Compare 16 startup programs: AWS Activate, Google for Startups, Microsoft for Startups, Cloudflare, DigitalOcean Startups, Stripe Atlas, Brex, Mercury, and more. Credit values, eligibility, vesting, and stacking strategies.
Published 2026-03-27 · Reviewed 2026-11-01 · 16 programs compared · Figures in the tables below come from our records for 1,498 developer tools
Startup credits in 2026: 16 programs across cloud infrastructure, fintech perks, developer tools and AI. The largest published offers are up to $350,000. Cloud providers offer the highest individual values. Fintech platforms pass partner credits on to their customers; each perk is claimed separately.
Key insight: Stacking Google Scale (up to $200K) + AWS Activate Portfolio (up to $200K) + Cloudflare Tier 2 ($100K) can reach $500K; each needs VC funding or an affiliated partner. AWS credits from Brex and Stripe Atlas overlap: a later award pays only the difference.
This guide covers: credit values, eligibility requirements, vesting schedules, hidden constraints, application difficulty, and optimal stacking strategies — compiled by hand from vendor pricing pages.
Startup credit programs fall into four categories, each targeting different needs and stages of growth.
A date in a heading below cites a record we hold, not a property of the vendor it names. These figures were compiled on 2026-03-27; a dated badge marks a card whose vendor we have recorded a change for since, and the date moves to the newer record on the day that record takes effect. Every record we hold for any vendor named below is in the full change log.
Major cloud providers offering $200–$350K in compute, storage, and AI credits. These are the highest-value programs — anchor your startup’s infrastructure budget here.
Credit value: $1K–$5K (Founders), up to $200K (Portfolio), $200K+ (AI Startups, invite only)
Eligibility: Pre-Series B, founded in the last 10 years, AWS account on a paid plan. Founders: self-funded. Portfolio: needs an Activate Provider Org ID. AWS Credits for AI Startups is by invitation only, for startups ready to scale after Activate Portfolio, through an AWS account manager; AWS states "$200,000+" with no upper amount.
Duration: Activate credits expire on a date shown in the AWS Billing console.
What's included: AWS credits, which can also pay for AWS Support. Technical guidance, mentoring and go-to-market resources. AWS Activate credits can also pay for third-party models on Amazon Bedrock, such as Anthropic's Claude. (From aws.amazon.com/startups/faq, read 2026-10-11.)
Vesting: One award per approved application; a later, larger award pays only the difference
When credits run out: Your AWS account is billed for usage beyond the credits. Some services are not eligible for the credits. (From aws.amazon.com/awscredits, read 2026-10-08.)
Credit value: $2K (Start), up to $200K (Scale), up to $350K (Scale AI)
Eligibility: Start: no funding yet but plans to raise venture funding soon, founded within 24 months, working MVP; Scale: VC funding from pre-seed to Series A (Series A within the last 12 months; angel money does not count), founded within 5 years.
Duration: 12 months (Start), 2 years (Scale)
What's included: Google Cloud and Firebase credits, 12 months of Google Workspace Business Plus, technical training and business support. The AI tier adds $150K of credits. Google Cloud for Startups credits cover Google's own models, such as Gemini and Gemma. Third-party models, such as Anthropic's Claude, are billed directly and not covered. (From cloud.google.com/startup/ai, read 2026-10-11.)
Vesting: Scale: year 1 covers usage up to $100K ($250K for AI); year 2 covers 20% of spend, up to $100K more
When credits run out: Usage beyond the credits is billed to you. Google is not required to notify you when the credits are exhausted. (From cloud.google.com/terms/startup-program-tos, read 2026-10-08.)
Credit value: Up to $200 on joining Microsoft for Startups; up to $150K over time as Azure usage grows; up to $200K for Investor Network-backed startups. Startups new to Azure can start with $200 for 90 days and $4,800 more after business verification.
Eligibility: B2B software, AI or tech startups, pre-seed through Series B, privately held; no investor needed. Business verification and sustained Azure usage unlock more credits, and Investor Network backing starts most startups at $100K.
Duration: Activate Microsoft for Startups credits within 90 days; the first $200 lasts 90 days, the verification credit 180 days, and credits from the $25K milestone up to 2 years.
What's included: Azure credits and Azure AI models. GitHub Enterprise, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Visual Studio Enterprise and LinkedIn Premium offers are for Investor Network-backed startups only. Anthropic's Claude, Hugging Face models and some Cohere, Meta and Mistral AI models in Microsoft Foundry are not covered by Microsoft for Startups credits; the model provider bills that usage separately. The credits cover Foundry models billed directly by Azure. (From learn.microsoft.com/en-us/startups/benefits/technical-benefits/azure-credits/foundry-model-sponsorship-coverage, read 2026-10-11.)
Vesting: Released in milestones as you verify the business and use more Azure
When credits run out: When the credits are used up or reach their end date, the subscription converts automatically to Pay-As-You-Go and you pay for further usage. (From azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/offers/ms-azr-0036p, read 2026-10-08.)
Credit value: Not accepting new applications until an updated program launches in early 2027. Members: credits for 12 months; amount varies, up to $10,000 a month
Eligibility: Not accepting new applications: paused until early 2027
Duration: 12 months
What's included: Compute credits for most DigitalOcean services, 15 months of free Standard-tier support; GPU credits are a separate benefit for selected startups
Vesting: Lump sum per partner agreement
Status: DigitalOcean's FAQ, read 2026-10-30: applications for the current cohort are temporarily paused while it prepares an updated program for early 2027; active members are not affected.
Credit value: $10K, $100K or $350K by tier
Eligibility: Tier 3 ($10K): bootstrapped or self-funded, under $1M raised; Tiers 2 ($100K) and 1 ($350K): funded by an affiliated partner, Tier 1 with $5M+ raised.
Duration: 1 year or until used up
What's included: Credits for usage-based services such as Workers and R2 (R2 up to $10K). Workers AI is not covered by credits for startups joining the programme now. Startups already in the programme keep Workers AI coverage, up to $2.5K for Tier 3, $10K for Tier 2 or $50K for Tier 1, until December 1, 2026. From that date, Workers AI is not covered for them either. AI Gateway and domain registration and renewal on Cloudflare Registrar are not covered by credits. Core security and networking features are free at every tier.
Vesting: Lump sum per tier
Startup-focused banks and financial platforms bundling cloud credits and SaaS perks with their banking products. Often the easiest way to unlock credits from multiple providers at once.
Credit value: Over $50K in partner discounts, plus $2.5K of Stripe credits
Eligibility: Companies incorporated through Atlas ($500, then $100 a year after the first year)
Duration: Varies by perk; Stripe credits last the first year
What's included: $2.5K of Stripe product credits for the first year, $5K of AWS Activate credits (new AWS users), $100K of Cloudflare credits through the Cloudflare Startup Program, Microsoft for Startups Azure credits, a 30-minute immigration attorney consult (Ellis), and banking through Stripe Treasury.
Vesting: Available once the Atlas application is approved
Credit value: Over $350K in partner discounts and credits
Eligibility: Brex customers
Duration: Varies by partner
What's included: Up to $5K of AWS credits for new Brex customers (subject to Activate eligibility), $1K of OpenAI credits for a year, up to $200K of Google Cloud and Firebase credits over 2 years, 6 months of Notion Business with Notion AI, 30% off Slack for 12 months.
Vesting: Per-partner activation
Credit value: Banking perks bundle
Eligibility: Mercury banking customers
Duration: Varies by perk
What's included: 1 year of Datadog free (up to $100K in credits; Series A or earlier, new Datadog customers), up to $5K of AWS Activate credits, 50% off QuickBooks Online for 3 months. Mercury's Google Cloud offer is paused.
Vesting: Per-partner activation
Credit value: Over $350K in partner rewards
Eligibility: Ramp customers
Duration: Varies
What's included: AWS credits through AWS Activate and OpenAI API credits (Ramp states no amount for either), $350 of Google Cloud credits, 6 months of Notion Business with Notion AI.
Vesting: Per-partner activation
Credit value: $5K AWS + partner offers
Eligibility: Clients of First Citizens Innovation Banking (formerly Silicon Valley Bank)
Duration: Varies
What's included: $5K of AWS Activate credits (with an Activate Provider Org ID, pre-Series B), up to $15K of credits for MongoDB Atlas and Voyage AI, 25% off Slack upgrades (up to $9K). 80 offers from 57 vendors; no Google Cloud offer.
Vesting: Per-partner activation
SaaS companies offering generous startup plans for analytics, data, and developer infrastructure. Smaller individual values but stack well with cloud credits.
Credit value: $50K in credits (YC: $50K a year)
Eligibility: Under 2 years old and under $5M raised. YC companies under $25M raised get $50K a year instead.
Duration: 12 months (YC: renews yearly while eligible)
What's included: Credits for product analytics, session replay, feature flags and experiments, plus about $12K of partner perks. Since 2026-09-14, credits don't cover PostHog AI, Desktop, the Slack app, Replay Vision or Inbox.
Vesting: Credits for 12 months; the YC deal renews yearly
AI coding tools and ML platforms offering startup-specific credit programs. A newer category driven by the AI tool boom.
Credit value: Not accepting new applications. Members: Claude Startup Stack offers worth up to $45,000; startups backed by a VC in Anthropic's partner network may get up to $100K in API credits through the VC.
Eligibility: Not accepting new applications: the current cohort is full.
What's included: Members keep Claude Startup Stack offers worth up to $45,000, Applied AI group sessions and events. Startups backed by a VC in Anthropic's partner network may get up to $100K in API credits through the VC. Credits apply to the first-party Claude API only.
Status: Since between 2026-10-12 and 2026-10-14, Anthropic says the current cohort is full and it is not accepting new applications. Applications still in review were not taken forward.
Credit value: Credit value not stated.
Eligibility: Requires a referral code from a partner VC.
What's included: Credits only through a partner VC. The application needs the VC's referral code. No credit amount stated. Brex and Ramp customer perks on this page include OpenAI credits without VC backing.
Credit value: No amount stated. Sized by funding, revenue and AI spend to about six months of usage.
Eligibility: Venture backing, a live product, and a company email matching the website. One grant per company.
Duration: Credits expire six months after they are applied unless the approval says otherwise.
What's included: Credits for Grok, Grok Build, Grok Bot and the Grok API from one balance.
Vesting: 20% on approval, the other 80% after onboarding.
When credits run out: Usage continues at xAI's standard pricing. (From x.ai/startups, read 2026-10-29.)
Credit value: Up to 1 year of Kiro Pro+ ($40 per user a month)
Eligibility: Early stage to Series A, without active AWS Activate credits; not available in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, the UAE, China or sanctioned regions; apply by 2026-12-31. The AWS account email must match the startup's corporate website domain, and applicants must be 18 years or older.
Duration: Credits expire 1 year after they are issued
What's included: Kiro Pro+ for up to 2, 10 or 30 users (Starter, Growth and Scale tiers).
Vesting: Deposited once to your AWS account
When credits run out: Your AWS Account automatically switches to standard Kiro Pro+ billing at the then-current rates, billed monthly to your AWS-associated credit card. (From kiro.dev/startups/terms, read 2026-10-10.)
Credit value: 1 year of the Growth plan free
Eligibility: Under 20 employees and under $10M raised
Duration: 1 year; year 2 at 40% off the annual Plus plan, or move to the free plan
What's included: The full Growth plan for 200K monthly tracked users or 100M events a month.
Vesting: Full plan for 12 months
The credit value is rarely the full story. These are the constraints that catch founders off guard after committing to a program.
AWS Activate credits expire on a date shown in the AWS Billing console. Google's Start tier credits last 12 months; Scale tier credits last two years. Microsoft for Startups credits must be activated within 90 days; the first $200 lasts 90 days and the business-verification credit 180 days, and from the $25K milestone credits last up to two years. Cloudflare credits last one year or until used up. PostHog credits last 12 months from application. Kiro credits expire one year after they are issued.
AWS Activate gives one award per approved application. Google's Scale tier covers 100% of usage up to $100,000 in year 1, then 20% of spend, up to $100,000 more, in year 2. Microsoft for Startups releases credits in milestones.
Google Scale requires VC funding; angel money doesn't count. PostHog's YC deal has a $25M fundraising cap and renews only while you stay under it.
Credits only work on the issuing platform. After credits expire, you’re on production pricing with established data gravity. Migration costs can exceed the original credit value.
Brex, Mercury, Ramp, SVB and Stripe Atlas all offer AWS Activate credits. A later AWS Activate award pays only the difference, so several $5,000 perks give $5,000 in total. Mercury states that credits are not added on.
Most startup programs can be combined across platforms. Here are optimal stacking strategies for different startup profiles.
Google Scale (up to $200K) + AWS Activate Portfolio (up to $200K) + Cloudflare Tier 2 ($100K). Requires VC funding and an affiliated partner. Google Scale AI adds $150K for AI-first startups; Cloudflare Tier 1 ($350K) replaces Tier 2 after $5M raised.
AWS Activate Founders offers $1,000. Google Start offers $2,000. Microsoft offers $200 for 90 days to startups new to Azure, then $4,800 more after business verification. Microsoft for Startups gives up to $200 at once, with more at milestones. Cloudflare Tier 3 offers $10,000. PostHog offers $50,000 for startups under 2 years old. None needs funding.
AWS Activate Portfolio (up to $200K) + Google Scale (up to $100K in the first year) + PostHog ($50K) = up to $350K in the first year.
Google Scale AI (up to $350K) + Kiro (up to one year of Kiro Pro+, $40 per user a month) + AWS Activate Portfolio (up to $200K). Apply for Kiro first: it excludes startups with active Activate credits.
Sign up for Brex + Mercury + Stripe Atlas to unlock overlapping cloud perks. Careful: their AWS credits don't add up; a later Activate award pays only the difference.
Startup credit programs change frequently. Here are the changes we've tracked. See full change timeline for all tracked changes.
| Date | Vendor | Change | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| effective Nov 11, 2026 | Cloudflare for Startups | By November 11, 2026, Cloudflare for Startups had stopped covering Workers AI for startups joining the programme. Members who joined earlier keep their Workers AI cap ($2,500 for Tier 3, $10,000 for Tier 2, $50,000 for Tier 1) until Dec 1. Workers, R2 (up to $10,000) and the programme's other usage-based services are still covered. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| discovered Sep 9, 2026 · effective date unknown | Amplitude | Amplitude renamed its Startup Scholarship "Early Stage Startup Pricing". The first year is still the full Growth plan free for startups with under 20 employees and under $10M raised; year 2 is now 40% off the annual Plus plan, or the free plan. Unconfirmed. We could not check this change against an archived copy of Amplitude's page, so it does not count toward the rating. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| discovered Sep 5, 2026 · effective date unknown | Ramp Partner Rewards | Ramp's AWS perk no longer states an amount. It now says "Redeem AWS credits through the AWS Activate program."; in the Internet Archive's capture of 2026-05-21 it said "New to AWS? Get $5,000 in AWS credits to get started". Source ↗ | HIGH |
| effective Aug 7, 2026 | Cloudflare for Startups | Cloudflare cut Tier 2's Workers AI credit cap from $25,000 to $10,000. The Internet Archive's capture of cloudflare.com/startups on 2026-08-06 says "$25,000 for Tier 2"; the capture of 2026-08-07 says "$10,000 for Tier 2". Tier 3 kept $2,500 and Tier 1 kept $50,000. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Jul 2, 2026 | Mercury Perks | Mercury paused its Google Cloud perk. mercury.com/perks/google-cloud offered "Google Cloud and Firebase costs covered up to $200,000 USD over 2 years" in the Internet Archive's capture of 2026-02-10 and said "Offer temporarily unavailable. New offer coming later this year" in the capture of 2026-07-02, as it does today. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Jul 2, 2026 | Cloudflare for Startups | Cloudflare replaced its startup programme's single Workers AI cap with caps by tier. The Internet Archive's capture of cloudflare.com/startups on 2026-07-01 says Workers AI is "Covered up to a $50,000 cap"; the capture of 2026-07-02 says "Covered up to a $2,500 cap for Tier 3, $25,000 for Tier 2, and $50,000 for Tier 1". Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Jun 14, 2026 | AWS Activate | AWS raised Activate Portfolio from up to $100,000 to up to $200,000 in credits. aws.amazon.com/startups/credits/ said "Up to $100,000 USD AWS Activate Credits" in the Internet Archive's capture of 2026-05-31 and "Up to $200,000 USD in Activate Credits" in the capture of 2026-06-14. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective May 28, 2026 | Cloudflare for Startups | Cloudflare's startup programme stopped covering AI Gateway. The Internet Archive's capture of cloudflare.com/startups on 2026-05-25 lists "$250 on AI Gateway"; the capture of 2026-05-28 says "AI Gateway: Temporarily not covered by credits". The same capture changed Tier 2's criterion from "$1M+ raised" to "Under $5M raised". Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective May 13, 2026 | DigitalOcean | As of 2026-05-13, DigitalOcean's startup credits exclude Dedicated and Serverless Inference, third-party AI models, Paperspace Machines, Cloudways and Bare Metal GPUs as well as GPU Droplets and H100 GPU products, the two exclusions its page stated before. The page also now puts the monthly credit limit at $10,000; its April capture mentioned a monthly limit without an amount. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective May 12, 2026 | Cloudflare for Startups | Cloudflare replaced its four startup tiers with three. In the Internet Archive's capture of 2026-05-11, cloudflare.com/forstartups offered $5K, $25K, $100K and $250K tiers. In the capture of 2026-05-12, cloudflare.com/startups offers Tier 3 at $10k (bootstrapped or self-funded, under $1M raised), Tier 2 at $100k ($1M+ raised, funded by an affiliated partner) and Tier 1 at $350k ($5M+ raised, funded by an affiliated partner), to startups founded within the last 10 years whose most recent round was within the last 12 months. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Apr 7, 2026 | Amazon Kiro (AWS Startups) | Kiro reopened its startup credits with smaller tiers and a lower funding ceiling. Its post of 2026-04-07 offers up to one year of Kiro Pro+ to "early-stage to Series A" startups in tiers of up to 2, 10 and 30 users, and says "Startups who currently participate in AWS Activate are not eligible". The 2025 offer covered startups up to Series B in tiers of up to 2, 50 and 100 users; Kiro had closed its applications in December 2025 "due to high demand". Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective between Mar 29, 2026 and Apr 4, 2026 | Microsoft for Startups | Microsoft for Startups' homepage replaced its two credit offers with one. The Internet Archive's copy of microsoft.com/en-us/startups from 2026-03-29 offers up to $150,000 in Azure credits to startups associated with Microsoft's Investor Network and up to $5,000 through an Azure free trial to the rest; its copy of 2026-04-04 offers up to $150,000 in credits with no split. Source ↗ | HIGH |
| effective Nov 17, 2025 | Amazon Kiro (AWS Startups) | Kiro launched startup credits: up to one year of Kiro Pro+ for startups between "we have an idea and some funding" and Series B VC-backed, in three tiers of up to 2, 50 and 100 users, for applications until 2025-12-31. Kiro announced it on its blog on 2025-11-17. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Sep 4, 2025 | Segment Startup Program | Segment ended its Startup Program, which gave early-stage startups Segment free for up to two years. segment.com/industry/startups described it in the Internet Archive's capture of 2025-07-09; by the capture of 2025-09-04 the address redirected to Twilio's startups page, which says "We do not offer additional credits to startups at this time." Source ↗ | HIGH |
| effective Jun 4, 2025 | Cloudflare for Startups | Cloudflare capped its startup programme's Workers AI credits at $50,000. The Internet Archive's capture of cloudflare.com/forstartups on 2025-05-23 capped only R2 and Cache Reserve; the capture of 2025-06-04 adds "$50,000 of Credits for any Workers AI services". Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Apr 17, 2025 | Cloudflare for Startups | Cloudflare split its startup programme into four funding tiers and capped bootstrapped startups at $5K. In the Internet Archive's capture of 2025-04-08, cloudflare.com/forstartups credited "up to $250,000 worth of service" to startups meeting one of its criteria. In the capture of 2025-04-17 a startup had to meet all of them, including "Funded up to series B", and the tiers were "$5K: Bootstrapped / Stealth Startups", "$25K: Up-and-coming Startups", "$100K: Seed-funded Startups" and "$250K: High Growth Startups". Source ↗ | HIGH |
| effective Jan 22, 2025 | DigitalOcean | Hatch startup program expanded to up to $100K compute credits plus up to 3 months free H100 GPU access for AI/ML startups Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
These are announced changes that have not taken effect yet, listed soonest first.
| Date | Vendor | Change | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| effective Dec 1, 2026 | Cloudflare for Startups | From December 1, 2026, Cloudflare for Startups credits no longer pay for Workers AI for startups already in the programme, who until then keep a Workers AI cap of $2,500 (Tier 3), $10,000 (Tier 2) or $50,000 (Tier 1). Startups joining now already get no Workers AI coverage. Workers, R2 (up to $10,000) and the other usage-based services stay covered. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |