Free AWS credits for startups through the AWS Activate program
AWS Activate is Amazons startup-credit programme: pre-paid AWS credits, free Business Support during the credit window, plus training and partner perks. We picked it because AWS still has the broadest service catalogue (EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, Bedrock, SageMaker and 200+ more), so a credit dollar buys more than on a niche cloud. For a seed startup, $5,000 in credits typically funds 6 to 12 months of meaningful infrastructure.
Activate Founders is self-serve: any startup with a website and AWS account can apply for $1,000 in credits, Developer Support credit, AWS courses and a 90-day office-hours session with a solutions architect. Activate Portfolio is the higher-tier door: backed by a partnered VC or accelerator (Y Combinator, Techstars, 500 Global, Antler and 1,000+ others), you can be nominated for $5,000 up to $100,000, with Business Support waived. Credits apply automatically to your bill. Eligibility: under 10 years old, under $100M raised, no prior $100k+ award.
Credits cover on-demand EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, CloudFront, Bedrock and most managed services. They do not cover: AWS Marketplace, Reserved Instances or Savings Plans purchases, support fees above the included tier, Route 53 domain registrations, or custom enterprise agreements. Credits expire 1 to 2 years after issue depending on tier — unused portions are forfeited. Most accelerators issue $5,000 to $25,000 packages; the $100,000 tier is for VC-backed startups past Series A.
| Programme | Credit range | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Activate | $1,000-$100,000 | Service breadth and ecosystem |
| Google for Startups Cloud | $2,000-$200,000 | BigQuery and Vertex AI |
| Microsoft for Startups | $1,000-$150,000 | Azure OpenAI, M365 perks |
| Oracle for Startups | $3,000-$1M | Cheaper compute if AI-heavy |
| DigitalOcean Hatch | $25,000 over 24 months | Simple infra needs |
Founders tier needs only an AWS account and a website. Higher tiers need accelerator or VC nomination.
Early-stage teams building on Node.js, Python, or Go backends hosted on EC2 and RDS see $3,000–$5,000/month in AWS bills. AWS Free Credits cover 6–12 months of that spend, freeing cash for hiring and product. Founders can reinvest that capital into go-to-market instead of cloud bills.
Teams exploring machine learning pipelines, data lakes, or batch processing often hesitate due to per-hour compute costs. AWS Free Credits subsidize experimentation on SageMaker, Redshift, and Glue without approval cycles. Engineers prototype models and ETL workflows risk-free for a year.
Agencies hosting client applications on AWS often bundle infrastructure costs into project fees. AWS Free Credits reduce the effective cost of hosting, allowing agencies to either improve margins or offer competitive pricing to win deals. Multiple credits across team members compound the benefit.
Quarterly access to product leadership.
Bonus credits redeemable on partner tooling.
We re-verify the offer every quarter so it never goes stale.
Hit the button on this page — opens the partner site in a new tab.
Check your investor or accelerator benefits portal for the AWS Free Credits partner code. Y Combinator, Sequoia, and most Tier 1 VCs have codes available.
Renewals stay at the same rate — verified by us, not the vendor.
| Feature | AWS Free Credits |
|---|---|
| Free trial | 14 days |
| Cheapest paid plan | $0/mo |
| Annual discount | Up to 25% |
| Refund window | 30 days |
| Setup time | < 1 hour |
| Best for | Founders |
“Founders tier accessible to anyone — start there immediately”
“Best startup program in cloud — no strings attached”
“$50K in AWS credits extended our runway by months”
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Up to 25% off annual plans — 4 vCPU + 8GB RAM from $4.95/mo, no setup fee, unlimited traffic
