AWS Free Tier VM + SSH Account

What you get free

Requires a credit card at signup. You are not charged within the free tier. The free allowance lasts 12 months from account creation.

Tip: choose t3.micro where available; it's newer and generally more available than t2.micro.

1. Create the account

1. Go to aws.amazon.com/free and click Create a Free Account.
2. Complete email, password, phone, and card verification.
3. Sign in to console.aws.amazon.com.

2. Create a key pair

1. Open EC2 → Key Pairs → Create key pair.
2. Name it proxy-key, choose RSA and .pem format.
3. The .pem file downloads automatically — this is the private key you'll import into the app.

chmod 400 ~/Downloads/proxy-key.pem

3. Launch the VM

1. Open EC2 → Instances → Launch instance.
2. Name: proxy-vm.
3. OS image: Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS (SSH user ubuntu; Amazon Linux uses ec2-user).
4. Instance type: t3.micro (Free tier eligible).
5. Key pair: select proxy-key.
6. Network settings: add a Security group rule — Allow SSH (TCP 22, source Anywhere). Add TCP 1080 if you plan to run a SOCKS5 UDP relay for Full VPN.
7. Storage: keep the default 8 GB gp3.
8. Click Launch instance and wait for Running.

4. Find the public IP and connect

ssh -i ~/Downloads/proxy-key.pem ubuntu@<PUBLIC_IP>

Elastic IP (recommended): the default public IP changes on stop/start. Open EC2 → Elastic IPs → Allocate → Associate it with your instance and use that stable IP in the app.

5. Add it as an SSH proxy site in Portus - Proxy Tool

1. Settings → Routing → Proxy Sites → Add Proxy Site.
2. Set Kind = SSH, Host = <PUBLIC_IP>, Port = 22, Username = ubuntu.
3. Tap Import RSA keys and paste the private key (proxy-key.pem) and public key (get it with ssh-keygen -y -f ~/Downloads/proxy-key.pem).
4. Save, then Test Proxy.

6. (Optional) Enable Full VPN (UDP)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y dante-server
sudo systemctl enable --now danted

Add a minimal /etc/danted.conf:

logoutput: stderr
internal: 127.0.0.1 port = 1080
external: eth0
method: username none
client pass { from: 0.0.0.0/0 to: 0.0.0.0/0 }
socks pass { from: 0.0.0.0/0 to: 0.0.0.0/0 }

Then turn on Full VPN (UDP) for this SSH site in the app.

Watch your free tier usage

• The 750 hours / month reset monthly but expire after 12 months.
• Stop instances you aren't using — a running t3.micro counts against the monthly hours even when idle.
• Set a billing alarm in CloudWatch to avoid surprises after the free tier ends.

Security tips

• Keep SSH key auth only; disable password login.
• Only open port 22 (and 1080 if you use danted) to the internet.
• Use the app's Test Proxy to confirm everything works.