AWS Free Tier Guide

Stay within AWS Free Tier limits and run your Strava MCP Server for $0/month.

Table of contents

  1. AWS Free Tier Limits
  2. Expected Usage
    1. Typical MCP Conversation
    2. Monthly Estimates
    3. Heavy Usage (100,000 requests/month)
  3. Staying Within Free Tier
    1. 1. Use ARM64 Architecture
    2. 2. Optimize Memory Size
    3. 3. Cold Start Optimization
    4. 4. Request Batching
  4. Monitoring Usage
    1. AWS Billing Dashboard
    2. Set Up Billing Alerts
    3. Check Lambda Metrics
  5. Cost Projections
    1. After Free Tier (12 months)
    2. Cost Breakdown
  6. Optimization Tips
    1. 1. Delete When Not in Use
    2. 2. Use Logging Wisely
    3. 3. Monitor Strava API Rate Limits
  7. Security & Cost Control
    1. Enable Budget Limits
    2. Restrict Function URL Access
  8. FAQ
    1. Will I be charged after 12 months?
    2. What if I exceed free tier limits?
    3. Can I reduce costs further?
    4. What about data storage?
  9. Cost Comparison

AWS Free Tier Limits

The Strava MCP Server is designed to stay completely free under AWS Free Tier:

Resource Free Tier Limit Duration
Lambda Requests 1,000,000/month Forever
Lambda Compute 400,000 GB-seconds/month 12 months
Data Transfer Out 1GB/month 12 months
Function URLs Unlimited Forever

The Lambda compute and data transfer limits are free for the first 12 months. After that, they’re pay-as-you-go, but still very cheap for personal use.

Expected Usage

Typical MCP Conversation

A single conversation with Claude using Strava MCP:

Metric Value
Requests 10-50
Compute Time 5-25 seconds
Data Transfer 10-50 KB
Cost $0 (within free tier)

Monthly Estimates

For personal/portfolio use (10,000 requests/month):

Resource Used Free Tier Percentage Cost
Requests 10,000 1,000,000 1% $0
Compute (512MB) 50,000 GB-s 400,000 GB-s 12.5% $0
Data Transfer 100 MB 1,000 MB 10% $0

Total Monthly Cost: $0 ✅

Heavy Usage (100,000 requests/month)

Even with heavy usage:

Resource Used Free Tier Percentage Cost
Requests 100,000 1,000,000 10% $0
Compute (512MB) 500,000 GB-s 400,000 GB-s 125% ~$1.20/month
Data Transfer 1 GB 1 GB 100% $0

Total Monthly Cost: ~$1.20/month (only compute overage)

Even if you exceed free tier, costs are minimal! Lambda is extremely cost-effective.

Staying Within Free Tier

1. Use ARM64 Architecture

The SAM template uses arm64 (Graviton2) processors:

Architectures:
  - arm64  # 20% better price-performance than x86

This gives you 20% more compute for the same price.

2. Optimize Memory Size

The function uses 512MB memory:

MemorySize: 512  # Balanced performance and cost

Why 512MB?

  • Fast enough for Strava API calls
  • Efficient for JSON processing
  • Maximizes free tier GB-seconds

Free Tier Math:

  • 400,000 GB-seconds / 0.5 GB = 800,000 seconds/month
  • ~222 hours/month of runtime
  • ~9.2 days of continuous operation

3. Cold Start Optimization

Lambda functions “sleep” after inactivity:

  • Cold start: First request after sleep (~2-3 seconds)
  • Warm start: Subsequent requests (~100-300ms)

The server is optimized to minimize cold start impact:

  • Lightweight dependencies
  • Fast initialization
  • Efficient code execution

4. Request Batching

Claude naturally batches requests:

  • Multiple tools in one conversation = single Lambda invocation
  • Reduces total request count
  • Better free tier utilization

Monitoring Usage

AWS Billing Dashboard

  1. Go to AWS Billing Dashboard
  2. Click Free Tier in the left menu
  3. Monitor your usage:
AWS Lambda
- Requests: 12,450 / 1,000,000 (1.2%)
- Compute: 45,120 / 400,000 GB-seconds (11.3%)

Set Up Billing Alerts

Create a $1 alert to get notified if you exceed free tier:

  1. Go to CloudWatch Billing Alarms
  2. Click Create alarm
  3. Select Billing metric
  4. Set threshold: $1
  5. Configure email notification
  6. Create alarm

You’ll get an email if charges exceed $1, giving you time to investigate before significant costs.

Check Lambda Metrics

View real-time metrics:

sam logs -n StravaMCPFunction --stack-name strava-mcp-stack

Or in AWS Console:

  1. Go to Lambda Console
  2. Select strava-mcp-server
  3. Click Monitor tab
  4. View:
    • Invocations
    • Duration
    • Error rate

Cost Projections

After Free Tier (12 months)

When free tier expires for compute:

Usage Level Requests/Month Estimated Cost
Light (1K) 1,000 $0
Personal (10K) 10,000 $0.06
Active (50K) 50,000 $0.30
Heavy (100K) 100,000 $1.20

Lambda requests stay free forever (1M/month), so you only pay for compute time after 12 months.

Cost Breakdown

Lambda Pricing (us-east-1, ARM64):

  • Requests: $0.20 per 1M requests (first 1M free)
  • Compute: $0.0000133334 per GB-second

Example: 10,000 requests/month after free tier

  • Requests: 10,000 / 1,000,000 × $0.20 = $0.002
  • Compute: 50,000 GB-s × $0.0000133334 = $0.067
  • Total: ~$0.07/month

Less than the cost of a coffee per year!

Optimization Tips

1. Delete When Not in Use

If you’re not using the MCP server for a while:

sam delete --stack-name strava-mcp-stack

Redeploy when needed:

bun run deploy:fast

Benefit: Zero costs when not deployed.

2. Use Logging Wisely

Reduce CloudWatch Logs costs:

  • Logs are free for first 5GB/month
  • After that: $0.50/GB ingested

Current logging is minimal and shouldn’t exceed free tier.

3. Monitor Strava API Rate Limits

Strava limits:

  • 100 requests per 15 minutes
  • 1,000 requests per day

Hitting these limits won’t cost you AWS charges, but will cause errors. The MCP server respects these limits.

Security & Cost Control

Enable Budget Limits

Set a hard budget limit:

  1. Go to AWS Budgets
  2. Click Create budget
  3. Select Cost budget
  4. Set amount: $5/month
  5. Configure actions:
    • Email alert at 80% ($4)
    • Stop resources at 100% (optional)

Restrict Function URL Access

For production, enable IAM auth in template.yaml:

FunctionUrlConfig:
  AuthType: AWS_IAM  # Require authentication

This prevents unauthorized usage and potential cost overruns.

FAQ

Will I be charged after 12 months?

Lambda Requests: No, 1M requests/month is free forever.

Lambda Compute: Yes, but only after 400,000 GB-seconds/month. At typical usage (10K requests/month), you’ll pay ~$0.06/month.

What if I exceed free tier limits?

You’ll be charged pay-as-you-go rates:

  • Requests: $0.20 per 1M
  • Compute: $0.0000133334 per GB-second

For personal use, this is typically < $1/month.

Can I reduce costs further?

Yes:

  1. Delete when unused: Zero cost when not deployed
  2. Use IAM auth: Prevent unauthorized access
  3. Set billing alerts: Get notified early
  4. Monitor usage: Check AWS Free Tier dashboard weekly

What about data storage?

The Strava MCP Server doesn’t store any data:

  • No databases (DynamoDB)
  • No file storage (S3)
  • No caching layers

Everything is stateless, minimizing costs.

Cost Comparison

Deployment Type Monthly Cost Pros Cons
AWS Lambda $0-0.07 Serverless, scalable, minimal management Cold starts
Local Server (Raspberry Pi) $2-5 Always warm Requires hardware, maintenance
VPS (DigitalOcean) $4-6 Simple Overkill for MCP, constant cost
AWS EC2 t2.micro $0 (free tier) Always running Free tier expires after 12 months

Lambda is the most cost-effective option for intermittent MCP usage!

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