Creating an UpCloud trial account with $500 credit

What is UpCloud and what company offers it?

UpCloud is the name of UpCloud Ltd's cloud platform; A European provider of cloud infrastructure or IaaS, formed in 2011, went public in 2012 and is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland.

This platform is present in 15 data center locations in four continents. UpCloud announces an uptime SLA of 99.999% for its cloud platform portfolio; The exact details of each product's SLA and coverage should be reviewed in the official terms of service.

Linux Cloud Servers with Root access, firewall and private network
GPU Servers for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Rendering
Block Storage, File Storage and Managed Object Storage
Managed Kubernetes, Load Balancer and Managed Databases
SDN Private Networks, NAT Gateway and VPN Gateway
Control panel, API and automation tools for infrastructure management

Access to all products in Trial is not the same. For example, Windows Cloud Server and GPU Server are not available in normal Trial.

The difference between normal UpCloud trial and boost500 offer

UpCloud basic trial for new users is valid for 7 days from the time of activation. On the other hand, the official page of the UpCloud campaign at the time of reviewing this article shows an offer of $500 credit for the first 30 days with the promo=boost500 parameter.

This is a promotion, not a permanent feature. Terms, duration, credit and limit of resources may change. Before creating an account, you should see the amount and duration of the offer in the official registration form.

Campaign link: signup.upcloud.com/?promo=boost500
The declared credit of the campaign: 500 dollars in the first 30 days
For new account and subject to eligibility
The credit cannot be cashed or transferred to another account
Only one Promo Code can be used per registration

If the boost500 code or the $500 condition is not displayed in the registration form, act based on the current offer of the same form; AniCards does not guarantee the activation or amount of this promotion.

UpCloud trial account features

Creating, deleting and re-creating Cloud Server within the Trial quota
Choosing different locations, depending on the product and available capacity
Creating a Linux server and root access via SSH
Allocation of public IPv4 and IPv6 within the quota framework
Testing Network, Storage, NAT/VPN Gateway and some managed services
Installing Linux distributions and using UpCloud's built-in firewall

Prerequisites and Eligibility Conditions

Real and accessible email for account verification
Name, surname, phone number and country of actual residence
Billing Address corresponding to the registered address of the payment method
Valid credit card to verify identity and activate Trial
Eligibility based on country, residency and UpCloud rules

UpCloud does not officially serve individuals or entities based in Iran. The company may check IP, phone number country code, card issuing country and other risk signals. Attempts to circumvent these controls may result in account suspension or termination. Do not use fake information, numbers or countries.

Account creation and trial activation steps of UpCloud service

The name and location of the panel options may change with the update of the user interface, but the general activation path is as follows.

Opening the official link of the campaign and checking the display of the boost500 offer
Enter your email and select Get started for free
Captcha solving and email verification through Verify email
Complete personal information, account, phone, country and currency with real data
Create an account, enter the UpCloud Control Panel and select Verify & Start Trial
Registration of Billing Address according to the payment method
Enter card information and perform temporary verification of the payment method
Checking the duration, credit and final ceilings in the panel before creating the resource

1. Registration and email verification

After opening the campaign link, make sure the words $500 for 30 days are displayed in the form. Enter the email and open the confirmation message sent from UpCloud.

2. Completion of Personal Information and Account

Enter the name, surname, username, password, phone number, country and province or region exactly. For the phone, write a number that belongs to you and corresponds to the country of residence.

3. Register Billing Address and card

At the trial activation stage, fill in the holder's name, address, postal code, card information and other fields according to the actual information of the payment method. The result is acceptance with UpCloud and the card issuer.

Card Verification, Temporary Hold and Payment Methods

UpCloud requires a credit card and billing address to activate the trial. According to the official documentation, the card will not be charged before, during or after the Trial because of the Trial itself, but a temporary authorization of 0 or 1 USD/EUR may be created to validate the card.

Hold is not a fixed fee and after it is released, it will return to the card's usable balance; Its display time depends on the card issuer.

Card methods listed: Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover and Maestro with applicable currency restrictions
Being virtual or having a Visa/Mastercard badge alone does not guarantee acceptance
Account country, residence, card country and Billing Address must match each other
If rejected, stop consecutive attempts and check the reason for Card Declined

The purchase of AniCards card only provides a payment method and does not constitute geographic, identity or legal conditions for UpCloud; Final acceptance decision rests with UpCloud.

Normal Trial Limits and Allowed Ports

Normal Trial documentation states the following caps. Promotional offers may show different options; The fixed ceiling is the same value that is displayed in the Account Control Panel.

Cloud Server: Up to 2 CPU cores and 4 GB RAM in normal Trial
Storage: up to 60 GB of each of Archive, Standard and MaxIOPS
Network: maximum 2 IPv4 addresses and 2 IPv6 addresses
Ability to delete and re-deploy resources within the quota
No access to Windows Cloud Server, On-demand GPU, Private Cloud and Private Cloud GPU in normal Trial

Trial input and output ports

Trial firewall is enabled and locked. Ports 22/SSH inbound, 80/HTTP and 443/HTTPS inbound and outbound, 123/NTP inbound and outbound, 53/DNS outbound only and 3389/RDP inbound only are allowed. Port 25/SMTP is blocked in Trial.

Different offers may have different quotas. Just act based on the limit that is displayed in your account's Control Panel.

Building the first Linux Cloud Server

From the UpCloud Control Panel, open the Cloud Servers section and click Deploy server
Choose the location based on technical requirement, network latency and data conditions
Choose a plan that covers CPU, RAM, Storage and trial credit
Specify a Linux distribution, SSH Key or appropriate authentication method, and server name
Check Firewall settings and allowed ports of Trial before Deploy
Deploy the server and when ready SSH into its public IP

Think of the trial credit as a temporary environment. Take backup of important data and don't put critical workload on Trial only before upgrading.

End of trial, deletion of services and account upgrade

To upgrade the account before or during the Trial, you must pay at least 10 units of the selected currency, such as 10 dollars or 10 euros, at once from the Billing section. Upgrading during Trial preserves deployed services.

If the Trial ends without the minimum payment, UpCloud will remove the services built into the Trial, although the account itself remains and can be logged into.

The 30-day money-back guarantee up to 500 dollars/euro is related to the first payment and is subject to the request process from UpCloud support; This is not the same as "$500 free boost500 credit".

Frequently asked questions about UpCloud Free Trial

Do all users get $500 credit?

no The $500 offer is a separate promotion from the normal 7-day trial. boost500 and the amount of 500 dollars should be displayed in the official form of your account.

Is the card charged in Trial?

The Trial itself does not have a fixed charge, but UpCloud may register a $0 or $1/euro temporary license to validate the card, which will be credited back to the card balance upon release.

Can people based in Iran create an UpCloud account?

no According to the official Account Requirements page, UpCloud does not provide services to individuals or entities based in Iran. This guide is only for qualified Farsi speakers living in supported countries.

What happens to the servers after the trial ends?

If the required minimum payment is not made, the services built into the Trial will be removed, but the account will remain.

Is the $500 money back guarantee the same as Trial credit?

no boost500 is a promotional trial credit; 30-day money-back guarantee up to 500 USD/EUR applies to UpCloud's first payment and refund terms.

summary

UpCloud is UpCloud Ltd's cloud infrastructure platform with Cloud Server, Network, Storage, Kubernetes and Managed Databases. Eligible new user can activate the normal Trial or, while it is displayed in the official form, take advantage of the boost500 offer for $500 30-day credit. Before proceeding, carefully check the country, account information, card, limits and terms of the end of the trial.

Training on creating an UpCloud trial account and receiving $500 credit