FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is there a free research cloud in Canada?
Yes. myresearchcloud.ca provides free Canadian-hosted research compute, fractional GPU access, and cloud storage for eligible Canadian researchers, students, educators, nonprofits, citizen scientists, and mission-aligned projects.
Free resources are intended for academic, educational, nonprofit, citizen science, and public-interest research projects that need practical cloud infrastructure without commercial cloud costs.
2. What free compute resources are available?
Eligible projects may apply for free CPU-based cloud compute, fractional GPU access, storage, and networking resources.
Free CPU instances can support research software development, data analysis, notebooks, teaching environments, prototypes, small simulations, and other lightweight research workloads. GPU-enabled instances are available for selected projects that need acceleration for AI, machine learning, visualization, inference, or GPU-enabled research workflows.
3. How do I get a free GPU for research in Canada?
You can apply for a free fractional GPU allocation through myresearchcloud.ca.
The free GPU instance currently includes fractional GPU access with 8 GB VRAM, 8 vCPUs, 32 GB RAM, and S3-compatible storage. GPU access is reviewed based on project eligibility, workload requirements, available capacity, and expected research or public-interest value.
4. Does myresearchcloud.ca offer free cloud storage in Canada?
Yes. Eligible projects may request Canadian-hosted cloud storage for research data, project files, teaching resources, outputs, and lightweight data workflows.
Storage availability depends on project needs, eligibility, and current platform capacity. Applicants should describe what they plan to store, how much storage they expect to need, and whether the data is connected to a research, education, nonprofit, citizen science, or public-interest project.
5. Who can apply for free resources?
The free tier is open to Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and students at Canadian institutions.
Eligible applicants may include researchers, students, educators, independent scholars, citizen scientists, nonprofit teams, and mission-aligned innovators working on non-commercial research, education, community science, or public-interest projects.
Minors may apply with sponsorship from a parent, guardian, teacher, or other responsible adult sponsor.
6. Can students apply for free compute?
Yes. Students at Canadian institutions may apply for free compute resources for eligible coursework, research, teaching, nonprofit, citizen science, or public-interest projects.
Student applications should describe the project purpose, software requirements, expected workload, and whether CPU, GPU, storage, or networking resources are required.
7. What kinds of projects are eligible?
Free resources are intended for non-commercial Canadian research, education, nonprofit, citizen science, and public-interest projects.
Eligible examples may include:
AI and machine learning experiments
Data analysis and visualization
Genomics and bioinformatics workflows
Environmental and climate data projects
Simulations and modelling
Digital humanities projects
Community data projects
Teaching and training environments
Research software development
Public-interest research portals
Small prototypes that support discovery or education
Projects are reviewed based on eligibility, purpose, resource needs, available capacity, and alignment with the mission of myresearchcloud.ca.
8. What projects are not eligible for free resources?
Free resources may not be used for unrelated commercial hosting, resale, cryptocurrency mining, bulk scraping, spam, abusive workloads, or activities that violate the Acceptable Use Policy.
Commercial and for-profit workloads require a paid subscription.
9. What instance types are available?
Free instance options range from small CPU instances to larger CPU instances with additional memory and storage. GPU-enabled instances with fractional GPU access are also available for selected projects.
Available free resources may include:
CPU-based virtual machines
Fractional GPU instances
S3-compatible storage
Networking resources
Persistent cloud environments for approved projects
See the Services page for full instance details and current resource options.
10. How long does my free allocation last?
Free allocations run for one year from the provisioned start date.
There are no automatic renewals of free allocations. Continued use beyond the free allocation cycle requires moving to an Academic & Nonprofit paid tier or another approved arrangement.
Unused resources may be reclaimed so they can support other eligible applicants.
11. How many times can I apply?
Each individual or organization is eligible for one free lifetime allocation.
If a project needs continued access, larger resources, guaranteed capacity, or longer-term infrastructure after the free allocation period, it can move to a paid Academic & Nonprofit tier.
12. Can I use my free allocation for commercial work?
No. Free access is strictly for academic, educational, nonprofit, citizen science, community research, or public-interest projects.
Commercial, revenue-generating, and for-profit workloads require a paid subscription.
13. Where are my compute and storage resources hosted?
myresearchcloud.ca provides Canadian-hosted research cloud infrastructure. Free compute, GPU, and storage resources are hosted in Canada and operated through a Canadian nonprofit model.
Canadian data residency can help research projects address institutional expectations, privacy considerations, data stewardship needs, governance obligations, and jurisdictional concerns.
14. Do I need to back up my data?
Yes. Applicants are responsible for securing, managing, and backing up their own data.
Free access is provided on a best-effort basis. While myresearchcloud.ca provides Canadian-hosted compute and storage resources, users should maintain independent backups of important data, code, results, and project files.
15. What is research computing?
Research computing includes the compute, storage, software, data, networking, and cloud environments researchers use to run computational work.
This can include CPUs, GPUs, virtual machines, notebooks, containers, storage, research databases, development environments, science gateways, research portals, and long-running services that support research, education, analysis, and innovation.
16. How is research cloud different from HPC?
High-performance computing is often best suited for large-scale simulations, batch-scheduled jobs, specialized scientific computing, and national or institutional compute allocations.
Research cloud infrastructure is often better suited for persistent virtual machines, notebooks, teaching environments, research portals, small GPU workloads, web applications, storage, development environments, and long-running services.
myresearchcloud.ca complements Canada’s broader advanced research computing ecosystem by providing accessible Canadian-hosted cloud resources for projects that need practical, persistent, and affordable infrastructure.
17. Can I use myresearchcloud.ca alongside institutional or Alliance resources?
Yes. myresearchcloud.ca is designed to complement, not replace, institutional research computing groups, regional HPC partners, or the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.
Many projects use different kinds of infrastructure for different stages of research. For example, a project might use HPC for large batch workloads and myresearchcloud.ca for persistent virtual machines, teaching environments, development servers, research portals, storage, or lightweight GPU access.
18. What happens after my free allocation ends?
At the end of the free allocation period, projects that need continued access can move to an Academic & Nonprofit paid tier.
Paid tiers are intended for projects that need longer-term access, larger resources, dedicated capacity, predictable pricing, or sustained research infrastructure.
19. Is support included with free resources?
Free resources are provided on a best-effort basis. Support may be limited and depends on available capacity.
Applicants should be prepared to manage their own software environments, data, backups, credentials, and project workflows. Paid tiers may include additional support options depending on the resource level and project requirements.
20. How should I acknowledge myresearchcloud.ca in my work?
Please use the following acknowledgement:
This work was supported in part through compute resources provided by myresearchcloud.ca, a service of Computing for Humanity.
Where appropriate, you may also include a link to myresearchcloud.ca in project pages, publications, presentations, acknowledgements, documentation, or public research outputs.