Meta AI Developer Hackathon 2026: Get in, build, compete for $1M

The Meta AI Developer Hackathon offers $1,000,000 in anticipated cash prizes for a free, ten-day virtual build, and builders in most countries worldwide can apply. Up to 20,000 applicants get in, and each one receives $150 in Meta Model API credits. Applications close at 11:59 PM ET on Sunday 25 October (03:59 UTC on Monday 26 October), or sooner if the cap fills, and projects are due at 9:00 PM ET on Wednesday 4 November, which is 02:00 UTC on Thursday 5 November. The top Startup track prize is $250,000 and the top Indie prize is $150,000.

Meta and Cerebral Valley run it together, it is fully virtual, and it has two tracks: an Indie Developer track for individual builders, students and teams of up to four, and a Startup track for technical founders building a real product. You build with Meta’s Muse models, SAM 3.1 and Meta’s open-weights models, and judges score impact, use of Meta’s tools, technical depth and the demo.

Below you will find every date converted to UTC and shown in your own local time, the full prize table, the eligibility rules with the exact list of excluded countries and regions, the Meta API geography limits that can apply even where the hackathon itself is open, the application step by step, and our own project ideas and tips. The full Official Rules are due before the hackathon starts on 26 October 2026. If they add or change anything, they take priority over this guide.

Hackathon guide · Meta and Cerebral Valley

Meta AI Developer Hackathon

Open

Time left to joinMon 26 Oct 2026, 03:59 UTC

Last moment to join: Mon 26 Oct 2026, 03:59 UTC

Prize pool

$1,000,000 (anticipated)

Startup track $550,000, Indie track $400,000, bonus prizes up to $50,000. Top prize $250,000.

Deadline (UTC)

Thu 5 Nov 2026, 02:00 UTC

Nov 4: Project submissions due by 9:00 PM ET (EST, UTC-5). Apply first, by Oct 25, 11:59 PM ET (03:59 UTC on Mon 26 Oct), or sooner if 20,000 places fill.

Who can enter

18+, worldwide, apart from listed countries

Excludes Belarus, China, Russia, Ukraine, Syria, the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, Cuba, North Korea and Iran, plus sanctions targets. Meta and Cerebral Valley staff, government-affiliated people and their families cannot enter. Every person must be accepted.

Format

Virtual, 10 days, apply to join

Build from 26 Oct to 4 Nov with Meta’s models, workshops and Discord office hours.

Open the official pageOfficial rulesAll open hackathons

Meta AI Developer Hackathon: the short answer

What is Meta AI Developer Hackathon?

The Meta AI Developer Hackathon, officially the Meta Global AI Developer Hackathon, is a ten-day online build contest hosted by Meta and Cerebral Valley. A hackathon is a timed competition where people build a working software project from scratch and a panel of judges picks the winners. This one runs on Cerebral Valley’s event platform, and Meta’s own developer site carries a banner for it that links to the official event page. It is free to enter if you are selected, it is virtual only, and it is open to builders worldwide apart from a short list of excluded countries.

Entry works like an admission, not a sign-up. You fill in an application, the organisers review it on a rolling basis (as applications arrive, rather than all at once after the deadline), and at most 20,000 people are accepted. Accepted builders get a kickoff livestream on 26 October, live workshops from Meta and its partners, and office hours on Discord, a group chat app. Office hours are set times when you can drop in and ask questions, though the organisers do not say who runs them. Meta says engineers and researchers from Meta Superintelligence Labs run hands-on technical workshops across the ten days. Building stops when submissions close on 4 November, US Eastern time. Judging runs from 4 to 8 November, and a closing ceremony with live finals and the winners follows on 9 November.

Every project enters exactly one of two tracks. The Indie Developer track is for individual builders and students, in teams of up to four, and the event page says it is judged on creativity, technical ambition and whether the project works. The Startup track is for teams and founders building a real product, and it is judged on technical execution and whether the product holds up in production. Inside either track, your project should fit one of two themes. Build for Your World means bringing Meta’s models into your own field to solve a problem you know firsthand. Push the Frontier means using Meta’s models on challenges in software, robotics, manufacturing, energy, materials and beyond, such as giving a machine a new capability, speeding up a scientific experiment or controlling a physical system.

The tools at the centre are Meta’s own AI models. The event page names the Muse Spark series (Meta’s hosted models that take in and return text, billed per token), Muse Image (which generates and edits images from a text prompt) and SAM 3.1 (which finds and outlines objects in images and video from a short text prompt), all reached through Meta Model API, Meta’s paid service for calling its hosted models from your own code. It also names Meta’s open-weights models, whose trained parameters you can download and run yourself, and Muse Code, Meta’s agentic coding agent (an AI assistant that can plan and carry out multi-step coding tasks for you). The Application and Event Overview and Event Waiver, the legal agreement every applicant must review and accept, says participants build with Meta AI products including Muse Spark, Glimmer and SAM 3. The separate Official Rules, the full contest terms, were not published as of 17 October 2026. The event page says they will be out before the hackathon begins on 26 October 2026, and selected participants must accept them.

Key dates and deadlines in UTC and your local time

The organisers state times in US Eastern time (ET). That matters because US clocks change in the middle of this event: Eastern time is EDT (UTC-4) until 1 November 2026 and EST (UTC-5) after it. So the event page’s application deadline on 25 October sits four hours behind UTC (the waiver’s EST wording would make it five), and the submission deadline on 4 November sits five hours behind UTC. Your own clocks may change on a different date, or not at all, so if you convert by hand, start from the UTC column rather than from ET.

The table converts every stated time to UTC, and your browser shows the same moment in your own local time. Where the organisers give only a date, we say so rather than guess a time.

The application deadline has a small conflict. The event page says 11:59 PM ET on 25 October, which on that date means EDT (UTC-4) and works out to 03:59 UTC on Monday 26 October. The waiver writes 11:59PM EST, which would be one hour later, 04:59 UTC. The organisers do not say which one governs, so treat 03:59 UTC as your real cut-off. On clocks from Ontario and Quebec westward, including all 50 US states, Mexico and Central America, that moment is still Sunday 25 October, but in Atlantic Canada, Newfoundland and much of South America, such as Brazil and Argentina, it has just turned Monday 26 October, and from Europe and Africa eastward it is already Monday, so check the local time in the table rather than the calendar date. In practice the cap matters more than the clock: once 20,000 applicants are accepted, the organisers may close the portal immediately.

The kickoff livestream has no stated time. The event page header shows the hackathon starting at 12:00 PM (EST) on 26 October, which the page stores as 17:00 UTC. Because New York is still on daylight time that day, that slot reads as 1:00 pm on a New York clock, so readers on US Eastern time should not take it to mean noon where they are. Workshops run from 27 October to 4 November according to the event page, while the waiver’s overview says 26 October to 4 November.

The event page data also contains a six-hour submission grace period setting, but no rule mentions a grace period, so do not rely on it. Dates can change at Meta’s sole discretion, and any change will be posted on the event page, so check it again before each deadline.

Prizes

The anticipated prize pool is $1,000,000, split between the two tracks plus a bonus pot. The waiver words this carefully: it says finalists may receive prizes, that the prizes may include the amounts below, and that $1,000,000 is the total anticipated prize pool for the event. Final prize terms are expected in the Official Rules.

Here is the full list as the waiver states it, biggest prize first. The Startup track pays $550,000 in total and the Indie Developer track pays $400,000 in total.

Prizes may be paid in US dollars or the local currency equivalent, at the organiser’s sole discretion, and only after the winner passes eligibility verification. Winners pay any wiring and currency exchange fees and all applicable taxes, which we cover in the ownership and tax section below.

Bonus prizes are separate from the track prizes, so a bonus award never shrinks the main pot. The $150 in Meta Model API credits also sits on top of the $1,000,000 and is meant for building, not as a cash prize. Winners pay any wire transfer and currency exchange charges and their own taxes, and a prize may arrive in local currency rather than US dollars, so the amount that reaches your bank is likely to be lower than the headline figure, whichever prize you win.

Who can enter, and from which countries

You must be at least 18 years old and have reached the age of majority where you live. The hackathon is open worldwide, except in countries where local law prohibits taking part or receiving a prize. People or organisations that are targets of US, EU, UN or UK trade sanctions or export controls cannot enter, and neither can anyone acting on their behalf. Anyone organised or located in Belarus, China, Russia, Ukraine, Syria, or a comprehensively sanctioned country or region (the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, Cuba, North Korea and Iran) is also excluded. Note that the rule names all of Ukraine, not only the occupied regions.

Some people are excluded because of who they are. Employees, contractors and interns of Meta and Cerebral Valley cannot take part, and neither can government-affiliated individuals. Their immediate families (spouse, domestic partner, parents, legal guardian, legal ward, children, siblings and each of their spouses) and anyone living in the same household are excluded too. The rules do not define government-affiliated, so if you work for a government body, a state-owned company or a public university, or as a government contractor, check with the organisers before you apply.

Students and working professionals can both enter. Every person must submit their own application and be accepted, including every teammate. Selection weighs your project idea and the technical skill shown in a past AI project equally, using only your answers on the application form. Eligible applications that meet minimum scoring cut-offs are accepted automatically up to the first 20,000, and applications below the cut-offs may still be accepted by score if space allows. The organisers say they aim for a mix of technical backgrounds and domains, and your application details, such as name and email, may be shared with event sponsors for marketing and with Meta under its Privacy Policy.

Teams and solo entries

One track each: a participant may apply for one track only, and a project may be entered in one track only.

Indie Developer track: individual builders and students, solo or in teams of up to four people.

On the Indie track, one designated member submits the project for the team and must list every other team member in the submission.

Startup track: technical founders building a product. The team names one participant as the contact for notices and prize payment. The maximum team size, and whether a solo founder or an incorporated company is required, are not stated.

Every teammate must apply and be accepted individually, so a team of four needs four accepted applications within the 20,000 cap. Acceptance for teammates is not guaranteed.

The application form says you can change your track anytime, but the rules still allow only one track per person and per project, and no cut-off for switching is stated.

How a prize is split among Indie team members is not stated.

How to enter Meta AI Developer Hackathon, step by step

Here is the full path from first read to final submission, as the official pages describe it, with our own tips marked. The first six steps happen before the application deadline, step 7 is waiting for the result, and steps 8 to 10 happen only if you are accepted.

What you must submit

The detailed submission form was not public as of 17 October 2026. The submit page exists, but it does not show its fields, and the full requirements are expected in the Official Rules due before 26 October. Here is what the waiver and the event page already make clear.

Third-party technical help is allowed, as long as the components remain your own work and you own all rights in them. Open-source software or hardware is allowed too, provided you follow its licences and your submission builds on the open-source product.

Not stated as of 17 October 2026: whether you must share a code repository (a place such as GitHub where your code is stored), whether judges need a public demo link or test access, what written description is required, and what language submissions must be in. Check the Official Rules as soon as they appear and adjust your plan.

How entries are judged

Judging runs from 4 to 8 November. A panel of judges chooses the finalists, and its selections are final and binding. Finalists then go through live finals at the closing ceremony on 9 November, where the winners are announced. How the live finals work is not stated.

Projects are scored on four weighted criteria from the waiver. Each track also has its own lens, listed on the event page without weights, and the application stage has its own separate scoring.

Tools, APIs and what they cost

Meta Model API is Meta’s paid service for calling its hosted models from your own code. An API (application programming interface) is a doorway that lets your program send a request to a service and get a response back. Billing is pay-as-you-go with no minimums or upfront commitment, according to Meta’s pricing and rate limits page. In Standard mode, the pricing option in which Meta does not use your content to train its models, Muse Spark costs $1.25 per million input tokens and $4.25 per million output tokens; a token is a small chunk of text, roughly a word or part of one, that the model reads or writes. Muse Image costs $0.01 per image, and SAM 3.1 costs $2.50 per 1,000 images and $0.20 per 1,000 video frames. Every selected participant gets $150 in Model API credits for the ten days, though whether you need a payment card to claim them is not stated. Meta’s developer docs say Model API is drop-in compatible with the OpenAI SDK and the Anthropic SDK (an SDK is a ready-made code library for talking to a service), using the base URL https://api.meta.ai/v1.

There is a second pricing option to understand before you start. Contributor mode gives much cheaper Muse Spark pricing in exchange for letting Meta use your prompts, code, files and responses to train future models, and Muse Code subscriptions default to it. Standard mode does not. Open-weights models, whose trained parameters you can download and run yourself, are not served through Model API. Meta’s docs say Muse Spark Open can run on your own GPUs (graphics chips that run AI models) or through a hosted inference provider, a company that runs the model on its servers for you, and that Muse Glimmer is built for running on your own hardware under Apache 2.0, a permissive open-source licence. That is where the partner credits come in: select participants get credits specifically for Meta’s open-weights models, namely Baseten $100 plus 2M TPM (tokens per minute) rate limits, Modal $100 for its Endpoints, serverless GPUs (GPUs you use on demand without setting up or managing a server), sandboxes (isolated spaces where code runs safely) and LLM (large language model) training tools, and Fireworks $25 plus a workshop from Sinan Ozdemir.

Meta’s API has its own geography rules, separate from hackathon eligibility. The Model API Geographic Use Policy, last updated 12 October 2026, bars all Model API access from Afghanistan, Belarus, Cambodia, China (including Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR), Cuba, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Somalia, Syria, the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, Venezuela and Western Sahara. It also blocks one model, Muse Image, in one further country (named in the country check above), while the rest of Model API, including Muse Spark and SAM 3.1, stays available there. Rate limits, the caps on how fast you can call the API, are set per team: Muse Spark Standard allows 3,000 requests and 4 million tokens per minute, Muse Image 150 requests per minute, and SAM 3.1 3,000 requests per minute.

Rules that trip people up

These are the rules and details most likely to catch you out, and several of them matter before you write any code.

Ownership, prize payment and tax

You keep ownership. The waiver says the entrant retains ownership of all intellectual and industrial property rights, including moral rights, in the submission. As a condition of submitting, you grant the Organizers, their subsidiaries, agents and partner companies a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to use, reproduce, adapt, modify, publish, distribute, display, perform, create derivative works from and otherwise exploit the submission for any purpose, including marketing such as newsletters, social media, websites and live demos. Perpetual means it never ends, irrevocable means you cannot withdraw it, and royalty-free means you are not paid for it. Non-exclusive means the licence does not stop you from using the project yourself. The Organizers here means Cerebral Valley Enterprises, Inc., Meta Platforms, Inc. and its applicable affiliates, and their respective partners and affiliates involved in the event, so the licence reaches further than the two hosts. No rule requires you to open-source your project.

Anything you share during the event, your Materials such as ideas, pitches and code, is not treated as confidential or proprietary, and you grant the Organizers a royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide, perpetual and irrevocable licence to use, publish, distribute and modify it. Recordings of the event belong to the Organizers. The terms are governed by California law and disputes go exclusively to state or federal courts in San Francisco. The judges’ decisions are final, and the Organizers can change or cancel the event and its dates at Meta’s sole discretion.

Prizes may be paid in US dollars or the local currency equivalent, at the organiser’s sole discretion, and only after eligibility verification and compliance with the terms. Winners, including winning team members and organisations, pay any fees for receiving or using the prize, such as wire transfer and currency exchange charges, plus all applicable taxes. You may be asked for tax forms: a W-9 (the US taxpayer form) for US residents or a W-8BEN for non-US residents, which is the US form that confirms you are not a US person for tax withholding. You are also responsible for foreign exchange and banking compliance in your own country and for reporting the prize to the authorities there. Payment timing, payment method, withholding rate and how an Indie team splits a prize are not stated. If you win, check with a tax adviser in your own country before you file.

Project ideas that fit the brief

These project ideas, and the tips further down, are our own suggestions, not the organisers’. Each idea fits a stated theme, leans on Meta’s models for the 25% tooling score, and avoids Muse Image, which is not available everywhere, so the first three work wherever you can call Model API and the fourth runs on open-weights models you host yourself.

Tips to give your entry the best chance

• Apply as soon as your answers are ready, not on 25 October. The cap is 20,000 and acceptance is rolling, so the deadline is a ceiling, not a target.
• Treat the two scored answers as your entry ticket. In what you want to build, name the user, the problem, the Meta model and the theme in plain words. In the AI project you recently built, say exactly what you built and the techniques you used, and add a result if you have one.
• Add your GitHub link even though it is optional, and make sure your LinkedIn profile, which the form requires, shows your recent AI work.
• Use at least two Meta products together, such as SAM 3.1 feeding Muse Spark, so your project goes beyond a basic integration. Use of Meta AI Tooling is worth 25% of the score.
• Budget your $150 in credits. At Standard Muse Spark rates, 10 million input tokens and 2 million output tokens cost $12.50 plus $8.50, or $21, so check your usage daily and avoid repeating identical calls.
• Script and record your demo video a couple of days before the deadline, then use the time left for fixes. Demo is 25% of the score, and a short, focused video that shows real input, real output and the impact is easier to judge.
• Set your own deadline in your local time. Find 02:00 UTC on Thursday 5 November in the dates table, aim to submit at least half a day before it, and ignore the grace period setting in the page data.
• Keep client data, passwords and anything confidential out of the event, because nothing shared is confidential and Contributor mode trains Meta’s models. Use sample or made-up data in your demo.

Please note: we update this page from time to time, but hackathon dates, prizes and rules can change quickly, and there can be a gap between a change and our update. Check the official rules before you enter or submit. This guide helps you plan; it is not legal or tax advice, and ReconScribe is not responsible for decisions made on it.

Meta AI Developer Hackathon frequently asked questions

Is the Meta AI Developer Hackathon free?

Yes. The event page says it is free to enter if you are selected, and the price is listed as $0. Your main possible cost is Meta Model API usage beyond the $150 in credits given to every selected participant, because the API itself is pay-as-you-go, plus any other paid tools you choose to use.

Which countries can enter the Meta AI Developer Hackathon?

It is open worldwide to anyone 18 or older, except in countries where local law prohibits taking part. The rules exclude anyone organised or located in Belarus, China, Russia, Ukraine, Syria, the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, Cuba, North Korea and Iran, plus sanctions targets. Separately, Meta’s API policy blocks Model API in places such as Pakistan, Ethiopia, Venezuela, Iraq and Cambodia and blocks the Muse Image model in one more country, so check it before you build.

What is the Meta AI Developer Hackathon deadline in UTC?

Projects are due by 9:00 PM ET on Wednesday 4 November 2026, which is 02:00 UTC on Thursday 5 November, because US clocks move to EST (UTC-5) on 1 November. Applications close at 11:59 PM ET on Sunday 25 October, which is 03:59 UTC on Monday 26 October, or earlier if all 20,000 places fill. The dates table on this page shows both moments in your local time.

How many people get accepted?

At most 20,000 applicants are accepted, and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Eligible applications that meet minimum scoring cut-offs are accepted automatically up to the first 20,000, and others may be accepted by score if space allows. Submitting an application does not guarantee a place.

How do they decide who gets in?

Selection uses only your answers on the application form. Your project idea, judged on clarity, feasibility and fit with a theme, and the technical skill shown in an AI project you recently built count equally. The organisers also aim for a mix of technical backgrounds and domains.

Can I enter as a team?

Yes. The Indie Developer track allows teams of up to four, with one member submitting the project and listing the others. The Startup track’s maximum team size is not stated. Every teammate must apply and be accepted individually.

Do I have to use Meta’s AI models?

The waiver says participants build with Meta AI products such as Muse Spark, Glimmer and SAM 3. No hard requirement had been published as of 17 October 2026, and the Official Rules may add one. Use of Meta AI Tooling is 25% of the score, so leaving Meta’s models out would cost you heavily in judging.

How much prize money is on offer?

The anticipated prize pool is $1,000,000. The Startup track pays $250,000, $150,000, $75,000, $50,000 and $25,000 for first to fifth place, and the Indie track pays $150,000, $100,000, $75,000, $50,000 and $25,000. Up to $50,000 more goes to bonus prizes such as a community vote award.

Can students join the hackathon?

Yes. The Indie Developer track is for individual builders and students, and Indie applicants are asked where they study or work. You must still be at least 18 and have reached the age of majority where you live.

Is the event online or in person?

It is virtual only and open worldwide apart from the excluded countries. The kickoff livestream, the workshops from Meta and its partners, and the Discord office hours all happen online. The Discord link is not public.

Who owns the project I build?

You keep ownership of your submission. In return, the organisers and their partners get a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to use it for any purpose, including marketing. Anything you share during the event is not treated as confidential.

How are hackathon prizes paid and taxed?

Prizes may be paid in US dollars or the local currency equivalent, at the organiser’s discretion, after eligibility verification. Winners pay transfer and currency fees and all applicable taxes, and non-US residents may be asked for a W-8BEN form. Check with a tax adviser about how the prize is taxed where you live.

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Sources

• Official event page (Cerebral Valley)
• Official event page, markdown version
• Application and Event Overview and Event Waiver
• Official application form
• Official submission portal
• Meta Connect 2026 recap (Meta for Developers)
• Meta developer home
• Meta Model API docs
• Meta Model API pricing and rate limits
• Meta Model API Geographic Use Policy