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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.
How to pick perks for your stage
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. Support and CRM startup discounts fall off fast once you hire. 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.
How to stack startup deals
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.
Who usually qualifies
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.
Cloud credits for startups
| 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 verified 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 |
AI startup programs
| 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 |
Dev tools
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Framer for Startups | Framer | Save $360 with a free year of Framer Pro | Startup backed by a Framer-approved partner | 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 |
Database
| 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 |
| Airtable for Startups | Airtable | Credits sized on application | Apply on the form | Apply |
| Snowflake for Startups | Snowflake | Free usage on the first contract | Startup teams, reviewed on application | Apply |
Analytics and monitoring
| 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 |
| 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 | Apply on the form | Apply |
Support and CRM
| 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 |
| 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 verified venture funding. Raised Pre-seed, Seed, or Series A, not Series B or later. Net-new Professional or Enterprise products only. | 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 |
Finance, banking, and ops
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Accelerators
| 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 |
Productivity and security
| 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 |
| Miro for Startups | Miro | Free credits for early startups, and up to 25% off for scale-ups | Through Miro's VC partners | 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 |
| Vanta for Startups | Vanta | Startup-specific pricing on request | Apply on the form | Apply |
Affiliate and partner software
| Program | Company | What you get | Who qualifies | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affonso for Startups | Affonso | 50% off Elite 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 |
AWS Activate and AWS credits for startups
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.
Claude for Startups
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 and Azure startup credits
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 startup program
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 for startups
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
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 Cloud credits for startups
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.
Affonso for Startups
Affonso for Startups takes 50% off Elite in year one, 25% in year two, and 10% in year three. After year three the regular Elite price 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
Frequently Asked Questions
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 cloud, AI, support, analytics, banking, or incorporation so you spend less while you are still small.
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