird on it for a year and a half with no problems.
Two free servers split the resources, no issues for a few years, only about 8 cents a month for S3 overage.
Rock solid for a few years, amazing if the workload runs on ARM.
More than six months on the free tier and solid.
About five years on the free tier with no issues.
Over a year using it as a TCP proxy to a home Traefik via Tailscale with few issues; getting an instance is the hard part.
From New Zealand, uses the Australian region for non-streaming workloads and a CGNAT workaround, and it works fantastically.
Runs 2 Debian VMs on Oracle's free tier for years without problems.
Uses Oracle's free VM for Tailscale VPN and occasional heavy tasks with no catches.
Minecraft server, WireGuard and proxy on Oracle's free tier for over 4 years with no problems.
Finds OCI very good in the Sydney and Melbourne regions, with adequate tooling and support.
Converted the free instance to pay-as-you-go three years ago; about $1.10 a month and no issues at all.
Four years on a PAYG free-tier instance with no issues; runs Minecraft and a reverse proxy.
Runs availability monitoring and jumphost apps on Oracle Cloud's free tier with no issues despite restrictive networking.
Common questions about Oracle Cloud
What do customers say about Oracle Cloud?
Most customers run small servers on its generous free tier and report stable, trouble-free use, some for years. The main risk is that free instances can be hard to obtain, flagged idle or removed without warning. It suits hobby projects, not anything critical.
Is Oracle Cloud worth it?
Of the 120 reviews with a clear verdict, 53% are positive, 12% mixed and 36% negative. The praise mentioned most is reliable. The most common complaint is poor support.
What do people like about Oracle Cloud?
The praise reviewers mention most: reliable (51 reviews), good free plan (36 reviews) and great value (7 reviews). For example: Two x86 free-tier instances more than five years old run 24/7, plus an Ampere one added about six months ago.
What are the most common complaints about Oracle Cloud?
The complaints reviewers mention most: poor support (13 reviews), slow (5 reviews) and surprise bill (3 reviews). For example: Their account, even on PAYG, was closed with no warning and support was too convoluted to recover the servers.
What does the signal score of 75 mean?
It's how well reviewed Oracle Cloud is, out of 100. Negative and mixed reviews take points off, and so does having only a few reviews: a service needs plenty of them, compared with the most-reviewed services here, to reach the high 80s and 90s. It's worked out from reviews only, needs at least 5 of them, and updates as new ones come in.
What are the specs of Oracle Cloud?
Category: Cloud platform. Free plan: Yes.
Where do these Oracle Cloud reviews come from?
201 are quotes from Reddit, each linked to the original. Customer reviews are checked for spam before they appear. Every review, written here or quoted, is read as positive, mixed or negative.
