AWS account requirements

To sign up for an AWS account, you need to provide the following information:

• An account name – The name of the account appears in several places, such as on your invoice, and in consoles such as the Billing and Cost Management dashboard and the AWS Organizations console.

  We recommend that you use an account naming standard so that the account name can be easily recognized and distinguished from other accounts you might own. If it's a company account, consider using a naming standard such as organization-purpose-environment (for example, AnyCompany-audit-prod). If it's a personal account, consider using a naming standard such as first name-last name-purpose (for example, paulo-santos-testaccount).

• An email address – This email address is used as the sign-in name for the account's root user, and is required for account recovery, such as forgetting the password. You must be able to receive messages sent to this email address. Before you can perform certain tasks, you must verify that you have access to the email account.

  Important

  If this account is for a business, we recommend that you use a corporate distribution list (for example, [e-mail]). Avoid using an individual's corporate email address (for example, [e-mail]). This helps ensure that your company can access the AWS account if an employee changes positions or leaves the company. The email address can be used to reset the account's root user credentials. Be sure that you protect access to this distribution list or address.

• A phone number – This number can be used when confirmation of account ownership is required. You must be able to receive calls at this phone number.

  Important

  If this account is for a business, we recommend using a corporate phone number instead of a personal phone number. This helps ensure that your company can access the AWS account if an employee changes positions or leaves the company.

• A multi-factor authentication device – To secure your AWS resources, enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) on the root user account. In addition to you regular sign-in credentials, a secondary authentication is required when MFA is activated, providing an extra layer of security. For more information about MFA, see What is MFA? in the IAM User Guide.

• AWS Support plan – You will be asked to choose one of the available plans during the account creation process. For a description of the available plans, see Compare AWS Support plans.