State of Startup Credits 2026

Most live offers, 87%, accept direct applications from any startup meeting eligibility criteria without a referral or membership. Over half of all offers cost nothing throughout the program, while benefits typically run for 1 year.

release sha256:1d542071be54…as of 29 Oct 2026

$10Kmedian dollar credit. Each dot is one offer and opens its record.
$100$1K$10K$100K$10,000 median
197 dollar credits on a log scale. The middle half runs from $2K to $30K.
median dollar credit, across 197 offers that state one
$10,000
offers worth $100K or more
29
need a membership, referral or invitation
13%
median discount, across 189 discount offers
50%

Credit sizes

The median dollar credit is $10,000, with the middle half spanning $2,000 to $30,000. Offers between $5,000 and under $25,000 form the largest band at 39%, while credits of $100,000 or more make up 15%.

  1. 22123Under $1K
  2. 33134$1K to $5K
  3. 1126376$5K to $25K
  4. 213235$25K to $100K
  5. 112729$100K and up

Through a membershipBy referral or invitationOpen application

Largest credits

Cloudflare provides $350,000 through direct application to eligible startups, matching Brex's minimum $350,000 credit that requires partner program membership. Google Cloud follows with up to $250,000, while 14 of the top 15 credit providers allow direct applications without referrals.

  1. Cloudflare$350K
  2. Brex$350K
  3. Google Cloud$250K
  4. AWS$200K
  5. Databricks$200K
  6. Neon$200K
  7. Microsoft$150K
  8. Huawei Cloud$150K
  9. Hanzo$150K
  10. Linode$120K
  11. OVHcloud US$120K
  12. Datadog$100K
  13. Deepgram$100K
  14. Render$100K
  15. Grafana Labs$100K

Through a membershipBy referral or invitationOpen application

What offers include

Credits lead 33% of live startup offers, followed closely by discounts at 29%. Free services make up 18% of offers, while 19% lead with no single figure.

  1. Credit213
  2. Discount189
  3. No single figure122
  4. Free service114
  5. Waived fee6
  6. Cash back3

How you apply

Direct applications account for 87% of live offers, with only 13% requiring a membership, referral or invitation. Direct-application dollar credits have a median of $10,000, twice the $5,000 median for offers limited to members.

7610561

Through a membershipBy referral or invitationOpen application

Eligibility limits

When offers set limits, they most frequently cap company age at 5 years, raised funding at $5,000,000, and team size at 50 employees. Secondary age caps commonly fall at 3 years and 2 years.

Company age, under

  1. 5 years39
  2. 3 years33
  3. 2 years25
  4. 1 year5
  5. 10 years5
  6. 7 years3

Funding raised, under

  1. $5M27
  2. $10M18
  3. $1M11
  4. $2M10
  5. $50M6
  6. $20M5

Team size, under

  1. 50 people27
  2. 10 people11
  3. 20 people11
  4. 100 people10
  5. 15 people6
  6. 25 people5

How long they last, and what vendors ask in return

Among benefits stating a duration, 63% last 1 year and 22% last 6 months. More than half of live offers cost the startup nothing, while 25% require variable commitments such as spending or paid plans.

How long benefits last

  1. 1 year221
  2. 6 months76
  3. 3 months25
  4. 2 years10
  5. 3 years5
  6. 1 month4

What the vendor asks in return

341163143

NothingSomething in returnA fixed price, or not stated

AI and machine learning

The category has 83 live offers across 74 companies, but its $5,000 median dollar credit sits at half the overall $10,000 median. Hanzo provides the largest category credit at up to $150,000, and 14 of the top 15 category offers accept direct applications without memberships or referrals.

  1. Hanzo$150K
  2. Deepgram$100K
  3. Labelbees$50K
  4. Together AI$50K
  5. Speechmatics$50K
  6. Runware$30K
  7. Resemble AI$30K
  8. Runpod$25K
  9. Baseten$25K
  10. LegionEdge$25K
  11. Cerebras$22.5K
  12. Vectorize$15K
  13. LangChain$10K
  14. smallest.ai$10K
  15. Novita AI$10K

Through a membershipBy referral or invitationOpen application

Hanzo

Up to $150,000 in credits for venture-backed startups

Venture-backed startups with tier-1 VC backing get up to $150,000 in credits across Hanzo AI foundation models, inference, and cloud infrastructure.

Up to $150,000in Hanzo credits · nothing to pay

AI and machine learningobserved

Deepgram

Deepgram AI Startup Program

Eligible early-stage startups and AI builders can receive up to $100,000 in API credits over 12 months for Deepgram's STT, TTS, and Voice Agent capabilities, alongside community access and networking.

Up to $100,000in Deepgram credits · cost not confirmed

AI and machine learningobserved

Labelbees

Labelbees for Startups

Approved incorporated teams running production Physical AI systems can receive up to $50,000 in platform credits with volume pricing, continuous evaluation, and strategic guidance.

Up to $50,000in Labelbees credits · cost varies

AI and machine learningobserved

Together AI

Together AI Startup Accelerator

Grow tier startups with over $10M raised receive up to $50K in free platform credits and 10 hours of forward-deployed engineering time.

Up to $50,000in Together AI credits · nothing to pay

AI and machine learningobserved

Speechmatics

Speechmatics Startup Program

Eligible early-stage startups receive up to $50,000 in Speechmatics usage credits along with technical support and co-marketing opportunities.

Up to $50,000in Speechmatics credits · nothing to pay

AI and machine learningobserved

Runware

Runware Grant Program

Eligible early-stage startups can receive up to $30,000 in Runware API credits for 12 months, plus direct access to the Runware team and builder community.

Up to $30,000in Runware credits · nothing to pay

AI and machine learningobserved

Method and data

Each offer comes from the vendor's own page, or the page of a party the offer names, and every record links to its source with the date it was last checked. Sourcey rechecks every listed company every 30 days and corrects a record when its page changes.

A dollar figure is the offer's own headline: an "up to" is a maximum, not a typical award. Credits in other currencies are counted as offers but left out of the dollar figures. The report uses medians, never totals, because adding up maximums across offers says nothing about what one startup can get. How a startup gets an offer is the route its record types: an open application, a membership, a referral or an invitation.

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