Oracle Universal Credits (UCC) cannot be used to pay for Oracle Database deployments on Amazon Web Services (AWS).¹ This restriction covers all AWS services, including compute (EC2), storage (EBS), and the Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) for Oracle.² UCC is a proprietary payment model contractually limited to services within the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) ecosystem.³

The justification is that Oracle’s UCC and AWS’s billing systems are separate, incompatible commercial frameworks.⁵ There is no mechanism to transfer credits from Oracle to pay an AWS invoice.

Key Findings

• • Contractually Limited: Oracle documentation consistently limits UCC to eligible OCI services, with lists of eligible services containing only native OCI offerings.³

• • Incompatible Billing: AWS uses its own billing system for all services, including Oracle workloads, with no provision for UCC.⁵

• • License vs. Payment Portability: The ability to “Bring Your Own License” (BYOL) to AWS is a matter of license compliance, not a payment method.¹⁰ Using existing licenses on AWS is distinct from paying AWS for its infrastructure.

• • Strategic Implication: Committing to UCC creates a financial lock-in to the OCI ecosystem, complicating multi-cloud budgeting and potentially stranding capital if OCI adoption falters.⁴

What Are Oracle Universal Credits?

The UCC model is a prepaid, declining-balance system for purchasing Oracle’s cloud services.⁴ It functions like a debit card exclusively for the OCI ecosystem, offering flexibility only within Oracle’s service catalog.⁷

Official documentation provides definitive proof, listing only native OCI services as eligible for UCC.⁸ The lists explicitly exclude third-party cloud services and even other Oracle products like SaaS and hardware.⁸

The credit “burn-down” process is managed entirely within Oracle’s proprietary billing portal, based on an Oracle-specific rate card.⁴ There is no technical or commercial pathway for AWS services to be metered or billed against a UCC balance.

Why Oracle Universal Credits Don’t Work on AWS

Organizations can run Oracle on AWS in two primary ways: as a managed service using Amazon RDS for Oracle, or by self-managing the database on Amazon EC2 virtual servers.¹¹ In both scenarios, the customer procures and pays AWS for the underlying infrastructure.

AWS offers two licensing models for Oracle workloads ⁶:

• • License Included (LI): Available for RDS, AWS provides the Oracle license as part of a single, hourly service fee.⁵

• • Bring Your Own License (BYOL): Customers can use their existing Oracle licenses on RDS or EC2.¹⁰ This separates payments: the customer pays AWS for infrastructure and separately maintains their license and support agreement with Oracle.¹⁰

License Portability vs. Payment Portability

The core confusion arises from conflating license portability with payment portability. The BYOL model allows you to use your Oracle license on AWS, which is an issue of compliance.¹⁰ It does not allow you to use Oracle’s payment instrument (UCC) to pay AWS for its infrastructure services.²⁰

The conclusion is supported by two key arguments:

1. 1. Definitional Limitation: Oracle’s contracts explicitly define UCC as applicable only to its own catalog of IaaS and PaaS services.³
   2. Absence of Evidence: No documentation from either Oracle or AWS mentions UCC as a valid payment method for AWS services.

1.  

Table 1: Comparative Analysis of Cloud Commercial Models

Feature	Oracle Universal Credits (for OCI)	AWS “License Included” (for RDS)	AWS “Bring Your Own License” (for RDS/EC2)
Primary Vendor	Oracle	Amazon Web Services	Amazon Web Services (for Infrastructure) & Oracle (for License/Support)
Payment Instrument	Oracle Universal Credits	Standard AWS Billing (Credit Card, Invoice)	Standard AWS Billing (for Infrastructure) & Separate Oracle Billing (for Support)
What is Being Paid For	Integrated OCI Infrastructure & Platform Services (e.g., Oracle Autonomous Database)	Bundled AWS Infrastructure & Oracle DB License (SE2 only)	AWS Infrastructure (Compute, Storage, Networking, etc.)
Eligible Services	OCI/PaaS Catalog Only 8	Amazon RDS for Oracle Service	Amazon EC2, RDS, EBS, etc.
Licensing Responsibility	Handled by Oracle	Handled by AWS	Customer is responsible for compliance with Oracle policies
Portability of Instrument/License	Credits are not portable outside the OCI ecosystem	Service is not portable outside AWS	License is portable from on-premises (subject to Oracle policy)

Running Oracle on AWS: Options and Compliance Risks

The “Oracle Database@AWS” offering, which runs OCI hardware inside AWS data centers, does not alter this conclusion. Universal Credits cannot be used to pay for this service.²¹

The service is sold and billed through the AWS Marketplace, and charges appear on the customer’s AWS bill.²² An official Oracle FAQ confirms that spending on this service contributes to AWS commitments, but

not to OCI commitments, making UCC inapplicable.¹

While the service is provisioned via the AWS Console and managed with a hybrid AWS/OCI model, the commercial relationship for payment is with AWS.²⁵ Customers can, however, apply existing licenses (BYOL) and accrue Oracle Support Rewards.¹

Strategic Implications of Oracle UCC for Multi-Cloud

Oracle’s cloud licensing policies, while often not contractually binding, dictate compliance rules for third-party clouds like AWS.²⁷ The “Authorized Cloud” designation for AWS relates to

how licenses must be counted (e.g., per vCPU), not how infrastructure is paid for.¹⁰

When using BYOL on AWS, the primary compliance risk is correctly counting licenses based on vCPUs.¹⁰ Organizations should use AWS features to optimize CPU core counts to match their entitlements and avoid non-compliance.⁶

Contrary to common misinformation, Oracle’s official policy confirms it will provide technical support for its products running on non-Oracle clouds like AWS.²⁹

Table 2: Oracle on AWS: Deployment and Licensing Pathways

Pathway	Description	Supported Oracle Editions	Licensing Model	Management Responsibility	Ideal Use Case
Amazon RDS for Oracle	A fully managed database service provided by AWS.	Standard Edition 2 (SE2), Enterprise Edition (EE)	License Included (SE2 only), BYOL (SE2, EE) 5	AWS manages infrastructure, patching, backups, and scaling. The customer manages data and applications.	Teams wanting to offload database administration; projects requiring rapid deployment and operational efficiency.
Oracle on Amazon EC2	A self-managed Oracle Database on AWS virtual servers.	All editions (SE2, EE, etc.)	BYOL only 11	The customer manages everything: OS, patching, backups, database installation, high availability.	Scenarios requiring full root access, specific configurations, or the use of Oracle versions/features not supported on RDS.
Amazon RDS Custom for Oracle	A hybrid managed service with greater access to the underlying OS and database than standard RDS.	Enterprise Edition (EE), Standard Edition 2 (SE2)	BYOL only 6	Shared responsibility. AWS manages the infrastructure, while the customer has access to the OS/DB for custom patches and settings.	Use cases that require specific customizations not allowed in standard RDS but still desire some of the benefits of a managed service.

Recommendations for Oracle on AWS Customers

Oracle Universal Credits are a closed-loop financial instrument for the OCI ecosystem and cannot be used for any AWS service, including the new Oracle Database@AWS offering. This is due to the separation of license portability (BYOL) from payment portability.

Recommendations

1. Segregate Budgets: Maintain separate budgets for OCI (funded by UCC) and AWS.
2. Enforce Contractual Clarity: Rely only on written contracts, not verbal assurances.³
3. Audit BYOL Compliance: Proactively audit AWS deployments to ensure compliance with Oracle’s vCPU-based licensing policies.¹⁰
4. Re-evaluate Commitments: Assess large UCC commitments in light of multi-cloud goals to avoid financial lock-in.