Startup perks you can get without funding

AI tools

• Deepgram: $1,000 credits, up to $100k. AI builder or early-stage startup, in production or launching within 6 months; over $10M raised assessed case-by-case; no agencies/consultants. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Speechmatics: Up to $50,000 Speechmatics credits. Raised less than $10M total, functional MVP in production or launching within 1 to 2 months, not on a paid enterprise plan, active dev team, defined speech recognition use case; 30-minute call before decision. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Firecrawl: 2x Firecrawl credits for a year (up to $30k). Raised no more than $10M, fewer than 50 people, founded less than 5 years ago; annual plans only (existing customers included) Checked 26 October 2026.
• LiveKit: Up to $23,000 LiveKit credits. Voice, video or physical AI core to the product, fewer than 50 employees, under $5M raised and pre-Series A (larger reviewed case by case) Checked 26 October 2026.
• E2B: $20,000 E2B credits + Pro tier. Startups under 3 years old, raised under $5M, first-time E2B users, building or studying AI agents. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Telnyx: Up to $20,000 voice AI credits. Building a voice AI agent as the core product, raised $500K+ or generating revenue from production users, live product or clear path to launch. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Together AI: Up to $15k platform credits. Build tier: up to $5M raised. Selection-based programme. Checked 26 October 2026.
• ElevenLabs: 12 months free on the Scale plan (up to $6k). Startups under 25 employees with a monetised/business use case and valid business email; no agencies, consultancies or SMBs; no one-off projects or products for under-18s; one application per company. Checked 26 October 2026.
• fal: $1,000 to $5,000 fal credits. Generative media is core to the product; real users, traction or revenue, or institutional backing; team based in Europe or Asia. VC backing not required. Checked 26 October 2026.
• OpenRouter: Up to $3,000 OpenRouter credits. Pre-Series B, venture-scalable startup building an AI-native product. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Reducto: $1,500 Reducto credits + fee off. Pre-seed, seed and early-stage startups; generally under $15M funding, under $3M annual revenue and under 50 employees; case by case. Checked 26 October 2026.
• AssemblyAI: 12 months of free credits. Pre-seed to Series A, bootstrapped welcome, product with speech at its core, launching within 6 months. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Cartesia: 12 months of Cartesia voice AI free. Startups at any stage; students and one-off projects considered case by case. Participants agree Cartesia may use their name and logo and may ask for a social post. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Composio: 6 months of Composio Pro free. Startups building AI agents. Detailed criteria not published; the application form lists Bootstrapped as a funding option. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Langfuse: 50% off Langfuse for 12 months. Bootstrapped or up to USD 5M total venture funding, incorporated 5 years ago or less, privately held and independent; new or existing Langfuse Cloud customers. Checked 26 October 2026.
• NVIDIA: Free NVIDIA Inception membership. Incorporated company under 10 years old with a working website, a clear use case for NVIDIA technology and at least one active founder; no funding or revenue requirement. Consultancies, crypto, resellers and public companies excluded. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Pinecone: Free Pinecone Standard tier + Pro Support. Fewer than 100 employees, Series A or earlier. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Qdrant: 20% off Qdrant Cloud for a year. New Qdrant Cloud user, pre-seed to Series A, under five years old, less than $5M in funding, building an AI-driven product (no agencies or dev shops), live website, billed directly with Qdrant. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Vast.ai: Vast matches your GPU spend in credits. Startups already running compute workloads; offer and cap set by company stage and use case after review. Checked 26 October 2026.

Dev & infrastructure

• Huawei Cloud: Up to $150k Huawei Cloud credits. Established less than 5 years ago, not listed, no more than 50% owned by a listed company. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Microsoft: Azure credits from $200, up to $150k. Early-stage B2B startups, pre-seed to Series B, building software/AI/tech, privately held, independent, MVP or working toward it. LinkedIn verification on the no-code path. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Alibaba Cloud: Up to $120k credits + free Qwen tokens. Company that uses AI as its core technology, unlisted, founded within 10 years, with an accessible website; solid proposal for using Alibaba Cloud AI. Accounts under resellers/distributors excluded. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Backblaze: Up to $100,000 B2 storage credits. Storage-heavy startups (AI, video, media, analytics, gaming), generally Seed to Series B; venture, accelerator or bootstrapped all considered. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Civo: Up to $50,000 Civo cloud credits. Early-stage to scaling startups; tier depends on stage and traction. Detailed criteria not published, assessed on application. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Neo4j: Up to $20,000 Neo4j Aura credits. Series B or earlier, building a single product for many customers (no dev shops, consultants or agencies), live website, company LinkedIn page linked to the applicant; new and existing AuraDB users. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Algolia: $10,000 Algolia credits. Less than 7 years old, under $15M total funding raised, new Algolia customers only. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Cloudflare: $10k Cloudflare credits. Founded within 10 years, funded up to Series B, live website, active LinkedIn/X/GitHub, domain-matching business email, first-time applicant. Tier 3 = bootstrapped/self-funded under $1M raised. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Prisma: $10,000 Prisma credits. Pre-seed to Series A, raised venture funding in the last 12 months, founded in the last 5 years; or bootstrapped with at least $5K MRR for the last 6 months; two full-time team members; active website. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Render: Up to $10k migration credits. Teams moving production workloads to Render, applying with a work email; form starts at $2,501/month current cloud spend. Amount set after an architecture review. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Amazon Web Services: $1,000 to $5,000 AWS credits. Self-funded/bootstrapped, pre-Series B, founded in last 10 years, AWS account on a paid tier plan, new to Activate credits. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Sentry: Up to $5,000 Sentry credits. Founded within ~2 years, under $5M venture capital raised, new to paying for Sentry (free plan OK) Checked 26 October 2026.
• Google Cloud: $2,000 Google Cloud credits. Start: founded in past 2 years, working MVP, clear business model, plans to seek venture funding. Scale tiers: verifiable pre-seed to Series A venture funding. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Neon: Up to $1,000 Neon credits. Self-funded tier: no outside investors, under $1M raised, building an early-stage product or MVP. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Mux: $500 Mux video credits. Startups only, not an existing Mux customer, first-time recipient of Mux credits. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Clerk: Discounted Clerk Pro. Up to 1 year after launch, up to $5M venture funding; must have a Clerk application. Checked 26 October 2026.
• ConfigCat: 50% off ConfigCat in year one. Founded less than 5 years ago, raised under $5M in total funding, live website or product, no paid ConfigCat subscription in the past 12 months. VC or accelerator backing not required. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Convex: 1 year free Professional. Series A or earlier, fewer than 20 employees, less than 3 years old, raised less than $3M, LinkedIn/Crunchbase profile, live website/MVP. Checked 26 October 2026.
• DigitalOcean: 12 months of credits + free support. Raised $10M or less, new to DigitalOcean credits, company website, team account on a business email, credit card. AI-native startups prioritised; agencies/consultancies excluded. Checked 26 October 2026.
• JetBrains: 50% off IDEs for up to 5 years. Privately owned, established within the last five years (evidence required), website or discoverable online presence. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Mintlify: 50% off Mintlify Pro for 12 months. Founded in the past 2 years and raised under $2M (YC alumni also eligible) Checked 26 October 2026.
• MongoDB: Atlas credits for 12 months. Less than 7 years old, Series A or earlier, single software product (no agencies/dev shops), active website and LinkedIn, new to the programme. Checked 26 October 2026.
• New Relic: Full platform free for 5 users. Not published; register interest and New Relic confirms your place. Checked 26 October 2026.
• OVHcloud: €10,000 cloud credits. Innovative technical project with at least a POC/MVP on OVHcloud. Funding not required for Start. Excludes NGOs, agencies/consultancies, resellers, crypto mining. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Scaleway: Up to €1,000 cloud credits. Less than 5 years old, fewer than 50 employees, not yet a Scaleway client. Early Stage = pre-seed to seed; Growth = seed to Series A. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Stream: Stream chat and video APIs free. Five or fewer team members, less than $100K in funding, less than $10K a month in revenue. Checked 26 October 2026.

Analytics & product

• Mixpanel: 1 year free on the Startup Plan (up to $145k). Incorporated less than 5 years ago, raised no more than $8M, never on a paid Mixpanel plan, not redeemed other Mixpanel offers. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Amplitude: 1 year free Growth plan, then 40% off (up to $60k). Fewer than 20 employees and under $10M raised. Checked 26 October 2026.
• PostHog: $50,000 PostHog credits. Less than 2 years old, raised less than $5M, company email domain, signed up after 1 Jan 2023, on a paid plan. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Statsig: $50k Statsig credits. Founded less than 5 years ago, received less than $50M funding. Checked 26 October 2026.
• MotherDuck: $16,000 of MotherDuck for $8,000. Less than $5M in funding (bootstrapped welcome), fewer than 20 employees, new customer or existing Free plan user, active website. Checked 26 October 2026.

Productivity & collaboration

• Retool: 1 year free Team or Business (up to $60k). Bootstrapped, angel, debt, pre-seed, seed or Series A; under $10M total raised; founded in last 10 years; new customer. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Make: Up to 6 months free Teams plan. Funding up to $5M, working company email and website, new Make customer, not selling automation as a service. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Miro: $500 Miro credit. Free Miro account plus a short eligibility questionnaire (criteria not published) Checked 26 October 2026.
• n8n: 50% off n8n Business for a year. Fewer than 20 employees and less than EUR 5M total funding. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Notion: 1 to 3 months free Notion Business + AI. Non-paying Notion customer, under 100 employees, valid business website and company-domain email, no previous Notion promotions. Teams under 10, solo founders and service businesses get 1 month; 6 months needs a startup partner. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Slack: 50% off Slack for 3 months. Must buy Pro/Business+ online within 7 days of creating the team; not annual plans; one per customer; can't combine. Checked 26 October 2026.

Sales & marketing

• Infobip: Up to $60,000 Infobip credits. Formal criteria not published; the programme says it supports startups regardless of location, industry or backing. Assessed on application. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Apollo.io: 50% off Apollo for 12 months. Fewer than 20 employees, no existing Apollo subscription, valid company domain, and affiliation with an Apollo startup ecosystem partner (unaffiliated founders can still apply and Apollo follows up) Checked 26 October 2026.
• Customer.io: Up to 12 months free Startup plan. Raised less than $10M total; contact lists not purchased; never been a Customer.io customer. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Help Scout: 6 months free Help Scout Plus. New Help Scout customer; incorporated tech startup under 2 years old; ARR under $1M. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Intercom: 93% off Intercom year 1. Up to $10M in funding, fewer than 15 employees, not currently an Intercom customer. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Typeform: Up to 75% off Business. Not already a paying Typeform customer; total funding under $5M; under 50 employees; company under 5 years old. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Zendesk: 6 months free Zendesk Suite. New Zendesk customers only; under 250 employees (50+ must be partner-referred); raised no more than Series B ('bootstrapped is OK'); tech or tech-enabled; under 10 years old. Checked 26 October 2026.

Finance, legal & HR

• Brex: $350k+ in partner discounts. US incorporation, US EIN, US operations and US address required; funded startups need $50K minimum cash balance (lower via some partners); unfunded startups can still apply for a daily-payments account. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Stripe: Delaware company for $500 + $2,500 credits. Anyone forming a US company via Atlas; $500 fee (refunded if $5,000 deposited to Stripe Treasury within 90 days), $100/yr registered agent after year 1. Checked 26 October 2026.
• HitPay: Fee-free APAC local payments for 12 months (up to $12k). Startups from Y Combinator, Antler, Iterative, a16z Speedrun or other leading accelerators building for or expanding into APAC; bootstrapped and venture-backed both eligible; no funding-stage or incorporation requirement. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Oyster: Save up to $1,200 per hire. Pre-seed, seed or Series A funded, or bootstrapped with under 50 employees; no minimum hires; request discount at sign-up. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Aspire: Up to SG$2,000 cash bonus + perks. Open an Aspire business account; the page states no funding-stage requirement; extra perks for YC and Antler-backed startups. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Carta: Free cap table and SAFEs. Less than $1M raised and 25 stakeholders or fewer; needs email and certificate of incorporation. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Deel: Free US payroll for founders. Founder payroll: US payroll founders; 5 free seats need at least $500K raised, verifiable on Crunchbase. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Dodo Payments: Up to 12 months of free Dodo credits. Early-stage startups from bootstrapped through Series B selling SaaS, AI or digital products internationally, growing quickly or with first revenue; existing customers reviewed case by case; standard business verification. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Firstbase: $350,000+ in perks with Firstbase. Firstbase customers (form a US company or use Firstbase services); perk details sit behind sign-in. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Mercury: 274 partner perks + free banking. Open a Mercury account (free); company must be registered in the US with some US operations; non-US founders allowed except from restricted countries. Not available to founders who live in Indonesia: Mercury goes by country of residence. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Polar: Polar Scale tier free for 12 months. Early-stage startups building digital products (SaaS, AI, developer tools); typically under 50 people and raised less than $5M; reviewed case by case. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Ramp: $350K+ perks with Ramp cards. Open a Ramp account. Ramp's card disclosures cover US corporations (operating globally), Canada, the UK and Ireland. Accelerator partners may be pre-qualified. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Xero: 80% off Xero for 3 months. Customers in Singapore buying their first Xero organisation with code DC8032614GL; base plans only. Checked 26 October 2026.

Questions

Can a bootstrapped startup get startup credits?

Yes. 76 of the 113 open programmes we track accept a company with no outside funding, including Brex, Huawei Cloud, Microsoft, Mixpanel and Alibaba Cloud. The largest tiers usually need investor or accelerator backing, so bootstrapped companies often get a smaller amount.

Can a bootstrapped startup get Amazon Web Services's startup deal?

Yes. Self-funded/bootstrapped, pre-Series B, founded in last 10 years, AWS account on a paid tier plan, new to Activate credits. Checked 26 October 2026 on Amazon Web Services's own page.

Can a bootstrapped startup get Google Cloud's startup deal?

Yes. Start: founded in past 2 years, working MVP, clear business model, plans to seek venture funding. Scale tiers: verifiable pre-seed to Series A venture funding. Checked 26 October 2026 on Google Cloud's own page.

Can a bootstrapped startup get Microsoft's startup deal?

Yes. Early-stage B2B startups, pre-seed to Series B, building software/AI/tech, privately held, independent, MVP or working toward it. LinkedIn verification on the no-code path. Checked 26 October 2026 on Microsoft's own page.

Can a bootstrapped startup get Cloudflare's startup deal?

Yes. Founded within 10 years, funded up to Series B, live website, active LinkedIn/X/GitHub, domain-matching business email, first-time applicant. Tier 3 = bootstrapped/self-funded under $1M raised. Checked 26 October 2026 on Cloudflare's own page.

Can a bootstrapped startup get Stripe's startup deal?

Yes. Anyone forming a US company via Atlas; $500 fee (refunded if $5,000 deposited to Stripe Treasury within 90 days), $100/yr registered agent after year 1. Checked 26 October 2026 on Stripe's own page.

Can a bootstrapped startup get Notion's startup deal?

Yes. Non-paying Notion customer, under 100 employees, valid business website and company-domain email, no previous Notion promotions. Teams under 10, solo founders and service businesses get 1 month; 6 months needs a startup partner. Checked 26 October 2026 on Notion's own page.

How were these checked?

Each programme was read on the company's own page, most recently on 26 October 2026. Claim links are tested monthly and anything not re-read in 45 days is re-checked by hand.