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The USD 200 credit on a new Pay-As-You-Go account is a 30-day trial, and it is spent on billed services rather than held as a free tier.","limits":[{"kind":"volume-quota","value":"USD 200 of usage over 30 days","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/free"}],"limits_note":"the card is required before the balance is usable, and no catalog Free plan is a virtual server","binding":"volume-quota","binding_note":"the 30-day window ends the USD 200; the card is required before the balance is usable","identity_cost":{"kind":"card","detail":"card required to create the account; a temporary verification hold is reversed within 24 to 72 hours, and its amount is not published on the account FAQ; debit accepted only if it is a Visa or Mastercard and not a disposable or one-time-use number, so virtual and prepaid-style cards are refused; email first, then card","country":null},"reliability_note":"no reliability event recorded","confidence":"documented","evidence":[{"url":"https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/account?topic=account-accounts","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"docs last updated 2026-04-17: registration produces a Pay-As-You-Go account with a credit card required for identity verification; Lite accounts are only those created before 25 October 2021, quoted"},{"url":"https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/account?topic=account-accounts","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"the only card-free account is a Trial, which requires institution credentials via ibm.biz/academic and expires after 30 days"},{"url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/free","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"vendor states a nominal hold of typically about USD 1.00 is placed on the card, and Lite service instances are deleted after 30 days of no development activity"},{"url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/free","date":"2026-10-23","proved":"'You get credit for your first USD 200 of apps and services on us. 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This credit card hold is reversed within 24 to 72 hours.'"}],"verdict":"trial-only","verified_at":"2026-10-24T03:21:02.824Z","notes":"This record refutes the claim that IBM Cloud offers a free account with no card and no end date: registration produces a Pay-As-You-Go account with a card, and the Lite accounts described in old tutorials are only those created before 2021-10-25. The free balance is USD 200 for 30 days. The academic trial remains the institution door. The account FAQ publishes no amount, only the 24-to-72-hour reversal, so the USD 1.00 figure is not confirmed here and is left as a dash. 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A 12-month 70% discount is a trial by another name, so the verdict moves to trial-only and the expiry is recorded","evidence":[{"url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/virtual-servers/pricing","date":"2026-10-02","proved":null},{"url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/virtual-servers/pricing","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"'IBM Cloud VPC - 70% off for 12 months. Only valid for new IBM Cloud VPC clients', covering 'Virtual Server Instances (VSI), Block Storage, and File Storage', with 'Expires 31 December 2026', quoted"}],"verdict":"trial-only","verified_at":"2026-10-22T04:47:10.618Z","price_per_tb_month":null,"notes":"","extras":{"keep_rate":1.0,"keep_rate_basis":null,"billing_model":"unclassified","shape":null,"session_cap":{"wall_clock_min":null,"idle_reap_s":null,"restart_required":false,"note":"an instance bills while it exists; the discount is the clock, not a machine"},"persistent_storage":null,"network_out":null,"price_note":null,"free_tier_kind":"trial","granularity":{"min_billed_s":0,"rounding_s":null},"burst_x":1.0,"ps":{"gib":null,"price":"block and file storage are included in the same 70% discount","durability":"block or file storage","on_stop":true,"on_destroy":false,"retention":"while the volume exists"},"net":{"out":true,"in":true,"ports":"any","static_ip":true,"ipv6":true,"allowance":"up to 80 Gbps across general-purpose profiles"}},"binding":"retention-clamped"},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier","kind":"has-free-tier","num":0.0,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:request-rate","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"},{"path":"$.limits[1].value","kind":"limit:retention-clamped","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"}],"unknown":[["$.chaining","not-stated"],["$.egress.metered","egress-unknown"],["$.egress.terms","not-stated"],["$.evidence[0].proved","process"],["$.extras.keep_rate_basis","process"],["$.extras.price_note","process"],["$.identity_cost.detail","defaulted"],["$.identity_cost.kind","identity-defaulted"],["$.interface","interface-unknown"],["$.interface_detail","withheld"],["$.limits_note","not-stated"],["$.per_object_cap.notes","process"],["$.per_object_cap.stated","not-stated"],["$.reliability_note","none-observed"],["$.retention.notes","not-extracted"],["$.retention.stated","not-stated"],["$.tooling","not-stated"]],"history":[],"drift":[]},{"rid":"egress/ibm-cloud","card":{"rid":"egress/ibm-cloud","eid":"ibm","topic":"egress","slug":"ibm-cloud","provider":"IBM Cloud","url":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud/free","domain":"ibm.com","category":"trial credit (provider VM)","tier":"free","verdict":"trial-only","vorder":2,"grp":"trial","self_hosted":0,"confidence":"unverified","binding":"volume-quota","identity_kind":"card","identity_basis":"stated","needs_card":1,"needs_phone":0,"needs_id":0,"needs_institution":0,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":"cli,rest","egress_metered":0,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-04T06:52:57.445Z","verified_basis":"live","checked_on":"2026-11-04","stale_on":"2026-11-19","n_evidence":3,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"To receive the USD 200 credit, you first need to upgrade to a Pay-as-you-go account ... Your promotional credit of USD 200 is automatically applied but might...","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":2,"free_unit":"mixed"},"record":{"topic":"egress","slug":"ibm-cloud","provider":"IBM Cloud","url":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud/free","category":"trial credit (provider VM)","tier":"free","free_tier":{"stated":"To receive the USD 200 credit, you first need to upgrade to a Pay-as-you-go account ... Your promotional credit of USD 200 is automatically applied but might take a few hours to appear in your account. The credit is available for first-time Pay-as-you-go accounts only.","unit":"mixed","metered_on":"downloaded-bytes","source_url":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud/free","read_on":"2026-10-23","notes":""},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"not applicable","bytes":null,"source_url":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud/free","notes":""},"retention":{"stated":"not applicable","days":null,"source_url":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud/free","notes":""},"egress":{"terms":"USD 200 of credit; the egress rate it is spent against was not read, so the TB it buys is not established; ingress: udp","metered":false,"free_allowance":"none published","price_per_tb":null,"source_url":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud/free"},"interface":["cli","rest"],"interface_detail":"the IBM Cloud CLI and the VPC API","tooling":"wg-quick on the VPC instance; the IBM Cloud CLI","chaining":"a 200 dollar credit that could pay for a VPC instance and its egress, if the rate and expiry turn out to be workable","limits":[{"kind":"volume-quota","value":"USD 200 of credit, expiry unstated on the page read","source":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud/free"}],"limits_note":"","binding":"volume-quota","binding_note":"the credit is the only allowance named, and neither its expiry nor the egress rate it buys was readable on the page, so what fails first at 1 TiB a month is unestablished rather than known.","identity_cost":{"kind":"card","detail":"Payment details are required up front ... there will be a nominal hold placed on your card to verify its authenticity ... typically around USD 1.00.","country":"None"},"reliability_note":"Lite-plan service instances are deleted after 30 days without development activity","confidence":"unverified","confidence_note":"the credit amount is documented but the two numbers the arithmetic needs, the expiry and the per-GB egress rate, were not on the page and the promo-code documentation returned HTTP 500.","evidence":[{"url":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud/free","date":"2026-10-23","proved":"'Your promotional credit of USD 200 is automatically applied', 'The credit is available for first-time Pay-as-you-go accounts only', 'Payment details are required up front'"},{"url":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud/free","date":"2026-10-23","proved":"'After 30 days of no development activity, your service instances with Lite plans are deleted', the reliability note for anything left running"},{"url":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud/free","date":"2026-11-04","proved":"a card is required at sign-up","capture":"sha256:c4b919eacb52997a3436c23a556093034d5a041370b191551c2f0315b2aea2ed","quote":"Payment details are required up front, but you won’t be charged until you consume a billable service; however, there will be a nominal hold placed on your card to verify its authenticity."}],"verdict":"trial-only","verified_at":"2026-11-04T06:52:57.445Z","price_per_tb_month":"USD 200 of credit","notes":"Arithmetic is blocked on the egress rate. The credit is real and documented at USD 200, but a credit whose expiry is unstated and whose spend rate is unread cannot be converted to TiB, and inventing either number would be worse than the gap. The 40 Lite-plan products are always free and include no VM with a public IP, and the academic trial needs an accredited institution. Left open: the expiry, which IBM's own promo documentation holds; that page could not be read.","extras":{"wg_path":"native-conf","wg_detail":"a VPC virtual server instance with a floating IP; wg-quick binds UDP on the instance","ingress":"udp","volume_tib_month":null,"volume_stated":"USD 200 of credit; the egress rate it is spent against was not read, so the TB it buys is not established","bytes_transit":"yes","transit_note":"outbound bytes cross IBM's network and are metered against the pay-as-you-go account the credit sits on"}},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier","kind":"has-free-tier","num":1.0,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":200.0,"unit":"credit","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:volume-quota","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"},{"path":"$.price_per_tb_month","kind":"price","num":200.0,"unit":"credit","per":null,"currency":"USD","usd":200.0,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"}],"unknown":[["$.per_object_cap.stated","not-applicable"],["$.retention.stated","not-applicable"]],"history":[],"drift":[]},{"rid":"storage/ibm-aspera-on-cloud","card":{"rid":"storage/ibm-aspera-on-cloud","eid":"ibm","topic":"storage","slug":"ibm-aspera-on-cloud","provider":"ibm aspera on cloud","url":"https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/aspera-on-cloud?topic=started-try-aspera-cloud-free","domain":"ibm.com","category":"rejected-provider","tier":null,"verdict":"fails-quota","vorder":6,"grp":"rejected","self_hosted":0,"confidence":"reported","binding":"none","identity_kind":"email","identity_basis":"defaulted","needs_card":null,"needs_phone":null,"needs_id":null,"needs_institution":null,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":null,"egress_metered":0,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z","verified_basis":"inherited","checked_on":"2026-10-21","stale_on":"2026-11-05","n_evidence":1,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"Trial only and small: 30 days OR 50 GB of transfer volume, whichever comes first, and package sending to external users is disabled during the trial. FASP's ...","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":16,"free_unit":"none"},"record":{"topic":"storage","slug":"ibm-aspera-on-cloud","provider":"ibm aspera on cloud","url":"https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/aspera-on-cloud?topic=started-try-aspera-cloud-free","category":"rejected-provider","free_tier":{"stated":"Trial only and small: 30 days OR 50 GB of transfer volume, whichever comes first, and package sending to external users is disabled during the trial. FASP's speed advantage is real but…","unit":"none","metered_on":"none","source_url":"https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/aspera-on-cloud?topic=started-try-aspera-cloud-free","read_on":"2026-10-21","notes":null},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"not recorded","bytes":null,"source_url":"https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/aspera-on-cloud?topic=started-try-aspera-cloud-free","notes":"not recorded"},"retention":{"stated":"not recorded","days":null,"source_url":"https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/aspera-on-cloud?topic=started-try-aspera-cloud-free","notes":null},"egress":{"terms":"not recorded","metered":false},"interface":["unknown"],"interface_detail":null,"tooling":"not recorded","chaining":"not recorded","limits":[],"limits_note":null,"identity_cost":{"kind":"email","detail":null,"country":null},"reliability_note":"Trial only and small: 30 days OR 50 GB of transfer volume, whichever comes first, and package sending to external users is disabled during the trial. FASP's speed advantage is real but…","confidence":"reported","confidence_note":null,"evidence":[{"url":"https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/aspera-on-cloud?topic=started-try-aspera-cloud-free","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"Trial only and small: 30 days OR 50 GB of transfer volume, whichever comes first, and package sending to external users is disabled during the trial. FASP's speed advantage is real but…"}],"verdict":"fails-quota","verified_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z","notes":"Trial only and small: 30 days OR 50 GB of transfer volume, whichever comes first, and package sending to external users is disabled during the trial. FASP's speed advantage is real but…","extras":{"dead_end":{"failure_class":"quota","why":"Trial only and small: 30 days OR 50 GB of transfer volume, whichever comes first, and package sending to external users is disabled during the trial. FASP's speed advantage is real but…","retry_when":null,"first_recorded":"2026-10-21"}},"binding":"none","binding_note":null},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":50.0,"unit":"GB","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"}],"unknown":[["$.binding_note","boilerplate"],["$.chaining","not-recorded"],["$.confidence_note","withheld"],["$.egress.terms","not-recorded"],["$.extras.dead_end.retry_when","process"],["$.free_tier.notes","process"],["$.identity_cost.detail","defaulted"],["$.identity_cost.kind","identity-defaulted"],["$.interface","interface-unknown"],["$.interface_detail","withheld"],["$.limits_note","process"],["$.per_object_cap.notes","not-recorded"],["$.per_object_cap.stated","not-recorded"],["$.retention.notes","process"],["$.retention.stated","not-recorded"],["$.tooling","not-recorded"]],"history":[],"drift":[]},{"rid":"storage/ibm-cloud-container-registry","card":{"rid":"storage/ibm-cloud-container-registry","eid":"ibm","topic":"storage","slug":"ibm-cloud-container-registry","provider":"IBM Cloud Container Registry (free plan)","url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/container-registry","domain":"ibm.com","category":"registry","tier":null,"verdict":"fails-quota","vorder":6,"grp":"rejected","self_hosted":0,"confidence":"reported","binding":"per-ip-shaping","identity_kind":"email","identity_basis":"defaulted","needs_card":null,"needs_phone":null,"needs_id":null,"needs_institution":null,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":"oci,cli","egress_metered":1,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z","verified_basis":"inherited","checked_on":"2026-10-21","stale_on":"2026-11-05","n_evidence":3,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"500 MB storage and 5 GB pull traffic per month: 'Amount of storage for images | 500 MB | Unlimited', 'Pull traffic | 5 GB per month | Unlimited' (Free vs Sta...","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":10,"free_unit":"GB"},"record":{"topic":"storage","slug":"ibm-cloud-container-registry","provider":"IBM Cloud Container Registry (free plan)","url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/container-registry","category":"registry","free_tier":{"stated":"500 MB storage and 5 GB pull traffic per month: 'Amount of storage for images | 500 MB | Unlimited', 'Pull traffic | 5 GB per month | Unlimited' (Free vs Standard). Free-plan allowance confirmed in the quota doc: 'The free tier allowance for storage is 512 MB and traffic is 5120 MB.'","unit":"GB","metered_on":"stored-bytes","source_url":"https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/Registry?topic=Registry-registry_overview","read_on":"2026-10-21","notes":null},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"not stated","source_url":"https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/Registry?topic=Registry-registry_overview","notes":"not stated"},"retention":{"stated":"not stated","source_url":"https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/Registry?topic=Registry-registry_overview","notes":"not stated"},"egress":{"terms":"Pull traffic is metered as a quota, not priced per GB on the free plan: 'Pull traffic across public connections counts toward usage and quota. Pull traffic across private connections doesn't count.' 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Free-plan allowance confirmed in the quota doc: 'The free tier allowance for storage is 512 MB and traffic is 5120 MB.'","extras":{"dead_end":{"failure_class":"quota","why":"500 MB storage and 5 GB pull traffic per month: 'Amount of storage for images | 500 MB | Unlimited', 'Pull traffic | 5 GB per month | Unlimited' (Free vs Standard). 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No Lite stor...","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":16,"free_unit":"none"},"record":{"topic":"storage","slug":"ibm-cloud-object-storage-lite-plan-as-a-storage-tier","provider":"ibm cloud object storage lite plan as a storage tier","url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/free","category":"rejected-provider","free_tier":{"stated":"The Lite plan is always-free and never expires, but the published storage allowance belongs to the Standard plan Free Tier (5 GB for 12 months). No Lite storage quota was published on any…","unit":"none","metered_on":"none","source_url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/free","read_on":"2026-10-21","notes":null},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"not recorded","bytes":null,"source_url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/free","notes":"not recorded"},"retention":{"stated":"not recorded","days":null,"source_url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/free","notes":null},"egress":{"terms":"not recorded","metered":false},"interface":["unknown"],"interface_detail":null,"tooling":"not recorded","chaining":"not recorded","limits":[],"limits_note":null,"identity_cost":{"kind":"email","detail":null,"country":null},"reliability_note":"The Lite plan is always-free and never expires, but the published storage allowance belongs to the Standard plan Free Tier (5 GB for 12 months). No Lite storage quota was published on any…","confidence":"reported","confidence_note":null,"evidence":[{"url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/free","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"The Lite plan is always-free and never expires, but the published storage allowance belongs to the Standard plan Free Tier (5 GB for 12 months). No Lite storage quota was published on any…"},{"url":"https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-object-storage?topic=cloud-object-storage-provision","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"cited as the basis of the rejection: The Lite plan is always-free and never expires, but the published storage allowance belongs to the Standard plan Free Tier (5 GB for 12 months). No Lite storage quota was published on any IB"}],"verdict":"fails-quota","verified_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z","notes":"The Lite plan is always-free and never expires, but the published storage allowance belongs to the Standard plan Free Tier (5 GB for 12 months). No Lite storage quota was published on any…","extras":{"dead_end":{"failure_class":"retention","why":"The Lite plan is always-free and never expires, but the published storage allowance belongs to the Standard plan Free Tier (5 GB for 12 months). No Lite storage quota was published on any…","retry_when":null,"first_recorded":"2026-10-21"}},"binding":"none","binding_note":null},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":5.0,"unit":"GB","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"}],"unknown":[["$.binding_note","boilerplate"],["$.chaining","not-recorded"],["$.confidence_note","withheld"],["$.egress.terms","not-recorded"],["$.extras.dead_end.retry_when","process"],["$.free_tier.notes","process"],["$.identity_cost.detail","defaulted"],["$.identity_cost.kind","identity-defaulted"],["$.interface","interface-unknown"],["$.interface_detail","withheld"],["$.limits_note","process"],["$.per_object_cap.notes","not-recorded"],["$.per_object_cap.stated","not-recorded"],["$.retention.notes","process"],["$.retention.stated","not-recorded"],["$.tooling","not-recorded"]],"history":[],"drift":[]},{"rid":"storage/ibm-cloud-object-storage-standard-plan-free-tier","card":{"rid":"storage/ibm-cloud-object-storage-standard-plan-free-tier","eid":"ibm","topic":"storage","slug":"ibm-cloud-object-storage-standard-plan-free-tier","provider":"IBM Cloud Object Storage — Standard plan Free Tier","url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/free/storage","domain":"ibm.com","category":"iaas","tier":null,"verdict":"fails-quota","vorder":6,"grp":"rejected","self_hosted":0,"confidence":"reported","binding":"retention-clamped","identity_kind":"card","identity_basis":"defaulted","needs_card":null,"needs_phone":null,"needs_id":null,"needs_institution":null,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":"s3-compatible,rclone","egress_metered":1,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":30,"verified_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z","verified_basis":"inherited","checked_on":"2026-10-21","stale_on":"2026-11-05","n_evidence":3,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"5 GB/month of Smart Tier storage, 2,000 Class A + 20,000 Class B requests, 10 GB/month retrieval, 5 GB/month egress — for 12 months. The separate Lite plan (...","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":8,"free_unit":"GB"},"record":{"topic":"storage","slug":"ibm-cloud-object-storage-standard-plan-free-tier","provider":"IBM Cloud Object Storage — Standard plan Free Tier","url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/free/storage","category":"iaas","free_tier":{"stated":"5 GB/month of Smart Tier storage, 2,000 Class A + 20,000 Class B requests, 10 GB/month retrieval, 5 GB/month egress — for 12 months. The separate Lite plan (always-free, never expires) does not carry a published storage allowance on the current pages.","unit":"GB","metered_on":"stored-bytes","source_url":"https://cloud.ibm.com/objectstorage/create","read_on":"2026-10-21","notes":null},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"not stated","source_url":"https://cloud.ibm.com/objectstorage/create","notes":"not stated"},"retention":{"stated":"Lite-plan instances are deleted after 30 days of no development activity.","days":30,"source_url":"https://cloud.ibm.com/objectstorage/create","notes":"not stated"},"egress":{"terms":"5 GB/month egress inside the Free Tier; beyond that it is metered per GB. Not free egress at any useful scale.","metered":true,"free_allowance":"5 GB per month"},"interface":["s3-compatible","rclone"],"interface_detail":"s3","tooling":"IBM COS S3 API — rclone 's3' provider name 'IBM COS S3'; HMAC or IAM keys; pre-signed URLs (docs note the UI does not generate them, use Cyberduck/clients).","chaining":"One Lite instance per service per org; quota limits are per ORG, not per instance ('New instances that are created in the same org reflect any usage from previous instances'), which deliberately blocks instance multiplication inside an org.","limits":[{"kind":"retention-clamped","value":"deleted after 30 days","source":"https://cloud.ibm.com/objectstorage/create"}],"limits_note":"5 GB storage / 5 GB egress / 12 months. Reaching any quota 'suspends the service for that month'. Lite-plan instances are deleted after 30 days of no development activity.","identity_cost":{"kind":"card","detail":"inferred from the category 'iaas'; the source record states no identity cost, so this is a class assumption, not evidence","country":null},"reliability_note":"Service suspends at quota rather than billing overage — no surprise bills, but no headroom either. Lite instances vanish after 30 idle days.","confidence":"reported","confidence_note":null,"evidence":[{"url":"https://cloud.ibm.com/objectstorage/create","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"'Free Tier allowance: Storage up to 5GB/month ... Up to 5GB/month of egress'"},{"url":"https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-object-storage?topic=cloud-object-storage-provision","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"'5GB of free monthly usage for up to 12 months from the sign-up date'"},{"url":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/free","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"'After 30 days of no development activity, your service instances with Lite plans are deleted'; 'Quota limits are per org, not per instance'"}],"verdict":"fails-quota","verified_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z","notes":"5 GB/month of Smart Tier storage, 2,000 Class A + 20,000 Class B requests, 10 GB/month retrieval, 5 GB/month egress — for 12 months. The separate Lite plan (always-free, never expires) does not carry a published storage allowance on the current pages.","extras":{"dead_end":{"failure_class":"retention","why":"5 GB/month of Smart Tier storage, 2,000 Class A + 20,000 Class B requests, 10 GB/month retrieval, 5 GB/month egress — for 12 months. The separate Lite plan (always-free, never expires) does not carry a published storage allowance on the current pages.","retry_when":null,"first_recorded":"2026-10-21"}},"binding":"retention-clamped","binding_note":null},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier","kind":"has-free-tier","num":1.0,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":5.0,"unit":"GB","per":"month","currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:retention-clamped","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"}],"unknown":[["$.binding_note","boilerplate"],["$.confidence_note","withheld"],["$.extras.dead_end.retry_when","process"],["$.free_tier.notes","process"],["$.identity_cost.kind","identity-defaulted"],["$.per_object_cap.notes","not-extracted"],["$.per_object_cap.stated","not-extracted"],["$.retention.notes","not-extracted"]],"history":[],"drift":[]}]}