Free Startup Credits: AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and More

AWS runs two public tiers. Activate Founders is for self-funded startups: you start with $1,000 in credits, and select companies can qualify for more, up to $5,000. Activate Portfolio is for startups backed by a VC, accelerator or incubator that is an AWS Activate Provider. You apply with their Organization ID and can get up to $200,000. There is also an invite-only AWS Credits for AI Startups track worth $200,000 or more, arranged through an AWS account manager.

• Who qualifies: pre-Series B, founded in the last 10 years, and either new to Activate or asking for more than you got before.
• How to apply: create an AWS Builder ID, pick your tier, add company details and link your AWS account. AWS says decisions take 5 to 10 business days.
• How long credits last: they do expire, but AWS does not publish one fixed term. Each award shows its own expiry date in the AWS Billing and Cost Management console.
• The catch: your AWS account must be on a Paid Tier Plan, because free account plans cannot receive Activate credits. Credits also do not cover AWS Marketplace (except third-party models on Amazon Bedrock), Route 53 domain registration, Reserved Instance or Savings Plan upfront fees, support plans outside the eligible list, or crypto mining.

Google has three routes. The Start tier is for very early companies that are not funded yet but plan to raise: up to $2,000 in Google Cloud credits, valid for one year. You must be founded in the last 24 months and not have had Google Cloud credits beyond the normal free trial.

The Scale tier is for VC-funded startups and is worth up to $200,000 over two years. Year one covers 100% of your bill up to $100,000. Year two covers 20% of your bill, up to another $100,000. The AI tier uses the same structure but raises year one to $250,000, for a total of up to $350,000. It is for startups whose main product is built on Gemini or Gemini Enterprise, and credits cover Google's Gemini and Gemma models.

• Who qualifies for Scale and AI: a pre-seed or seed round in the last five years, or a Series A in the last 12 months, founded in the last five years, and no more than $5,000 in Google Cloud credits so far. Google says friends and family funding does not count.
• Extras: 12 months of Google Workspace Business Plus for new sign-ups, Google Skills training credits, and on Scale, $600 a month in Google Maps Platform credit (separate application) plus up to $12,000 in Enhanced Support credits.
• The catch: the year two credit only covers a fifth of your bill, so costs jump in month 13 even while you still have credit left. Eligibility is at Google's discretion.

Microsoft no longer uses the old Founders Hub name. It is now one program called Microsoft for Startups, with a single application and benefits that grow with you.

If you have no investor and are new to Azure, you get $1,000 in Azure credits for 90 days, then $4,000 more for 180 days once Microsoft verifies your business. If you have a referral code from a Microsoft for Startups Investor Network partner (a VC, accelerator, incubator, angel network or university), you get the investor offer. Microsoft says most startups on it begin with $100,000 and can unlock up to $150,000 over time as they show real Azure usage. The investor offer also adds Azure Standard Support and discounts on GitHub Enterprise, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Visual Studio Enterprise, LinkedIn Premium Business and more.

• Who qualifies: a privately held, for-profit company building its own software product, headquartered where Azure is available, below Series C, and with less than $350,000 in lifetime free Azure credits. Consultancies, agencies and crypto miners are excluded.
• How to apply: at startups.microsoft.com. Microsoft says reviews take about three business days.
• How long credits last: you must activate within 90 days of accepting the agreement, and investor offer credits last up to two years with no extensions.
• The catch: a credit card is required, and the subscription moves to pay-as-you-go automatically when credits run out. Credits are tied to one Microsoft account and subscription and cannot be moved later.

Cloudflare's program has three tiers, and your funding decides which one you get:

• Tier 3: $10,000 for bootstrapped or self-funded startups with under $1M raised.
• Tier 2: $100,000, an account manager and technical sessions, for startups with under $5M raised from an affiliated partner.
• Tier 1: up to $350,000, expert office hours and priority support, for startups with $5M or more raised from an affiliated partner.

All tiers need a company founded in the last 10 years, funded up to Series B, a technology product in active development, a public website, a matching business email and an active LinkedIn, X or GitHub account. It is for first-time applicants only. Credits last one year or until used up. The catch: Cloudflare's general criteria also say "funded within the last 12 months", which sits oddly with the bootstrapped tier, so check the form before you apply. Cloudflare's normal free plan is already generous (see our free for developers list), so the credits matter most once you use paid Workers, R2 or Zero Trust.

DigitalOcean's old Hatch program now runs as DigitalOcean Startups. You get 12 months of DigitalOcean credits, but the amount is not published: it is set by your program manager and listed in your onboarding email. DigitalOcean says participants are generally capped at $10,000 of usage a month, and anything above that is billed. You also get free Standard-tier support for 15 months and one-to-one time with DigitalOcean engineers.

• Who qualifies: raised $10M or less, a company website and matching email, and a DigitalOcean team account on that business email. AI-native startups get priority. Consultancies, dev shops and agencies are not eligible.
• How to apply: through a DigitalOcean partner if you have one, or directly by choosing "Other" if you are not backed by a VC, incubator or accelerator.
• The catch: you will not know the amount until you are accepted, and credits only cover qualifying services.

MongoDB gives Atlas credits plus Voyage AI tokens for embeddings and reranking. There are four tiers (Inspire for bootstrapped, Grow for early-funded, Innovate for VC-backed, Scale for fast-growing startups), and each step up adds more credits and support. MongoDB does not publish the dollar amounts.

• Who qualifies: under 7 years old, Series A or earlier, focused on one software product (no agencies), a live website and LinkedIn page, and not accepted before.
• How to apply: a referral from your VC, accelerator or incubator is preferred, but you can apply directly. MongoDB says it replies within 5 business days.
• How long credits last: 12 months to activate your promo code, then 12 months to use the credits. Extensions are case by case; ask when you have three months left.
• The catch: the Developer Support plan is free for 30 days, then $49 a month (payable from credits). Promo codes only apply to future charges, never past bills.

Anthropic's startup program is open to any early-stage founder, but credits go to companies that have received equity funding from an institutional investor, were founded in the last four years, and have not had Anthropic startup credits before. Anthropic does not publish the credit amount. If you are backed by one of its partner VCs or accelerators, say so in the form, because it may unlock more.

• How to apply: a two-minute form. You need a Claude Console account (the API console, not the Claude app), a company email, your website and a short description.
• What else you get: accepted startups move to Anthropic's highest API rate limits, plus founder events and hackathons.
• The catch: credits only work on the first-party Claude API. They cannot be used on AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI or other platforms. When credits end, standard API pricing starts automatically.

OpenAI's startup page offers Build Hours, starter repos and founder events to everyone, but credits and dedicated support are unlocked through eligible VC partners. OpenAI does not publish the amount, the expiry, or a list of partners on that page. If you are venture-backed, ask your investor whether they are an OpenAI partner. If you are not, there is currently no public self-serve credit application.

The best non-VC AI program we found. ElevenLabs gives startups 12 months of free access to its platform with 33,000,000 characters, which it values at over $5,500 (about 680 hours of voice agent usage). That covers text to speech, speech to text and conversational agents.

• Who qualifies: fewer than 25 employees, a product with a monetized use case, not an agency or consultancy, and not an existing enterprise customer. One application per company.
• How to apply: a short form, reviewed on a rolling basis. ElevenLabs says it replies within a week.
• The catch: grants are not given to companies building for users aged 18 or under, and the free plan ends at 12 months or when the characters run out.

Atlas incorporates a Delaware company for a $500 one-time fee (which includes state fees and the first year of registered agent service, then $100 a year). You get $2,500 in Stripe product credits for your first year after incorporation and access to over $50,000 in partner discounts. Stripe refunds the $500 fee if you deposit $5,000 into a Stripe Treasury account. The partner discount library is one of the easiest places to find cloud and SaaS perks you did not know existed.

Not credits, but big discounts on HubSpot's Professional and Enterprise products. Startups that raised pre-seed, seed or Series A (not Series B or later) and are affiliated with an approved partner, or have verified venture funding, get 90% off year one, 50% off year two and 25% off year three. Startups linked to an approved entrepreneurial organization get 30% off year one and 15% off year two. HubSpot says it has over 4,000 approved partners and can also verify funding through Crunchbase or PitchBook. The catch: it only applies to net-new Professional or Enterprise purchases, and full price returns in year four.

Notion gives the Business plan with Notion AI free for:

• 6 months if you are affiliated with one of Notion's startup partners.
• 3 months with a valid business website and a company domain email.
• 1 month for teams under 10 people, or if your application was missing business details.

You must be a non-paying Notion customer with fewer than 100 employees and no previous Notion promotion. Personal email addresses are not accepted.

Vercel gives eligible teams up to $30,000 as a Flexible Commitment Amount, plus Enterprise-tier access and startup-focused support. The program is run with Vercel's startup partners, and you start by filling in a contact form. Vercel does not publish eligibility rules or how long the amount lasts, so ask before you plan around it. Note that Vercel's free Hobby plan is for non-commercial use only, so a startup needs Pro or this program anyway.

The most generous SaaS credit here that needs no investor. PostHog gives $50,000 in credits for 12 months, usable across most of its product analytics, session replay, feature flags and surveys, plus about $12,000 in partner perks (including $5,000 of Depot credit and $1,500 off incident.io). You must be under 2 years old, have raised less than $5M, have signed up to PostHog on or after January 1, 2023, and use your company email domain. The catch: some newer AI tools inside PostHog are excluded from the credits.

Sentry gives startups up to $5,000 in credits, faster support and some swag. The credits expire one year after you join. Sentry does not publish strict eligibility rules; you tell it what you are building and apply through its (terminal-styled) startup page. Its free plan only allows one user, so the credits are useful as soon as a second engineer joins.