Perks

Free credits and perks for developers and startups

67 programs that give you free cloud and AI credits, software deals and licenses, for startups, students and open-source maintainers. Amounts and eligibility from each official page, checked 2026-10-08.

Cloud credits

Startup and free-tier programs from cloud and data-infrastructure providers; amounts are what each provider states on its own page.

AWS ActivateUp to $200,000 in AWS Activate credits
Credit packages for AWS services, from a $1,000 starter tier up to the Portfolio tier.
Provider
Amazon Web Services
Eligibility
Pre-series B, founded in last 10 years, paid-tier AWS account
Catch: Founders tier is up to $5,000; the largest packages are Portfolio and AI-startup tiers.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Google for Startups Cloud ProgramUp to $350,000 for AI-first startups
Google Cloud credits for startups; $2,000 for pre-funded teams building an MVP.
Provider
Google Cloud
Eligibility
Seed to Series A (pre-funded teams get the $2,000 tier)
Catch: The $350,000 figure is for AI-first startups; the standard tier is $200,000 in cloud credits.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Microsoft for Startups Founders HubUp to $150,000 in credits
Azure credits, AI tools, developer tools and Microsoft's customer network for startups.
Provider
Microsoft
Eligibility
Startups; see the program page for criteria
Catch: The page doesn't state tiers or eligibility; the top amount is a maximum.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
DigitalOcean Startups
DigitalOcean credits for new startups, amount varies by application.
Provider
DigitalOcean
Eligibility
Raised $10M or less, company email, new team account with a card
Catch: Prioritizes AI-native startups; agencies and prior credit users are excluded; $10,000 monthly limit.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Cloudflare for StartupsUp to $350,000 in credits
Three credit tiers of $10k, $100k and $350k for building on Cloudflare.
Provider
Cloudflare
Eligibility
$10k: bootstrapped, under $1M raised; higher tiers via an affiliated partner
Catch: Higher tiers require being funded by an affiliated partner.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Oracle Cloud Free Tier$300 trial credit for 30 days
A $300 trial credit plus Always Free services (Arm and AMD compute, databases, object storage).
Provider
Oracle
Eligibility
Anyone who signs up
Catch: The $300 credit expires after 30 days; only the Always Free resources last.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Vercel for StartupsUp to $30,000
Flexible Commitment Amount, Enterprise-tier access and startup-focused support.
Provider
Vercel
Eligibility
Eligible startup teams; see the program page
Catch: It's a commitment amount for Vercel usage, not cash; the page doesn't list criteria.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Render for StartupsUp to $100,000 in credits
Four tiers: Prototype $500, Build $2,500 or $5K, Scale $10K or $25K, AI $100K.
Provider
Render
Eligibility
New customer, Series A or earlier, under $50M raised
Catch: Higher tiers need an enrolled partner or VC; Prototype needs at least $25K seed funding.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Databricks for StartupsUp to $200K in credits
Credits for Databricks and Neon, plus guidance on the Data + AI Platform.
Provider
Databricks
Eligibility
Qualifying early-stage companies
Catch: The page gives no criteria beyond 'qualifying'; amount is a maximum.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Snowflake Startup Program
Free usage on a first contract, and an Accelerator with mentors and credits for app builders.
Provider
Snowflake
Eligibility
Eligible startups; Accelerator is for customer-facing apps on Snowflake
Catch: No credit amounts are published; the Accelerator is selective and capped at 6 months.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Scaleway Startup ProgramUp to EUR 36,000 in cloud credits
Founders EUR 1,000; Early Stage EUR 9,000 over 6 months; Growth EUR 36,000 over 12 months.
Provider
Scaleway
Eligibility
Under 5 years old, under 50 employees, not yet a Scaleway client
Catch: A committee reviews applications weekly; credits are paid out monthly in the larger tiers.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
MongoDB for Startups
Atlas credits, Voyage AI tokens and technical advice across four tiers (Inspire to Scale).
Provider
MongoDB
Eligibility
Under 7 years old, Series A or earlier, one software product
Catch: Credit amounts aren't published; agencies and dev shops are excluded.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
NVIDIA Inception
Free program with training, partner offers, and access to free cloud credits from NVIDIA and partners.
Provider
NVIDIA
Eligibility
Incorporated, under 10 years old, working website, one developer
Catch: Excludes consultancies, crypto, cloud providers, resellers, public firms; no credit amount published.
official source · checked 2026-10-08

AI credits

API credits, free tiers and grants from AI model and inference providers that publish a real program.

OpenAI for Startups
Free API credits, rate-limit upgrades and engineer time for startups backed by partner VCs.
Provider
OpenAI
Eligibility
Backed by an eligible VC partner, with a referral code from your VC
Catch: Needs a VC referral code; no credit amount is published.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Claude for Startups$1,000 in Claude API credits
API credits, a free year of Claude Team (5 seats), and up to $45K in partner offers.
Provider
Anthropic
Eligibility
Founded in last 5 years or funded in last 2; company email
Catch: Credits expire six months after grant; the Team offer is for new Team customers only.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Gemini API free tier
Free input and output tokens for limited models, plus Google AI Studio access.
Provider
Google
Eligibility
Anyone with a Google account
Catch: Limited models and rate limits; content may be used to improve Google products.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Mistral Free plan and Studio
Free plan with limited Vibe use, including Vibe for coding in the terminal, plus Mistral Studio access.
Provider
Mistral AI
Eligibility
Anyone who signs up
Catch: Usage is limited; no API credit amount is stated on the pricing page.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
ElevenLabs Startup Grants
12 months of the Scale plan and 33,000,000 characters for voice products.
Provider
ElevenLabs
Eligibility
Startups under 25 employees with a monetization plan
Catch: No agencies, one-off projects or products for under-18s; one application per company.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Together AI Startup AcceleratorUp to $50K in platform credits
Build, Scale and Grow tiers with $15K, $30K and $50K credits plus free engineering hours.
Provider
Together AI
Eligibility
Tiered by funding: up to $5M, $5M-$10M, over $10M raised
Catch: Credits don't apply to Reserved GPU Clusters; the program is selection-based.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Modal for StartupsUp to $50k in compute credits
Free compute credits for startups and academic labs, including GPU types.
Provider
Modal
Eligibility
New to Modal; Seed to Series A with VC from partner network or over $1M
Catch: One-time grant per tier; you can't reapply after receiving credits in a tier.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Deepgram Startup ProgramUp to $100,000 in free credits
Credits for building voice-powered AI apps, plus resources and community benefits.
Provider
Deepgram
Eligibility
AI builders or early-stage startups in production or launching within 6 months
Catch: Must commit to actively building and engaging with the community.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
LangSmith for StartupsUp to $10K in LangSmith credits
Build tier gets discounted seats; Scale tier gets $10K credits for 1 year plus programming.
Provider
LangChain
Eligibility
First-time customer; Build under $10M funding, Scale Series A or earlier
Catch: Scale tier needs backing from a LangChain premier VC partner; Build needs $25K seed raised.
official source · checked 2026-10-08

Startup software deals

Discounts and free years on the tools startups commonly run on, from the vendors' own startup pages.

Stripe Atlas perksOver $50,000 in perks
$2,500 in Stripe product credits in year one after incorporation, plus partner discounts.
Provider
Stripe
Eligibility
Companies incorporated through Stripe Atlas
Catch: Requires paying the Atlas fee; $500 back if you deposit $5,000 into Stripe Treasury.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
HubSpot for StartupsUp to 90% off in year one
Tiered discounts on HubSpot; 50% off in year two and 25% off in year three for partner-affiliated startups.
Provider
HubSpot
Eligibility
Pre-seed to Series A, with an approved partner or verified venture funding
Catch: Discounts step down yearly; entrepreneurial-org members get a smaller 15% off year two.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Notion for Startups
1, 3 or 6 months free of Notion with Notion AI, depending on your profile.
Provider
Notion
Eligibility
Non-paying customers; 6 months needs a startup partner, 3 months a business site and domain email
Catch: Under 100 employees (under 10 for the 1-month tier); only for non-paying workspaces.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
PostHog for Startups$50,000 in credits
A year of PostHog credits covering analytics, session replay and feature flags.
Provider
PostHog
Eligibility
Under $5M funding, under 2 years old, company email domain
Catch: Credits last one year.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Sentry for StartupsUp to $5,000 in credits
Credits and priority support for startups using Sentry.
Provider
Sentry
Eligibility
Startups; the page gives no criteria
Catch: Page is an interactive terminal; eligibility and duration aren't stated.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Intercom Early Stage93% off in year one
93% off year one with a free year of Fin; 50% off year two, 25% off year three.
Provider
Intercom
Eligibility
Up to $10M funding, under 15 employees, new customer
Catch: Phone, SMS and WhatsApp are charged at list price; free Fin usage shrinks each year.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Linear for StartupsUp to 6 months free
Free months of Linear through the startup program.
Provider
Linear
Eligibility
Startups; see the program page
Catch: The page doesn't list eligibility criteria or exact terms.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Datadog for StartupsUp to $100k in credits
A year of the full Datadog platform with no feature tiers.
Provider
Datadog
Eligibility
Series A or earlier, referred by a partner, new to Datadog
Catch: Needs a partner referral; credits cover your first year only.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Mercury Perks
Partner deals such as $5k AWS credits, 25% off Google Workspace, 50% off QuickBooks Online.
Provider
Mercury
Eligibility
Mercury account holders
Catch: You must open a Mercury account and log in to redeem the perks.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Brex partner perks
A directory of partner offers from 1Password, AWS, Datadog, Deel, Asana and others.
Provider
Brex
Eligibility
Brex customers; see each offer
Catch: The directory page doesn't state amounts or eligibility for most offers.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Miro for Startups
Free Miro credits for early startups; up to 25% off for scale-ups.
Provider
Miro
Eligibility
Early startups and scale-ups, including VC partner referrals
Catch: The page doesn't state eligibility details or credit amounts.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Atlassian for Startups
Jira, Confluence, Loom, Bitbucket and more on premium tiers for $0 for 12 months.
Provider
Atlassian
Eligibility
Not a paid customer, VC-funded or accelerator-backed, under $10M raised
Catch: One 12-month enrollment per startup; Marketplace apps are not included.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Retool for StartupsUp to $60K value
100% off Retool for one year on a monthly Team or Business plan.
Provider
Retool
Eligibility
Under $10M raised, founded in last 10 years, new customer
Catch: Can't be combined with other discounts; monthly plans only.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Mixpanel for Startups
A full year of Mixpanel free, every feature and add-on included.
Provider
Mixpanel
Eligibility
Startups; the page doesn't list criteria
Catch: Free for one year only.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Amplitude for Startups$60,000 value
First year of the Growth plan free (up to 100M events a month); year two 40% off.
Provider
Amplitude
Eligibility
Fewer than 20 employees and under $10M raised
Catch: Free for year one only; there are three startup scholarship tiers.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
GitLab for Startups
Seed stage: free Ultimate for a year (20 seats), then 50% off. Later stage: 50% off, then 25% off.
Provider
GitLab
Eligibility
Externally funded: up to $5M (seed) or up to $20M (Series A/B), new customer
Catch: No support in the free year; you must show funding via Crunchbase, PitchBook or a VC page.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Clerk for Startups
Clerk Pro features at a discount for early-stage startups.
Provider
Clerk
Eligibility
Up to 1 year after launch, up to $5M in venture funding
Catch: The discount size isn't stated on the page.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Convex for StartupsUp to 1 year free of Convex Professional
No seat fees and 30% off usage-based fees up to $30k.
Provider
Convex
Eligibility
Series A or earlier, under 20 employees, under 3 years old, under $3M raised
Catch: Needs a company profile on LinkedIn, Crunchbase or PitchBook, plus a live site or MVP.
official source · checked 2026-10-08

Student perks

Free tools, credits and licenses for verified students.

GitHub Student Developer Pack
Bundle of free developer tools for students, including Copilot Student and partner offers.
Provider
GitHub
Eligibility
Verified students
Catch: Partner offers change over time and vary by partner.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
GitHub Copilot Student
Free Copilot with unlimited code completions and an allowance of GitHub AI Credits.
Provider
GitHub
Eligibility
Verified students
Catch: Auto model selection only; excludes third-party agents; chat and agent use is limited.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
JetBrains Student Pack
10 JetBrains IDEs, an AI subscription with code completion, and JetBrains Academy courses.
Provider
JetBrains
Eligibility
Full-time students in a program of one year or more, with a university email, ISIC/ITIC card or GitHub pack
Catch: AI chat and agents are a limited trial inside the IDE.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Azure for Students$100 credit
Azure services, developer tools and $100 credit with no credit card required.
Provider
Microsoft
Eligibility
Full-time university students
Catch: Only for full-time university students.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Figma for Education
Free Figma and FigJam for students and teachers.
Provider
Figma
Eligibility
Students and educators
Catch: Verification of student or teacher status is required.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Notion Education Plan
Free one-member workspace with unlimited pages and blocks, file uploads and 30-day history.
Provider
Notion
Eligibility
Students and educators at accredited colleges with a school email
Catch: Not for K-12 or personal email accounts; student IDs aren't accepted for verification.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Unity Student Plan
Unity Pro Editor, an Odin Inspector license, a Synty asset bundle and Unity Cloud access.
Provider
Unity
Eligibility
Accredited post-secondary students, or secondary students aged 16+
Catch: Enrollment at an accredited institution is required.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
AWS Educate
No-cost cloud skills training and career pathways for students and educators.
Provider
Amazon Web Services
Eligibility
Students and educators
Catch: Training only; the page doesn't mention cloud credits.
official source · checked 2026-10-08

Open-source maintainer perks

Free plans, licenses and funding for people who maintain open-source projects.

JetBrains open-source licenses
Free non-commercial IDE licenses; complimentary All Products Pack for projects with broad impact.
Provider
JetBrains
Eligibility
Maintainers of non-commercial, actively developed open-source projects
Catch: The All Products Pack is for established projects with an active lifecycle and wide impact.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Claude for Open Source6 months of Claude Max 20x
Six months of Claude Max 20x for qualifying maintainers and contributors.
Provider
Anthropic
Eligibility
e.g. 500+ dependent repos, 100+ merged PRs elsewhere, or OpenSSF criticality 0.4+
Catch: Ends after 6 months; a prior paid plan resumes at its old rate unless you cancel.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Copilot Pro for maintainers
Free Copilot Pro for maintainers of popular open-source repositories.
Provider
GitHub
Eligibility
Maintainers of popular open-source projects, as determined by GitHub
Catch: You can't cancel a free plan granted this way; GitHub decides who qualifies.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
GitHub Secure Open Source Fund
A 3-week security education program with expert access, health check-ins and incident support.
Provider
GitHub
Eligibility
Current maintainers aged 18+, in a GitHub Sponsors-supported region, with a clear license
Catch: Needs community traction, clear governance and commitment from core leaders to take part.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Vercel Open Source Program$3,600 in credits over 3 years
Vercel platform credits, an OSS Starter Pack of third-party credits and community support.
Provider
Vercel
Eligibility
Actively maintained open-source project hosted on Vercel, with a Code of Conduct
Catch: Credits can only be used for open-source work on the project.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Netlify Open Source plan
10,000 credits a month, free production deploys, deploy previews and unlimited team members.
Provider
Netlify
Eligibility
OSI or Creative Commons licensed non-commercial project with a Code of Conduct
Catch: Non-commercial projects only; a link back to Netlify is requested.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Cloudflare Project Alexandria
Upgraded Cloudflare plans, more Workers and Pages requests, more R2 storage, Zero Trust features.
Provider
Cloudflare
Eligibility
Open-source project with a recognized license, run on a non-profit basis
Catch: The project must be non-profit and aligned with the program's mission.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Sentry for Open Source
Free Sentry account with business features: 5M errors, 1B spans, 100K replays and more per month.
Provider
Sentry
Eligibility
Open-source project under a friendly license such as Apache or MIT
Catch: You apply and Sentry decides; quotas are fixed monthly allowances.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
1Password for Open Source
A free 1Password Teams account for open-source teams.
Provider
1Password
Eligibility
Core contributors of a 30+ day-old, active, permissively licensed project
Catch: Team accounts only; no commercial activity apart from OSS funding programs.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Algolia DocSearch
Free hosted search for public technical documentation and technical blogs.
Provider
Algolia
Eligibility
Public technical docs or technical blogs
Catch: Applications that aren't production-ready or have non-technical content are usually declined.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Docker-Sponsored Open Source
Verified badge, no Docker Hub rate limits for your images, free Docker Team for core contributors.
Provider
Docker
Eligibility
OSI-compliant, public Docker Hub images, active in the past 6 months
Catch: No pathway to commercialization; donations are allowed. Team subscription is one year.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
CircleCI open source planUp to 400,000 credits per month
400,000 monthly credits for Linux, Arm and Docker builds; 30,000 for macOS and Windows.
Provider
CircleCI
Eligibility
Open-source organizations; eligibility isn't detailed on the page
Catch: Credits are monthly allowances; macOS and Windows get far fewer.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
GitLab for Open Source
GitLab Ultimate features with 50,000 compute minutes free for qualifying open-source projects.
Provider
GitLab
Eligibility
Qualifying open-source projects
Catch: Criteria aren't spelled out on the overview page.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
SonarQube for open source
SonarQube and Gitar AI code review free for public repos, with Pro-plan features.
Provider
Sonar
Eligibility
Public repositories under an OSI license
Catch: Public, OSI-licensed repos only.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Snyk for open source
Snyk at no cost for open-source maintainers, via an application form.
Provider
Snyk
Eligibility
Open-source maintainers; apply on Snyk's open-source page
Catch: The pricing page gives no criteria; the free plan is capped (e.g. 100 Snyk Code tests a month).
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Crowdin for open source
Free Crowdin license for open-source projects, for localization.
Provider
Crowdin
Eligibility
Open-source projects; request a license via the form
Catch: You must request the license through the form.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Read the Docs Community
Free documentation hosting for publicly hosted open-source projects.
Provider
Read the Docs
Eligibility
Publicly hosted open-source projects
Catch: Private docs and extra build resources need a paid plan.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
Chromatic free for open source
Free visual testing for open-source projects.
Provider
Chromatic
Eligibility
Contact Chromatic to confirm eligibility
Catch: Eligibility is decided case by case; no limits are published.
official source · checked 2026-10-08
BrowserStack for Open Source
Free testing on desktop and mobile (Live, Automate, Percy) with 5 users and 5 parallels, lifetime access.
Provider
BrowserStack
Eligibility
Open-source projects that apply with project details
Catch: You apply and BrowserStack decides; criteria aren't stated on the page.
official source · checked 2026-10-08

Also useful: accelerators and startup programs · free and open-source alternatives · free APIs.

FAQ

How can a startup get free cloud credits?+

Apply to the startup programs of the big clouds (AWS Activate, Google for Startups Cloud, Microsoft for Startups) and the infra providers listed under Cloud credits. The largest tiers usually need funding from a partner investor or accelerator; smaller tiers are open to self-funded startups.

Are there free AI API credits?+

Yes. Several AI providers run startup programs or give free credits on sign-up; see AI credits for the amounts and conditions each official page states.

What perks are there for open-source maintainers?+

Free licenses and plans from JetBrains, GitHub, hosting and monitoring providers and others for active open-source projects; see Open-source maintainer perks. Most require a public repository under an OSI license and an application.

How current is this list?+

Every perk was checked on its official page on 2026-10-08. Programs end and amounts change, so confirm on the provider's page before you apply.

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