Silvestro, FounderIndustry InsightsOctober 8, 202630 min read
Startup perks are the discounted plans, free credits, and partner deals vendors give companies that are still early. Cloud credits for startups, cheaper support seats, and banking extras show up while cash is tight and disappear after a funding round or a birthday.
If you are incorporating, raising, or still under a headcount cap, these startup programs are worth an afternoon. Miss the window and you pay list price.
Programs change, so confirm terms on the official page before you apply.
Start with the tools you will actually use this quarter. A $100k observability credit is worthless if nobody is paging yet.
Before you have customers. File incorporation and cap table first. Stripe Atlas and Carta Launch exist for that week. Open a startup bank or card so Mercury, Brex, or Ramp perks sit in the dashboard when you need them. Then grab a small compute grant: AWS Founders or Google Cloud Start.
Seed, still small. This is the fat part of the list. Marketing, support, and CRM discounts fall off fast once you hire or raise. Intercom wants fewer than 15 people. Featurebase wants fewer than 6. Mixpanel, Amplitude, and PostHog still take a seed company. Apply to Claude and the cloud tier you actually qualify for before a raise pushes you out.
Series A and after. Many doors close. HubSpot stops at Series A. Intercom caps funding at $10M. Cloudflare, GitHub, and Microsoft stay open longer. Read the row before you spend an hour on a form that rejects Series B.
Think in layers, not one giant application day.
Bank and card perks come with the account. Brex and Ramp both advertise $350K-plus in partner credits and discounts. Mercury lists individual deals such as $10,000 in GitHub credits. Redeem those first. They are already sitting in a product you opened for payroll.
Accelerators add a second pile. YC says each company gets access to $12M+ in partner credits. Antler's US residency publishes $650K in partner credits next to the check. You only get those books if you get in.
Direct startup programs are the third layer. Some take an open form. Others need a partner VC. OpenAI, Datadog, Linear, GitHub Enterprise, and Framer sit in the second group. Claude, Mixpanel, AWS Founders, and Affonso sit in the first.
Do not assume two offers from the same vendor stack. Sentry's YC and a16z speedrun deal does not stack with the public startup grant. A referral code often replaces the public form, not adds to it.
Most credits for startups share the same filters.
Funding cap. Seed and Series A are the default. HubSpot and Intercom cut off earlier than Cloudflare or GitHub.
Company age. Two years is common for support and analytics. AWS and Cloudflare go to ten. Microsoft cares more about round than birthday.
New customer only. Auth0, GitHub Enterprise, Sentry, and Featurebase want you unused or on a free plan. Apply before you put a card on file.
Headcount. Intercom, Amplitude, Featurebase, and Convex publish employee caps. If you are hiring fast, do these first.
Partner referral. If the page says "eligible VC" or "approved partner," the public form will bounce you. Ask your fund or accelerator for the code.
Start with the marketing tools you will actually send from this quarter. Email and customer messaging come first if a launch is close, then social scheduling, forms, and a CRM or outbound seat you will live in. Link tracking and affiliate software can wait until you have traffic, unless partners already need a URL.
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affonso for Startups | Affonso | 50% off in year one, 25% in year two, and 10% in year three | SaaS founded less than 3 years ago, under $25k MRR, under $3M raised. Never on a paid Affonso plan. Apply before signup or within 90 days of a free account. | Apply |
| HubSpot for Startups | HubSpot | 30% to 90% off in year one. Later years discounted, for example 50% off in year two and 25% off in year three. Initial discount period is typically two years. | Affiliated with an approved partner, or documented venture funding. Raised Pre-seed, Seed, or Series A, not Series B or later. Net-new Professional or Enterprise products only. | Apply |
| Framer for Startups | Framer | Save $360 with a free year of Framer Pro | Startup backed by a Framer-approved partner | Apply |
| Customer.io Startup Program | Customer.io | Up to 12 months of free access, including up to 30,000 customer profiles. Email, SMS, and push on the Startup plan, plus a graduation offer afterwards. | Raised less than $10 million. Never been a Customer.io customer. Lists collected through normal methods, not purchased. A partner accelerator or VC helps. | Apply |
| ActiveCampaign Start Up | ActiveCampaign | 90% off any annual plan for the first year. Full price after year one. | New customers only. Less than 2 years old, current incubator partner or alum within the past 12 months, and no more than $1MM in funding. | Apply |
| SendPulse Startup Grant | SendPulse | $5,000 in credits for marketing, sales, and customer communications over 12 months. Credits do not cover the email verifier or SMS. | All four: launched within the past three years, an innovative product, not an eCommerce or online store, and no history of paid SendPulse plans. | Apply |
| Coresender for Startups | Coresender | 80% off for 12 months, with full-plan features | New customer, started in the last 2 years, raised $1M or less | Apply |
| Buffer Startup Program | Buffer | 50% off any paid plan for the first 12 months. Cannot be combined with other offers. | All of: fewer than 50 employees, 2 years or younger from incorporation, Pre-seed through Series A, and new to Buffer with no prior paid plan. | Apply |
| SocialBu for Startups | SocialBu | 6 months of SocialBu free, including tools and workshops | New to SocialBu and active on at least one social platform. Fewer than 50 members. Seed or early-stage funding helps. | Apply |
| Typeform Startup Program | Typeform | Save up to 75% on annual Business plans | Less than $5M in funding, fewer than 50 employees, less than 5 years old | Apply |
| Apollo for Startups | Apollo.io | 50% off Basic or Professional for 1 year, up to 5 seats, plus full B2B database access and 1:1 support | Fewer than 20 employees, no existing Apollo subscription, and a valid company domain. Affiliation with a startup partner helps. Teams without a partner can still apply. | Apply |
| Clay Wedge | Clay | A two-week live and async GTM program. Participants earn credits during the cohort. | Series A and below, venture-backed. Founders and first GTM hires at pre-seed through Series A. | Apply |
| AnnounceKit Startup Program | AnnounceKit | 50% off for 12 months, all plan features included. Standard rate afterwards. | Fewer than 5 employees including founders, less than 2 years old, raised $1M or less. Bootstrapped teams qualify. Live product or active development. | Apply |
| Sanity Startup Program | Sanity | One year free on the Growth plan, $9k in value, then Growth at $15 per seat per month | Fewer than 20 employees, raised less than $5M. Currently available to portfolio companies of Sanity partners, with a partner coupon code. | Apply |
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom Early Stage | Intercom | 93% off in year one, 50% off in year two, and 25% off in year three. Helpdesk from $33/month. 300 Fin outcomes and 15 Fin qualifications per month in year one. | Fewer than 15 employees, up to $10M in funding | Apply |
| Zendesk for Startups | Zendesk | Zendesk free for up to 2 years, Suite Professional plus Copilot, up to 50 agents. Baseline is 6 months. One to two years only through VC or accelerator partners. | New Zendesk subscriber, fewer than 250 employees. Teams of 50 to 249 must be partner-referred. No more than Series B, company under 10 years old, outside funding from Angel to Series B. | Apply |
| Featurebase Early-stage startup program | Featurebase | Professional plan at $63 per month, 86% off the $450 list price, then 40% off year two and 10% off year three. 6 full seats. 50 free Fibi AI resolutions per month in year one. | Founded less than 2 years ago, fewer than 6 employees, raised less than $3M, never on a paid Featurebase plan, apply within 90 days of sign-up, max 6 seats | Apply |
| Zoho for Startups | Zoho | Zoho Wallet credits in two phases, valid 360 days | Currently only for startups working with or mentored by Zoho partners. New applicants with no prior Zoho credits. | Apply |
| Attio Startup Program | Attio | 80% off the annual Pro plan and credits for the first year, 30% off the second year, plus onboarding support and partner perks including 3 months of Linear and 6 months of Notion free | VC-backed, signed up within the last 90 days, incorporated less than 10 years ago. Valid for workspaces of up to 10 seats. | Apply |
| Salesforce Launchpad | Salesforce | Free and discounted Salesforce solutions | Venture-backed startups across industries and stages. Application reviewed for proof of funding. | Apply |
| Help Scout for Startups | Help Scout | 6 months free on Help Scout Plus with AI Answers | New Help Scout customer, an incorporated tech startup less than two years old, and under $1 million ARR | Apply |
| Crisp Startup Program | Crisp | A 30% discount on Essentials and Plus that stays attached rather than expiring. Mini is not included. | Raised less than $1M, existed less than 3 years | Apply |
| Plain for Startups | Plain | 50% off the Horizon plan: $6k flat fee, 12 months, 10 seats | VC-backed, up to $5m in funding. Eligibility confirmed on a call. | Apply |
| FeatureOS Startup Program | FeatureOS | The full Starter plan free for 6 months | Founded less than 2 years ago, fewer than 15 employees, less than $1M raised. Bootstrapped teams and free-plan users can apply. | Apply |
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mixpanel for Startups | Mixpanel | First year free. $145,000 value, 1 billion events and 1 million Session Replays. | Incorporated less than five years ago, raised no more than $8M, no other Mixpanel offer redeemed, never on a paid plan | Apply |
| Amplitude Startup Plan | Amplitude | First year of Amplitude 100% free on the Growth plan, up to 100M events/month, $60,000 value. Year two, 40% off. | Under 20 employees and under $10M raised. Partners get extra discounts. Separate Tech for Black Founders track: under $30M raised, under 150 employees, US-based. | Apply |
| PostHog for Startups | PostHog | $50,000 in PostHog credits for 12 months, plus partner perks worth $12,000+. From September 14, 2026 the credits do not cover PostHog AI tools. | Less than 2 years old and raised less than $5m. Signed up from January 1, 2023. Account on the company email domain. | Apply |
| Statsig Startup Program | Statsig | All Statsig Enterprise features for 12 months, plus 1B events, over $50,000 in value | Received less than $50 million in funding, founded less than 5 years ago | Apply |
| Fullstory Startup Plan | Fullstory | A Startup Plan for early-stage businesses | Qualifying early-stage companies | Apply |
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Activate | Amazon Web Services | Up to $200,000 in Activate Credits on the Portfolio path through an Activate Provider. Self-funded Founders start with $1,000 and may qualify for up to $5,000. Extra credits for AI startups. | Pre-Series B, founded in the last 10 years, AWS account on Paid Tier, new to Activate Credits or requesting more than you already received | Apply |
| Google for Startups Cloud Program | Start tier up to $2,000. Scale tier up to $200,000, or up to $350,000 for AI startups. Workspace Business Plus free for 12 months for new signups. Scale includes up to $12,000 in Enhanced Support credits. | Start: founded within 24 months, planning to raise, no prior GCP credits beyond the free trial. Scale: founded within 5 years, Pre-Seed or Seed within 5 years or Series A within 12 months, no more than $5,000 in prior GCP credits | Apply | |
| Microsoft for Startups | Microsoft | Up to $150K in startup credits over time as you show product progress, service adoption, and sustained Azure usage. Formerly Founders Hub. | Software product the company owns; privately held, for-profit; HQ where Azure is available; no more than $350,000 in lifetime free Azure credits; no Series C or later; not an agency, consultancy, school, or government body; no crypto mining | Apply |
| Cloudflare for Startups | Cloudflare | Up to $350k in credits for one year. Tier 3 $10k under $1M raised. Tier 2 $100k under $5M raised with an affiliated partner. Tier 1 $350k at $5M+ raised with an affiliated partner. | Founded within the last 10 years, funded up to Series B, one-time per startup | Apply |
| Vercel for Startups | Vercel | Up to $30,000 in Flexible Commitment Amount, Enterprise-tier access, and startup-focused support | Startup teams, reviewed on application | Apply |
| DigitalOcean Startups | DigitalOcean | 12 months of credits. Amount varies and is set through approved partners. 15 months of free Standard-tier support. GPU credits by separate application. | Raised $10m or less, company website and matching email, new to DigitalOcean credits. Prioritizes AI-native startups. Service businesses are not eligible. | Apply |
| Render for Startups | Render | Founder tier $500. Build $2,500 to $5K through a partner. Scale $10K under $1M funding or $25K at $1M+. AI tier $100K. | Founder: seed funding of at least $25K, raised less than $50M. Higher tiers through enrolled accelerator or VC partners. AI tier needs at least $2.5M from an enrolled top-tier VC. | Apply |
| Fly.io Startup Credits | Fly.io | Up to $15,000 in credits and a shared Slack channel | Seed or Series A, backed by a VC or accelerator, no prior Fly.io startup credits | Apply |
| OVHcloud Startup Program | OVHcloud | Start level: €10,000 of free cloud credits plus 6 hours with an engineer. Scale level: up to €100,000 of free cloud credits plus up to 20 engineer hours. Both run 12 months. | Start: selected pre-seed and seed startups. Scale: selected Series A and later. Need at least a POC or MVP. Not for current OVHcloud Startup Program companies, resellers, integrators, consultancies, or NGOs. | Apply |
| Scaleway Startup Program | Scaleway | Up to €36,000 in cloud cost coverage. Founders up to €1,000 over one year. Early Stage up to €9,000 over six months. Growth up to €36,000 over 12 months. | Less than 5 years old, fewer than 50 employees, not yet a Scaleway client. Early Stage and Growth also need about €500 or €1,500 in monthly consumption. | Apply |
| Civo Startup Program | Civo | Up to $50,000 in credits. Launchpad up to $1,000, Propel up to $10,000, Elevate up to $50,000. | Open to startups in any industry, with a focus on teams building cloud-native applications. Tiers follow traction. | Apply |
| Alibaba Cloud AI Catalyst Program | Alibaba Cloud | Up to 2B free Model Studio tokens, up to $120k cloud credits, POC coupons, and 12 months of Alibaba Cloud Academy access | AI startups. Applications are reviewed in a few business days. | Apply |
| Netlify for Startups | Netlify | Netlify at a discounted rate. Details are shared upon approval. | VC-backed portfolio companies of approved venture partners. Access is limited to approved VC, incubator, and accelerator partners. | Apply |
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude for Startups | Anthropic | $1,000 Claude API credits, a free year of Claude Team with up to five Premium seats if you are new to Team, and up to $45K in offer value from participating partners. Up to $100K more API credits through partner VCs. Credits expire six months after the grant. | Founded in the last 5 years or funded in the last 2. Open to bootstrapped, pre-seed, and venture-backed teams. Needs a Claude Console account and a company email that matches the website domain. | Apply |
| OpenAI for Startups | OpenAI | Credits and dedicated support through eligible VC partners | Must be backed by a VC in OpenAI's partner network. You need a referral code from that VC. | Apply |
| NVIDIA Inception | NVIDIA | Free cloud credits from NVIDIA and partners, preferred pricing on hardware and software, plus VC introductions. No fees or equity. | At least one developer, a working website, officially incorporated, and less than 10 years old. Any funding stage. Revenue is not required. | Apply |
| Pinecone for Startups | Pinecone | Free Standard Tier and Pro Support, plus usage credits and discounts | Series A or earlier, fewer than 100 employees | Apply |
| ElevenLabs Startup Grants | ElevenLabs | 12 months of free access to the full platform. Over 680 hours of Agents usage, more than $5,500 in value. | Startups or companies with fewer than 25 employees. No agencies or consultancies. One application per company. | Apply |
| Modal for Startups | Modal | Free GPU credits | New to Modal. Seed to Series A: raised any amount from a partner VC or more than $1M from any fund. Series B and later is a custom tier. | Apply |
| Together AI Startup Accelerator | Together AI | Up to $15K if you raised up to $5M, $30K from $5M to $10M, or $50K over $10M, plus forward-deployed engineering hours | Tiered by funding raised | Apply |
| Fireworks AI for Startups | Fireworks AI | Credits that expire after one year, plus options for higher rate limits | Founded within the last 5 years, venture-backed with more than $500k in funding, and not Series D or later | Apply |
| Runpod Startup Program | Runpod | Starter: $1,000 in credits. Scale: load $50,000 and get $25,000 in bonus credits, $75K total on a 12-month agreement. | Starter fits Pre-Series A teams with a working product. Scale is for venture-backed startups from Seed through Series B+ with production workloads. | Apply |
| Nebius for Startups | Nebius | Introductory credits and compute savings | Through VC partners, for startups that have raised $5M+ | Apply |
| LangSmith for Startups | LangChain | Build tier: discounted seat pricing. Scale tier: $10K in credits for 1 year, or 2 years for YC. | Build: first-time customer, less than $10M funding, at least $25K in seed funding. Scale: Series A up to $50M or earlier, backed by a LangChain premier VC partner. | Apply |
| Langfuse for Startups | Langfuse | 50% off the entire Langfuse bill for 12 months | Up to $5 million in total venture funding, bootstrapped teams included. Incorporated within the last 5 years. | Apply |
| Firecrawl startup deal | Firecrawl | Double your plan's monthly credits for a full year, plus a Slack Connect channel. Annual plans only. Extra credits capped at $2.5k a month, $30k a year. | Under $10M raised, fewer than 50 people, founded less than 5 years ago. Existing customers included. | Apply |
| OpenRouter Startup Program | OpenRouter | Up to $5,000 in universal inference credits and 0% processing fees for 12 months | Pre-Series B. Referred by an approved OpenRouter partner. Professional email on the company domain, less than $500 in lifetime spend, and no previous startup credits. | Apply |
| Baseten AI Startup Program | Baseten | Up to $25,000 in credits for Dedicated Inference or Training, and up to $2,500 in credits for Model APIs | AI is core to the product. Seed to Series A, started less than 5 years ago, and a net-new customer who has never received Baseten credits. | Apply |
| Anyscale Startup Program | Anyscale | Up to $20K in Anyscale credits | Open to teams building on Anyscale | Apply |
| fal Startup Program | fal | Start with $1,000 in credits and grow to $5,000 as usage scales, plus partner perks | Companies that can show they are building at scale through traction or funding. Real users, revenue, or institutional funding. | Apply |
| Deepgram Startup Program | Deepgram | Up to $100,000 in credits over 12 months for STT, TTS, and Voice Agent | An AI builder or early-stage startup, in production or launching in the next 6 months, and committed to building with the community | Apply |
| AssemblyAI Startup Program | AssemblyAI | 12 months of recurring free credits, then startup pricing | Early-stage startups, bootstrapped through Series A, building with voice or audio and launching within the next six months | Apply |
| Cartesia Startups Grant | Cartesia | 12 months free. 96M credits a year: 8M shared Sonic and Ink credits each month, plus $299 per month in Managed Agents credits. | Startups at any stage. Students and one-off projects are reviewed case by case. | Apply |
| Vapi for Startups | Vapi | 90,000 free minutes: 7,500 free minutes per month for 12 months, plus Slack support | Pre-seed to Series A with $250k+ in funding, launching to customers within 6 months | Apply |
| Telnyx Startups Program | Telnyx | $20K in voice AI agent credits for STT, TTS, and LLM inference. 3 months of engineering support and 6 months to use the credits. | A working voice AI agent at the center of the product, $500k+ raised, and a working prototype or a clear path to launch | Apply |
| LlamaParse Startup Offer | LlamaIndex | $2K in free credits, available for one year, plus bulk-credit discounts in production | Less than $50M raised, and at least $250k raised to date | Apply |
| E2B for Startups | E2B | One-time $20,000 in E2B credits and the Pro tier | Startups under three years old that have raised less than $5M | Apply |
| Tavily for Startups | Tavily | Up to 100k Tavily API credits for 6 months, plus engineering support and network access | Early-stage, VC-backed startups building AI agents or LLMs, typically pre-seed through Series A | Apply |
| Mem0 Startup Program | Mem0 | 3 months of free access to the Pro plan, $1,000 of value | New users | Apply |
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linear startup program | Linear | Free access to Linear's Business plan | Affiliated with an official Linear partner. Non-paying Linear users with fewer than 50 employees. | Apply |
| GitHub for Startups | GitHub | $10,000 in GitHub credits across GitHub Enterprise for up to 12 months | Affiliated with a GitHub for Startups partner. Outside funding up to Series B. New to GitHub Enterprise, not on Enterprise in the past 6 months. No prior GitHub credits. | Apply |
| JetBrains Startup Program | JetBrains | 50% off the entire JetBrains suite for up to five years, up to 10 IDE licenses, 10 team and learning tools, and 10 JetBrains AI subscriptions. Partner route starts with 6 months free. | Startups established within the last five years. Commercial licenses only. Once per organization. | Apply |
| Sentry for Startups | Sentry | Up to $5,000 in credits expiring after 12 months, plus priority support | Founded in the last 2 years, raised less than $5M, new to paying for Sentry. Free plan is fine. The YC and a16z speedrun deal does not stack. | Apply |
| Datadog for Startups | Datadog | A year of Datadog, up to $100k in credits | Series A or earlier, new to Datadog, referred through an official partner. No direct applications without a referral. | Apply |
| New Relic for Startups | New Relic | Free platform access, including every AI feature | Open application for early teams | Apply |
| Algolia Startup Program | Algolia | $10,000 in Algolia Credits for 12 months | See the official page. The same page lists two different age and funding caps. | Apply |
| Clerk for Startups | Clerk | Clerk Pro features at a discount | Eligible up to 1 year after launch with up to $5 million in venture funding | Apply |
| Retool for Startups | Retool | 100% off coupon for one year, value up to $60k, on monthly Team or Business, then 25% off the next year | Bootstrapped through Series A, raised less than $10M, founded within the last 10 years, new monthly-plan customers | Apply |
| GitLab for Startups | GitLab | Seed: free Ultimate license for a year, SaaS or self-managed, up to 20 seats, then 50% off any tier in year two. Series A or B: 25% off any tier, up to 20 users. | Seed track: Pre-Seed or Seed with up to $5M in external funding. Early-stage track: Series A or Series B with up to $20M. New customers only. | Apply |
| CircleCI for Startups | CircleCI | Up to $20,000 in compute credits, up to 24 months free, and free Starter Support | New to CircleCI or on the Free plan. Pre-Seed through Series A, founded within the last 5 years, and part of a recognized accelerator or VC, or proof of at least $500K raised. | Apply |
| Temporal Cloud for Startups | Temporal | $6,000 in Temporal Cloud credits | Funded startups that have raised $30M or less | Apply |
| CodeRabbit Startup Program | CodeRabbit | 50% off CodeRabbit Team for 6 months | Funding of less than $25 million | Apply |
| ConfigCat Startup Program | ConfigCat | 50% off in year one, 25% off in year two | Founded less than 5 years ago, raised under $5M, and no paid ConfigCat subscription in the past 12 months | Apply |
| Mintlify Startups Program | Mintlify | Six months of Mintlify Pro free. Current YC batch companies get 12 months free. | Designed for venture-backed businesses that are just getting started | Apply |
| Mux for Startups | Mux | $500 in free credits. Some investor relationships unlock more. Credits must be used within 1 year of activation. | Must not be an existing Mux customer, and a first-time recipient of Mux credits | Apply |
| Stream Maker Account | Stream | A free plan for small companies, with limits of 2,000 monthly active users and 100 concurrent connections | Five or fewer team members, less than $10k in monthly revenue, and less than $100k in funding. Availability is limited. | Apply |
| SuprSend for Startups | SuprSend | 3 months free after signup, then 50% off for another 3 months on Essentials and Business | Through a partner, and you meet the funding criteria. New sign-ups only. Founded less than 5 years ago. | Apply |
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MongoDB for Startups | MongoDB | Atlas credits and Voyage AI tokens in four tiers, valid 12 months | Less than 7 years old and Series A or earlier. Single software product. Dev shops and agencies are not eligible. New and existing Atlas users accepted. | Apply |
| Neon / Databricks Startup Program | Neon | Up to $200K in Neon and Databricks credits. Self-funded tier up to $1,000 in Neon credits. Credits valid 12 months. | Self-funded: less than $1M in funding. VC-backed: at least $1M raised or in a recognized accelerator. | Apply |
| Convex for Startups | Convex | Up to 1 year free of Convex Professional, including no seat fees and 30% off usage-based fees up to $30k | Pre-seed to Series A, raised less than $3M, less than 3 years old, fewer than 20 employees | Apply |
| Snowflake for Startups | Snowflake | Free usage on the first contract | Register interest on the startup page | Apply |
| Aiven for Startups | Aiven | From $12,000 up to $100,000 in Aiven credits over 12 months, tiered by stage and funding | Founded no more than 7 years ago, raised external funding from pre-seed to Series B, apply with a company email | Apply |
| ClickHouse Startup Offer | ClickHouse | $5,000 in ClickHouse Cloud credits, valid for 12 months, plus support and promotion opportunities | Part of a selected partner program, less than three years old, pre-Series D, and new to ClickHouse Cloud | Apply |
| Neo4j Startup Program | Neo4j | Up to $16K in Aura credits, plus co-marketing | Series B or earlier. A single product for many customers. Dev shops, consultants, and agencies are not eligible. Live website and a company LinkedIn profile. | Apply |
| Prisma Startup Program | Prisma | Database bill covered for a year, up to $10,000, plus 1:1 guidance | Pre-seed, seed, or Series A. Raised venture funding in the last 12 months, founded in the last 5 years, and at least $5k MRR for the last 6 months. | Apply |
| MotherDuck for Startups | MotherDuck | 50% off. For an $8,000 annual commitment, qualifying startups get $16,000 worth of MotherDuck: $13,000 in consumption credits and a $3,000 platform fee waived. | Fewer than 20 employees, less than $5m in VC funding. Bootstrapped teams and Free-plan users can apply. | Apply |
| Turso for Startups | Turso | Turso credits, technical support, and early feature access | Venture-backed with at least one round of funding from recognized investors or accelerators | Apply |
| Confluent for Startups | Confluent | Up to one year of Confluent Cloud with product credits | Startup teams building on data streaming | Apply |
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notion for Startups | Notion | Up to 6 months free on the Business plan with Notion AI included, save $12,000. 6 months if you are affiliated with a startup partner, 3 months otherwise, and a 1-month trial if you have under 10 employees. | Non-paying Notion customer, under 100 employees, valid work email, no previous Notion promotions. Aimed at startups building scalable tech products. | Apply |
| Atlassian for Startups | Atlassian | Premium edition at $0 for 12 months for up to 50 users. Jira Product Discovery includes 10 free creators. | Not an existing paid Atlassian customer. VC-funded or with a partner accelerator or incubator. Raised no more than $10M. | Apply |
| Miro for Startups | Miro | Free credits for early startups, and up to 25% off for scale-ups | Through Miro's VC partners | Apply |
| Airtable for Startups | Airtable | Credits sized on application | Apply on the form | Apply |
| ClickUp for Startups | ClickUp | $3,000 in ClickUp credit with an upgraded Enterprise workspace | Affiliated with an approved funding partner, raised a max of Series B, incorporated less than 5 years ago, and new to ClickUp or currently on Free Forever | Apply |
| Coda startup discount | Coda | 6 months of free Team plan. Unlimited Coda AI if you apply through a partner. | A business less than 5 years old that has raised less than $10M. Partner-affiliated teams that meet the requirements are auto-approved. | Apply |
| Asana for Startups | Asana | Discounted Starter or Advanced annual plan for the first 12 months, via a partner discount code | Series A or earlier. New users or free-plan users who have not been on a paid plan in the last 60 days. Code from an existing partner. | Apply |
| Whimsical Startup Program | Whimsical | 12 months of Whimsical Pro free. Revenue over $1M gets 6 months. | Startups backed by a Whimsical partner, fewer than 50 employees. Revenue under $1M gets the full 12 months. | Apply |
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe startup program | Stripe | Credits to offset Stripe fees, plus an exclusive cap on Stripe Invoicing starting at 0.4% up to $10 per invoice | Designed for venture-backed businesses just getting started. VCs and accelerators unlock benefits through Stripe's startup partner network. | Apply |
| Brex for Startups | Brex | Over $350K in discounts and credits on AI and SaaS | Brex customers on the startup solution. Perks require Brex services. | Apply |
| Ramp for Startups | Ramp | $350K+ in perks, including credits and discounts. Partners named include AWS, Datadog, Notion, OpenAI, Google Cloud, and Retool. | Ramp customers. Partner accelerators may pre-qualify you. | Apply |
| Mercury Perks | Mercury | Credits and discounts on software and systems, including $10,000 in GitHub credits | Open an account and log in to redeem. Mercury customers only. | Apply |
| Chargebee for Startups | Chargebee | Chargebee Billing free until you bill your first $1 million in cumulative revenue, plus free migration | New customer, not currently on a paid plan. Part of a partner accelerator or VC portfolio. Raised less than $5 million. | Apply |
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe Atlas | Stripe | $2,500 in Stripe product credits for your first year after incorporation, access to over $50,000 in partner discounts, and the $500 Atlas fee refunded when you deposit $5,000 into a Stripe Treasury account | Founders incorporating a Delaware company through Atlas. $500 one-time setup fee. | Apply |
| Carta Launch | Carta | Free cap table management. No credit card needed for as long as you stay on Launch. | Startups with under 25 stakeholders and less than $1 million raised | Apply |
| Deel for Startups | Deel | First 5 seats free for life for venture-backed startups, plus 3 months free of PEO | Must have raised at least $500k in funding, verifiable on Crunchbase | Apply |
| Docusign for Startups | Docusign | 30% off an annual Docusign eSignature Business Pro plan, or 40% off annual Docusign IAM Starter, for two years on up to 50 seats | Funded through a VC firm that has a partnership with Docusign. Restrictions may apply. | Apply |
| Oyster for Startups | Oyster HR | Save up to $1,200 per team member annually for the first 12 months. Headline offer is 3 months of free Oyster. No minimum hires. | Pre-seed, seed, or Series A, or bootstrapped with under 50 employees. Request the discount at sign-up. | Apply |
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanta for Startups | Vanta | Startup-specific pricing on request | Request a demo | Apply |
| Auth0 for Startups | Okta | One year free on the B2B Professional plan, typically up to 100,000 monthly active users | Venture-backed with less than $5M in funding, less than $1M ARR, less than two years since incorporation, not an existing paid Auth0 or Okta customer | Apply |
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google for Startups Accelerator | Equity-free support for the duration of the program, plus product credits. Cohorts of 10 to 15 startups. | Startups with traction, ideally Seed to Series A. Deeply technical, preferably using machine learning or AI. | Apply | |
| Y Combinator | Y Combinator | $500,000 total: $125,000 for 7% on a post-money SAFE plus $375,000 on an uncapped MFN SAFE. Each YC company gets access to $12M+ in free credits and deals from partners. | Accepted into a YC batch. Invests in US, Canada, Cayman, and Singapore corporations. | Apply |
| Techstars Accelerator | Techstars | $220,000 day-one investment: $20,000 CEA for 5% common plus $200,000 uncapped MFN Safe. 3-month program and partner perks. | Accepted into a Techstars accelerator. Invests in US corporations or foreign equivalents. | Apply |
| Antler US Residency | Antler | Typical initial commitment of $500K to $1M plus $650K in partner credits in the US. No fee to join the residency. | Selective residency, up to 3 months in person in SF, NYC, or Austin. At least one co-founder needs US work authorization. Terms differ by country. | Apply |
AWS Activate is the default ask when someone says cloud credits. The public Founders path is small on purpose: $1,000 to start, up to $5,000 if you qualify. The number people quote, $200,000, is the Portfolio path, and you get there through an Activate Provider such as an accelerator or VC, not by filling the Founders form twice.
You still need a Paid Tier AWS account, a company younger than 10 years, and a round earlier than Series B. You must be new to Activate credits or request more than you previously received. If a fund already sits in the Activate directory, use that intro.
Anthropic's Claude startup program is one of the few AI offers that takes bootstrapped companies. The published package is $1,000 in API credits, a free year of Claude Team if you have not used Team before, and a partner catalog Anthropic prices at up to $45K.
Credits expire six months after the grant, so apply when you are ready to send tokens, not when you are still choosing a model. Partner VCs can add up to $100K more API credits. You need a Console account and an email on your company domain.
Microsoft for Startups, the program that used to be Founders Hub, does not drop $150K on day one. Azure startup credits unlock as you show product progress and keep using Azure. That is slower than AWS Portfolio, and it is also harder to waste in week one.
The hard gates are corporate, not technical. You need a software product the company owns, a for-profit private company, and an HQ in a region where Azure sells. Agencies, consultancies, and anything past Series B are out. Lifetime free Azure credits cannot already sit above $350,000.
OpenAI for Startups is not an open form. Credits and dedicated support come through a VC in OpenAI's partner network, and the VC hands you a referral code.
If your fund is not on that list, skip the page and use the credits that already sit in Ramp, Brex, or an accelerator packet. Applying without the code just costs time.
Intercom Early Stage is a three-year slide: 93% off, then 50%, then 25%. The helpdesk price they publish is $33/month in year one, with 300 Fin outcomes and 15 Fin qualifications per month included that year.
You need fewer than 15 employees and no more than $10M raised. That pairing dies the moment you hire a support pod or close a large seed. If Intercom is already on the stack, apply before the next two offers go out.
Zendesk for Startups can be free for up to two years on Suite Professional plus Copilot, for up to 50 agents. The default without a partner is six months. The second year is a VC or accelerator gift, not something the public form hands every applicant.
You must be new to Zendesk, under 10 years old, and no later than Series B. Teams of 50 to 249 people need a partner referral. Angel-backed is fine. Bootstrapped with no outside funding is not.
Google splits the cloud program into Start and Scale. Start is up to $2,000 if you are under 24 months and have not already taken GCP credits past the free trial. Scale is the $200,000 tier, or $350,000 if you are an AI startup, with extra Enhanced Support credits.
Scale wants a recent raise: Pre-Seed or Seed inside five years, or Series A inside twelve months, and no more than $5,000 in prior GCP credits. If you already burned a big Google coupon, you may be stuck. Workspace Business Plus for 12 months is a separate perk for new signups, useful even when the cloud number is the Start tier.
Google also runs an equity-free accelerator with 10 to 15 companies per cohort. That is a different application from the cloud credit form.
Customer.io gives eligible startups up to 12 months of free access, including up to 30,000 customer profiles. The Startup plan includes Essentials features across email, SMS, and push, and there is a graduation offer after the year.
You need to have raised less than $10 million and never been a Customer.io customer. Lists have to come from normal collection, not a purchased file. A partner accelerator or VC helps the application. Apply when you are ready to send, not when the list is still a spreadsheet.
GitLab for Startups has two tracks. Seed gets a free Ultimate license for a year, SaaS or self-managed, up to 20 seats, then 50% off any tier in year two. Series A or B gets 25% off any tier, up to 20 users.
Seed is Pre-Seed or Seed with up to $5M in external funding. Early-stage is Series A or B with up to $20M. New customers only. If you are still on the free tier and about to hire engineers, this is the week to apply.
Affonso for Startups takes 50% off in year one, 25% in year two, and 10% in year three. After year three, regular pricing applies.
You need a SaaS company founded less than three years ago, under $25k MRR, and under $3M raised. Bootstrapped teams can apply. You cannot have been on a paid Affonso plan. Apply before you sign up, or within 90 days of opening a free account.
Work down the list in the order you will switch tools on. A credit sitting unused is the same as paying full price. When two offers share a vendor, take the one you can redeem now.
FAQs
Answers to common questions about this topic.
Startup perks are discounted plans, free credits, and partner deals that vendors give early-stage companies. Most cover marketing, cloud, AI, support, analytics, banking, or incorporation so you spend less while you are still small.
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