30 programmes that give Indian startups cloud, AI and software credits, open all year. Last checked 6 Oct.
Servers, storage and hosting.
Amazon Web Services
Up to $200K AWS Activate credits
Founders tier: $1,000, up to $5,000. Portfolio tier: up to $200K. AI startups ready to scale: $200K+, by invitation.
Pre-Series B, founded within 10 years, paid-tier AWS account. Portfolio tier needs an Org ID from a VC, accelerator or angel.
India: Yes. Apply online. DPIIT-recognised startups can claim $5,000 through Startup India's Activate Provider ID.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Google Cloud
Up to $350K Google Cloud credits for AI-first startups ($200K standard)
Scale tier: up to $200K over 2 years, up to $350K for AI-first startups. Start tier: $2,000 for pre-funded startups.
Scale and AI tiers: pre-seed to Series A, founded within 5 years. Start tier: under 24 months old with a working MVP.
India: Yes. Google Cloud India Private Limited is the contracting entity in India; apply online with a billing account ID.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Microsoft
Up to $150K Azure startup credits
Azure credits start at once and unlock up to $150K over time with verified progress and Azure use, plus AI tools and support.
Private for-profit with its own software product; not Series C or later; under $350K lifetime free Azure credits; no agencies.
India: Yes, if headquartered where Azure is available (it runs in India). Apply online.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Cloudflare
Up to $350K Cloudflare credits, valid one year
Credits for one year: $10K (Tier 3), $100K (Tier 2), $350K (Tier 1), plus free core security and network features.
Founded within 10 years, up to Series B, public website. Tiers 1 and 2 need a Cloudflare partner investor; Tier 1 needs $5M+ raised.
India: Open online; no country limit stated. Cloudflare reviews applications within about 48 hours.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
DigitalOcean
Up to $100K DigitalOcean compute credits for 12 months (AI/ML startups)
12 months of credits (blog: up to $100K for AI/ML startups), 15 months of Standard support. GPU credits need a separate review.
Raised $10M or less, company site and email, new DigitalOcean team account. AI-native preferred; agencies not eligible.
India: Open online, with or without a partner. Startup India's DPIIT route gives a smaller $1,000 credit.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Oracle
OCI credits.
Registered tech startups that are not already OCI customers and will run workloads on OCI. Public bodies are excluded.
India: Unconfirmed. Oracle India's page lists only Free Tier ($300 for 30 days), not a startup credit programme.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Unconfirmed: The USD 5,000 to 100,000 range is from Oracle's Latin America rules.
Akamai
Up to $120K Akamai Cloud credits in year one
$500 to $120,000 in cloud credits in year one, then discounted cloud in years two and three, plus engineer and account support.
For-profit, under 7 years old, new to Rise, Akamai Cloud as a main provider. SaaS, media and gaming preferred; no resellers.
India: Yes. India is in the application's country list. Needs a new Akamai Cloud account with a credit card.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Render
Up to $100K Render credits, valid one year (AI tier)
Founder credit $500; partner tiers $2.5K to $5K; Scale tier $10K to $25K; AI tier $100K. All credits valid one year.
New customer, Series A or earlier, under $50M raised. AI tier needs $2.5M+ from an enrolled top VC and a firm under 4 years old.
India: Open online; no country limit stated. Higher tiers need an accelerator or VC partner.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Vercel
Up to $30K Vercel Flexible Commitment Amount
Up to $30,000 in Flexible Commitment Amount, Enterprise-tier access and startup support on Vercel.
Eligible teams only; Vercel publishes no stage or funding rules. The form asks company size, website and country.
India: India is in the form's country list; no country limit stated.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Model APIs, inference and GPU time.
NVIDIA
Free programme: cloud credits from NVIDIA and partners, preferred hardware pricing, training and VC introductions.
Incorporated, under 10 years old, one developer and a website. Not for consultancies, resellers, cloud providers or crypto firms.
India: Open online; the page states no country limit. No funding is needed.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Anthropic
Free Claude API credits and the highest rate limits while on credits, plus events and early news.
Institutional equity funding, founded within 4 years, no earlier Anthropic startup credits. Needs a Claude Console account.
India: Open online; no country limit stated. Anthropic opened a Bengaluru office in February 2026.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
OpenAI
Free API credits, rate-limit upgrades and engineer time for startups of partner VCs.
Backed by a partner VC (page names Thrive, Sequoia, a16z, Kleiner Perkins, Conviction) and holding its referral code.
India: No India route listed. Indian startups qualify only through a partner VC, so ask your lead investor.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
E2E Networks (India)
Up to $100K (₹1 Cr) GPU cloud credits
Explorer: $5K free credits. Builder: up to $50K. Scaler: up to $100K as usage-based discounts, on H200 and H100 GPUs.
AI/ML startups with GPU needs. Explorer: 10 or fewer staff. Builder needs $2M raised and Scaler $5M. VC backing not required.
India: Yes. Indian provider with GPU capacity in Delhi NCR and Chennai; open to startups in any country.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Together AI
Up to $50K Together AI platform credits
Platform credits by funding tier: up to $15K, $30K or $50K, plus 3 to 10 free hours of engineering. Not valid on reserved GPU clusters.
Selection-based. Tier set by funds raised: Build up to $5M, Scale $5M to $10M, Grow over $10M.
India: Open online; no country limit stated.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Baseten
Up to $25K Baseten credits for dedicated inference or training
Up to $25,000 for Dedicated Inference or Training and up to $2,500 for Model APIs, plus go-to-market help.
AI-core startups at seed to Series A, started under 5 years ago, never received Baseten credits.
India: Open online; no country limit stated.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Databases, analytics, monitoring and code.
MongoDB
Atlas credits and Voyage AI tokens, a technical session and support, in four tiers (Inspire, Grow, Innovate, Scale).
Under 7 years old, Series A or earlier, one software product, active website and LinkedIn. VC or accelerator referral optional.
India: Open online; India is in the application's HQ country list. Ask a VC or accelerator for a referral.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
GitHub
$10K GitHub credits for up to 12 months
Credits across GitHub Enterprise, Copilot, Advanced Security and Actions, for up to 12 months, with onboarding and office hours.
Linked to a GitHub for Startups partner, funded up to Series B, new to GitHub Enterprise for 6 months, no earlier credits.
India: Open through partners; any investor, incubator or accelerator can join as one. No country limit stated.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Mixpanel
1 year free Mixpanel Startup Plan (1 billion events a year)
First year free on the Startup Plan: 1 billion events, 500,000 Session Replays, Experiments, Feature Flags and all add-ons.
Incorporated under 5 years ago, raised no more than $8M, never a paying Mixpanel customer. Must send data within 90 days.
India: Open online; no country limit stated.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
PostHog
$50K PostHog credits for 12 months
$50,000 in PostHog credits for 12 months plus $12,000 in partner perks. Credits exclude AI tools such as PostHog AI from 14 Sep 2026.
Company under 2 years old, raised under $5M, PostHog account on a company email domain, signed up from 1 January 2023.
India: Open online; no country limit stated.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Databricks
Up to $200K Databricks and Neon credits
Credits across Databricks and Neon, plus hands-on technical help and go-to-market support. Programme relaunched 16 June 2026.
Venture-backed early-stage startups building on data and AI; aimed at pre-seed to Series A with institutional funding.
India: Open online; no country limit stated.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Datadog
Up to $100K Datadog credits for one year
Up to a year of the full Datadog platform with up to $100K in credits. Confirm acceptance within 30 days or it lapses.
Series A or earlier, new to Datadog, referred by an official partner (VC, accelerator or cloud startup programme). No direct applications.
India: Open through partners; no country limit stated.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Retool
Up to $60K of Retool free for one year
Retool Team or Business plan 100% off for one year (value up to $60K), then 25% off the following year.
Bootstrapped to Series A, under $10M raised, founded within 10 years. New customer on a monthly Team or Business plan.
India: Open online; no country limit stated.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Workspace, sales, support and payments.
Notion
Up to 6 months free Notion Business plan with Notion AI
Business plan with Notion AI free for 6, 3 or 1 month by startup status. Notion puts the top value at $12,000 for 100 staff.
Non-paying Notion workspace, under 100 staff, company email. 6 months needs a partner link; under 10 staff gets 1 month.
India: Open online; no country limit stated. Razorpay's startup perks also include 6 months of Notion.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
HubSpot
90% off HubSpot Professional or Enterprise in year one
90% off year one, 50% off year two, 25% off year three on new Professional or Enterprise products. 30% and 15% off for others.
90% tier: pre-seed to Series A, partner-backed or verified venture funding. 30% tier: linked to an approved startup organisation.
India: Open online; 4,000+ partner organisations, no country limit stated.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Intercom
93% off Intercom in year one, plus 1 year of Fin
93% off year one, 50% off year two, 25% off year three, with 300 Fin outcomes in year one. Helpdesk from $33 a month.
Up to $10M raised, fewer than 15 employees, not a current Intercom customer. Years 2 and 3 need staying on the programme.
India: Open online; no country limit stated. Phone, SMS and WhatsApp are billed at list price.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Atlassian
Free for 12 months Atlassian Premium, up to 50 users
Premium Cloud products at $0 for 12 months for up to 50 users; Jira Product Discovery gets 10 free creators.
VC-funded or tied to a partner accelerator or incubator, under US$10M raised, not an existing paid Atlassian customer.
India: Open online; no country limit stated. One 12-month period per startup.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Zoho
Up to ₹1.86 lakhs Zoho Wallet Credits
₹1 lakh in Zoho Wallet Credits after validation, plus ₹86K more if you host your domain with Zoho. Credits valid 360 days.
DPIIT-recognised or with a Zoho partner incubator; no paid Zoho history. Tax-exempt, award or seed-fund startups: up to ₹3 lakh.
India: Yes. Live in India; built around Startup India's DPIIT recognition.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Freshworks
Up to $10,000 Freshworks credits, per Startup India's page
Startup India lists $10,000 in Freshworks credits for tax-exempt startups and $4,000 for DPIIT-recognised ones, on Estate plans.
DPIIT-recognised ($4,000) or tax-exempt ($10,000) startups. Credits must be used within one year of starting a paid plan.
India: Listed by Startup India, but Freshworks' own sign-up link now redirects to its general partners page.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Unconfirmed: Freshworks' own startup page and the sign-up link on Startup India now redirect to its partners page, so the programme may be closed.
Razorpay
₹1Cr in startup benefits (payment credits and SaaS perks)
VC-funded: up to ₹30L domestic and ₹20L international payment credits plus ₹50L SaaS benefits. Angel-funded: ₹3L, ₹3L and ₹20L.
Registered in India, VC or angel funded with proof, new Razorpay merchant. Payment credits last 3 months from activation.
India: India only: must be registered and operating in India.
Checked 6 Oct · official source
Zendesk
Up to 2 years free Zendesk Suite for up to 50 agents
Zendesk Suite free for 6 months for all accepted startups; 1 to 2 years via a VC or accelerator partner. Up to 50 agents.
New customers with outside funding (angel to Series B), under 10 years old, under 250 staff (50 or fewer without a partner referral).
India: Yes. Zendesk runs an India page for the offer; apply online.
Checked 6 Oct · official source