This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by HieuVu
About Me
Hi! I’m Hieu Vu, an Infrastructure/Cloud Architect/DevOps with over 3.5 years of experience in software development and cloud systems.
I’m an AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, and I am a cloud instructor too 
. This blog series, ’30 Days to AWS SAA,’ is meant to guide you through the essentials of AWS in a hands-on, structured way.
Let’s begin with Day 0: setting up your Free Plan AWS account.
Introduction
Are you starting your cloud journey? Before we dive into IAM, EC2, or S3… Let’s begin with the most important first step — creating your AWS Free Plan account.
This guide walks you through every step of setting up your account and getting ready for hands-on AWS learning.
What is AWS Free Plan?
According to AWS, they have provided a Free Plan so new users can explore cloud services as follows:
Free Plan
Experience AWS for up to 6 months without cost or commitment
Receive up to $200 USD in credits ($100 available upon sign-up and the other $100 earned by completing activities.)
Workloads scale beyond credit thresholds
- For more information, please refer to https://aws.amazon.com/free
What You Need
Before signing up, prepare:
- A valid email address
- A credit/debit card (even for free accounts)
- A phone number (for SMS verification)
Step-by-Step: Create Your AWS Account
Step 1: Go to [https://signin.aws.amazon.com/signup?request_type=register]
Step 2: Enter your email and set your AWS account name:
Step 3: Verify email address:
- Please check your mailbox thoroughly, you will see the code appear.
Step 4: Enter your root password account – Your AWS master password!
- You will need a strong password for this.
Step 5: Choose your account plan, we will choose free plan here:
Step 6: Next, you will need to fill in your contact information for this account – For this part, I will use personal account. (If you use your work email, consider business account)
Step 7: Next, we will need to provide our billing information:
- Here we need to provide our debit/ credit card information.
Step 8: We will need to perform phone verification now:
- Please provide your contact phone here.
- We can choose SMS/ Voice call.
- If SMS not working, you should try voice call.
Step 9: After phone verification, we will see this confirmation screen.
Step 10: Check your email inbox – Don’t forget to check spam folder also, you will see this confirmation email after a while:
Common Issues and Fixes
Issue: Card declined.
Solution: Use a debit/credit card with online transactions enabled.Issue: Phone verification failed.
Solution: Try voice call instead of SMS.Issue: Account pending.
Solution: Wait 30–60 mins; check spam folder for confirmation email.Issue: Old customer detected by Amazon, you will see this popup
Solution: You can try to create a new account again, this time using different billing & customer information (Other email & Other card).
What’s Next?
In Day 1, we’ll explore AWS activity so that you can get full 200$ credit from AWS.
Want to follow along for the next 30 days? Bookmark this blog and follow me for Day 1: AWS Activities & Claiming $200 Credit
Resources
AWS Free Tier Page – https://aws.amazon.com/free
AWS Console – https://console.aws.amazon.com/
Final Thoughts
Creating an AWS account may seem simple, but it’s the first gate toward mastering cloud computing.
Did you face any issues setting up your account? Let me know in the comments below or message me — I’m happy to help.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by HieuVu