This free credits list covers 250 cloud, AI and software programs for startups, developers, students, nonprofits and open-source maintainers. We checked each one on its official page on 12 and 13 October 2026. Of these, 233 had not ended or paused when we checked, and the rest are under ended or paused offers. Credits are a prepaid balance that a provider draws down as you use its service. They have no cash value, and most expire. A free tier is different: a fixed allowance that resets, with no balance.
No provider pays to be listed here, and we use no affiliate, referral or tracking links. Pick your situation below, search the A to Z index of every program, or download our free credits tracker for Excel to log your grants and expiry dates.
Programs listed
233
Every program that had not ended or paused
For startups
75
Cloud, AI, data, software and banking perks
Last full check
12 October 2026
Every entry, on its official page. 18 rechecked on 13 October 2026.
Which free credits can you get?
One page for each kind of reader. The number shows how many programs each page lists, and every entry says whether Indian applicants qualify.
Free credits for startups75 programsWithout an investor, AWS Activate starts at $1,000 and Cloudflare gives $10,000 for a year.Free AI API credits40 programsThe Gemini API free tier needs no card. GroqCloud gives 1,000 requests a day on gpt-oss-120b.Free cloud credits21 programsGoogle Cloud gives $300 for 90 days and Azure $200 for 30 days, plus always-free tiers.Free ChatGPT and Gemini plans6 programsChatGPT Plus for US college students (claim by 31 October 2026) and Google’s AI plan for college students (redeem by 31 December 2026).Free credits for students28 programsThe GitHub Student Developer Pack, and $100 of Azure for Students with no card.Nonprofits, open source and research45 programsGoogle Ad Grants of up to $10,000 a month in search ads. 6 months of Claude Max 20x for qualifying maintainers.Startup benefits and grants in India22 programsDPIIT recognition, IndiaAI subsidised GPUs and Karnataka ELEVATE grants (apply by 13 November 2026).
Top picks for each kind of reader
Picked for what you can get without an investor or a partner code, and confirmed on the official page on 12 and 13 October 2026. Each card links to the full entry.
Bootstrapped founderCloudflare for Startups$10,000 in credits for 1 yearNo investor needed if you have raised under $1 million. You need a live product site, a business email and a card on file.Full entry on the startups pageStartup not yet fundedGoogle for Startups Cloud Program$2,000 in credits for 12 months (Start tier)Start tier: a working MVP (a first version customers can use) and a company founded in the last 24 months. No referral code.Full entry on the startups pageAI builderGemini API free tierGoogleFree, rate-limited Gemini Flash, 2.5 Pro and GemmaNo card or billing account. Google may use free-tier prompts, so keep sensitive data out.Full entry on the AI API credits pageLearning the cloudGoogle Cloud Free Trial and Free Tier$300 for 90 days + Always Free tierNew customers only, and a card is needed. Billing does not switch on by itself afterwards.Full entry on the cloud credits pageCollege student who wants an AI planGoogle AI free student plan1 free year of Google AI Pro (US) or AI PlusCollege students 18+. A card is needed, and the plan renews at full price after 12 months unless you cancel. Redeem by 31 December 2026.Full entry on the AI subscriptions pageStudent developerGitHub Student Developer PackGitHub Pro, Copilot Student and 80+ pack offersVerified students aged 13+, no card. Many partner offers stop when you graduate.Full entry on the students pageNonprofitGoogle for NonprofitsFree Google Workspace for up to 2,000 usersGet verified by Goodstack, the checking service Google uses, then apply for Google Ad Grants and each other product separately.Full entry on the nonprofits and open source pageOpen-source maintainerClaude for Open SourceAnthropic6 months of Claude Max 20x free (normally $200 a month)Meet one threshold, such as 200,000+ monthly downloads. Capped at 10,000 recipients.Full entry on the nonprofits and open source pageIndian founderDPIIT Startup RecognitionFree recognition needed for the tax holiday and schemesNo cash by itself. It is the gate for the 3-year income-tax holiday and many government schemes, and each needs its own application.Full entry on the India page
Closing soon: deadlines to know
Soonest first. Each date is the deadline on the official page, checked 12 and 13 October 2026.
- 29 October 2026: the Jio Google AI Pro offer window ends (Jio mobile users in India, 18+). Activate by then.
- 31 October 2026: claim ChatGPT Plus Back to School (US college students). It costs $20 a month after the 4 free months.
- 31 October 2026: redeem Google AI Pro with a Pixel 10 Pro (Pixel 10 Pro, Pro XL and Pro Fold buyers).
- 3 November 2026, 12:00 CET: next NLnet grant deadline (open-source projects). After that, deadlines fall every two months on the 3rd: January, March, May and so on.
- 13 November 2026, 5:00 PM IST: Karnataka ELEVATE closes (the NxT call is open to startups across India).
- 30 November 2026: the Elastic Cloud credit via AWS Marketplace ends (new Elastic Cloud customers). Subscribe and register by then.
- 31 December 2026: redeem the Google AI student plan (college students 18+).
- 28 January 2027: activate Adobe Express Premium with Airtel (Airtel customers in India).
- 31 January 2027: redeem Google AI Pro with a Chromebook Plus (new Chromebook Plus buyers).
- 31 March 2027: Alibaba Cloud AI Catalyst ends (AI-first startups).
One we cannot date: the Krutrim Cloud Sandbox banner says “until Oct 22” with no year, and we could not confirm the terms.
Tip: claim only on the provider’s or telecom’s own site or app. Nobody needs to sell you a code. If a plan renews at full price, note the cancel-by date when you sign up.
What changed: latest updates
Newest first: changes the providers made, and our own checks and corrections.
Claude for Startups stopped taking new applications. Anthropic says its current cohort is full and applications still in review were not accepted. Members keep the Startup Stack offers, Applied AI sessions and events.
We rechecked the Gemini API free tier and Perplexity Education Pro. Google’s pricing page lists its new Gemini 4 Argon model as paid-only, and Perplexity’s plan guide lists Education Pro at $10 a month, a paid discount rather than a free plan.
Karnataka opened ELEVATE NxT (deep tech, open to startups across India, up to Rs 1 crore) and ELEVATE Minorities (up to Rs 50 lakh). Both close on 13 November 2026.
We rechecked 18 entries, including GroqCloud Free plan, Google Ad Grants and the IndiaAI Compute Portal.
We checked every program in this list on its official page.
Anthropic said Claude for Startups is over capacity. The free Team year and the $1,000 API credit are closed to new applicants. Members kept the Startup Stack offers (discounts from other companies, worth up to $45,000).
Claude for Startups expanded with a free Team year, a one-time $1,000 API credit and partner offers worth up to $45,000.
AWS announced a new sign-up flow with no credit card for most new customers (see AWS Free Tier). On 12 October 2026 its docs said the flow had reached only a limited number of customers, so you may still be asked for a card.
PostHog for Startups credits stopped paying for PostHog’s AI tools.
NLnet opened Restack and CodeSupply, the successors to NGI Zero.
Anthropic started the Claude Team plan for scientists, for the first 10,000 verified scientists.
Vercel for Startups moved to a Flexible Commitment: up to $30,000 to spend on Vercel over one year, for startups accepted through an approved partner from 6 August 2026.
GitHub retired GitHub Models.
Webflow for Startups ended.
Cursor closed its student discount to new sign-ups.
Google ended the free Gemini CLI and Code Assist tier for individuals. Antigravity replaced it.
GitHub began reopening sign-ups for Copilot Student, Pro, Pro+ and Max.
Ended or paused offers, and what to use instead
Old posts and videos keep these offers alive. If you are checking whether an offer is still available, start here. The second column is the closest open alternative we found.
| Program and end date | Use instead |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT Go 12 months free (India), closed to new sign-ups on 21 January 2026 | Nothing free. Claimed free years end between November 2026 and January 2027, then Go bills monthly. |
| Perplexity Pro with Airtel, ended 16 January 2026 | Airtel now offers Adobe Express Premium |
| Perplexity Pro via PayPal and Venmo, ended 31 December 2025 | No free route open |
| Cursor student discount, closed to new sign-ups on 25 June 2026 | Copilot Student or Kiro Students |
| Microsoft 365 Premium free for college students, no official end date. By 12 October 2026 the offer page showed only 50% off Microsoft 365 Personal. | Office 365 A1 (web apps, through your school) |
| DigitalOcean credit in the GitHub Student Pack, ended between 19 May and 9 July 2026 | Heroku for GitHub Students or Azure for Students |
| Amazon Q Developer Free, closed to new sign-ups on 15 May 2026 | Kiro Free plan |
| Gemini CLI and Code Assist for individuals, ended 18 June 2026 | Antigravity free plan |
| GitHub Models, retired 30 July 2026 | Gemini API free tier, GroqCloud Free plan or OpenRouter free models |
| Webflow for Startups, ended 30 June 2026 | No replacement announced |
| Segment Startup Program, end date not stated | None: Twilio says it gives startups no extra credits |
| Startup India Seed Fund, applications closed 31 May 2026 | Karnataka ELEVATE NxT (deep tech), open to startups across India until 13 November 2026. NIDHI-PRAYAS 2.0 needs a physical prototype and its calls run centre by centre. Neither it nor the Atal New India Challenge listed an open call on 12 October 2026. |
Paused, with no reopening date on 12 and 13 October 2026: Vapi for Startups, Vercel Open Source Program, NVIDIA Academic Grant Program and Colab Pro for Education, plus Claude for Startups, which closed to new applicants on 15 October 2026.
Not fully confirmed on an official page: Groq for Startups, Meta Llama Startup Program, Perplexity for Startups, xAI API credits, IBM Cloud for Startups, Redis for Startups, Vultr’s new-user credit and SAMRIDH. The index marks them “Not fully confirmed”. Any amount in these entries is a reported or advertised figure we could not confirm, so check with the provider before you rely on it.
A to Z index of every program
Search by name, provider or who it is for. Each name links to the program’s full entry on its section page. Ended and paused offers are in the section above.
Skip past the indexNo programs match your search.
| Program | Who it is for | What you get | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Password for Open Source1Password | Open-source teams and OSS meetup or conference organisers | Free 1Password Teams account | Active |
| Adobe Express Premium free with AirtelBharti Airtel and Adobe | Airtel users who make social posts, flyers or short videos | 12 months of Adobe Express Premium (~Rs 4,000) | Limited time, activate by 28 January 2027 |
| AI for ScienceAnthropic | Academic and nonprofit scientists, mainly biology and life sciences | Claude API credits, up to $20,000 for 6 months | Active |
| Aiven for StartupsAiven | Funded startups running managed Postgres, Kafka or similar | $12,000 in managed data credits for 12 months | Active |
| Akamai Cloud new-customer creditAkamai (Linode) | Developers trying VPS, storage and load balancers | $100 credit for new customers (excludes GPU plans) | Active |
| Akamai Cloud Rise start-up programAkamai (Linode) | Early startups planning to run mainly on Akamai (Linode) cloud | Year-one credits from $500, then 2 years of discounts | Active |
| Algolia Startup ProgramAlgolia | Startups adding site or in-app search with Algolia | Up to $10,000 in search credits for 12 months | Active |
| Alibaba Cloud AI Catalyst ProgramAlibaba Cloud | AI-first startups wanting cloud credits plus model tokens | Cloud credits + free Model Studio tokens (amount varies) | Limited time, ends 31 March 2027 |
| Amplitude Startup Program (Startup Scholarship)Amplitude | Small product teams that need product analytics | 1 year of Growth plan free, then 40% off | Active |
| Apple Developer Program membership fee waiver (education, nonprofit, government)Apple | Schools, nonprofits and government bodies publishing free apps | $99 a year Apple Developer fee waived | Active |
| Asana for NonprofitsAsana | Nonprofits managing projects and volunteers | 50% off paid Asana plans | Active |
| Asana for StartupsAsana | Series A or earlier startups with a Mercury, VC or accelerator code | Discount on year 1 of annual Starter or Advanced | Active |
| AssemblyAI Startup ProgramAssemblyAI | Early-stage startups with speech or voice at the product core | 12 months of recurring speech credits (amount unpublished) | Active |
| Atal New India Challenge (ANIC) grants and Atal Incubation CentresAtal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog (Government of India) | Indian startups/MSMEs with a working prototype in a challenge area | Milestone grant up to INR 1 crore | Active |
| Athenian ProjectCloudflare | US state, county and city election offices | Free enterprise-level Cloudflare protection | Active |
| Atlassian for StartupsAtlassian | VC-funded startups under $10M raised that are new to paid Atlassian | Premium Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket free for 12 months | Active |
| Atlassian Social Impact License (formerly Community License)Atlassian | Nonprofits and social enterprises using Jira or Confluence | Jira, Confluence or Loom free for up to 25 users | Changed 25 February 2026 |
| Attio Startup ProgramAttio | VC-backed startups setting up a CRM for up to 10 seats | 80% off annual Pro in year 1, 30% in year 2 | Active |
| Auth0 for StartupsAuth0 (Okta) | Young VC-backed B2B SaaS startups needing auth and SSO | 1 year of B2B Professional free (100K MAUs) | Active |
| Autodesk Education PlanAutodesk | Design, engineering and architecture students and teachers | 1 year of AutoCAD, Revit, Fusion free, renewable | Active |
| AWS AcademyAmazon Web Services | Educators teaching cloud courses, and students at member institutions | Free AWS curriculum and Learner Lab via your course | Active |
| AWS Activate (Activate Credits)Amazon Web Services | Pre-Series B startups building on AWS | $1,000 to start, up to $5,000 | Active |
| AWS Cloud Credit for ResearchAmazon Web Services | Faculty, research staff and grad students running research on AWS | AWS credits per proposal; students up to $5,000 | Active |
| AWS EducateAmazon Web Services | Beginners and students learning AWS cloud basics | Free AWS training labs and badges (no credits) | Active |
| AWS Free Tier (Free account plan and sign-up credits)Amazon Web Services | Anyone learning or prototyping on AWS | $100 credit at sign-up + 30+ Always Free services | Changed 16 September 2026 |
| AWS Generative AI AcceleratorAmazon Web Services | Gen AI startups building models or gen AI stack services | Up to $1M in AWS credits if selected for the cohort | Not fully confirmed |
| AWS Imagine GrantAmazon Web Services | US, UK, CA, AU and NZ nonprofits with a tech project | Up to $50,000 cash + $20,000 AWS credit | Active |
| AWS Nonprofit Credit Program (via TechSoup)Amazon Web Services | Small nonprofits hosting sites or data on AWS | $1,000 AWS credit a year ($95 fee, US) | Active |
| Azure for Students (and Azure for Students Starter)Microsoft | University students 18+ learning or building on Azure | $100 Azure credit for 12 months, no card | Active |
| Azure free accountMicrosoft Azure | Developers trying Azure services for a month | $200 for 30 days + 12 months of free services | Active |
| Backblaze Flamethrower startup programBackblaze | Data-heavy startups (AI/ML, video, analytics) needing storage | B2 storage credits, amount set case by case | Active |
| Baseten AI Startup ProgramBaseten | Seed to Series A AI startups running dedicated inference or training | Up to $25,000 inference credits + $2,500 for Model APIs | Active |
| Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG)BIRAC (Department of Biotechnology) | Indian biotech companies or LLPs under 5 years old | Grant up to Rs 50 lakh to reach biotech proof of concept | Not fully confirmed |
| Brex rewards, partner offers and Day Zero StackBrex | US-incorporated funded startups that use or want a Brex card | Partner deals, e.g. AWS up to $5K, OpenAI $1K credits | Active |
| BrowserStack for Open SourceBrowserStack | OSS projects needing cross-browser and device testing | Free Live, Automate and Percy testing (5 users) | Active |
| Canva for EducationCanva | K-12 teachers and their students (not universities) | Canva for Education free for K-12 classrooms | Active |
| Canva NonprofitsCanva | Registered charities and NGOs making visual content | Canva Pro free for one team of up to 50 users | Active |
| Carta LaunchCarta | Newly incorporated startups with few stakeholders and under $1M raised | Free cap table, SAFEs and fundraising tools | Active |
| Cerebras Inference Free TrialCerebras | Developers testing fast open-model inference | $5 one-time credit for 30 days | Free tier replaced by a $5 trial |
| Chargebee for Startups (formerly Chargebee Launch)Chargebee | Accelerator or VC-portfolio SaaS startups with under $5M raised | Free Chargebee Billing until $1M invoiced | Active |
| ChatGPT Back to School offer for students (2026)OpenAI | US college and grad students (renews at $20 a month after) | 4 months of ChatGPT Plus free (claim by 31 October 2026) | Limited time, claim by 31 October 2026 |
| ChatGPT for TeachersOpenAI | US K-12 teachers, school staff and district leaders | Free ChatGPT for Teachers workspace | Active |
| Civo Startup ProgramCivo | Cloud-native startups at any stage | Up to $1,000 in credits (Launchpad stage) | Active |
| Claude campus programs (Builder Clubs, Campus Conversations, Claude Science workshops)Anthropic | Students 18+ who want to lead a Claude club or workshop | $3,600 stipend for student group leaders | Limited time, Fall 2026 intake closed |
| Claude for NonprofitsAnthropic | Nonprofit teams of five or more wanting Claude at work | Claude Team at $8 per user a month (min 2 seats) | Active |
| Claude for Open SourceAnthropic | Maintainers and core contributors of widely used OSS | 6 months of Claude Max 20x free (normally $200 a month) | Active |
| Claude for Teachers (K-12)Anthropic | US K-12 teachers, schools and districts | Free premium Claude features for teachers | Active |
| Claude Team plan for scientistsAnthropic | Principal investigators running academic or nonprofit science labs | Free Claude Team Standard seats for 12 months | Limited time, first 10,000 scientists |
| Clerk Startup ProgramClerk | Newly launched startups adding user sign-in and auth | Discounted Clerk Pro (size unpublished) | Active |
| ClickHouse Cloud Startup OfferClickHouse | Partner- or YC-backed startups needing real-time analytics | No offer without a code; 30-day trial with $300 | Active |
| Cloudflare for StartupsCloudflare | Startups building web apps, Workers or edge services | $10,000 in credits for 1 year | Tiers raised; no date given |
| Cloudflare Free plan (websites)Cloudflare | Anyone running a website, blog or small app | Free CDN, DNS, SSL, WAF and DDoS protection | Active |
| Cloudflare Workers Free planCloudflare | Developers building serverless apps, APIs and static sites | Free tier: 100,000 Workers requests a day | Active |
| Codex credits for university studentsOpenAI | US and Canadian university students who code | $100 of Codex usage (2,500 ChatGPT credits) | Active |
| Codex for Open SourceOpenAI | Core maintainers of widely used public open-source projects | 6 months of ChatGPT Pro with Codex | Active |
| Cohere Trial API keyCohere | Developers testing Cohere models before going to production | Free, rate-limited Trial API key | Active |
| Community GPU Grants for SpacesHugging Face | Builders of open ML demos on Spaces (compute Spaces need a paid plan) | Free GPU hardware upgrade for a Space demo | Active |
| Complimentary daily tokens for sharing API data with OpenAIOpenAI | Paying API users with non-sensitive traffic | 250K flagship + 2.5M mini tokens a day (Build tier) | Active |
| Confluent for StartupsConfluent | Early-stage startups building on Kafka or Flink streaming | Up to 1 year of Confluent Cloud on free credits | Active |
| Convex for StartupsConvex | Small early startups building on Convex’s reactive backend | 1 year of Pro: no seat fees, 30% off usage | Active |
| CoreWeave Forge (W&B) free academic licenceCoreWeave (Weights & Biases) | Academic ML researchers and students tracking experiments | Free Pro-level W&B licence, up to 100 seats | Rebranded as CoreWeave Forge |
| Databricks for StartupsDatabricks | Funded startups building data, analytics or AI products | Credits set by stage; self-funded get Neon only | Active |
| Databricks Free EditionDatabricks | Students and learners practising data engineering, SQL and AI | Free Databricks workspace for learning | Active |
| Databricks Startup Program (Neon credits)Neon (Databricks) | Startups running serverless Postgres on Neon | Up to $1,000 in Neon credits if self-funded | Active |
| DataCamp ClassroomsDataCamp | University faculty teaching data science, and their students | Free DataCamp for a class, about 6 months | Active |
| Datadog for StartupsDatadog | Series A or earlier startups referred by a VC or cloud program | Partner-referred only; others get a 2-week trial | Active |
| Deel for Startups pricing bundleDeel | US-incorporated startups hiring; VC-backed ones with $500K+ raised | Free U.S. payroll for founders, for life | Active |
| Deepgram Startup ProgramDeepgram | Startups building speech-to-text, TTS or voice agent products | $1,000 in voice API credits to start | Active |
| DigitalOcean new-user free creditDigitalOcean | Developers trying Droplets and App Platform | $5 credit for 90 days + 3 free static sites | Changed: $5 credit for 90 days |
| DigitalOcean Startups (replaced Hatch)DigitalOcean | Startups under $10M raised hosting apps on DigitalOcean | 12 months of credits (amount not published) | Changed 13 May 2026 |
| Docker-Sponsored Open Source (DSOS)Docker | Non-commercial open-source projects publishing images on Docker Hub | No Hub pull limits, Scout, 1 year of Docker Team | Active |
| DocSearchAlgolia | OSS projects and technical blogs with public docs | Free hosted search for your docs site | Active |
| Docusign for StartupsDocusign | Startups funded by a Docusign partner VC, up to 50 seats | 30% off eSignature or 40% off IAM for 2 years | Active |
| DPIIT Startup RecognitionDPIIT, Government of India (Startup India) | Every eligible Indian startup, as the first step to schemes | Free recognition needed for the tax holiday and schemes | Changed February 2026 |
| E2E Networks Startup Program (AI Explorer, AI Builder, AI Scaler)E2E Networks | Small early-stage AI startups needing affordable GPUs hosted in India | $5,000 free GPU credits for 12 months (AI Explorer) | Active |
| Elastic Cloud AWS Marketplace credit offer (2026)Elastic | Businesses starting search or observability on Elastic Cloud | Up to $1,000 Elastic Cloud credit for 3 months | Limited time, ends 30 November 2026 |
| ELEVATE grant-in-aid (2026 calls: ELEVATE NxT and ELEVATE Minorities)Government of Karnataka (Dept. of Electronics, IT, BT and S&T; Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society) | Deep-tech startups across India and minority-led Karnataka startups | Equity-free grant up to Rs 50 lakh or Rs 1 crore | Limited time, apply by 13 November 2026 |
| ElevenLabs Grants (startup program)ElevenLabs | Small startups building voice or audio products | 12 months free with 33M characters ($5,500+ value) | Active |
| External Researcher Access ProgramAnthropic | Researchers working on AI safety and alignment | $1,000 in Claude API credits | Active |
| Fast ForwardFastly | Open-source projects and foundations that need CDN or edge delivery | Free or discounted Fastly services, set per project | Active |
| Figma for EducationFigma | Design students, teachers and verified bootcamp learners | Free Figma Professional (1 yr students, 2 yr staff) | Active |
| Firebase Spark (no-cost) planGoogle Firebase | App developers prototyping web or mobile backends | Free Firestore, Hosting and Auth (50K MAU) | Changed 3 February 2026 |
| Fireworks for StartupsFireworks AI | VC-backed AI startups using open-model inference or fine-tuning | Inference credits for 1 year (amount unpublished) | Active |
| FLOSS/fundZerodha | Established, widely used FOSS projects anywhere, including India | $10,000 minimum cash grant, larger in $25K steps | Active |
| Fly.io for StartupsFly.io | Seed or Series A startups deploying apps globally on Fly.io | Up to $15,000 in Fly.io credits for 1 year | Active |
| FounderPass membershipFounderPass | Founders who want many SaaS deals in one place and will pay for it | Free Basic tier; Premium $99 a year for all deals | Active |
| Framer for StartupsFramer | Pre-seed or seed startups new to Framer and backed by a partner | 1 year of Framer Pro free (Framer says $360) | Active |
| Free domains in the GitHub Student Developer PackNamecheap / .TECH / Name.com (via GitHub Education) | Students who want a free portfolio domain for a year | Free .me, .TECH and Name.com domains for 1 year | Active |
| Free GitHub Copilot Pro for open-source maintainersGitHub | Maintainers of popular open-source repositories on GitHub | Free Copilot Pro (normally $10 a month) | Active |
| Free GitHub Copilot Pro for verified teachers (and popular open-source maintainers)GitHub | Teachers verified through GitHub Education | Free Copilot Pro (normally $10 a month) | Active |
| Free .is-a.dev developer subdomainis-a.dev (open-source project) | Developers wanting a free domain for a personal site | Free yourname.is-a.dev subdomain | Active |
| Free non-commercial licences (CLion, Rider, RubyMine, RustRover, WebStorm, DataGrip)JetBrains | Learners, hobbyists and unpaid open-source contributors | Free 1-year licences for 6 JetBrains IDEs | Active |
| Gemini Academic Program (Gemini for Research)Google | Academic researchers and PhD students building on the Gemini API | Gemini API credits and higher rate limits | Active |
| Gemini API free tier (Google AI Studio)Google | Developers prototyping LLM apps with non-sensitive data | Free, rate-limited Gemini Flash, 2.5 Pro and Gemma | Active |
| GENESIS (Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups)MeitY Startup Hub (Ministry of Electronics and IT) | DPIIT tech startups, especially in Tier II/III Indian cities | Early-stage funding up to Rs 10 lakh | Active |
| GitHub Codespaces free monthly usageGitHub | Developers who want a cloud dev environment in the browser | 120 core-hours + 15 GB storage a month | Active |
| GitHub Copilot FreeGitHub | Individual developers wanting a free AI pair programmer | 2,000 completions a month + small chat allowance | Changed 1 June 2026 |
| GitHub Copilot Student planGitHub | Verified students who want an AI coding assistant | Free Copilot Student plan (auto model only) | Changed 13 March 2026 |
| GitHub for StartupsGitHub | Equity-funded startups with a partner investor using Copilot | Partner-only: $10,000 GitHub credits for 12 months | Active |
| GitHub Secure Open Source FundGitHub | OSS maintainers who can commit ~20 hours to a 3-week security course | $10,000 cash + $10,000 Azure credits per project | Active |
| GitHub Student Developer Pack (GitHub Education)GitHub | Any verified student who codes | GitHub Pro, Copilot Student and 80+ pack offers | Changed 2026: DigitalOcean and Canva left |
| GitLab for Open SourceGitLab | Public open-source projects hosted in a GitLab group | GitLab Ultimate + 50,000 compute minutes a month | Active |
| GitLab for StartupsGitLab | Seed-funded teams wanting GitLab Ultimate DevSecOps | 1 year of Ultimate free for 20 seats (seed stage) | Active |
| Google Ad GrantsGoogle | Nonprofits able to run compliant search ad campaigns | Up to $10,000 a month in Google Search ads | Active |
| Google AI free student plan (Google AI Pro in the US, Google AI Plus in India)Google | College students 18+ in the US, India and other eligible countries | 1 free year of Google AI Pro (US) or AI Plus | Limited time, redeem by 31 December 2026 |
| Google AI Plus student plan (India), one year freeGoogle | University students in India aged 18+ | 1 year of Google AI Plus free (redeem by 31 December 2026) | Limited time, redeem by 31 December 2026 |
| Google AI Pro trial with Pixel Pro phones and Chromebook PlusGoogle | People buying a Pixel Pro phone or Chromebook Plus | 6 to 12 months of Google AI Pro with a new device | Limited time, dates vary by device |
| Google Antigravity Individual plan (free), including Antigravity CLIGoogle | Developers wanting a free AI coding agent from Google | Free agent IDE + CLI with a weekly Gemini quota | Active |
| Google Cloud credits for teaching (faculty)Google Cloud | University faculty teaching courses that use Google Cloud | Up to $50 per student, $100 per teaching staff | Active |
| Google Cloud credits with Google AI Pro and Ultra (Google Developer Program premium benefits)Google | AI Pro/Ultra subscribers who build on Google Cloud or Vertex AI | $10 a month Google Cloud credit with AI Pro | Changed 27 January 2026 |
| Google Cloud Free Trial and Free TierGoogle Cloud | Anyone trying Google Cloud (credit excludes the Gemini API) | $300 for 90 days + Always Free tier | Active |
| Google Cloud research creditsGoogle Cloud | PhD students, postdocs and faculty doing research on Google Cloud | Up to $1,000 a year for PhD students | Active |
| Google Colab (free tier)Google | Students and researchers learning ML in notebooks | Free notebooks with GPU/TPU when available | Active |
| Google for Nonprofits (Workspace for Nonprofits, Maps Platform credits, YouTube Nonprofit Program)Google | Registered charities needing email, docs, Maps and ads | Free Google Workspace for up to 2,000 users | Active |
| Google for Startups Accelerator: India (AI-first)Google | Seed to Series A AI-first startups based in India | 3-month equity-free accelerator: mentors, TPUs, credits | Active |
| Google for Startups Cloud Program (Start and Scale tiers, AI-first)Google Cloud | Young startups building on Google Cloud, especially AI-first | $2,000 in credits for 12 months (Start tier) | Active |
| Google Gemini Offer (Google AI Pro, powered by Jio)Reliance Jio and Google | Jio subscribers 18+ who want Gemini Pro and 5 TB storage | Up to 18 months of Google AI Pro free | Limited time, ends 29 October 2026 |
| Google Skills credits for students (formerly Google Cloud Skills Boost)Google Cloud | College students learning Google Cloud with hands-on labs | 200 Google Skills credits for labs, valid 1 year | Active |
| Grafana Labs Startup ProgramGrafana Labs | Small startups needing hosted metrics, logs and traces | Grafana Cloud credits for 12 months (size varies) | Active |
| Grok API free credits (data-sharing credits)xAI (docs now branded SpaceXAI) | Developers testing Grok who can share non-sensitive API data | Reported data-sharing credits, likely endedLow confidence: not confirmed on an official page | Not fully confirmed |
| Groq for StartupsGroq | Startups needing fast LLM inference; confirm with Groq first | Reported $10,000 inference credits (unconfirmed)Low confidence: not confirmed on an official page | Not fully confirmed |
| GroqCloud Free planGroq | Developers testing fast open-model inference | Free tier: 1,000 requests a day on gpt-oss-120b | Active |
| Help Scout for StartupsHelp Scout | Young incorporated tech startups under $1M ARR needing a help desk | 6 months of Help Scout Plus with AI Answers free | Active |
| Heroku for GitHub StudentsHeroku (Salesforce) | Students 18+ deploying small apps and Postgres databases | $13 a month Heroku credit for 24 months | Active |
| Huawei Cloud Startup ProgramHuawei Cloud | Young startups open to building on Huawei Cloud | At least 5,000 (likely USD) in cloud vouchers | Active |
| HubSpot for NonprofitsHubSpot | North American, Australian and NZ nonprofits buying HubSpot | 40% off HubSpot Professional or Enterprise | Active |
| HubSpot for StartupsHubSpot | Pre-seed to Series A startups buying HubSpot Professional/Enterprise | 90% off year 1, 50% year 2, 25% year 3 | Active |
| IBM Cloud Free Tier (Lite plans and $200 credit)IBM | Developers trying IBM Cloud services | $200 for 30 days + 40+ always-free Lite services | Active |
| IBM for Startups (IBM Cloud credits)IBM | Startups on IBM Cloud; confirm terms with IBM first | No confirmed offer; IBM’s startup page is downLow confidence: not confirmed on an official page | Not fully confirmed |
| IndiaAI Compute Portal (subsidised GPU access)IndiaAI Mission (MeitY) | Indian AI startups and researchers who need GPU compute | Up to 40% off listed GPU rates (from ~Rs 45 an hour) | Active |
| Inference Providers monthly credits (HF PRO)Hugging Face | HF PRO users trying hosted inference providers | No free credit; PRO includes $2 a month | Active |
| Infobip Startup TribeInfobip | Startups sending SMS, WhatsApp, voice or email through an API | Infobip messaging credits, amount set per startup | Active |
| Intercom Early Stage ProgramIntercom | Startups under 15 staff that want Intercom’s help desk and Fin AI | 93% off year 1 (from $65 a month), then 50%, 25% | Active |
| Intuit for Education (free QuickBooks Online for educators and students)Intuit | US accounting educators and their students | Free QuickBooks Online for teaching; 1-yr student trial | Active |
| JetBrains Open Source Development LicensesJetBrains | Leads and core contributors of non-commercial open-source projects | All Products Pack free for 1 year, renewable | Active |
| JetBrains Startup ProgramJetBrains | Young companies paying for JetBrains IDEs or AI tools | 50% off JetBrains IDEs and AI Pro for up to 5 years | Active |
| JetBrains Student and Teacher Pack (free educational licences)JetBrains | Students and teachers who code in IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm or Rider | Free JetBrains IDEs for 1 year, renewable | Active |
| Jules (no-cost base plan)Google | GitHub users wanting a free async coding agent | 15 agent tasks a day on Gemini 2.5 Pro | Active |
| Kaggle Notebooks free GPU and TPU quotaKaggle (Google) | ML learners and researchers needing free GPUs | 30 GPU hours + 20 TPU hours a week | Active |
| Kiro Free planAmazon Web Services (Kiro) | Developers wanting a free AI coding agent IDE | 50 credits a month incl. Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Active |
| Kiro Startup CreditsAmazon Web Services | Early-stage dev teams wanting an agentic AI coding IDE | Kiro Pro+ free for up to 2 users for up to 1 year | Limited time, no end date given |
| Kiro StudentsAmazon Web Services (Kiro) | University students 18+ at schools on Kiro’s eligible list | 1,000 Kiro credits a month free for 1 year | Active |
| Krutrim Cloud Sandbox free creditsOla Krutrim | Developers testing AI agent code sandboxes on an Indian cloud | Banner: free Sandbox credits (amount and terms unconfirmed)Low confidence: not confirmed on an official page | Limited time, banner says until 22 October |
| KSUM Early Stage Funding grants (Idea, Productisation, Market Acceleration, Scaleup)Kerala Startup Mission (Government of Kerala) | Kerala-based tech startups and student innovators | Idea Grant up to Rs 3 lakh | Active |
| Lambda Research GrantLambda | AI researchers who need GPU instances for a project | Up to $5,000 in Lambda GPU cloud credits | Active |
| LangSmith for StartupsLangChain | Seed-funded teams building LLM apps and agents with LangChain | Discounted LangSmith seats (Build tier) | Active |
| Linear for StartupsLinear | Startups under 50 staff with a Mercury, Brex, Ramp, Atlas or VC link | Free Business plan for 3 or 6 months, by partner | Active |
| Llama Startup ProgramMeta | US startups building generative AI apps on Llama | Reported up to $6,000 a month in cloud-cost reimbursementLow confidence: not confirmed on an official page | Not fully confirmed |
| Mercury PerksMercury | US-registered startups (founders can be abroad) on Mercury | 273 partner perks, e.g. AWS $5K, GitHub $10K credits | Active |
| Microsoft for Nonprofits (Microsoft 365 grants and discounts, Azure grant)Microsoft | Nonprofits needing email, Office apps and Azure | 300 free Business Basic seats + $2,000 Azure a year | Changed 1 July 2025 |
| Microsoft for Startups (Azure Startup credits)Microsoft | B2B software startups, pre-seed to Series B, building on Azure | $200 at sign-up, $5,000 after verification | Changed August 2026 |
| Miro Startup ProgramMiro | Funded startups on Miro’s Free plan, verifiable on Crunchbase | $500 Miro credit for funded startups | Active |
| Mistral API Free modeMistral AI | Developers prototyping on Mistral models | Free API keys at the lowest rate limits | Active |
| Mixpanel for StartupsMixpanel | Early startups needing product analytics and session replay | First year of Startup Plan free (1B events a year) | Active |
| Modal for StartupsModal | VC-backed AI startups running GPU workloads on serverless compute | Serverless GPU credits (amount not published) | Active |
| monday.com for Nonprofitsmonday.com | Nonprofit teams managing projects and programs | First 10 seats free, 70% off extra seats | Active |
| monday.com Startup Programmonday.com | Privately held startups that have never had a monday.com discount | Up to 20% off any monday.com plan | Active |
| MongoDB Atlas Free cluster (formerly M0)MongoDB | Developers prototyping apps on MongoDB | Free 512 MB MongoDB cluster | Active |
| MongoDB for StartupsMongoDB | Startups under 7 years old building on MongoDB Atlas | Atlas credits (amount unpublished) + 30 days support | Active |
| Monthly API credits for Claude Max and Team plansAnthropic | Max and Team subscribers who also build on the Claude API | $100 a month API credit on Max 5x | Active |
| MotherDuck Startup ProgramMotherDuck | Small teams ready to commit to a cloud DuckDB warehouse | Pay $8,000 a year, get $16,000 of MotherDuck | Active |
| MSH corporate partner offers (MathWorks, Tally, Razorpay)MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) | Indian startups registered on MeitY Startup Hub | 12 months of MATLAB/Simulink + 1 year of TallyPrime | Active |
| Mux for StartupsMux | Startups adding video streaming or uploads to their app | $500 in video API credits | Active |
| National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) PilotUS National Science Foundation | US-based academic AI researchers and educators | 12-month compute, model and platform allocation | Active |
| Nebius for StartupsNebius | AI startups with $5M+ raised from a Nebius VC partner | No credits without a partner VC; founder community only | Changed: credits only via partner VCs |
| Neo4j Startup ProgramNeo4j | Startups building on a graph database or knowledge graph | Up to $16,000 in Aura graph database credits | Active |
| Neon Free planNeon | Developers needing free serverless Postgres | Free Postgres: 100 CU-hours and 1 GB per project | Active |
| Netlify Free plan (credit-based)Netlify | Static sites and small front-end projects | 300 credits a month (e.g. 15 GB bandwidth) | Changed 4 September 2025 |
| Netlify Open Source PlanNetlify | Non-commercial open-source project sites and documentation | Free plan: 10,000 credits a month, unlimited members | Active |
| New Relic for StartupsNew Relic | Early startups wanting full-stack observability with AI features | Full platform free for 5 users | Active |
| NIDHI Entrepreneur-in-Residence (NIDHI-EIR)Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India | Indian STEM graduates going full time on a tech startup idea | INR 10,000-30,000 a month for 12 months | Active |
| NIDHI-PRAYAS 2.0Department of Science and Technology (NIDHI) | Indian innovators building a physical tech prototype | Prototype grant up to Rs 20 lakh | Changed March 2026 |
| NIDHI Seed Support Program (NIDHI-SSP)Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India | Incubated Indian tech startups with customer validation | Seed funding, typically INR 10-25 lakh (equity or loan) | Active |
| NLnet grants: Restack and CodeSupply (successors to NGI Zero)NLnet Foundation | Europe-based developers building open internet software or hardware | EUR 5,000 to 50,000 for a first grant | Changed 3 September 2026 |
| Notion Education PlanNotion | College students and educators using Notion for notes and study | Free Notion Education plan (single member) | Active |
| Notion for StartupsNotion | Tech startups with a website, work email and 10+ staff | 3 months of Business + AI free (1 month if <10 staff) | Active |
| NSF ACCESS allocations (Explore, Discover, Accelerate, Maximize)US National Science Foundation (ACCESS) | US researchers and educators who need HPC time, including for classes | Explore tier: up to 400,000 ACCESS credits | Active |
| NVIDIA API Catalog free endpoints (build.nvidia.com) via NVIDIA Developer ProgramNVIDIA | Developers evaluating open models and NIM (not production) | Free rate-limited API on 38 open-model endpoints | Active |
| NVIDIA InceptionNVIDIA | Incorporated AI startups at any stage wanting NVIDIA perks | Free membership: partner cloud credits, DLI courses | Active |
| Office 365 A1 (free Office 365 Education)Microsoft | Students and teachers at qualifying schools | Free Office web apps, Outlook and OneNote | Active |
| OpenAI for NonprofitsOpenAI | Nonprofit teams wanting ChatGPT for staff | ChatGPT Business at $8 per user a month (annual) | Changed 6 February 2026 |
| OpenAI for StartupsOpenAI | Startups backed by a VC in OpenAI’s partner network | No credits without a VC code; Build Hours and events | Active |
| OpenRouter free models (:free variants)OpenRouter | Developers trying many free open models via one API | Free models: 20 requests a minute, 50 a day | Active |
| Oracle Cloud Free Tier (Always Free + Free Trial)Oracle Cloud Infrastructure | Developers wanting an always-free VPS and database | $300 for 30 days + Always Free Arm VM (2 OCPU) | Arm allowance halved; no date given |
| Oracle Startup Growth Engine (Latin America)Oracle | Validated tech startups in Brazil, Argentina or Colombia | OCI credits from $5,000 for selected startups | Active |
| OVHcloud Startup Program (Start and Scale levels)OVHcloud | Pre-seed to Series A startups wanting a European cloud | EUR 10,000 in credits for 12 months (Start level) | Active |
| Perplexity Education ProPerplexity | Students and faculty who want Perplexity Pro for less | Perplexity Pro at $10 a month for verified students | Active |
| Perplexity for StartupsPerplexity | Partner-backed startups using the Sonar search API | Reported $5,000 Sonar API credits + Enterprise ProLow confidence: not confirmed on an official page | Not fully confirmed |
| Pinecone for StartupsPinecone | Startups building RAG or semantic search on a vector database | Free Standard tier + Pro Support (length unpublished) | Active |
| PostHog for StartupsPostHog | Young startups wanting analytics, replay and feature flags in one | $50,000 in credits, plus about $12,000 in perks | Changed 14 September 2026 |
| Power of Us ProgramSalesforce | Nonprofits and schools that need a CRM | 10 free Nonprofit Cloud Core licences | Active |
| Prisma for StartupsPrisma | Funded or $5K+ MRR startups using Prisma’s database | Database bill covered for 1 year, up to $10,000 | Active |
| Project Alexandria (open-source sponsorships)Cloudflare | Open-source projects serving docs, sites or downloads | Cloudflare credits and plan upgrades sized per project | Active |
| Project GalileoCloudflare | At-risk human rights, journalism and civil society groups | Free Cloudflare Business-plan protection | Active |
| Railway Free Trial and Free planRailway | Developers deploying small apps and side projects | $5 trial credit for 30 days, then $1 a month | Active |
| Ramp partner rewardsRamp | US companies that can open Ramp ($25K+ cash in a US bank account) | 103 partner perks, e.g. Retool $25,000 credit | Active |
| Razorpay Rize communities (Tech+, D2C+, Xport+)Razorpay | Indian tech, D2C and export founders | Partner tool deals (AWS, Canva, Notion) + mentoring | Active |
| Redis for StartupsRedis | VC-backed pre-seed or seed startups using Redis | Reported free Redis for 6 to 12 months (unconfirmed)Low confidence: not confirmed on an official page | Not fully confirmed |
| Render for StartupsRender | Seed-funded startups hosting web apps and APIs on Render | $500 in credits for 1 year (Prototype tier) | Active |
| Render free instancesRender | Hobby web apps that can tolerate cold starts | 750 free instance hours a month | Active |
| Researcher Access ProgramOpenAI | Researchers studying AI safety or its societal and economic impact | Up to $1,000 in OpenAI API credits | Active |
| Retool for StartupsRetool | Startups building internal tools and admin panels | 1 year free on a monthly Team or Business plan | Active |
| Rudra startup program (Shakti Cloud credits)Yotta Data Services | AI/ML startups needing GPU capacity in Indian data centres | $10,000 GPU credits at Launch stage (first tranche $1K) | Active |
| Runpod Startup ProgramRunpod | Pre-Series A AI teams with near-term GPU needs | $1,000 in GPU credits (Starter tier) | Active |
| Salesforce Launchpad for StartupsSalesforce | VC-backed startups planning to use Salesforce CRM, Agentforce or Slack | Unpublished offers on Salesforce, Slack, Tableau | Active |
| SAMRIDH (Startup Accelerator of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development and Growth)MeitY Startup Hub (Ministry of Electronics and IT) | IT product startups picked by a SAMRIDH accelerator | Matching funding via an accelerator (amount unconfirmed)Low confidence: not confirmed on an official page | Not fully confirmed |
| Sarvam Startup Program and free API sign-up creditsSarvam AI | Teams building Indian-language speech, translation or text AI | Rs 100 sign-up credit; program credits set case by case | Active |
| Scaleway Startup ProgramScaleway | EU-focused startups wanting a European cloud provider | Up to EUR 1,000 for 12 months (Founders)Low confidence: not confirmed on an official page | Active |
| Secret perks marketplace (Premium membership)Secret (JoinSecret) | Founders who want a large catalogue of SaaS promo codes | About 353 free deals; Premium $149 a year for the rest | Active |
| Sentry for Open Source (Open-Source Sponsorship Plan)Sentry | Open-source projects that need error and performance monitoring | Free Business-level plan (5M errors), no term limit | Active |
| Sentry for StartupsSentry | New startups adding error monitoring and tracing | Up to $5,000 in Sentry credits for 1 year | Active |
| Slack for Nonprofits (Slack for Charities)Slack (Salesforce) | Charities coordinating staff and volunteers | Free Slack Pro for up to 250 members | Active |
| Snowflake for StartupsSnowflake | Data-heavy or AI/ML startups planning a Snowflake contract | Free usage on your first contract (amount unpublished) | Active |
| Statsig Startup ProgramStatsig (Amplitude) | Startups with 25K+ MAU running feature flags and A/B tests | 12 months of Enterprise with 1B events | Changed 5 May 2026 |
| Stripe Atlas perksStripe | Founders forming a US Delaware C corp or LLC through Stripe Atlas | $2,500 Stripe credits + partner perks | Active |
| Supabase Free planSupabase | Developers building apps on Postgres with auth | 2 free projects with a 500 MB database each | Active |
| Tableau for Teaching and Tableau for Students (Tableau Academic Programs)Tableau (Salesforce) | Instructors teaching data viz; students via their course licence | Free 1-year Tableau licences for instructors | Student keys ended; no date given |
| TANSEED (Tamil Nadu Startup Seed Grant Fund)StartupTN (Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission) | Early Tamil Nadu startups with a proof of concept or MVP | Seed grant up to Rs 10 lakh for a 3% stake | Not fully confirmed |
| TechSoup nonprofit technology donations and discountsTechSoup | Nonprofits buying software, hardware and cloud credits | Donated or discounted tech, up to 90% off | Active |
| Temporal Cloud for StartupsTemporal | Funded startups running durable workflows on Temporal | $6,000 in credits, plus onboarding and support | Active |
| TIDE 2.0 (Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs)MeitY Startup Hub (Ministry of Electronics and IT) | Indian ICT startups using AI, IoT, blockchain or robotics | Prototype grants up to Rs 7 lakh | Not fully confirmed |
| Together AI Startup AcceleratorTogether AI | AI startups using open-model inference, fine-tuning or GPU clusters | Up to $15,000 credits (Build tier, up to $5M raised) | Active |
| TPU Research Cloud (TRC)Google | ML researchers who will publish or open-source their results | Free Cloud TPU access for accepted researchers | Active |
| Unity Student planUnity | Game development students aged 16 or older | Free Unity Pro editor + assets, 1 yr renewable | Active |
| Vercel for StartupsVercel | Accelerator- or VC-backed startups deploying on Vercel | Partner-only: 1-year Enterprise contract | Changed 6 August 2026 |
| Vercel Hobby planVercel | Personal projects and portfolios (non-commercial) | Free hosting: 100 GB transfer, 1M requests a month | Active |
| Vultr Digital Start-up ProgramVultr | Series A+ startups migrating cloud workloads to Vultr | Credits plus 35% long-term discounts (Series A+) | Active |
| Vultr new-account free creditVultr | Developers comparing VPS providers | Free credit for up to 30 days (amount unconfirmed)Low confidence: not confirmed on an official page | Not fully confirmed |
| W&B 50% off Pro for Microsoft for Startups membersCoreWeave (Weights & Biases) | Microsoft for Startups members tracking ML experiments | 50% off W&B Pro for one year | Limited time, no end date given |
| Weaviate startup dealWeaviate | Accelerator- or VC-backed startups using a vector database | Discounted Weaviate Cloud pricing (size unpublished) | Active |
| WorkOS User Management free tierWorkOS | Developers adding sign-up and login to any app | Free user management up to 1M MAUs | Active |
| Zendesk for StartupsZendesk | Angel to Series B startups under 10 years old and new to Zendesk | 6 months of Suite Professional + Copilot free | Active |
| Zoho for StartupsZoho | DPIIT-recognised Indian startups, or startups with a Zoho enabler | $1,500 in Zoho app credits for 360 days | Active |
Free download
Startup credits tracker for Excel
Log each credit grant with its expiry date and how much you use each month, and see which credits will run out or expire first. The workbook also lists the programs we track, with a link to each official page.
Download the tracker (.xlsx)Free Excel file. No email or sign-up needed. Programs checked 12 and 13 October 2026.
Claims we reject
These figures still circulate on blogs, directories and videos. The official pages said otherwise when we checked.
| Claim seen elsewhere | What the official page said (12 and 13 October 2026) |
|---|---|
| “AWS Activate gives startups $300,000” | AWS Activate: Founders starts at $1,000 (up to $5,000 if selected). Portfolio gives up to $200,000 and needs an Activate Provider Org ID (a code from an approved accelerator, angel or VC). Anything above is invite-only. |
| “Cloudflare gives up to $250,000” | Cloudflare for Startups: tiers of $10,000, $100,000 and $350,000 (the top tier was raised from $250,000). The two higher tiers need an affiliated VC or accelerator. |
| “Google gives startups $350,000” | Google for Startups Cloud Program: only AI-first startups on the Scale tier, with institutional equity funding. Year 2 is a 20% credit on your spend. |
| “Claude for Startups gives $100,000 in API credits” | Claude for Startups: only through a VC in Anthropic’s partner network. On 15 October 2026 Anthropic said its current cohort was full and it was not accepting new applications. |
| “DigitalOcean gives a $200 free credit” | DigitalOcean new-user free credit: its pricing FAQ says $5, valid for 90 days. |
| “ChatGPT Go is free for a year in India” | ChatGPT Go Promotion (India): closed to new sign-ups on 21 January 2026. |
| “Perplexity Pro is free with Airtel” | Perplexity Pro free for Airtel customers: ended 16 January 2026. |
| “The Google Cloud $300 trial pays for the Gemini API” | Google Cloud Free Trial: the $300 credit cannot pay for the Gemini API in Google AI Studio. Use the Gemini API free tier instead. |
How we check every program
We read each program’s official page, terms and help articles on 12 October 2026, rechecked 18 entries on 13 October 2026, and rechecked 3 more on 15 October 2026. Each entry links the pages we used. We did not apply to most programs. Where we did, our guide shows it: the Cloudflare for Startups guide walks through a real application.
- Confidence. High: confirmed on the official page. Medium: partly confirmed, or the provider’s own pages disagree. Low: we could not confirm the key details on an official page. The entry carries a caution note, so treat any amount in it as unconfirmed.
- Amounts. We write “up to” only where the program does, and use each program’s own currency. We never add amounts together, and we do not copy figures from other directories.
- Rechecks. Time-sensitive offers at least every 2 weeks and on deadline days, the main programs monthly, and everything at least every 90 days.
- Corrections. Logged in What changed above.
- Independence. No paid listings, and no affiliate, referral or tracking links.
Programs can change between our checks, so read the official page before you rely on a figure.
Free credits FAQ
What are free credits, and how are they different from a free plan?
Credits are a prepaid balance that a provider draws down as you use its paid services, and they usually expire: Google Cloud’s trial gives $300 for 90 days. A free plan has no balance. You get fixed limits that reset, like the daily quotas of the Gemini API free tier.
Are free credits the same as cash?
No. Credits have no cash value and can only be spent on the provider’s eligible services. Many exclude items: AWS Activate credits cannot pay for domain registration or most Marketplace products. Some programs, such as Cloudflare’s, say you owe any tax on the credit value, so ask your accountant.
Do free credits expire?
Most do. Google Cloud’s $300 lasts 90 days, the Azure free account’s $200 lasts 30 days, and Cloudflare’s startup credits last one year or until used. AWS shows each Activate grant’s expiry in the Billing console and does not extend it. Log every expiry date in our free credits tracker for Excel.
Do I need a credit card to get free credits?
Often, yes. The Google Cloud trial, the Azure free account and Cloudflare for Startups all need a card or payment method on file. The Gemini API free tier, Azure for Students and the GroqCloud Free plan need none. Each entry states its card rule, and the section pages can filter by it.
Can I use credits from several programs at the same time?
Usually, yes, when each grant sits on a different provider’s account. Within one provider, read the rules: AWS rejects a startup applying from an account another startup already used, and PostHog’s YC deal does not stack with its startup program. Count each credit once, even if two bundles list it. For startup programs, see how to combine startup credits.
Is this list sponsored, and how do you check it?
No. No provider pays to be listed, and we use no affiliate, referral or tracking links. We read each program’s official page, terms and help articles, last on 12 and 13 October 2026, rate our confidence in each entry, and recheck time-sensitive offers at least every 2 weeks. See How we check.
Why does an offer I saw elsewhere show as ended or missing here?
Offers end often, and old posts stay online. The ChatGPT Go free-year offer in India closed to new sign-ups on 21 January 2026, and the GitHub pack’s DigitalOcean credit ended between May and July 2026. If no official page confirms an offer, we either leave it out or list it with a low-confidence caution note, and any amount in it is a reported figure we could not confirm.
Related guides
- Hackathons 2026: open online hackathons with prizes, deadlines in India time
- Claude for Startups: what members get and what has closed
- Cloudflare for Startups: $10,000 without investors, step by step
- Compare AI models before you spend credits
- Free credits for startups: every program, with and without an investor
Please note: programs change without notice, and there can be a gap between a change and our update. We checked every entry on 12 and 13 October 2026; check the official page before you apply or rely on a figure. Credits are advertised values, not cash. Ask your accountant how credits are treated for tax. This page is not legal, tax or investment advice.
Sources
- AWS Activate credits: Founders and Portfolio tiers (opens in a new tab)
- Cloudflare for Startups: tiers, caps and terms (opens in a new tab)
- Google for Startups Cloud Program: AI-first startups (opens in a new tab)
- Claude Startups program page and FAQ (opens in a new tab)
- Anthropic: expanding the Claude Startups program (opens in a new tab)
- DigitalOcean pricing and FAQ (opens in a new tab)
- OpenAI: ChatGPT release notes (ChatGPT Go promotion in India) (opens in a new tab)
- Perplexity help centre: Perplexity Pro Airtel promotion (opens in a new tab)
- Google Cloud: free trial and Free Tier (opens in a new tab)
- Karnataka ELEVATE 2026 calls (opens in a new tab)
- AWS: new sign-up experience (opens in a new tab)
- PostHog for Startups (opens in a new tab)
- NLnet: first calls under the Open Internet Stack (opens in a new tab)
- Anthropic: Team plan for scientists terms (opens in a new tab)
- Vercel for Startups credit terms (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub changelog: GitHub Models is now retired (opens in a new tab)
- Webflow help centre: Webflow for Startups (opens in a new tab)
- Cursor help: student discount (opens in a new tab)
- Google: Gemini Code Assist for individuals deprecation (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub changelog: Copilot individual plan sign-ups are reopening (opens in a new tab)