Free AI Credits for Startups in 2026: Who Qualifies & How to Apply
Credits for Claude, GPT and Gemini in 2026: which programs still pay out, which take bootstrapped startups, and what you can claim through InnMind.
If you build on Claude, GPT or Gemini, the model bill shows up before your first paying customer does. Credits are the cheapest way to cover it: no equity, no pitch meeting, just an application.
The catch is that the programs keep moving. Anthropic closed its startup program to new applicants this month, Microsoft rebuilt its credit tiers, and plenty of guides still advertise Anthropic's closed offer and Microsoft's old tiers. This is where the money actually is in October 2026, what it pays for, and the fastest way to each one.
Every amount below was checked on the vendor's own page on 14 October 2026.
What do you need credits for?
Which AI credits fit your startup?
Answer 4 questions and get the program to start with.
A starting point: open each program for its full terms before you apply.
AI credit programs compared
| Program | Pays for | Up to | How to get it |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Activate | AWS, Bedrock models incl. Claude | $200,000 | $5,000 via InnMind, 5x the solo amount |
| Google Cloud | Google Cloud, Gemini | $350,000 | $2,000 self-serve; big tiers after a round |
| Microsoft for Startups | Azure, GPT models | $150,000 | Starts at $200, grows with usage |
| Anthropic | Claude API | $100,000 | Through a partner VC |
| OpenAI | OpenAI API | Not published | Through a partner VC or a hackathon |
| GitHub for Startups | Copilot, Actions, Enterprise | $10,000 | Via InnMind, our partner route |
| E2B | Agent sandboxes | $20,000 | Apply directly |
| Together AI | Inference, fine-tuning | $50,000 | Sized by how much you raised |
| Deepgram | Speech-to-text, voice agents | $100,000 | From $1,000, grows with usage |
| ElevenLabs | Voice generation | 33M characters | Apply directly, answer in a week |
| Cloudflare | Workers, storage, Workers AI | $350,000 | $10,000 direct; more through a partner |
| NVIDIA Inception | Partner GPU offers, training | Membership | Free to join |
Each vendor's published maximum, checked on its own page on 14 October 2026.
Claude: the program closed, the credits didn't
Anthropic's Claude for Startups stopped taking new applications in October 2026, the week we finished this guide. We kept this section because most lists still show the offer as open. The cohort filled up after hundreds of thousands of founders applied for the free Claude Team year and $1,000 in API credits, and the program page now says it is not accepting new applications. Existing members keep everything.
2 routes to Claude credits that still work:
- Your VC. If your investor is in Anthropic's partner network, you can get up to $100,000 in API credits, claimed through them. Ask your lead.
- AWS. Claude runs on Amazon Bedrock, and AWS Activate credits pay for third-party models there, Claude included.
How to use AWS credits for Claude Code
Point Claude Code at Amazon Bedrock and your usage is billed to your AWS account, where Activate credits cover it. For a small team writing code with Claude every day, that is the difference between a growing token bill and months on credits. It covers API usage, not a Claude Pro or Max subscription.
The setup takes a few minutes. Enable the Anthropic models in your Bedrock console, configure your AWS credentials, then tell Claude Code to use Bedrock (full guide):
export CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK=1
export AWS_REGION=us-east-1
claudeSame form, 5x the credits. Applying to AWS on your own starts at $1,000. Apply through InnMind for $5,000, enough to run Claude & Claude Code on Bedrock for months. Included with every paid InnMind plan, and that one perk covers your membership several times over.
Get $5,000 in AWS credits →OpenAI credits: go through your VC, or through Azure
OpenAI gives startup API credits through its partner VCs. Its startups page names Thrive Capital, Sequoia, a16z, Kleiner Perkins and Conviction Partners, and tells founders to reach out to their VC. It also hands out credits at events such as hackathons.
No partner VC? Use Azure. Microsoft for Startups credits pay for the GPT models Azure sells, so the $5,000 you get after verification can go straight on GPT. More below.
Skip the figures you'll see elsewhere: "$2,500 via Ramp" and "$50,000 through OpenAI Grove" are out of date. Grove closed applications in January 2026.
Google Cloud & Gemini credits: up to $350,000 (read the year-2 rule)
Google for Startups has 3 tiers:
- Start: $2,000 for a year, for companies under 2 years old with an MVP. No funding needed.
- Scale: up to $200,000 over 2 years, for funded startups.
- AI-first: up to $350,000 over 2 years if Gemini sits at the core of your product, plus $12,000 in support credits.
How the big tiers pay out: year 1 covers 100% of your usage up to $250,000 (AI-first) or $100,000 (Scale). Year 2 gives back 20% of what you spend, up to another $100,000. Plan around the year-1 number.
Who gets the big tiers: a pre-seed or seed round in the last 5 years, or a Series A in the last 12 months, and a company under 5 years old. SAFEs count, and so do token raises & blockchain foundation grants.
Prototyping for free: the Gemini API in Google AI Studio has a free tier on its Flash models, no application needed. Keep customer data off it, since Google can use free-tier content to improve its products.
Application steps and our notes: Google Cloud credits for startups.
AWS Activate: credits for Claude, Llama, Mistral & the rest
AWS Activate comes in 2 sizes:
- Founders: $1,000 when you apply alone.
- Portfolio: larger packages through AWS's partners, up to $200,000 depending on the partner.
For AI teams the point is Bedrock: Activate credits pay for third-party models there, including Anthropic's Claude, Meta's Llama, Mistral and OpenAI's open-weight models. One credit balance, most of the models you would want to test.
Through InnMind you get $5,000 for 2 years. That's 5x the solo amount, through the same AWS form, and AWS usually replies within 5 to 10 business days. Get $5,000 in AWS credits →
Microsoft for Startups: GPT on credits, growing as you ship
Microsoft rebuilt its program in 2026. You start small and get more as you actually use Azure (Microsoft's guide):
- $200 the day you sign up
- $5,000 once your company is verified
- $25,000 at 5+ Azure workloads
- $50,000 at 7+
- $150,000 at 10+ workloads and about $3,000 a month of usage
If your investor is in Microsoft's Investor Network, a referral code usually starts you at $100,000.
What it pays for: Azure, plus the models Azure sells directly, including GPT. Claude on Azure is billed separately, so use AWS for Claude.
Good to know: it's for pre-seed to Series B software companies. You have 90 days to activate, a card goes on file, and you move to pay-as-you-go when credits end.
Our notes and the application steps: Microsoft for Startups credits.
Free AI credits for bootstrapped startups
You don't need institutional money for these:
- Google Cloud Start: $2,000 if you're under 2 years old with an MVP
- Microsoft for Startups: $200, then $5,000 once verified
- AWS through InnMind: $5,000 for 2 years
- ElevenLabs: 33 million characters for teams under 25 people
- Deepgram: from $1,000 once you're in production or close to it
- Cloudflare: $10,000 for bootstrapped teams
- Gemini API: a free tier, no application
Web3 teams building with AI
Good news if your round was a token sale: Google counts verifiable token raises & blockchain foundation grants as funding for its big tiers. It also runs a Web3 track worth up to $200,000 over 2 years for teams that raised through equity, tokens, NFTs or a foundation grant.
A few programs draw a line: NVIDIA Inception doesn't take crypto-associated companies, and Microsoft & Google exclude crypto mining. If you're building an AI product in Web3, such as an agent, an analytics layer or a developer tool, lead your application with the product.
GPU & inference credits
- Together AI: $15,000 to $50,000 depending on how much you've raised, for inference & fine-tuning.
- Modal: GPU credits for teams backed by its 40+ partner VCs or with $1M+ raised, plus $30 of free compute a month for everyone.
- Runpod: $1,000 for pre-Series A teams with a working product.
- NVIDIA Inception: free membership that opens partner GPU offers, hardware discounts & free training. Our NVIDIA Inception guide
Credits for AI agents
E2B: $20,000 in credits plus the Pro tier for teams building AI agents, under 3 years old and with less than $5M raised.
Voice, speech & generative media
- ElevenLabs: 33 million characters over 12 months, about 680 hours of voice agent time. Our ElevenLabs guide
- Deepgram: from $1,000 up to $100,000 as you grow, for speech-to-text, text-to-speech & voice agents. Our Deepgram guide
- fal: $1,000 rising to $5,000 for image & video generation, for teams in Europe & Asia. Use it fast: promotional credits last 90 days. Our fal guide
Credits for coding with AI
- GitHub for Startups: $10,000 to spend on Copilot, Actions, Advanced Security & GitHub Enterprise for a year. InnMind is a GitHub for Startups partner. Claim it through InnMind →
- Claude Code: run it through Bedrock on AWS credits. See above.
- Kiro (AWS): up to a year of Kiro Pro+ for teams up to Series A.
Infrastructure around your models
- Cloudflare: $10,000 for bootstrapped teams, up to $350,000 with a partner, of which up to $50,000 can go on Workers AI. Our Cloudflare guide
- Rabata: $100,000 in S3-compatible storage for generative AI products, valid 2 years. Our Rabata guide
The order we'd apply in
Pre-funding: Gemini free tier to prototype, then AWS through InnMind ($5,000), then Microsoft ($200, then $5,000), then Google Start ($2,000).
After your seed round: pick the cloud you'll run production on and go for its big tier first. AWS for Claude, Azure for GPT, Google for Gemini. Then add speech, agent or GPU credits as you need them.
Series A and up: grow into Microsoft's usage tiers or Google's year 2, and check the Series B cutoffs at AWS, Microsoft & GitHub before your next round closes.
Most credits start counting down the day you're approved, so apply when you're ready to use them.
Where founders lose credits
- Wrong model, wrong bill. Anthropic's credits don't work on Bedrock; Microsoft's don't cover Claude; Google's don't cover third-party models. Match the credits to the model before you build.
- Approved too early. fal gives you 90 days, Microsoft 90 days to activate, most others a year from approval.
- Credits you already took. Google looks at past Google Cloud credits, Microsoft at past Azure credits.
- Reading the headline, not year 1. Google's $350,000 is $250,000 in year 1.
Get your AI credits through InnMind
$5,000 in AWS credits
For 2 years, 5x the solo amount. Pays for Claude & other models on Bedrock.
Get it →$10,000 from GitHub
Copilot, Actions & Enterprise for a year, through our GitHub for Startups partnership.
Claim it →Looking beyond AI? Our guide to startup credits & perks covers the rest of the stack, from Notion to HubSpot.
Numbers you'll still see that are out of date
| You'll read | October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Anthropic: "$1,000 + a free Claude Team year" | Closed to new applicants |
| OpenAI: "$2,500 via Ramp" or "$50,000 via Grove" | Credits through partner VCs & hackathons |
| Microsoft: "$1,000, then $4,000" | $200, then $5,000, up to $150,000 |
| AWS Activate: "up to $100,000" | Up to $200,000 |
| Cloudflare: "up to $250,000" | Up to $350,000 |
| ElevenLabs: "$4,000+" | $5,500+ |
FAQ
How do I get free AI credits for my startup?
Start with what doesn't need a VC: AWS through InnMind ($5,000), Microsoft for Startups, Google Cloud Start, ElevenLabs & Deepgram. After a round, go for the big tier of the cloud you run on.
Can I get OpenAI credits without a VC?
Not from OpenAI directly: its startup credits go through partner VCs and events like hackathons. Without a partner VC, Microsoft for Startups is the practical route. Its Azure credits pay for GPT models on Azure, starting at $5,000 once your company is verified, though they don't top up an OpenAI API account.
Can startup credits pay for Claude Code?
Yes. Run Claude Code through Amazon Bedrock and AWS Activate credits cover the usage.
Is Anthropic's startup program still open?
Not to new applicants since October 2026. Teams backed by Anthropic's partner VCs can still get up to $100,000 in API credits through them, and AWS credits pay for Claude on Bedrock.
Can I use AWS, Google Cloud & Azure credits at the same time?
Yes, they're separate programs. Spend them on the cloud you actually run on, because they expire.
Do Web3 startups qualify?
Usually. Google even counts token raises & foundation grants as funding. NVIDIA Inception excludes crypto-associated companies, and crypto mining is out at Microsoft & Google.
Irina Ionova
Nelli Orlova
Nelli Orlova
