AWS Startup Credits : What They Are & How to Get Them

AWS Credits are promotional vouchers provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help users offset the cost of using AWS cloud services. These credits can be applied toward compute, storage, databases, and other AWS resources, reducing overall expenses for startups, students, or enterprises testing new workloads.

AWS issues credits through various programs, including AWS Activate for startups, AWS Educate for students, and promotional events or partnerships. The credits typically have an expiration date and specific usage limitations, meaning they cannot always be applied to all AWS services (e.g., Reserved Instances or third-party marketplace products).

How do AWS Credits work?

AWS Credits function as a discount, reducing the amount charged for eligible services.

• Eligibility: Credits are often given through startup programs (AWS Activate), events, hackathons, and educational institutions.
• Expiration: Credits have a fixed validity period, usually 12 months.
• Usage scope: Most standard AWS services (e.g., EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda) are covered, but some premium services (like enterprise support) may not be.
• Billing application: Credits are automatically applied to eligible charges until they are exhausted or expire.
• Non-refundable: If unused by the expiration date, they do not carry over.

Do AWS Startup Credits expire?

AWS Startup Credits (e.g., from AWS Activate) expire, typically 12 months from the date they are issued. The exact expiration date is mentioned in the AWS Credit Agreement or in your AWS Billing Dashboard.

AWS Credits can be accessed as part of a broader program run by Amazon — the AWS Activate Program. It is designed to help startups of all sizes get onboarded on AWS. Along with credits, this program offers guidance, consultation, tools, and support to help startups build, scale, and innovate rapidly, thus offering comprehensive support. The program is designed to help startups make the most of AWS’s cloud ecosystem. 

The key features are highlighted below:

1. AWS Credits: Credits issued by AWS to startups to offload the cost of using more than 200 AWS services required for compute, storage, ML, databases, and more.
2. Technical support: Startups can access AWS’s technical support plan, which includes troubleshooting, architecture guidance, and best practices for building scalable, reliable, and secure applications.
3. Training resources: Startups also have access to learning resources that help accelerate their journey. These resources include training modules, tutorials, whitepapers, hands-on labs, etc.
4. Activate Exclusive Offers (AEO): Startups also have access to exclusive offers from AWS third-party vendors in the form of deals and discounts to help them further in their journey. This can potentially benefit a startup by $800,000.

The AWS Activate Program offers a couple of paths depending on the current stage and needs of a startup. 

1. The Activate Founders program is designed for startups unaffiliated with venture capital (VC) firms, accelerators, or incubators and not self-funded. This provides the foundational support to help businesses get started on AWS.
   • The AWS Founders program has few eligibility criteria. Startups need not be affiliated with external organizations for funding purposes, making it easy for new founders who are just getting started on their journey.
   • Eligible startups receive up to $1,000 as AWS Credits as part of this program.
   • They can access the AWS Activate Console, a centralized dashboard that provides recommendations, cost management tools, and learning resources.
   • Startups also get access to training materials, architecture guides, and documentation to build their products.
2. The Activate Portfolio program is designed for startups already part of incubators, recognized accelerator programs, or VC companies. This program offers enhanced benefits to startups looking to scale their existing operations.
   •  Startups must be affiliated with an AWS Activate partner to qualify for this program. As part of the AWS Activate program, AWS recognizes certain VC firms, accelerators, and incubators. If a startup is already working with these recognized partners, it is eligible to apply for the AWS Activate Portfolio.
   • Startups can access up to $100,000 in AWS credits, which can greatly help them scale operations.
   • Startups get enhanced technical support, including the AWS Business Support Plan, which offers 24/7 troubleshooting, architecture reviews, and operational guidance.
   • They also enjoy discounted access to Activate Exclusive Offers (AEO) through AWS Activate’s partner network, with potential benefits worth $800,000.

By offering these options, the AWS Activate Program ensures that startups of all sizes and stages have the tools and resources needed to build and scale their businesses on the cloud successfully. 

As we can see, the AWS Activate Program is more than just free credits — it offers comprehensive support, guidance, and opportunities to accelerate new businesses.

AWS Academic Credits are designed to support educational institutions, researchers, and students in their academic work and innovation. These credits enable users to carry out research, develop projects, or enhance teaching and learning experiences using AWS cloud computing resources. 

AWS credits can also be used by teachers and educators to design and run cloud-based courses or simulations for students. Researchers can leverage these credits to run large-scale computational workloads for analysis and collaboration purposes.

These initiatives are integral to supporting innovation in education and research. They not only lower the financial barriers to accessing cloud resources but also provide users with the tools and support needed to drive meaningful outcomes.

1. Student programs

Students looking to break into the tech field can use programs like AWS Educate to explore and experiment with cloud technologies. These initiatives give students free AWS credits and training resources to build their skills in cloud computing, data analysis, and artificial intelligence. 

Students can use these credits to work on projects, participate in hackathons, and build a solid foundation. The program is geared toward bridging the gaps between theory and practical application, enabling students to find potential career opportunities with the help of certifications.

2. Research institution partnerships

Through its AWS Cloud Credit for Research Program, AWS partners with research institutions worldwide to accelerate innovation and drive impactful outcomes. Institutions in these partnerships receive cloud credits, training, and resources from AWS to enable them to tackle complex challenges using AWS services. 

As well as providing financial support, AWS often engages directly with researchers to optimize workflows, provide access to cutting-edge technologies, and support various initiatives.

Individual developers also have access to AWS Credits in the form of free tier offerings when they sign up with AWS. They can also claim credits by participating in developer programs, hackathons, or AWS events. 

Developers can use these credits to offset the infrastructure costs of experimenting with and building applications on AWS.

1. AWS Free Tier account

With AWS Free Tier Account, developers, students, and businesses can explore AWS services at no cost. The Free Tier provides access to many services, including compute, storage, and databases, with free usage limits. It is available for 12 months for new AWS accounts, while some services continue as free offerings.

Proof of concepts (PoCs), learning, or running a small-scale application are ideal use cases for leveraging AWS Free Tier. Tasks like hosting a static website using S3 buckets, running a serverless application with AWS Lambda, or exploring machine learning with Amazon SageMaker are well within AWS Free Tier limits. This enables users to gain hands-on experience with cloud technologies.

2. Open-source project contributions

AWS actively supports the open-source community by offering credits for open-source project contributions. Open-source repository maintainers and developers can offset the cloud costs associated with building, testing, and hosting their projects. 

AWS encourages the creation of tools and frameworks that benefit the broader tech ecosystem. Organizations and developers working on open-source projects that integrate with or extend AWS services can apply for these credits.

3. Technical conference participants

Technical conference attendees, hackathon participants, and workshop participants can also win credits. These credits are often distributed at events like AWS re:Invent, AWS Summits, or industry-focused conferences, allowing participants to gain hands-on experience with AWS services. Participants can test cloud-based solutions, build prototypes, and deepen their understanding of AWS tools using these free credits.

AWS actually empowers developers, open-source contributors, and tech enthusiasts through programs like Developer Credits, the AWS Free Tier, and event-based credits, which provide financial and practical support for exploring and building on AWS.

AWS Startup Programs support startups at various stages of their lifecycle by offering access to Credits, guidance, investor exposure, technical expertise, etc. They are run in a time-bound and cohort-based manner. Three types of programs are available:

1. Accelerators — These programs provide time-bound and cohort-based support with technical expertise and mentorship, which help startups develop their business models quickly.
2. Lofts — AWS Lofts are community spaces in the global startup ecosystem offering hands-on technology access and networking opportunities.
3. Spotlights — Spotlights run regional and short-term programs targeting specific industries, providing specialized guidance and addressing various challenges.

Some of the accelerators are described below. You can find more programs in this link.

1. Generative AI Accelerator

This ten-week hybrid program is designed to support startups in the Gen AI field, offering up to $1 million in AWS Promotional Credits. Benefits:

1. Up to $1 million in AWS Promotional Credits
2. Ten weeks of advanced expertise from industry leaders
3. Personalized guidance for go-to-market initiatives from technical mentors
4. PoC opportunities in quantum computing, HPC, AI/ML, and generative AI
5. Access to an exclusive virtual community of innovators
6. Complimentary ticket to AWS re:Invent
7. Brand visibility and networking

2. AWS & CrowdStrike Cybersecurity Accelerator

AWS & CrowdStrike Cybersecurity Accelerator is a global program designed to enable cybersecurity startups from EMEA and the US with product development – and is equity-free. Benefits:

1. Up to $25,000 in AWS Activate Credits
2. Showcase opportunity at AWS re:Inforce
3. Fundraising support and access to leading VCs.
4. Alumni community membership
5. Technical deep dives and tailored training
6. Networking opportunities

3. AWS Space Accelerator

AWS Space Accelerator is a global, four-week program designed to empower space startups with cloud-based solutions that support space sustainability and impact on life. The benefits are listed below:

1. Up to $100,000 in AWS promotional credits
2. Mentoring from space domain experts
3. Networking with other startups and partners
4. Access to venture investors in space domain
5. Tailored curriculum to accelerate growth using AWS
6. Collaboration with TechConnect for venture capital and market expertise

4. AWS Startup Loft Tokyo

AWS Startup Loft Tokyo is a physical space used to support startups and innovation in the Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) region. It offers many resources, programs, and networking opportunities for startups to help them scale using AWS. Its benefits are:

1. Free co-working space for startups
2. Technical guidance from AWS experts
3. Networking opportunities
4. Access to AWS resources and tools
5. Educational events and workshops
6. Pitch sessions with potential investors

AWS SaaS Spotlight

AWS SaaS Spotlight is a four-week program designed for early-stage startups across Asia-Pacific and Japan aiming to accelerate startups’ journey towards product market fit. Here are the benefits:

1. Up to $25,000 in AWS Activate credits
2. Tailored mentorship from successful founders and top investors
3. Access to an exclusive virtual community
4. Guidance on leveraging APN and AWS Marketplace
5. Technical deep-dives on scalable, secure SaaS architecture
6. Networking opportunities

Businesses in the global AWS Partner Network (APN) also have opportunities for access to AWS Credits. These credits are essentially benefits that AWS partners get after participating in specific activities. 

Typically, they are meant to boost AWS certifications and support innovation, marketing, and migration-related projects. Here are some ways partners can get access to these benefits:

1. Training discounts and credits — These benefits aim to accelerate the onboarding process of new employees and rapidly expand capabilities. Depending on the number of certifications completed, organizations can also access promotional credits.
2. APN Innovation Sandbox and Credits —These promotional credits are for developing new and innovative products incorporating various AWS services.
3. Marketing Development Funds (MDF) — These funds are offered in the form of cash or promotional credits to drive go-to-market strategies and generate demand for the services offered.
4. Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) — Organizations tmigrating and modernizing their workloads can receive support under MAP in the form of cash or promotional credits.

AWS Nonprofit Credit Program helps eligible nonprofit organizations worldwide develop cloud-based solutions without upfront infrastructure costs. Nonprofit organizations can access up to $5,000 in AWS Promotional Credits and services for computing, storage, databases, and other advanced technologies. 

Here are the main benefits :

1. Up to $5,000 in AWS Promotional Credit
2. Access to scalable cloud infrastructure
3. Reduced IT costs
4. Advanced data analysis and visualization services
5. Global deployment

Spacelift takes cloud automation and orchestration to the next level. It is a platform designed to manage infrastructure-as-code tools such as OpenTofu, Terraform, CloudFormation, Kubernetes, Pulumi, Ansible, and Terragrunt, allowing teams to use their favorite tools without compromising functionality or efficiency.

Spacelift provides a unified interface for deploying, managing, and controlling cloud resources across various providers. Still, it is API-first, so whatever you can do in the interface, you could do via the API, the CLI it offers, or even the OpenTofu/Terraform provider.

The platform enhances collaboration among DevOps teams, streamlines workflow management, and enforces governance across all infrastructure deployments. Spacelift’s dashboard provides visibility into the state of your infrastructure, enabling real-time monitoring and decision-making, and it can also detect and remediate drift.

You can leverage your favorite VCS (GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket/Azure DevOps), and executing multi-IaC workflows is a question of simply implementing dependencies and sharing outputs between your configurations.

With Spacelift, you get:

• Policies to control what kind of resources engineers can create, what parameters they can have, how many approvals you need for a run, what kind of task you execute, what happens when a pull request is open, and where to send your notifications
• Stack dependencies to build multi-infrastructure automation workflows with dependencies, having the ability to build a workflow that, for example, generates your EC2 instances using Terraform and combines it with Ansible to configure them
• Self-service infrastructure via Blueprints, or Spacelift’s Kubernetes operator, enabling your developers to do what matters – developing application code while not sacrificing control
• Creature comforts such as contexts (reusable containers for your environment variables, files, and hooks), and the ability to run arbitrary code
• Drift detection and optional remediation

If you want to learn more about Spacelift, create a free account today or book a demo with one of our engineers.

In this blog post, we have examined various programs offered by AWS to provide access to credits, as well as a complete package that nurtures startups with other requirements. Factors like networking opportunities, access to expert guidance, mentorships, etc., are equally important. 

We have seen how AWS encourages innovation by supporting startups, regardless of their region, industry, or domain. However, it is advisable to monitor AWS Startup Programs for the latest information on new programs.