Why look beyond the big three
We already compare the main cloud programmes in Google, AWS and Azure credits for AI startups. This article is about the others: GPU clouds, inference platforms, European cloud credits, and a couple of model APIs.
These are still promotional credits against a provider's own bill, not cash. You usually need a company, a website and a business email, and unused credit expires. Our compute credits guide covers expiry and "up to" wording in general.
GPU and inference platforms
- Runpod. The official startup page now has three tiers, which is more specific than some older summaries. Starter is $1,000 in credits if you have raised under $1 million. Venture is $5,000 if you are backed by a verified VC (the page currently names a16z, Neo and South Park Commons) and have raised under $5 million. Growth Track is not free credit: you commit $25,000 and receive $10,000 extra, or commit $50,000 and receive $25,000 extra. Credits expire one year after they are issued. Existing customers are not eligible for the free Starter or Venture credits.
- Together AI Startup Accelerator: up to $15,000 if you have raised up to $5 million, $30,000 if you have raised $5–10 million, or $50,000 if you have raised more than $10 million, plus a set number of forward-deployed engineering hours. Credits do not apply to Reserved GPU Clusters.
- Modal for Startups: free GPU credits for new Modal customers. The organiser does not publish a dollar amount (the page says "thousands"). Credits are a one-time grant per tier. The standard path is seed to Series A with more than $1 million of VC funding, or backing from a partner VC; there is a custom path above $30 million or post-Series B.
- NVIDIA Inception: a free membership, with no application fees, deadlines or cohorts, for incorporated startups under 10 years old. Cloud credits from NVIDIA and partners are requested separately in the member portal. The public page does not state a credit amount, so we do not quote one.
Broader cloud and data platforms
- Cloudflare for Startups: $10K, $100K or $350K in credits for a year, by stage. The $10,000 tier is for bootstrapped companies or those that have raised under $1 million; $100,000 and $350,000 need funding from an affiliated partner, at under $5 million and $5 million-plus raised respectively. Credits last one year or until they are used. Two exclusions matter for AI teams: from 1 December 2026, Workers AI is not covered for incoming startups, and AI Gateway is not covered. R2 object storage is capped at $10,000.
- Databricks for Startups: Up to $200K in credits for Databricks and Neon. The official page does not publish tighter eligibility than "qualifying startups"; you can apply directly or ask an investor to refer you.
- OVHcloud Startup Program: a 12-month Start level with €10,000 of free cloud credits and six hours with an engineer, and a 12-month Scale level with up to €100,000 and up to 20 engineer hours.
Model and API credits
- ElevenLabs Grants: 12 months of free access to the ElevenLabs platform (up to 33M text characters). Applications are rolling, a decision is promised within a week, and the programme is for startups or companies with fewer than 25 employees and a monetisation plan. Agencies, consulting firms and existing enterprise customers are excluded, as are products for children aged 18 or under.
- Grok for Startups: Credits sized to ~six months of realistic usage across Grok, Grok Build, Grok Bot and the Grok API (amount varies). Eligibility on the listing is venture backing, a live product, and a company email that matches your website. The amount is not a published lump sum.
Researcher-facing API credits, such as OpenAI and Anthropic programmes, are covered in Free API and model credits for AI researchers.
What to check before you apply
- Whether the credit is a gift or a bonus on a spend commitment, as with Runpod's Growth Track.
- What the credits cannot be used on. Cloudflare's Workers AI exclusion from 1 December 2026 is a live example.
- How long they last. One year from issue is common (Cloudflare, Runpod, OVHcloud's 12-month levels, ElevenLabs).
- Whether you can stack this with AWS, Google or Azure, or whether one programme needs an org ID from another, as NVIDIA Inception members sometimes do for AWS Activate.
Open programmes are on our compute credits list.
