The 6 cloud credit programs every fundraising founder should know about. AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Cloudflare, and DigitalOcean offer up to $200k in compute per startup — but the tier you qualify for depends entirely on your investor or accelerator referral. We list both the ceiling and the realistic eligibility for each so you don't waste an application on a tier you can't get.
Must-haves
Up to $100k value
Up to $100k in AWS credits, 2 years of AWS Business Support, technical office hours, and the full AWS Activate Console.
Tip. If you have any active investor, accelerator, or VC tie, push for the $100k tier. Apply through that partner's referral link for fastest approval.
Up to $200k value
Up to $200k in Google Cloud credits over 2 years (Start Tier: $2k; Scale Tier: $200k) plus enhanced support and free TechCheck advisory.
Up to $150k value
Up to $150k Azure credits, free GitHub Enterprise, Visual Studio Enterprise, LinkedIn Recruiter, 1-1 mentor sessions, and free Microsoft 365.
Tip. Easiest 'big three' cloud perk to qualify for. No investor signal required at entry tier.
The full stack
Up to $100k value
Up to $100k in AWS credits, 2 years of AWS Business Support, technical office hours, and the full AWS Activate Console.
Up to $200k value
Up to $200k in Google Cloud credits over 2 years (Start Tier: $2k; Scale Tier: $200k) plus enhanced support and free TechCheck advisory.
Up to $150k value
Up to $150k Azure credits, free GitHub Enterprise, Visual Studio Enterprise, LinkedIn Recruiter, 1-1 mentor sessions, and free Microsoft 365.
Up to $250k value
Free Cloudflare Pro, Business, and Enterprise services for one year, $250k Cloudflare credits, R2 storage credits, Workers, Stream, Pages.
Up to $5k value
Up to $5k Vercel credits and 1 year of Pro Plan for free, plus office hours with the Vercel solutions team.
Up to $100k value
Up to $100k DigitalOcean credits over 12 months, prioritized technical support, founder community, and mentorship.
Explore the rest of the $1.8M+ founder stack.