By signing up, the account is initially a paid account with access to all CARTO features. The paid account offers a free 30-day trial that can be used to for evaluation purposes. Go to the siteĀ https://carto.com/signup and create an account:

Once the account has been created, the 30-day trial period begins. This will allow you to add data to the cloud database, or to access publicly available data from the CARTO library. It also allows you to easily publish a map. Click on the NEW MAP button to get started:
