MySQL cloud database maker Xeround is going freemium, sort of: the company introduced Xeround FREE, a very limited yet considerably more accessible edition of its solution that enables prospective customers to test-run the service. It’s available for Amazon EC2 and as a Heroku add-on at first.

Cloud companies such as Amazon have been offering a free trial to customers, in one form or another, for a long time now. It has proven to be a rather effective sales approach for AWS and others, in an industry that lists cost efficiency as one of its core principals.

According to the company, Xeround FREE is easy to manage and is automatically installed and configured, though it only comes with 10MB worth of storage – just enough to run a small app. It’s not sufficient for much else, such as somewhat more persistent use by individual developers.

“Xeround FREE is the direct result of developers asking for a free version of our cloud database service for their MySQL apps,” said Razi Sharir, CEO of Xeround. “Now everyone can enjoy a zero-management, simple, always-on database for their apps at no cost – so developers can experience the least amount of friction while developing in the cloud.”

Xeround is a new but not-so-new player in the cloud industry. The company announced it will be shifting its focus to this market right after it raised $9 million from VCs, and said that plans to adapt its portfolio have been sitting on the drawing board for a couple years.

Recently Amazon Web Services also made a freemium push. It has extended the capabilities offered with two of its free services, enabling developers to run Linux and make use of more memory and I/O, among other things including additional functionality.