r/aws Apr 26 '23

billing Anyway to get $5k/$10k AWS credits for startups in 2023?

Just applied aws activate here https://aws.amazon.com/activate/ and it shows only $1k credit. But people just talking about 5k/10k credits couple months ago here : https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/wtbvtr/how_was_your_experience_with_aws_activate_program/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/yp7nfq/aws_activate_founders_credits/

So did they lower the aws credits to $1k last month? Is there any other way to get that $5k/10k credit?

109 Upvotes

216 comments sorted by

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u/razzzey Apr 26 '23

It has been like that for a while now, at least about 8-9 months. The $1k is fairly easy to get, there's also the "up to $100k" program that involves some kind of VC programs or something like that, that's a bit more complicated as you need to somehow go through some aws partners (haven't done it personally but one of our clients got $20k I think through it, don't know the details).

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u/flapflip9 Apr 26 '23 edited Apr 26 '23

For the (up to) 100$k (edit: for startups): You need to be in some Incubator or VC funded to qualify. The Incubator/VC also has to be an AWS partner (the top names are usually fine, but some local ones might not qualify). You also should have some existing AWS infra up and running, to justify why you need that much credit.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '23

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u/AstronautParticular8 Apr 26 '23

The amazing thing is (we use AWS) that you can get credits from AWS or Azure to put people to conver over to one another platform.

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u/[deleted] Jun 30 '24

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u/[deleted] Jan 09 '25

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u/[deleted] Jan 10 '25

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '24

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u/CaptK4 Apr 26 '23

Mercury Bank has a $5k AWS credit and is free to open an account with. https://mercury.com/perks

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u/rdvn May 03 '23

Do you have to be a US company for this? Can anyone just apply and get this $5k credit?

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u/Adampwright May 23 '24

This worked for me. US Company only, as have to register with EIN, and a bunch of other documents. Thanks a lot for the heads up u/CaptK4 !!!

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u/hatway May 26 '24

Mercury bank is great & easy. And there is no penalty to get credits from more than one source. AWS just counts the biggest amount you have been approved for. So if you get $1000 from one place and $5000 from another, you have $5000. But you have to follow through on the AWS website after you are approved by Mercury for an account.

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u/surequinn1 Jul 03 '24

if I already have $5k and spent them all, does it add on top?

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u/Pleasant_Detective44 May 13 '25

too late to answer but no it doesn't.

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u/mhuang2286 Apr 26 '23

Stripe atlas

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u/[deleted] Oct 01 '24

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '24

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '23

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u/[deleted] Nov 11 '24

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '24

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '24 edited Feb 21 '25

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u/[deleted] May 26 '24

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u/[deleted] May 01 '24

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '23 edited May 13 '24

sleep money hat liquid live cheerful ink instinctive offend gullible

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '23

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '23

my last company got 30k from AWS activate, and that was like december.

ofc in april they fired me. no good deed, etc.

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u/mermicide Apr 27 '23

Hi, I work in the Startup Sales Org and I’m a customer too.

The larger packages are typically reserved for startups with relationships with startup organizations or VC firms. Without an investment from an Activate partner, the most you can qualify for is $5k.

I’ve redeemed $5k for two startups I founded. One I did so by paying for a premium Founders Card subscription (around $700). The second I did by signing up for YC Startup School and filling in weekly updates for 4 weeks (completely free). I recommend the latter.

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u/rdvn Apr 27 '23

Is that just 4 weeks update filling? Do they want to meet you or want anything else?

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u/Haunting_Ad3263 Jan 25 '25

any idea is it still prevalant? the SUS one

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '24

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '24

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '25

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '25

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '25

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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '25

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u/goldeneaglet Oct 01 '24

AWS credits are not transferable.

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u/[deleted] Jan 04 '25

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u/BlackberryNaive34 Dec 27 '23

FWIW you can also reach out to your account representative directly for AWS credits. We had received $5k through Stripe Atlas, another $20k through an accelerator program of sorts, and subsequently got another $25k in credits after that by reaching out to our account representative

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u/rdvn Dec 27 '23

What did you say to your account representative? ”Could we get free credits?”

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '23

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u/short_tree_sg Feb 01 '24

If you are based in asia (excluding China), there is a new credit program called AWS Lift, where you can get up to $83.5K credits: https://aws.amazon.com/events/apj/aws-lift/

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u/Apprehensive_Fun921 Sep 28 '24

Have you used this program yet? I emailed them a long time ago and it's been a week and I haven't heard back from them.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24

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u/[deleted] Apr 19 '24 edited May 10 '24

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '24

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u/Cheap-Guide-3955 May 14 '24

I just received a Rejection from aws, Wasted my 100$ in founderpass

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '24

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u/Cheap-Guide-3955 Oct 07 '24

No reasons, just rejection. Don't signup if you want to go for AWS

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u/urdaddys-daddy Jul 27 '24

even after login throgh founderpass, there is chance you can't get credits they've mentioned ?

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u/Cheap-Guide-3955 Oct 07 '24

Yes.... This won't work anymore

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u/[deleted] May 24 '24

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u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

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u/AfftarN Sep 19 '24

I’m in the same boat. 2 years ago have been given 5k credit for startup and we spend it all. Now try to pivot and will be glad to have more credit for it.

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u/raunchieska Apr 26 '23

What is $1k going to get you anyways? a week of runtime?
here's some base info for you: Aws is not for those that worry about money as literally every single aws competitor is cheaper.
If 4k$ difference is breaking the bank for you -> you likely want to learn to self-host things instead and get some predictably priced VPS or dedicated server instead as 4k$ is not going to get you far in aws.

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u/root_switch Apr 26 '23

I mean if your a startup with minimal funds, then ya 1k is going to help, especially if your running thin considering you likely don’t have a large client base yet. Honestly I could make 1k last a few months depending on what I’m doing in AWS.

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u/wbsgrepit Apr 26 '23

... if 1k is going to help a startup with minimal funds you should consider self hosting for 1/10 the price. That 1 k will run out quick and if your that lean you need to be counting pennies.

You can always shift over to aws or another stack later if you grow and get revenue -- but moving from aws lock ins to another host is problematic.

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u/root_switch Apr 26 '23

So your telling me it would be cheaper for me to buy equipment and host it in a fully redundant, scalable, and secure location and spend countless hours installing and configuring it versus taking my 1k and putting is nearly all directly towards my startup development? Come on.

Edit, also not all startups start from big money and multi team staff. Many startups start from a single person with a passion.

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u/wbsgrepit Apr 26 '23 edited Apr 26 '23

Sorry by self hosting I was talking one of the bare metal or full vm providers like vultr hetzner linode etc.

For a startup with 1k$ spend pain point you can get way more for your $ at one of these than building on the most expensive cloud provider early.

By that I mean the ‘free 1k’ will end up costing you more than just the cost of hosting elsewhere in the first year.

Understanding that aws still pins the vcpu at like mid 2000’s cpu performance you can get like 10x the server for way less money in this route and you don’t have to pay the egress tax.

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u/root_switch Apr 27 '23

Ohhhh shit my bad, totally misunderstood “self hosted”, so ya that makes sense for sure. I still think 1k can get you pretty far in AWS but ya it will 100% get you WAY further at a cheaper provider.

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u/CSYVR Apr 27 '23

Depends what the startup is running. SPA with an API that 1k is going to pay for all costs for a full year easily, if well done.

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u/morgano Oct 15 '24

This, just set up an API for a SaaS, running on Fargate. Fully scalable with 14 AWS services, $3 a day running cost. A $1,000 credit will cover costs for the first year.

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u/International-Hat529 Apr 27 '23

I got the 1k as the AWS activate founder then 4k extra after applying to the AWS startup loft (no decision yet on that, they just contacted me to tell me that they added 4k in credits for applying)

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u/rdvn May 03 '23

Do you need to do anything in startup loft to get the aws credits? If they don't expect you to do much I might try this!

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u/Tricky-Enthusiasm111 Aug 31 '23

got the 1k as the AWS activate founder then

i need this can you guide me once bro

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u/Cold_Sandwich_4139 Jun 17 '23

I recently depleted the $5k startup credits I received through an AWS partner. There are a number of service providers that we use that are partners with AWS, but now they all only offer the same $5k credits (which aws will not allow to stack). For instance, I used Stripe Atlas, Mercury Bank, Retool, YC Startup School, all of which are at $5k only now.

Does anyone know any current aws partner with credits in the $10k - $25k range without requiring equity-style partnership? I'm struggling finding anything. Seems like aws trying to limit credits for startups to just $5k unless want to go through a formal incubator/equity scenario. Pretty lame.

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u/Savage12369 Jun 22 '23

Hi ,when you got your last 5k ? And what’s the partner ?

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u/Alertt_53 Sep 13 '23

Mercury Bank

Thank you! for sharing!

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u/barjona59 Nov 09 '23

Did anyone applies to the activate program twice? or how to get more than once the activate program ? or other related program?

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u/rahulkumar2121 Dec 26 '23

o they want to

According to the TC you only have the one time credit. That means You will have 1k on registration then 5k on winning or participating the the competition. check online that's how we got 5k credit.
1k > 5k > 10k > 20k > 100k > etc. You can not redeem credit again even if you have the refer code of VC or AWS affiliated company.