The same things get you rejected everywhere. Consulting shops, agencies and other service businesses are turned away by DigitalOcean Hatch and judged harshly elsewhere. Google requires the billing account and the application email to share the company domain, and it excludes businesses in regulated sectors. AWS Activate wants a company founded within the last 10 years, pre-Series B, on a Paid plan. Credits belong to the original applicant and can’t be split, shared or resold. Try it on Google and your enrollment ends.
Timing matters as much as eligibility. As of November 2, 2026, DigitalOcean has paused Hatch applications until an updated program launches in early 2027, and Claude Startups has a full cohort. Google says plainly that program qualifications change annually and that enrollment one year doesn’t guarantee re-enrollment. Stealth and unfunded founders are told to wait until the product has a working website, because reviewers need to see the team and the product before they see the application.
How to get the most from startup credits
Apply from your company domain
Google rejects applications where the website domain, the applicant email and the billing account owner don’t match, so a founder on a personal Gmail address loses the credit before anyone reads the pitch. DigitalOcean Hatch asks for a new team account created with a business email on the company domain plus a valid card. Set up the account the program expects, then apply from it. Ten minutes of setup, or an automatic no.
Get the referral before you apply
The big numbers route through investors. AWS Activate Portfolio needs an Org ID from an Activate Provider such as an accelerator or VC firm. Anthropic pays its extra $100,000 through the VC, not to you directly. Microsoft describes an Investor Offer for investor-affiliated startups. Google asks you to list VC, investor and accelerator affiliations on the form, and that list drives tier placement. Ask your investor which programs they’re enrolled in before you fill out anything.
Plan for the year two step down
Google covers 100% of eligible costs in year one, up to $250,000 for AI startups or $100,000 for others, then only 20% of costs up to an additional $100,000 in year two. A team that burns $20,000 a month in year one will pay $16,000 of that itself in month 13. Build the second year into your runway model before you scale usage, because the cliff is steep and it arrives on schedule.
Read the exclusion list first
Google startup credits don’t apply to third-party models bought through Model Garden or Marketplace, or to subscription-billed products. AWS promotional credit excludes Marketplace charges and upfront fees on Savings Plans and Reserved Instances. DigitalOcean core credits skip GPU Droplets and hosted Anthropic and OpenAI models. Claude startup credits only work in the Claude Console, not on Bedrock or Vertex AI. The thing you most want to run on credits is often the thing excluded.
Do not stack with a Free plan
An AWS Free plan account is ineligible for promotional credits such as AWS Activate, so open or upgrade to a Paid plan before you apply. Google treats the $300 trial as a separate path and redirects rejected applicants to it or to AI Studio. Startup credits land on a paid billing account, and the card on that account gets charged once they run out. Know that before the credits do.
Track balances in the console
Google points applicants to the Cloud Console billing page to review past and current credits, and prior credit usage affects future eligibility. DigitalOcean grants no extensions on Hatch, and its monthly limit is generally $10,000 with usage above that billed normally. Export the credit balance into your weekly finance check so the expiry date never arrives unannounced. An expired balance is an ugly Monday.
how much are google cloud startup credits
Google lists funded tiers from $200,000 to $350,000 over two years for startups with verifiable Pre-Seed to Series A funding. The AI tier breaks down as 100% of costs up to $250,000 in year one and 20% up to $100,000 in year two; other startups get up to $100,000 then the same 20% match. A pre-funded Start tier exists for companies founded in the past 2 years with a working MVP, but Google doesn’t publish its amount.
can bootstrapped startups get aws activate credits
Yes, through Activate Founders. Self-funded startups apply directly and start at $1,000, with select participants qualifying for up to $5,000. You need a Paid plan AWS account, a company founded within the last 10 years and no Series B round. The larger Activate Portfolio tier, up to $200,000, requires an Org ID from an accelerator, angel investor or VC that participates as an Activate Provider.
does openai give api credits to startups
OpenAI routes startup credits through its VC partner network rather than a public application. Its startups page names firms such as Thrive Capital, Sequoia, a16z and Kleiner Perkins and tells founders to ask their investor for a referral code. OpenAI publishes no dollar amount, so treat figures on third-party sites as rumor until your VC confirms the offer in writing.
can i get startup credits from more than one cloud
Nothing in the Google, AWS, Microsoft or DigitalOcean terms forbids holding credits on several clouds at once, and each program evaluates you separately. The checks are internal: Google weighs past and present Google Cloud credit usage, Microsoft counts lifetime Azure credits against a $350,000 ceiling, and DigitalOcean requires that you never used its credits before. Splitting workloads across clouds costs engineering time, so pick one primary provider and treat the others as test budgets.
do startup cloud credits expire after a year
Yes. Google structures its program over two years, DigitalOcean core credits last 12 months with no extensions, and AWS promotional credit can’t be redeemed after its expiration date and is forfeited. Anthropic doesn’t state a duration for Claude Startups. Unused credit is simply lost, so size your cloud usage to consume it rather than hoarding it for a later launch.
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