Startup Programs (2026): 50 Free Credits, Perks & Grants for Startups
Every programme that gives startups free credits, perks or grants: AI and cloud credits, developer tools, SaaS discounts and government grants, with what you get, who qualifies and how to apply.
Filter by the step you are on and by who you are (bootstrapped, student, solo founder, AI startup); sort by value to see the biggest credits first. Programs marked "partner code" need an accelerator, VC or partner to unlock their top tier.
Google for Startups Cloud Program 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $2,000 in Google Cloud credits pre-funding, or up to $200,000 ($350,000 for AI-first startups) once VC-funded.
🔥 Up to $2,000 (Start) or up to $200,000 / $350,000 for AI-first startups (Scale) in Google Cloud credits
AWS Activate 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $5,000 in AWS credits if you are self-funded, or up to $200,000 with an Activate Provider Org ID.
🔥 Up to $5,000 (Founders) or up to $200,000 (Portfolio, with Activate Provider Org ID) in AWS creditsGoogle for Startups Cloud Program (AI tier) 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $350,000 in Google Cloud credits over two years for VC-funded startups building on Gemini.
🔥 Up to $350,000 in Google Cloud credits over 2 years for AI-first startupsPostHog for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
$50,000 in PostHog credits for 12 months, plus merch and partner perks, for startups under two years old.
🔥 $50,000 in PostHog credits for 12 monthsNSF SBIR/STTR (America's Seed Fund powered by NSF) 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $2 million of zero-equity seed funding from NSF for deep-tech startups, starting with a short Project Pitch.
America's Seed Fund (SBIR/STTR) 🎁 ProgramFree
Equity-free US federal R&D awards from 11 agencies, from proof of concept (Phase I) to prototype (Phase II).
Cloudflare for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
$10,000 in Cloudflare credits if bootstrapped, $100,000 or $350,000 if funded by an affiliated partner.
🔥 $10,000 (bootstrapped), $100,000 or $350,000 (partner-funded) in Cloudflare credits for one yearMicrosoft for Startups (Azure AI and Foundry) 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $150K in Azure credits (up to $200K via investor partners) usable on Microsoft Foundry models.
🔥 Up to $150K in Azure Startup credits (up to $200K for Investor Network-backed startups)Microsoft for Startups (Azure credits) 🎁 ProgramFree
Azure credits from $200 up to $150,000, with higher tiers unlocked by progress or an Investor Network referral code.
🔥 Up to $150,000 in Azure Startup credits (higher tiers via Investor Network referral code)EIC Accelerator 🎁 ProgramFree
Grant of up to EUR 2.5 million (about $2.9 million) for deep-tech startups and SMEs, with optional EIC equity.
SR&ED Tax Incentive (Canada) 🎁 ProgramFree
Refundable 35% R&D tax credit for Canadian-controlled private corporations on up to C$6 million of R&D a year.
Intercom Early Stage 🎁 ProgramFree
93% off Intercom in year one, then 50% and 25%, for startups under $10M raised and 15 staff
🔥 93% off year one, 50% year two, 25% year threeClaude for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
Claude API credits, higher rate limits, a partner perk stack and office hours for startups building on Claude.
🔥 Up to $100K extra Claude API credits via partner VCs, plus partner perks worth up to $45,000ElevenLabs Startup Grants 🎁 ProgramFree
12 months of the ElevenLabs platform with 33 million characters for voice AI startups under 25 people.
🔥 12 months free with 33M characters (stated value more than $5,500)R&D Tax Incentive (Australia) 🎁 ProgramFree
Refundable R&D tax offset of your company tax rate plus 18.5% for Australian companies with turnover under A$20 million.
WBSO (Dutch R&D tax credit) 🎁 ProgramFree
Dutch payroll-tax credit of 36% (50% for starters) on R&D wage costs up to about EUR 391,000, then 16%.
EXIST Business Start-up Grant (exist Gründungsstipendium) 🎁 ProgramFree
12 months of stipends (EUR 1,000-3,000 a month each) plus EUR 30,000 for costs, for German university spin-off teams.
NVIDIA Inception 🎁 ProgramFree
Free programme with DLI training, cloud credits from NVIDIA and partners, GPU pricing and VC introductions.
NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) 🎁 ProgramFree
Canada's main SME innovation programme: advice from technology advisors and, for some projects, funding.
Deepgram Startup Program 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $100,000 in Deepgram speech-to-text, text-to-speech and Voice Agent credits over 12 months.
🔥 Up to $100,000 in Deepgram credits over 12 monthsBrex Partner Rewards and Day Zero Stack 🎁 ProgramFree
Over $350,000 in partner discounts for Brex customers, plus a 20-tool Day Zero Stack for new startups
🔥 Over $350,000 in partner discounts; Day Zero Stack of 20 toolsTogether AI Startup Accelerator 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $50K in Together AI platform credits plus forward-deployed engineering hours, tiered by how much you raised.
🔥 Up to $15K / $30K / $50K in platform credits depending on funding raisedNeon / Databricks Startup Program 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $1,000 in Neon credits if self-funded, or up to $200,000 in Neon and Databricks credits if VC-backed.
🔥 Up to $1,000 (self-funded) or up to $200,000 (VC-backed) in Neon and Databricks creditsIdeation (Tnufa) Incentive Program 🎁 ProgramFree
Conditional grant of up to NIS 200,000 (about $60,000) for Israeli entrepreneurs to reach proof of concept.
UK R&D Tax Relief (merged scheme and ERIS) 🎁 ProgramFree
A 20% R&D expenditure credit, or a 186% deduction plus payable credit for loss-making R&D-intensive UK SMEs.
Stripe Atlas Partner Perks 🎁 ProgramFree
Over $50,000 in partner discounts plus $2,500 in Stripe credits for companies incorporated with Atlas
🔥 Over $50,000 in partner discounts + $2,500 Stripe credits for Atlas companiesDigitalOcean Startups (Hatch) 🎁 ProgramFree
12 months of DigitalOcean credits, 15 months of free support and partner perks for startups that raised $10M or less.
🔥 12 months of DigitalOcean credits (amount set by your partner) plus 15 months of free Standard supportMongoDB for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
MongoDB Atlas credits and Voyage AI tokens in four tiers, from bootstrapped to rapidly scaling startups.
🔥 MongoDB Atlas credits and Voyage AI tokens (amount depends on tier)Bourse French Tech 🎁 ProgramFree
Bpifrance subsidy of up to EUR 30,000 (about $34,500) for early feasibility work on a French tech innovation project.
AssemblyAI Startup Program 🎁 ProgramFree
12 months of recurring free speech-to-text credits and startup pricing for voice and audio products.
🔥 12 months of recurring free credits plus startup pricingBaseten for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $25,000 for dedicated inference or training and up to $2,500 for Model APIs, for seed to Series A AI startups.
🔥 Up to $25,000 for dedicated inference or training plus up to $2,500 for Model APIsPinecone for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
Free Pinecone Standard tier with Pro Support plus usage credits and discounts for early-stage startups.
🔥 Free Standard tier with Pro Support plus usage creditsOpenAI for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
OpenAI API credits, rate limit upgrades and engineer time for startups backed by OpenAI partner VCs.
Salesforce Launchpad for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
Free programme for venture-backed startups with discounted Salesforce, Slack, Tableau and Agentforce offers
🔥 Free and discounted Salesforce, Slack, Tableau and Agentforce offers for membersVercel for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $30,000 in Vercel credit, Enterprise-tier access and startup support for eligible teams.
🔥 Up to $30,000 in Vercel Flexible Commitment Amount plus Enterprise-tier accessLangSmith for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
Discounted LangSmith seats for early VC-backed startups, or $10K in credits via LangChain partner VCs.
🔥 $10K in LangSmith credits for 1 year (Scale tier, premier VC partners)Scaleway Startup Program 🎁 ProgramFree
European cloud credits from a €1,000 Founders voucher up to about €36,000 for growth-stage startups.
🔥 From a €1,000 Founders voucher up to €36,000 (Growth Stage) in Scaleway creditsRunpod Startup Program 🎁 ProgramFree
$1,000 in GPU credits for pre-Series A teams, or a $25,000 bonus on a $50K commitment for scaling startups.
🔥 $1,000 Starter credits, or $75K credits for a $50K commitment (Growth tier)Fireworks AI Startup Program 🎁 ProgramFree
Build credits, higher rate limits and applied AI engineers for VC-backed startups on Fireworks inference.
🔥 Fireworks AI Startup Program: build credits plus rate-limit upgrades for venture-backed startups with $500K+ raised, below Series D.Modal for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
One-time serverless GPU credits, engineering support and GTM help for VC-backed AI startups new to Modal.
🔥 Modal for Startups: one-time serverless GPU credits (amount not published) for VC-backed or $1M+ raised teams.GitHub for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
$10,000 in GitHub credits for Enterprise, Copilot, Actions and Advanced Security, through a partner investor.
🔥 $10,000 in GitHub credits for 12 months (via a GitHub for Startups partner)Startup SG Tech 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to S$400,000 (POC) or S$800,000 (POV) for Singapore deep-tech startups, with a share subscription right attached.
Alibaba Cloud AI Catalyst Program 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $120,000 in Alibaba Cloud credits and up to 2B free Model Studio tokens for AI-first startups.
🔥 Up to $120,000 in Alibaba Cloud credits and up to 2B Model Studio tokensQdrant for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
20% off Qdrant Cloud for the first year, plus technical advice, co-marketing and partner perks.
🔥 20% off Qdrant Cloud for the first yearNebius for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
$5,000 in introductory GPU credits and up to $150,000 in compute savings for startups with $5M+ VC backing.
🔥 $5,000 in introductory credits plus up to $150,000 in compute savingsCartesia for Google for Startups members 🎁 ProgramFree
12 months of Cartesia Startup Tier (1.25M credits a month) for Google for Startups Cloud Program Scale tier members.
🔥 12 months of Startup Tier (1.25M credits/month) for Google for Startups Scale tier membersLambda Cloud credits for NVIDIA Inception members 🎁 ProgramFree
$1,000 in Lambda Cloud credits for on-demand B200, H100, A100 and GH200 GPUs, for NVIDIA Inception members.
🔥 $1,000 in Lambda Cloud credits for NVIDIA Inception membersVultr Digital Startup Program 🎁 ProgramFree
Up to $100K in cloud credits and 35% long-term discounts for recently funded Series A-E startups.
Fivetran for Startups 🎁 ProgramFree
$50,000 in free Fivetran usage over 12 months for current and recent Y Combinator companies.
🔥 $50,000 in free Fivetran Standard-plan usage over 12 months for current/recent YC companies (50 or fewer employees)Weaviate Startup Deal 🎁 ProgramFree
Discounted access to Weaviate's managed vector database, redeemed through the Weaviate Console for startups and partner-backed teams.