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Blog/Guide

Free cloud credits for startups: AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and the rest compared

By the CreditBase team · · 2 min read

Cloud hosting is often the first bill a startup pays every month, and every major provider will cover part of it with credits. There are two very different kinds of offer, though, and confusing them is the most common way founders leave money on the table.

Two kinds of cloud credit

Free trials are open to anyone opening a new account, company or not. They are small, usually a few hundred dollars, and short: most expire within one to three months, and a payment card is usually needed to sign up.

Startup programs are far larger and last a year or more, but they come with conditions: your stage, how much you have raised, whether you have had credits before and, for the biggest tiers, a referral from a partner investor or accelerator.

What decides whether you get the big tier

  • A partner referral. The largest tiers usually come through a VC, accelerator or incubator that partners with the provider. AWS, for example, gives its Portfolio tier through Activate Providers, while its Founders tier is self-serve.
  • Your funding stage. Most programs cap it: AWS Activate is for companies before Series B, and DigitalOcean Hatch for Series A or earlier with less than $5M raised.
  • Being new to the program. Most programs only give the same credits once, and some are only for new customers of the provider.
  • A company footprint. Expect to be asked for a working website and an email address on your company's own domain. An application from a personal email address can be delayed or turned down for that alone.

Each listing on CreditBase flags these conditions, so you can see at a glance which tier you can realistically get.

Which to apply for first

  1. Pick the cloud you will build on. Credits nudge you to design around one provider's services, and moving later costs more than the credits were worth.
  2. Claim the self-serve tier now. Microsoft for Startups needs no funding to join, and Google's Start tier is open to startups that have not raised. You do not need to wait for a round.
  3. Ask your investors or accelerator which programs they partner with. If you join one later, you can often move up to the partner tier; check each program's rules on credits you have already received.
  4. Use free trials for everything else. A trial is enough to test one service on a second cloud without committing to it.

Make the credits last

  • Set budget alerts on day one. Credits rarely cover everything: support plans, marketplace purchases and some services are often excluded, and those charges go to your card.
  • Note the expiry date. Unused credits lapse, and most programs do not extend them.
  • Watch GPU spend. GPU instances burn through credits fastest. AI startups should look at the larger AI tiers, and at AI credits from model providers.

Every cloud program on CreditBase

The largest cloud programs listed right now, from every provider:

See all cloud credits, or check which ones fit your company.

Values are “up to” amounts and terms change: confirm on the provider’s page before you rely on them.