I just signed up for an AWS Free Plan account and tried to launch OpenEMR Cloud - Express Edition version 7.0.2 with the recommended t3.micro instance, but I get this error: “The specified image is not eligible for Free Tier. For a list of Free Tier images, run ‘describe-images’ with the filter ‘free-tier-eligible=true’… If the problem persist, please contact customer support.” My understanding is that the AMI was not built correctly using a template approved for the Free Tier? Or am I doing something wrong? I tried launching with several different EC2 instance types which would be outside the free tier, but I get the same error.
I upgraded my AWS Free Plan to the Paid Plan and was able to launch. I am leaving this post here for reference in case anyone else has the same problem.
My understanding of the problem is this. When you sign up for AWS, you can choose the Free Plan or the Paid Plan. On the Free Plan, you get 750 hours a month free for EC2 Micro instances. On the official AWS OpenEMR Express Edition page, it appears to be eligible for this because the “AWS Free Tier” tag is beside t2.micro and t3.micro. However, if you actually try to launch while on the Free Plan, you’ll find that OpenEMR Express Edition is not eligible because the AMI was not built using an approved Free Tier template.
In the long run, none of this matters because AWS kicks you off the Free Plan after 6 months anyway.