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    Home » Blog » How to Get AWS Credits and Apply Them to Your Account
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    How to Get AWS Credits and Apply Them to Your Account

    Leah MorganBy Leah MorganNovember 10, 202629 Mins Read
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    Startup desk with a laptop showing cloud graphics for managing AWS credits
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    Key Takeaways

    1. 1
      Who Gets Credits: AWS credits automatically reduce eligible charges once they’re added to your AWS account. First-time customers can get up to $200 through the AWS Free Tier, and founders, academic teams, nonprofits and students have programs of their own.
    2. 2
      Getting AWS Credits: Start with Free Tier sign-up and Explore AWS, then check Activate Founders, Portfolio with a provider Org ID, academic awards, TechSoup or Student Rewards. Use a Builder ID for Activate and choose Redeem credit in Billing and Cost Management for promo codes.
    3. 3
      Avoid Billing Surprises: Check Applicable products and expiry dates since AWS credits skip past bills and generally exclude Marketplace purchases and upfront Savings Plan fees. If AWS Activate rejects you, verify the Paid plan and company details, and exclude credits in AWS Budgets to track spending.

    Your cloud bill can show up before your first customer does. If you’re opening your first AWS account, you can get up to $200 in AWS credits through the Free Tier, while startups can apply for $1,000 through Activate Founders or a larger award through an Activate Portfolio provider. Academic teams, nonprofits and students have their own programs, and once credits reach your account, AWS automatically applies them to eligible charges.

    Here’s the catch. You can have credit left and still owe money on the same bill. Each award covers specific charges, and when it expires, any unused balance can go with it. Before you count on a credit to pay for a service, check that the award covers the charge you expect to see.

    So where should you start? If you’re testing AWS for the first time, look at the Free Tier. If you’re already building a product, running an academic project or working for a nonprofit, start with the program for that work. We’ll walk through what each offer gives you, what to check before you apply and how to see what AWS actually took off your bill.

    What AWS Credits Are and What They Pay For

    An AWS credit is a promotional balance that reduces charges for eligible services on your AWS bill. AWS doesn’t sell credits, and you can’t cash them out or transfer them to another account. If you use AWS Organizations, authorized sharing within your organization follows its own billing rules.

    What Your Award Can Cover

    How do you tell whether a charge qualifies? Open the individual award on the Credits page and check Applicable products. That list matters because two credits on the same account can cover different services.

    Activate credits cover more than 200 AWS services and can pay for eligible Support plans. AWS also lists third-party models on Amazon Bedrock as eligible under Activate. If you’re budgeting for a specific model, confirm that your award covers that model’s charges before you rely on the credit.

    Charges You May Still Have to Pay

    AWS generally excludes Marketplace purchases, Route 53 domain registrations and transfers, and cryptocurrency mining. The same goes for AWS Professional Services, AWS Managed Services, Amazon Mechanical Turk, and charges for AWS Training or AWS Certification. Sales tax, use tax and similar transaction taxes stay on the bill.

    Watch for upfront fees when you buy a Savings Plan or Reserved Instance. Those fees fall outside the credit terms. The Support exclusions include Enterprise Support, Enterprise On-Ramp, Unified Operations, resold Support and partner-led Support.

    The Main Ways to Get AWS Credits at a Glance

    Which offer fits what you’re doing? That depends on whether you’re opening an account, applying on behalf of an organization or earning a benefit through a course or community. Some programs give you a balance for eligible AWS usage, while others give you something specific, such as Kiro Pro+ or a certification exam voucher.

    ProgramTypical amountWho qualifiesHow you get itWhen it expires
    AWS Free Tier$100 at sign-up, plus up to $100 for eligible activitiesFirst-time AWS customersOpen an account and complete tasks in Explore AWS for the additional creditCheck your expiration date on the Credits page
    AWS Activate Founders$1,000 to start. Some startups can reach $5,000 over timeEligible startups new to Activate credits and applying without a providerApply through AWS ActivateUsually one or two years, depending on your package
    AWS Activate PortfolioUp to $200,000, with the amount set by your provider and funding stageEligible startups backed by an Activate ProviderApply with the provider’s Organization IDUsually one or two years, depending on your package
    AWS Credits for AI StartupsCan exceed $200,000AI startups that have outgrown PortfolioBy invitation through your AWS account managerCheck your award terms
    Kiro Startup CreditsKiro Pro+ at no costEligible startups from early stage through Series A in most countriesApply at kiro.dev/startupsUp to one year
    AWS academic cloud creditsUp to $5,000 for eligible students. Faculty and staff have no fixed capEligible graduate students, full-time faculty and full-time academic staff at accredited institutionsSubmit a project proposal using your institution’s email addressOne year under the grant rule below
    AWS Nonprofit Credit ProgramAWS lists up to $5,000. TechSoup’s US offer in November 2026 listed $1,000 with a $95 administrative feeQualifying nonprofits and public librariesApply through TechSoup in the US and redeem the code you receiveOne year under the grant rule below
    Student Rewards on AWS Builder CenterUp to $30 in AWS credits through badges, plus a separate exam voucher at the top milestoneVerified higher-education students age 18 or olderVerify with SheerID and earn badgesCheck your award terms
    AWS Academy Learner Lab$100 per learner, as listed by the University of MichiganStudents in a participating courseGet access through your instructorOn the date your instructor sets
    AWS credits for open source projectsCheck the offer for your projectProjects with an OSI-approved license, no venture capital funding and no single dominant vendorEmail your application form to AWSCheck your award terms
    AWS Community BuildersAWS doesn’t publish the amountApplicants age 18 or older who are accepted into the programApply for membership during the annual application cycleCheck your award terms
    AWS challenges and hackathonsVaries by event. The AWS Builder Challenge offered a $1,000 credit prizeWinners under the event’s rulesEnter the event. The Builder Challenge deposited the prize into the winner’s accountCheck the event terms

    For academic and nonprofit grants, the one-year clock starts when you receive the code or when AWS puts the credit in your account. Use whichever date comes first.

    If you’re considering Kiro and Activate, the order matters. Startups that already hold Activate credits are ineligible for Kiro Startup Credits, but starting with Kiro may leave you eligible to apply for Activate later. The Kiro program relaunched on April 7, 2026 with up to 2 users on Starter, 10 on Growth and 30 on Scale.

    What to Check Before You Apply

    You can qualify for an offer and still have an account that can’t accept it. Check your plan, the details you’ll use to apply and your billing access before you start.

    Make Sure Your Account Can Accept the Credit

    With the Free plan, you can use select AWS services without a bill until your credits run out or six months pass, whichever happens sooner. The Free plan can’t receive Activate or other promotional credits, so switch to the Paid plan before you apply. The Paid plan gives you access to every AWS service and charges on-demand rates once your credit balance can no longer cover that usage.

    The Free plan also restricts Savings Plans, Reserved Instances and some Marketplace offers. AWS can move your account to the Paid plan automatically if you join the AWS Partner Network or AWS Organizations, set up Control Tower, or designate the account as subject to HIPAA.

    Get Your Startup Details Ready for Activate

    Have your AWS Builder ID ready to sign in. Use your company-domain email on your Activate profile and credit application, and make sure your company website works.

    Both Activate tiers require your company to have been founded within the past 10 years. Have your current funding stage and latest funding date on hand so you can enter them accurately. If your latest round closed in stages, use the most recent closing date.

    Check Your Billing Access and Payment Method

    If you sign in as an IAM user, check that you can open Credits in Billing and Cost Management. You’ll use that page to see which account has the award and when the balance expires.

    For classic promotional-code redemption, AWS calls for a valid credit card to activate the account and redeem the code. You may see a different sign-up flow if the new AWS account experience has reached you. Most new customers using that flow can open an account without entering a card at sign-up.

    How to Get AWS Credits Step by Step

    Start with the option that fits what you’re doing now. If you’re opening your first AWS account, start with the Free Tier. If you run a startup, work on an academic project or apply on behalf of a nonprofit, jump to the program for that work. Already have a code? Go straight to step 8.

    You can hold credits from more than one program when the offers allow it. Here’s the thing. Some awards go straight into your account, while others need an application or a code. Check the terms of each offer before you count on both balances to pay the same bill.

    1. Get Your First Free Tier Credit When You Sign Up

    Laptop with a glowing cloud shape above the keyboard

    If you’re new to AWS, you can get $100 in AWS credits when you open an account under the Free Tier introduced on July 15, 2025. If you opened an account before that date, you stay on the legacy Free Tier, which includes 12-month trials, shorter trials and always-free offers. The new credit offer excludes AWS GovCloud (US) and China Regions.

    You can choose the Free plan or the Paid plan at sign-up. The Free plan ends when you use up your credits or reach six months, whichever comes first. To find out when the credit itself expires, use the date on your Credits page.

    AWS began rolling out the new AWS account experience on September 16, 2026. If you see it at sign-up, you can use an Apple, Amazon, GitHub or Google identity. Most new customers using that flow can open an account without entering a credit card.

    How to Do It

    1. Open your AWS account and choose the Free plan or Paid plan. AWS adds the sign-up credit as part of opening an eligible account.
    2. On Console Home, find the Cost and Usage widget to check your balance and days remaining. Use Credits to check the expiration date shown for the award.
    3. If you have the new AWS account experience, you can see your remaining credit on the Projects and Billing pages. Check each project’s monthly spend limit, which starts at $20. AWS pauses a project once it reaches that limit.

    2. Complete Explore AWS Tasks for More Credit

    Developer workstation with two monitors showing server diagrams

    Want to earn the rest of the Free Tier offer? You get $20 per completed activity, up to $100 across five tasks. You have six months from the day you open your account to earn those credits.

    Here’s the catch. If you join AWS Organizations or create a landing zone in Control Tower, you lose the ability to earn any more activity credits. Complete the tasks you want to do before making either change.

    How to Do It

    1. Open the Explore AWS widget in your console.
    2. Launch an Amazon EC2 instance and terminate it to complete the EC2 activity.
    3. Create a database in Amazon RDS.
    4. Use a Lambda function URL to build a web app.
    5. In the Amazon Bedrock text playground, submit a prompt.
    6. Create a budget in AWS Budgets.

    3. Apply for Activate Founders as an Independent Startup

    Startup team sketching plans on a whiteboard in a loft office

    You can get an initial $1,000 through Activate Founders, and some startups qualify for as much as $5,000 over time. You must be new to Activate credits and apply without an Activate Provider. AWS describes Founders as an offer for self-funded companies, though the application page also includes companies below Series B that raised money in the previous 12 months. If you’ve already raised funding, confirm that you qualify before applying.

    You need a working company website, a startup founded within the past 10 years and an AWS account on the Paid plan. Have your AWS Builder ID ready. If the Activate flow asks you to create a Builder ID with a professional email, use your company domain, and use your business address on your Activate profile and application.

    Allow about 7 to 10 business days for a decision, though AWS also gives a range of 5 to 10 business days. After approval, the credit and its expiration date should appear under Billing > Credits in about 3 to 4 hours. Activate awards usually last one or two years, with the exact term set by your package.

    How to Do It

    1. Go to the AWS startup credits page and choose Apply Now. Use Sign in if you already have a Builder ID, or create one and verify your email.
    2. Complete your Activate profile and choose Founders. Enter your product details, target market, current traction and funding information.
    3. Use Create an AWS account if you need a new account, or Login to AWS Management Console to use an existing one. Link the account your startup uses for billing.
    4. Select Verify your account in the AWS Management Console. Once you see Accounts linked successfully, return to the application, review your details and submit.
    5. Open Credit Application Status to follow the review. The page shows pending and previous applications from the past 18 months, and AWS sends the decision by email.

    4. Apply for Activate Portfolio With a Provider

    Two business people shaking hands in a glass meeting room

    If you have backing from a participating accelerator, venture capital firm, angel group or startup organization, ask about Activate Portfolio. AWS advertises up to $200,000 for some packages, with the actual amount tied to your provider and funding stage. You need a Paid plan account and must meet the same website and company age rules as Founders. Apply before Series B and within 12 months of your most recent funding round. New to venture rounds? Our explainer on what Series A funding is shows where Portfolio’s pre Series B cutoff fits.

    Already had Activate credits? The package you apply for must be worth more than what you’ve already received. If you previously received $10,000 and now qualify for a $100,000 package, you could get another $90,000, subject to a lifetime cap AWS doesn’t publish. You’ll need your provider’s confidential Organization ID, or Org ID, to apply.

    If you’re also interested in Kiro Startup Credits, check that offer before you apply for Activate. Kiro gives eligible startups up to a year of Kiro Pro+ at no cost, but startups holding Activate credits are ineligible. Starting with Kiro may let you qualify for both in that order. If your AI startup has outgrown Portfolio, AWS Credits for AI Startups can exceed $200,000 and are available by invitation through your AWS account manager.

    How to Do It

    1. Ask your Activate Provider which package fits your stage and get its Org ID directly from the provider.
    2. Follow the application flow in step 3, selecting Portfolio as your package. Enter the Org ID in the Activate application and link your startup’s AWS account.
    3. If you’re applying again for a higher package from the same provider, confirm that your affiliation is still active before you submit.
    4. Track your application on Credit Application Status. The Activate review estimate and typical award term in step 3 apply here too.

    5. Apply for AWS Credits for an Academic Project

    Gloved hands at a computer showing colorful data plots in a research lab

    You may qualify if your institution is accredited and you work there full-time as a faculty or academic staff member, or if you’re a graduate, postgraduate or PhD student there. As a student, you can apply for as much as $5,000. Awards for faculty and staff depend on the proposal and have no preset ceiling.

    What kind of project fits? You could build a public tool hosted in the cloud, test how a workload or open data would move to AWS, or run an eligible workshop or tutorial. Routine lab work and internal administration fall outside the program.

    If your project uses Amazon EC2, the credit covers On-Demand and Spot usage only. The award lasts one year, counted from the earlier of the day you get the code and the day AWS deposits the credit. The program excludes the greater China region.

    How to Do It

    1. Prepare a proposal that explains the academic project and what you want to do with AWS.
    2. Submit the proposal using an email address from your institution.
    3. Plan for a review of about 90 to 120 days. AWS evaluates proposals as they come in and offers no expedited review.

    6. Get a Nonprofit Award Through TechSoup

    Volunteers packing donation boxes in a community center

    If you apply on behalf of a US nonprofit or qualifying public library, TechSoup is your route to an AWS award. Eligible nonprofit classifications include 501(c)(1), (3), (8) and (9), along with 501(c)(11), (12), (14) and (15). Schools and universities are ineligible.

    AWS advertises up to $5,000 under the program. That said, TechSoup’s US listing in November 2026 showed a $1,000 credit with a $95 administrative fee. Use the amount shown for your organization when you apply.

    You can get one grant in the program’s fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30. The credit pays for on-demand services only. Its one-year term starts on the date you receive the code or the date AWS deposits the credit, whichever comes first.

    How to Do It

    1. Make sure your AWS account is registered under your nonprofit’s own domain.
    2. Apply through TechSoup’s US program and check the credit amount and administrative fee shown for your organization.
    3. Use the code from TechSoup’s email and follow the redemption steps in step 8.

    7. Find Credits for Students, Community Builders or Open Source Projects

    Student working on a laptop at a library desk

    If you’re a higher-education student age 18 or older, Student Rewards on AWS Builder Center gives you 12 months of Skill Builder premium once you’re verified. Seven badges earn you $10 in AWS credits, and reaching 14 earns you another $20. At 21 badges, you earn a $100 voucher for a Foundational certification exam.

    If your instructor runs an AWS Academy Learner Lab course, you can get access through them. The University of Michigan lists $100 per learner for a limited set of AWS services, available until the instructor’s chosen end date. AWS Educate gives learners age 13 or older free labs and badges without a credit card. It provides no AWS credits.

    You can apply to AWS Community Builders if you’re 18 or older, and AWS reviews applications once a year. Members get promotional credits, though AWS doesn’t publish the amount. For open source projects, AWS issues credits monthly except in December. You can also check individual challenges for prizes, such as the $1,000 credit AWS deposited for an AWS Builder Challenge winner.

    How to Do It

    1. For Student Rewards, go to AWS Builder Center and verify your student status through SheerID. Complete the badges for the reward you want.
    2. For Academy Learner Lab, get access from your instructor and check the lab’s end date and available services.
    3. For AWS Community Builders, check when the next application window opens and apply for membership.
    4. For open source credits, confirm that your project has an OSI-approved license, no venture capital funding and no single dominant vendor. Email the application form to AWS.
    5. For a challenge or hackathon, read the event’s prize and entry rules before you enter.

    8. Add a Promo Code to Your AWS Account

    Hands typing on a laptop next to a blank voucher card

    You might get a promotional code from a partner, workshop or event. Each code can be used once, on one AWS account. Check the account you’re signed in to and redeem the code by the deadline you received with it.

    If the code fails, check whether you mistyped it, whether it has expired or whether someone has already redeemed it. An invalid code can also fail. If you’re still on the Free plan, switch to the Paid plan before trying to add a separate promotional credit.

    In the new AWS account experience, the credit can apply to eligible charges across your projects. AWS handles that allocation, so you can’t assign the credit to a specific project.

    How to Do It

    1. In the classic AWS console, sign in to the account that should receive the credit. Open Billing and Cost Management, choose Credits and select Redeem credit.
    2. Enter the code as it appears in your offer and complete the CAPTCHA. Choose Redeem credit to submit it and accept the AWS Promotional Credit Terms.
    3. If you have the new AWS account experience, open Billing instead. Select your credits under Current charges, choose Redeem credit and enter the code there.

    How AWS Applies Your Credits

    Once AWS adds a credit to your account, it decides which eligible charges to offset. You don’t have to assign the credit to a service or apply it again each month.

    Which Credits and Charges Come First

    If you have several credits on a standalone account, AWS starts with the one that expires soonest. If two expire at the same time, AWS picks the one that covers fewer services. If there’s still a tie, the older credit goes first.

    AWS applies the credit to your largest eligible service charge, then works down to smaller eligible charges. The credit can cover charges from the billing cycle when you add it and from future cycles while it’s valid. A new cycle starts on the first day of the month in UTC, so charges from an earlier cycle stay on your bill.

    How Sharing Works in AWS Organizations

    When you enable sharing, AWS uses the balance against qualifying costs in the account that owns the credit. AWS then moves any leftover balance to the highest-spending linked account and starts with that account’s biggest eligible charges.

    If you manage the payer account, you can change which accounts share credits under Billing preferences > Credit sharing preferences. Both accounts need sharing enabled to send and receive credits. You can also use Cost Categories to restrict an individual credit to a group of accounts. AWS calculates the bill using the preference in effect on the month’s final day.

    What if your account joins halfway through the month? Your own credits can cover eligible standalone charges from before you joined, and those credits enter the organization’s shared pool the following month. Your account can still receive credits from the existing pool during the month you join if sharing is enabled.

    Where to Check or Pause a Credit

    In Billing and Cost Management, open Credits and select the award. You can see its owner, start and expiration dates, status and Applicable products. Amount remaining reflects the last billing cycle, while Estimated amount remaining updates daily. Application history shows which accounts and services used the credit.

    On the credit details page, use the toggle to change a credit from Active to Paused or back again. AWS skips a paused credit when calculating your bill until you reactivate it. After you add an award, the console may need a few hours to show it, and the Bills page may take as long as a week.

    What Happens When Credits Expire

    If you’ve redeemed a credit, it can still offset eligible charges through the last day of its expiration month. If you miss a code’s redemption deadline, you lose the award. AWS doesn’t refund expired balances.

    On the Paid plan, AWS bills your payment method for ongoing on-demand usage once the credit stops covering it. On the Free plan, your account closes and you lose access when you exhaust your credits or reach the plan’s six-month limit, whichever happens first.

    Why AWS Activate Applications Get Rejected and How to Fix Them

    An Activate rejection can leave you with little to go on. Some applicants reported repeated denials that cited “internal requirements,” followed by a request from AWS for incorporation records and a written explanation of how they’d use AWS.

    Check Your Account and Company Details

    Start with your AWS account. Activate requires the Paid plan, so upgrade if you’re still on the Free plan. Check that you have a valid payment method on file and that the legal name on the application matches your incorporation records.

    Use a live company website and a company-domain address on your Activate profile and application. If you use a business address for your Builder ID, compare its domain with your AWS root email and company website. Some NVIDIA Inception applicants reported email or domain errors even when all three matched, so treat that comparison as a check you can make before contacting support.

    Verify Your Funding and Provider Information

    Both Activate tiers require a company founded within the past 10 years. For Founders, check whether you qualify based on your funding status and whether you’ve already received Activate credits. For Portfolio, apply before Series B and within 12 months of your latest funding round.

    If you’re applying for Portfolio, confirm your affiliation and get the exact Org ID from your provider. If you’ve already received an Activate award, check that the new Portfolio package is worth more than the amount you received before.

    Correct the Application or Ask for Help

    Start with Credit Application Status and the email AWS sent about your application. If you find an error in a submitted application, cancel it, unlink the AWS account from your Builder ID and submit a corrected application. AWS doesn’t let you edit an application after submission.

    If your provider details are the sticking point, ask your provider to verify your affiliation and help escalate the case. For a denial you still can’t explain, contact AWS Activate Support with the rejection message. Have your incorporation records and a description of your intended AWS use ready in case AWS asks for them.

    Why Your AWS Credits Aren’t Showing on Your Bill

    Start by checking whether the credit is missing from your account or whether it’s there and hasn’t offset the charge you expected. That tells you whether to look at the award itself, the billing cycle or the charge.

    Check the Status and Billing Dates

    Open Credits and select the award. If the status is Paused, turn it back to Active. If it’s Exhausted or Expired, check the balance and dates to see when it stopped covering new usage.

    Did you add the credit halfway through the month? Eligible charges from earlier in that same cycle can still qualify, but a bill from a previous cycle won’t. If the credit just appeared in the console, give the Bills page up to a week to reflect it.

    Check Whether the Charge Qualifies

    Open Applicable products on the credit details page and compare it with the charge on your bill. AWS generally excludes Marketplace purchases, Route 53 domain registrations and transfers, and sales and use taxes. Those charges can reach your payment method while you still have a credit balance.

    Check how the charge was billed if you bought a Reserved Instance or Savings Plan. Credits exclude the upfront fee. Eligible recurring charges can still use the credit.

    Check Sharing and Contact Billing Support

    If the award belongs to another account in your organization, ask the payer account owner to check Billing preferences > Credit sharing preferences. Confirm that both accounts can share and that any rule for the specific credit includes your account. If the account joined midmonth, remember that its own credits enter the shared pool the next month.

    Did a charge land on your bill when you expected the award to cover it? Open a free case under Account and billing and give AWS the credit ID, the month of the bill and the specific charge. One user reported that AWS charged their card for Developer Support even though Support appeared as eligible on the credit. If that happens to you, send AWS the relevant details from both the bill and the award.

    How to Stretch AWS Credits and Avoid a Surprise Bill

    A low bill while you have credits can hide what it costs to keep your services running. Watch your usage before credits and know when the balance stops paying for it. Other platforms pause projects when free limits run out too, as our guides to a paused Supabase project and a paused Vercel account explain.

    Track Spending Before Credits

    In AWS Budgets, create a cost budget that excludes credits so you can see the spending your award is absorbing. Set alerts at 50%, 80% and 100% of the budget you choose. Billing data refreshes at least daily, so an alert can arrive after you’ve already passed the threshold.

    If you have the new AWS account experience, check the monthly spend limit for each project. Limits start at $20, and AWS pauses the project when it hits its limit. You can also use Cost Anomaly Detection for unusual spending. A community guide recommends a lower alert threshold for small accounts where the default may miss a charge you’d want to catch.

    Clear Out Idle Services and Check Commitments

    After you finish a test, check for NAT gateways, public IPv4 addresses and idle Amazon RDS databases that you no longer need. A community guide cited costs of about $0.005 per hour for a public IPv4 address and about $32 per month for a NAT gateway before data charges. One student reported a $739 bill after leaving an RDS instance running. AI app builders burn through credits in a similar way, so our tips for Lovable credits running out and a Replit bill that’s too high can help as well.

    If you’re already planning to buy a Savings Plan, check the No Upfront option. Credits can offset eligible hourly charges, while an upfront fee falls outside the award. Use the usage cost before credits to see what you’d pay once the award runs out.

    Plan for Expiration and Account Closure

    For Activate, watch for expiry emails 60 days before, 30 days before and on the expiration date. AWS also emails you when you’ve used 75% and 100% of the award. If you want to save a credit for a later workload, pause it from the credit details page and set a date to resume it while it’s still valid.

    AWS sends you Free plan reminders with 15, 7 and 2 days left in the six-month term. After your account closes, you can regain access to your data by switching to the Paid plan within 90 days. Once those 90 days pass, AWS permanently deletes the account and everything in it.

    How AWS Credits Compare With Google Cloud and Azure

    If you’re choosing a cloud provider for your startup, compare what you qualify for today and how much of your bill the award can cover. A headline amount can span multiple years, and the share of your bill that it covers can change from one year to the next. If you’re on the investor side instead, see how to invest in startups as an everyday investor.

    ProviderProgramTypical amountsWho qualifies
    AWSActivate Founders$1,000 to start, with up to $5,000 over time for some startupsEligible early-stage startups new to Activate credits and applying without a provider
    AWSActivate PortfolioUp to $200,000, depending on your provider and funding stageEligible provider-backed startups before Series B that apply within 12 months of their latest funding round
    Google CloudGoogle for Startups Cloud Program Start tierAbout $2,000Companies founded within the past two years
    Google CloudGoogle for Startups Cloud Program Scale tierUp to $200,000 over two years. Covers 100% in year one up to $100,000, then 20% in year two up to another $100,000Startups with verifiable venture funding from pre-seed through Series A
    Google CloudGoogle for Startups Cloud Program Scale AI tierUp to $350,000, with 100% coverage up to $250,000 in year oneEligible AI startups with verifiable venture funding from pre-seed through Series A
    Microsoft AzureMicrosoft for StartupsMicrosoft lists up to $5,000 after verification and a longer-term maximum of $150,000Startups that verify their business for the initial offer and sustain Azure usage to qualify for more

    The Register reported in July 2025 that Microsoft had separate early-stage and investor-network tracks, with the investor-network offer starting at $100,000. Microsoft’s application page describes amounts tied to business verification and sustained Azure usage. Use the amount Microsoft confirms for your startup when you budget.

    FAQs

    How do new AWS accounts get the $200 in credits?

    When you sign up for your first eligible account, AWS gives you $100. You can add $20 for each task you finish in Explore AWS, with five completed tasks bringing the balance to $200 before any usage. Finish those activities during your first six months on AWS.

    Do AWS credits ever expire?

    Yes. To find the date for your award, select it under Credits. If you redeem the award on time, it can still pay qualifying charges until the close of the month shown as its expiration month.

    Is it possible to buy AWS credits or move them to another account?

    You can’t buy or transfer AWS credits. If you use AWS Organizations, the payer account can enable sharing in Billing preferences so eligible member accounts can use a credit without taking ownership of it.

    Can AWS credits pay for Claude and other models on Amazon Bedrock?

    AWS lists third-party Bedrock models as eligible under Activate, but coverage can vary by award. Before you count on credits to pay for Claude or another model, open the award, check Applicable products and confirm that your specific model charge qualifies.

    How long does an AWS Activate application take to get approved?

    AWS gives estimates of 7 to 10 business days in some places and 5 to 10 in others. Follow your application on Credit Application Status. If AWS approves it, look for the award under Billing > Credits about 3 to 4 hours later.

    Can you use AWS credits to pay off an older bill?

    AWS credits can cover eligible charges from the month you add them and from later months while they’re valid. If a charge belongs to an earlier billing cycle, you still need to pay it separately.

    Final Word

    Pick the AWS credit offer that suits what you want to build. Going with Activate? Switch your AWS account to the Paid plan before you submit the application so you can receive the award.

    Once the credit lands, set up an AWS Budget with credits excluded so you can see what your services cost before the discount. Keep track of your expiration dates on the Credits page and use them to plan what you want to run next.

    AWS AWS Activate cloud computing Startup Funding Startups
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    Leah Morgan, Technology Ripple author
    Leah Morgan

    Leah Morgan leads Technology Ripple’s technology business and startup coverage. She studied journalism, specializing in business reporting and technology policy. Her work examines funding announcements, acquisitions, partnerships, and company strategy, explaining what those decisions mean for customers and the wider technology industry.

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