AWS (Amazon Web Services): free credits and offers
Best offer on record: AWS Free plan (new-account credits: $100 base + up to $100 earned, 6-month window). 90 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Live check of “AWS Activate / AWS for Startups — up to $200,000 in credits + partner offers”:Confirmed
AWS Activate (AWS for Startups) still advertises "up to $200,000 USD in Activate Credits," but that ceiling is only the Activate Portfolio tier, which requires an Org ID from an AWS Activate Provider (VC, accelerator or angel investor) plus pre-Series B status, founding within the last 10 years and an AWS account on the Paid Tier plan; self-funded startups get the Activate Founders tier at $1,000 initially and up to $5,000, while an invite-only "AWS Credits for AI Startups" tier offers $200,000+. Applications were open to new applicants as of 2026-10-22 (live "Apply now" flow, 5-10 business day decision, no posted end date), and credits are issued in USD under the AWS Promotional Credit Terms & Conditions alongside provider partner offers such as Kiro Startup Credits.
Live check of “AWS Activate Program (flagship startup credit program; the VC/accelerator-funded front):…”:Confirmed
AWS Activate's provider-backed Activate Portfolio tier is advertised as up to $200,000 in AWS Activate Credits (raised from $100,000 in June 2026), open on a rolling basis to pre-Series B startups founded in the last 10 years that hold an Org ID from an Activate Provider (VC, angel investor or accelerator) and have not already received equal or greater Activate credits; self-funded startups instead get up to $5,000 via Activate Founders ($1,000 to start), with applications reviewed in 5-10 business days. Provider-specific packages vary in size (e.g. $100,000 at seed stage), and credits expire per the AWS Promotional Credit Terms rather than a fixed published term.
Live check of “AWS Activate Founders tier (self-serve; $1,000 start, up to $5,000)”:Confirmed
AWS's official Activate Credits page lists a self-serve "Activate Founders" tier for self-funded startups that awards up to $5,000 USD in credits, with the footnote "Start with $1,000 USD in Activate Credits. Select participants may qualify for additional credits up to $5,000." Eligibility is pre-Series B, founded within the last 10 years, an AWS account on a Paid Tier Plan, and either new to Activate Credits or requesting more than previously received; applications are open ("Apply here") as of October 2026, with decisions in 5-10 business days.
AWS Free plan (new-account credits: $100 base + up to $100 earned, 6-month window) high confidence
As of 2026 AWS replaced the classic 12-month per-service free tier with a Free plan vs Paid plan model. New accounts are auto-enrolled in the Free plan and get $100 in AWS credits immediately, plus up to $100 more earned by completing 'Explore AWS' activities (up to $200 total). The Free plan runs at no cost for up to 6 months or until credits run out, whichever comes first, and the account closes automatically. Base credits expire 6 months from account creation; activity-earned credits expire 12 months; if you upgrade to the Paid plan remaining credits apply to bills and expire 12 months after account creation. 30+ 'always free' services with monthly caps remain on both plans. A payment method is NOT required to sign up for most new customers (a major change from the old credit-card-required model). Credits are USD, non-transferable between accounts, and can offset usage on eligible services including Amazon Bedrock model invocations and AI/ML workloads. Featured Bedrock access on the Free plan; Amazon Bedrock AgentCore is listed as a Paid-plan-exclusive service.
Eligibility
Any new AWS account (personal or business). No .edu requirement, no funding criteria, no credit card required for most customers. Free plan restricts access to a subset of services; Paid plan allows a monthly spend limit starting at $20.
How to claim
1) Create a new AWS account (auto-enrolls in Free plan, no payment method needed for most customers) -> 2) $100 credits are applied on signup -> 3) Complete Explore AWS activities in the console to earn up to $100 more -> 4) Use credits on eligible services incl. Bedrock within the 6-month window -> 5) Optionally upgrade to Paid plan; remaining credits roll onto invoices until 12-month expiry.
Expiry
Base $100 credits: 6 months from account creation. Earned up to $100: 12 months from account creation. Free plan itself auto-closes 6 months after account open or when credits are exhausted. No renewal or extension; credits cannot be transferred.
Gotchas
Trial-vs-free confusion: this is a 6-month credit window, NOT the old 12-month tier. Once upgraded to the Paid plan you CANNOT downgrade back to Free. Legacy per-service allowances (EC2 750 hrs, S3 5 GB, Bedrock free-token lists) no longer appear in the new structure. Data transfer/egress and some advanced features may be excluded or Paid-plan-only. The old Bedrock 12-month free-token offer is gone from the free-tier FAQ and docs (see sunset notes). Credits only offset eligible services - check the Free Tier Categories list.
AWS Activate Founders tier (self-serve; $1,000 start, up to $5,000) high confidence
The self-serve AWS Activate tier. $1,000 in AWS Activate Credits to start; select startups may qualify for additional credits up to $5,000 over time. Credits (USD, subject to AWS Promotional Credit T&Cs) can offset 200+ eligible AWS services including third-party foundation models on Amazon Bedrock (Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Mistral AI, Meta, etc.) via a single API. Application is reviewed within 5-10 business days.
Eligibility
Self-funded / bootstrapped (no VC or accelerator backing needed). Must be: new to AWS Activate Credits, have a fully functioning company website, founded in the past 10 years, Pre-Series B, and have an AWS account on a Paid Tier plan (note: the new paid-plan requirement means the free-plan-only account must be upgraded). No .edu requirement. Business email matching the startup domain is required for the application.
How to claim
1) Create/verify an AWS Builder ID (personal email) -> 2) Complete the one-time AWS Activate profile with your business email -> 3) Choose the Founders tier -> 4) Provide startup details (product, funding stage, company profile) -> 5) Link an AWS account (on Paid plan) and submit -> 6) Hear back in 5-10 business days. Apply at https://aws.amazon.com/startups/credits/ ('Apply here' / 'Join now' on https://aws.amazon.com/startups/).
Expiry
Promotional credits: no public per-tier expiry stated on the credits page today; AWS has said Activate credits generally expire in 1-3 years depending on package (the $200K-class credits are on 3-year expiry per the 2024 announcement). Credits are in USD, subject to Promotional Credit T&Cs, non-transferable.
Gotchas
Only $1,000 is guaranteed; the $5,000 extension is selective. 'New to Activate Credits' - you cannot re-claim unless you are requesting more than previously received. Egress/data-transfer and some fees may be excluded from promotional credits (check the credits FAQ 'What is not covered'). Requiring a Paid-plan AWS account means a card/payment setup may be needed at the account level even though the Free plan itself needs no payment method.
AWS Activate Portfolio tier (provider-backed; up to $200,000) high confidence
Up to $200,000 in AWS Activate Credits (the tier ceiling was $100,000 until the June 2024 doubling for Series A-stage startups; the credits page now lists a single Portfolio tier up to $200,000). Usable on 200+ services including third-party Bedrock models (Anthropic, OpenAI, Mistral, Meta, etc.), and can also be applied to Developer/Business AWS Support Plans. Program has provided $8B+ in credits to 350,000+ startups since 2013.
Eligibility
Pre-Series B (most recent funding round within the last 12 months, if applicable), founded in the past 10 years, fully functioning company website, AWS account on a Paid Tier plan, new to Activate Credits or requesting more than previously received, AND an Organization ID (Org ID) from an AWS Activate Provider (VC firm, accelerator, incubator or angel group in the AWS network - e.g. YC, Sequoia, a16z, Greylock). Apply within 12 months of your most recent funding date.
How to claim
1) Confirm your VC/accelerator/angel is an AWS Activate Provider and obtain their Org ID -> 2) Create AWS Builder ID + complete Activate profile with business email -> 3) Choose Portfolio tier and enter the provider's Org ID (or use a direct provider invite) -> 4) Link AWS account and submit at https://aws.amazon.com/startups/credits/ -> 5) Reviewed in 5-10 business days; approved credits are added to your AWS account.
Expiry
The $200K credit package expires 3 years from issuance (per the June 2024 change; previously the $100K package expired in 1 year). USD, subject to Promotional Credit T&Cs, non-transferable.
Gotchas
You cannot apply yourself without a provider's Org ID or invite - a consulting partner cannot file it for you. 'Within 12 months of your latest funding date' is a hard window. Credits cannot be sold or transferred; check the 'not covered' list (data transfer and some support fees historically excluded, though Support Plan application is permitted). The old ~$100K ceiling is outdated in most third-party guides.
AWS Credits for AI Startups (invite-only; $200,000+) high confidence
A new tier launched with the 2026 credits-page redesign: $200,000+ in AWS Credits for AI startups 'ready to scale' beyond the Activate tiers. No open application exists - it is invite-only and accessed by talking to your AWS Account Manager. Additional credits beyond Activate are explicitly marketed for AI startups building on Amazon Bedrock (funding models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Mistral, Meta, etc.).
Eligibility
Startups that have already gone through Activate Portfolio and are ready to scale (AI-focused). No public age/funding/.edu criteria published; eligibility is determined case-by-case by the account team. No credit-card specifics published (linked to the existing AWS account).
How to claim
No self-serve claim. 1) Be an AWS Activate participant (Portfolio tier) -> 2) Contact your AWS Account Manager (or use 'If you need additional support, contact us' on https://aws.amazon.com/startups/credits/) -> 3) AWS reviews and issues credits to your AWS account.
Expiry
Not published today; by analogy with the $200K Activate package, 3-year expiry is expected but unconfirmed. USD, promotional T&Cs apply.
Gotchas
Invite-only means no guaranteed outcome or timeline; it is not a free product - it is a promotional credit negotiation. Amounts are not fixed ('$200,000+' is a floor, not a promise).
Kiro Startup Credits (up to a year of Kiro Pro+ credits; Starter/Growth/Scale tiers) high confidence
New AWS Kiro agentic-IDE credit offer (linked from the AWS credits page: 'Start building on day one... Start with Kiro Startup Credits, then grow into Activate Credits'). Up to one year's worth of Kiro Pro+ credits in three tiers by team size: Starter (up to 2 Kiro users), Growth (up to 10 users), Scale (up to 30 users). Credits expire 1 year after issuance to your AWS account; they cannot be refunded, re-issued, transferred or sold. Separately, Kiro main offers a $20 credit when you first sign up for a paid Kiro plan via social login or Builder ID.
Eligibility
Early-stage through Series A startups, global. Requires an official business email on the startup's own domain AND an AWS Account ID using a matching email. EXCLUDED REGIONS: Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, China/GCR, Cuba, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Mexico, North Korea, Poland, Russia, Spain, Syria, Crimea, DNR, LNR, UAE. Startups with active AWS Activate Credits are NOT eligible for this promotion (though Activate credits can still be applied toward Kiro). No .edu requirement.
How to claim
1) Sign in with your AWS account -> 2) Apply via 'Apply for startup credits' (routes to https://aws.amazon.com/startups/credits/kiro) -> 3) Rolling review; decision by email -> 4) Approved credits are automatically added to your AWS account and activate immediately (no deferral) -> 5) To use them, log into Kiro via AWS IAM Identity Center (Kiro Enterprise) - social login (GitHub/Google) and Builder ID do NOT work with startup credits. After credits run out, standard Kiro Pro+ billing applies.
Expiry
Credits expire 1 year from date of issuance to the AWS account. One application per startup at a time; re-application allowed only if eligibility status changed after a rejection. After 12 months of credit consumption you move to paid Kiro Pro+.
Gotchas
The excluded-region list is long (much of the EU/MEA/APAC). Activation cannot be deferred, so issuance date = countdown start. Company-level credit pool shared only among authorized users of associated accounts. It is mutually exclusive with holding active AWS Activate Credits.
Kiro Student Offer (1,000 credits/month free for 12 months) high confidence
Kiro's student program: 1,000 Kiro credits per month at no cost for one full year, explicitly 'no credit card required'. After the year, the account auto-downgrades to the public Kiro free tier (projects/specs stay on your machine and repos; no discounted paid plan for students). 1,000 is the Kiro credit unit for model usage (Kiro Pro+ is its paid tier).
Eligibility
Enrolled student at one of ~150+ listed eligible universities (US-centric: MIT, CMU, NYU, Georgia Tech, ASU, etc., plus international). Account must use a university-affiliated email (.edu, .ca or equivalent) via Google, GitHub, or AWS Builder ID. Must be at least 18 years old. If your school isn't listed you can submit your university email through a 'Don't see your school listed?' form and Kiro may reach out later.
How to claim
1) Create or log into a Kiro account using your university email -> 2) On the account usage page, a banner appears if eligible; click verify and complete a SheerID check (first/last name, DOB, university; sometimes student ID or enrollment letter) -> 3) Once verified, the 1,000 credits/month activate automatically.
Expiry
12 months from verification, then auto-downgrade to the public free tier. Credits do NOT roll over between monthly cycles; hitting the 1,000 cap means waiting for the next cycle; no add-on credit purchases on the student tier.
Gotchas
No rollover of unused monthly credits; the ~150-university list is the real gate (many schools not included); SheerID can delay activation; after year one there is no student discount - only the base free tier. This is Kiro (agentic IDE credits for coding with frontier models, incl. Claude-class models), NOT Amazon Bedrock API access - for direct Bedrock API use, the AWS Free plan credits or Activate credits are the path.
AWS Academy (education license - free courses, not cloud credits) low confidence
AWS Academy is AWS's education program (successor to AWS Educate, renamed ~2021) giving students and educators free structured AWS courses, hands-on labs via partner platforms, and discount pathways toward certification. It is a training/education license: it does NOT include AWS credits, Bedrock access, or LLM free tiers - students who want actual Bedrock usage must use the AWS Free plan, Activate, or Kiro offers above. (Could not be re-verified live today: https://aws.amazon.com/academy/ returned 404 and the training sub-page was unreachable; details from general knowledge.)
Eligibility
Open to students and teachers at partner institutions; typically .edu/institutional affiliation or partnership enrollment (e.g., via AWS Academy Accelerate Your Career or institutional programs). No credit card needed for the free learning content.
How to claim
1) Enroll through your institution's AWS Academy partnership or an open course on the AWS Academy/Skill Builder platform -> 2) Complete free courses -> 3) Certifications and advanced access are paid or partner-subsidized.
Expiry
N/A - ongoing educational access; no credit expiry because no credits are granted.
Gotchas
Not an LLM offer at all - it is courses/labs. Do not confuse with free Bedrock or Kiro student credits. Institutional access rules vary by country/partner.
AWS Free Account (new credit-based Free plan) — the restructured AWS Free Tier high confidence
New AWS accounts automatically enter a credit-based Free plan: $100 USD credits at sign-up + up to $100 more earned by activating foundational services = up to $200 total, spendable across 90+ services. Free plan runs up to 6 months (account auto-closes at 6 months or when credits run out, whichever is first). 30+ services also have recurring 'Always Free' monthly limits on both plans. On the Paid-plan path, the same credits are valid for up to 12 months from account creation. Free-plan accounts are migrated from the legacy usage-based 12-month Free Tier for accounts created on/after July 15, 2025; a new sign-up experience launched October 2026 (older accounts still use the legacy credits console view).
Eligibility
New AWS customers only (existing/previous account holders excluded). No .edu requirement; open to students and startups alike. Payment method NOT required to sign up for most new customers, but AWS may request a payment method or extra info to verify identity. Unavailable in China (Beijing and Ningxia) regions and AWS GovCloud (US) (with a note that some services such as Lambda are exceptions in GovCloud).
How to claim
1) Create a new AWS (Builder ID) account via the registration portal — Free plan is selected automatically; 2) use the $100 signup credit, then earn up to $100 more by activating foundational services (credits appear in billing console within ~30 min); 3) optionally upgrade to Paid (remaining credits become bill credits expiring 12 months post-creation).
Expiry
Free-plan credits: 6 months from account opening or exhaustion, whichever first; account then suspends, data retained 90 days, then account and data permanently erased if not upgraded. Paid-path credits: 12 months from account creation. No renewal; downgrading Paid back to Free is not allowed.
Gotchas
Legacy 12-month per-service Free Tier no longer exists for new accounts. Activating 'advanced features' is irreversible and voids remaining earnable credits; joining an AWS Organization or deploying a Control Tower landing zone immediately voids remaining earnable credits. Paid-only services are excluded from the Free plan. After 6 months the account closes itself — you lose access to resources/data unless you upgrade within the 90-day grace window. Egress/data transfer and overages beyond limits are paid.
AWS Activate — Founders tier (self-funded/bootsrap startups) high confidence
$1,000 in AWS Activate credits guaranteed; select participants may qualify for up to $5,000 over time. Credits apply to 200+ AWS services (compute, RDS, DynamoDB, S3, CloudFront) and Amazon Bedrock, so founders can evaluate/customize/deploy third-party models from OpenAI, Mistral AI, Anthropic, and Meta. Excluded: Mechanical Turk, AWS Managed Services, AWS Professional Services, AWS Training & Certification. Credits apply monthly to new usage, never retroactively. Application processed within 5-10 business days.
Eligibility
Self-funded/bootsrap startup (no VC backing needed), founded within the last 10 years, pre-Series B, AWS account on the Paid plan, either new to Activate credits or requesting more than previously received. No .edu or institutional requirement; professional email required for the Builder ID.
How to claim
1) Create an AWS Builder ID with a professional email; 2) select the Founders tier at /startups/join?destination=/credits/apply; 3) provide product, funding-stage and company-profile details; 4) link your AWS account to the Builder ID and submit; decisions in 5-10 business days.
Expiry
Credits 'usually expire within 1-2 years depending on the package' (official FAQ wording). No renewal, but you may reapply if you request a higher amount than previously approved and haven't hit the lifetime credit cap.
Gotchas
The extra $4,000 (up to $5,000) is discretionary ('select participants'), not guaranteed. Requires a Paid-plan AWS account, so expect a billing relationship even if credits cover usage. Credits don't cover AWS Professional/Managed Services or certification fees. $1,000-5,000 amounts are small vs the Portfolio tier — check provider-backed tracks first if you have accelerator/VC contact.
AWS Activate — Portfolio tier (VC/accelerator/angel-funded startups) high confidence
Up to $200,000 in AWS Activate credits for VC/accelerator/angel-backed startups, claimed with an Organization ID issued by the participating provider (network includes Andreessen Horowitz, Brex, Carta, Greylock, Sequoia, Y Combinator; 'thousands' of providers). Providers structure multi-step offers (FAQ example: $25K at pre-seed stepping up to $100K at seed; you receive the difference between tiers). Credits usable on 200+ services including Amazon Bedrock third-party models (OpenAI, Mistral, Anthropic, Meta).
Eligibility
Backed by an Activate Provider (VC, accelerator, angel investor, or enabling organization); founded within the last 10 years; pre-Series B (the /free/offers/ hub phrases it as 'up to and including Pre-Seed, Angel, Seed, Debt Finance, and Series A'); must apply within 12 months of the most recent funding date; affiliation with the provider must still be active; AWS account on Paid plan; new to Activate or requesting more than previously received.
How to claim
1) Get the provider's Organization ID from your VC/accelerator; 2) apply at /startups/join?destination=/credits/apply selecting Portfolio tier and entering the Org ID; 3) submit company/funding details and link your AWS account; 4) response in 5-10 business days (offers hub says 7-10). Alternatively the provider portal can claim on your behalf.
Expiry
Per package, credits usually expire within 1-2 years (official FAQ). Reapply for a higher tier amount if you've raised further, as long as you're under the lifetime cap and still affiliated; you receive the difference between the old and new tier.
Gotchas
Without an active provider relationship you cannot access this tier (fall back to Founders). The /free/offers/ hub still shows the Activate range as '$1,000 to $100,000', contradicting the credits page/FAQ's $200,000 portfolio ceiling — the offers hub appears stale. Credits don't cover excluded services (Professional/Managed Services, Training & Certification) and never retroactively apply to past bills. Applying outside the 12-month post-funding window is not allowed.
AWS Credits for AI Startups (invite-only, above the $200K Portfolio cap) high confidence
$200,000+ in additional AWS credits, positioned for 'startups ready to scale post Activate Portfolio' — i.e., AI startups that have exhausted the Portfolio ceiling. Official FAQ wording: 'Additional AWS Credits above $200,000 are available for AI startups ready to scale beyond Activate's tiers.' Invite only; no public dollar figure beyond '200,000+'.
Eligibility
Invite-only; AI-focused startups already at/above the $200,000 Activate Portfolio ceiling (or approaching it). AWS reaches out; existing customers work through their Account Manager. No public self-serve application.
How to claim
No public claim path. Routes: (a) AWS outreach/invitation; (b) ask your AWS Account Manager or Activate provider about additional AI-startup credits; (c) the /startups/credits/ page routes AI-tier interest to the account-manager channel.
Expiry
Governed by the AWS Promotional Credit T&C; per the Activate FAQ, Activate credits generally burn down over 1-2 years depending on package. Exact expiry for the AI tier is not published.
Gotchas
Amount, eligibility thresholds and even the program's public name are not itemized on the credits page — treat specifics as account-manager-mediated. Do not confuse with Kiro credits or the Founders/Portfolio tiers. Credits still exclude AWS Professional/Managed Services.
Kiro startup credits (1 year of Kiro Pro+ IDE access) high confidence
Up to 12 months of Kiro Pro+ credits (AWS's agentic AI IDE) in three team tiers: Starter (up to 2 Kiro users), Growth (up to 10 users), Scale (up to 30 users). No USD figure published. Issued at the company level, so authorized users on associated AWS accounts can share it. Once exhausted, the account automatically switches to standard Kiro Pro+ billing.
Eligibility
Early-stage to Series A startups; a business email matching your company domain AND a matching AWS account ID. Startups with ACTIVE AWS Activate credits are NOT eligible (though existing Activate credits can be spent on Kiro). Regionally limited: available in most countries where AWS billing works, excluding Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, China regions, Cuba, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Mexico, North Korea, Poland, Russia, Spain, Syria, Crimea/DNR/LNR, and UAE.
How to claim
Apply through the AWS Startups portal at kiro.dev/startups (rolling review, email notification). On approval credits are automatically added to your AWS account; to use them you must log into Kiro via AWS IAM Identity Center (Kiro Enterprise) — GitHub/Google social login and AWS Builder ID will not work.
Expiry
Credits expire 1 year after issuance. One application per company; a rejected applicant whose eligibility later changes may reapply. No refund, reissue, transfer, or sale.
Gotchas
Marked 'for a limited time only' with no published end date. Choosing a plan above Pro+ or exceeding your tier's user cap triggers charges. If you're mid-Activate-credits, this offer is off the table (but your Activate credits already cover Kiro, so no loss).
Amazon RDS free database (legacy 12-month tier for accounts created before July 15, 2025) high confidence
For legacy accounts: up to 750 hours/month of a single-AZ instance on select database classes, across MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server (Express Edition only), plus 20 GB General Purpose SSD (gp2) storage and 20 GB automated backup storage per month, for up to 12 months. Usage aggregates across instance types. Accounts created on/after July 15, 2025 instead get the credit-based Free/Paid plans ($100 + up to $100) in place of this 12-month free database.
Eligibility
New AWS accounts created before July 15, 2025 (or existing legacy accounts still within their 12-month window). Not available in AWS GovCloud (US) or China (Beijing) regions. No extra eligibility gate beyond a new account.
How to claim
1) Create a new (pre-cutover) AWS account; 2) launch an eligible single-AZ RDS instance in an eligible engine; 3) stay within 750 instance-hours + 20 GB storage + 20 GB automated backup per month for 12 months. Nothing to activate — it applies automatically.
Expiry
12 months from account creation. After that, standard on-demand pricing. For post-cutover accounts, the equivalent benefit is the $100-200 account credit instead.
Gotchas
Single-AZ only (Multi-AZ is paid); SQL Server Express only for that engine; cross-AZ VPC traffic (EC2 in a different AZ than RDS) costs $0.01/GB in/out; backup storage beyond 20 GB is paid. Manual snapshots beyond the automated-backup allowance are charged. Don't rely on it: new accounts after July 15, 2025 cannot get this tier.
Current per-Region, per-payer-account monthly free allowances: 25 WCUs + 25 RCUs, 25 GB of data storage, 25 rWCUs for global tables deployed across two Regions, 2.5 million DynamoDB Streams read requests, and 1 GB data transfer out (15 GB during your first 12 months, aggregated across AWS services). The page notes it is 'enough for about 200M requests/month' at small item sizes. New accounts can also get up to $200 in AWS Free Tier credits to 'experience the full set of DynamoDB features for up to 6 months'.
Eligibility
Per-Region monthly allowances apply to all accounts (Standard table class, provisioned capacity model). The $200/6-month credits require a new AWS account (new-customer Free/Paid plan enrollment).
How to claim
Allowances are automatic per Region — no activation. The $200 credits come automatically when creating a new AWS account on the Free plan; apply at signup.
Expiry
Allowance is recurring monthly (no published sunset; legacy 12-month wording no longer appears on the page — it now reads as ongoing per-Region benefits tied to the new free-tier structure). Credits: 6-month window on the Free plan.
Gotchas
Applies to provisioned capacity + Standard table class only; on-demand capacity workloads pay standard rates. Data transfer-out beyond 1 GB/month (15 GB in year one) is paid. Free allowances are per Region, so multi-Region deployments multiply costs.
Serverless: new users are eligible for a $300 credit with a 90-day expiration toward compute and storage use. In Regions where Serverless is not available, customers can start a free trial for provisioned clusters that expires after two months or when usage exceeds 750 hours per month, after which you must shut down or pay the standard on-demand rate.
Eligibility
New Redshift users/accounts. No funding or .edu requirements; the trial attaches to a new-customer account.
How to claim
1) Activate Redshift Serverless in the console — the $300 credit applies automatically; or in a non-Serverless region, launch a provisioned cluster free for the trial window. No separate application.
Expiry
Serverless credit: 90 days from issuance. Provisioned trial: 2 months or 750 cluster-hours/month, whichever comes first, then standard on-demand pricing.
Gotchas
The legacy RA3/RA2 developer free tier (1-node, 12 months) and 30-day standard tier are no longer shown on the current pricing page — the trial structure changed in the 2025-2026 credit-model restructure. The page does not publish node size/warehouse size for the provisioned trial; verify in console. After trial, standard on-demand rates apply immediately.
AWS Glue Data Catalog free tier (recurring, data-platform front) high confidence
First million metadata objects stored are free and the first million catalog requests per month are free, every month (ongoing allowance, not a 12-month grant). Lake Formation permissions are also 'provided at no charge', and Lake Formation example billing shows $0 catalog/permissions usage inside the free tier. Pricing varies by Region per the regional product-services table.
Eligibility
All AWS accounts; per-Region recurring allowance; no funding or .edu requirements.
How to claim
Automatic — no activation. Using the Glue Data Catalog / Lake Formation permissions under the allowances simply bills $0; the first million objects + first million requests per month are deducted first.
Expiry
No published sunset; allowance recurs monthly. (The legacy '1 million source records processed per month' Glue ETL free allowance no longer appears on the current Glue pricing page — ETL/crawler/development-endpoint work is billed per DPU-hour, so that recurring ETL freebie is effectively gone from the published pricing.)
Gotchas
Compute (ETL jobs, crawlers, DataBrew, development endpoints) is paid per DPU-hour — 'catalog free' does not make pipeline runs free. Data transfer and storage (S3) remain separate paid items. Verify Region-specific availability.
AWS Educate (free education license/program for students, 13+) high confidence
Completely free self-paced cloud training and hands-on labs (S3, EC2, VPC, RDS, compute, storage, networking, databases, cloud operations), plus shareable digital badges, a job board (18+), and the AWS Emerging Talent community. Coverage: learners as young as 13; open to any individual regardless of education stage, technical experience, or career — not restricted to students/educators or accredited institutions.
Eligibility
Anyone 13+ can register with just an email address — no .edu email, no institutional enrollment required. Job board access requires 18+. No credit card needed to register (the 'no credit card' label refers to registration, not cloud credits — the program bundles no AWS usage credits).
How to claim
Register at awseducate.com (learner registration link carries promo code 'EducateLP'), sign in, then take courses and complete labs at no cost.
Expiry
No expiry for the program; badges are permanent. Course catalogs evolve over time; labs run in AWS-provisioned lab environments, not your account.
Gotchas
No cloud usage credits, no exam vouchers, and no certification discounts are published on the page — do not expect a free Cloud Practitioner exam. Labs are scoped sandbox environments, not your own AWS account. Employer/recruiter features are a separate registration.
AWS Skill Builder free digital courses medium confidence
600+ free digital courses (the startups AI hub cites 900+ free courses in 11 languages) curated by AWS, self-paced and at no cost; paid Skill Builder subscriptions unlock additional lab experiences on top of the free catalog. Free training events (Twitch/virtual) also advertised at no cost.
Eligibility
Open to anyone with a free AWS Builder ID / Skill Builder account — students, educators, or self-learners; no .edu requirement, no funding requirement.
How to claim
Create a free account at skillbuilder.aws (or via the Builder ID), browse the free digital catalog, take courses; events via /training/events/.
Expiry
Course access has no published expiry; free vs paid boundary changes with subscription offerings.
Gotchas
Certifications themselves are NOT free (exam fees still apply; the AI hub's 'Certified AI Business Strategist' cert is sold separately). Paid lab tiers cost extra. Free courses refresh/retire, so the exact count (600 vs 900) varies by page and date.
AWS Impact Bootcamps (with Techstars): up to $5,000 in AWS Activate credits high confidence
Two-day intensive bootcamp for underrepresented startup founders, run with Techstars in six cities: Atlanta (Sep 8-9, 2025), New York (Sep 15-16, 2025), Mexico City (Oct 1-2, 2025), London (Oct 16-17, 2025), Tokyo (Mar 26-27, 2026; apply by Feb 27, 2026) and Berlin (Apr 16-17, 2026; apply by Mar 13, 2026). Selected startups get access to up to $5,000 in AWS Activate credits to build, train, and launch products, plus consideration for Techstars Founder Catalyst / accelerator and AWS startup programs. Up to 50 founders per city, ~300 founders annually. Workshops: fundraising mindset, customer discovery, go-to-market, AI product optimization, SAFE/convertible notes, pitch practice. Launched Jul 30, 2025, building on AWS's 2022 $30M commitment to Black, Women, Latino, and LGBTQIA+ founders.
Eligibility
Self-funded, angel-funded, or early-stage startups (press release: raised up to Series A) with a goal to scale or prepare to raise funds; at least one founding/exec team member must identify with a historically underrepresented community (Black, women, Latino/Latinx, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities) OR be engaged in work supporting such communities. In-person attendance at the two-day event. No .edu email required; no credit card required for participation; global (any region, in-person at the city stop).
How to claim
All 2025-2026 cohort application windows are closed (Tokyo closed Feb 27, 2026; Berlin closed Mar 13, 2026); as of 2026-10-22 no open application window is posted on the official page, so the $5,000 offer is not currently claimable - watch for new city cohorts. To claim the $5K: apply to a bootcamp before its deadline, attend, then apply for the AWS Activate credit through the AWS Startups portal (startups.aws.com); review takes ~5-10 business days and the credit is issued to a good-standing AWS account.
Expiry
Not a rolling offer: cohort-based. 2025 (US/EU/LatAm) and 2026 (Tokyo, Berlin) cohorts have concluded; future cohorts to be announced (the learn page said more locations would be announced in 2026). Credits, once issued, follow AWS Activate terms (page did not state a burn period today).
Gotchas
Press release states $5,000 is given; the landing page says 'up to $5K', so awards are at AWS discretion. The bootcamp page currently returns HTTP 500 at the server level even though its content payload is intact. 'AWS Activate Credits' are promotional credits subject to AWS's standard rules: startup <10 years old, funding stage <= Series A, most recent funding round within 12 months of application, application email domain must match the AWS account domain, free email providers rejected, website must be live, and AWS may decline applications in its sole discretion; availability can be limited by country/region.
AWS Founder Retreat (bootcamp capstone): up to $50,000 unrestricted grant + up to $15,000 extra AWS credits high confidence
Invitation-only weekend capstone for 'best-in-class' bootcamp participants: in-person investor meetings and a chance to win up to $50,000 in unrestricted grant funding plus an extra $15,000 in AWS promotional credits, per cohort (up to 4 winners per press-release math; actual 2025 event: 12 finalists from the Atlanta, NYC, London and Mexico City bootcamps attended a retreat at Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, culminating in a pitch competition for US$100,000 in grants with three recipients - Pilou, FoodStream Network, SyncPop). Includes one-to-one mentoring with AWS leaders and investors.
Eligibility
Invite-only; top-performing AWS Impact Bootcamp participants (hand-picked from hundreds of global participants). Underlying bootcamp eligibility applies (underrepresented early-stage founders, self-funded/angel/early-stage, goal to scale or raise).
How to claim
Cannot apply directly. Path: apply to an AWS Impact Bootcamp -> be selected as a top participant -> receive the Founder Retreat invitation. Currently no open path (all bootcamp windows closed as of 2026-10-22).
Expiry
Event-based; one per program cycle. The Tokyo/Berlin 2026 cohorts will presumably feed a 2026/2027 retreat.
Gotchas
The 'up to $50,000' grant is per capstone event, not per winner; the 2025 cohort split a US$100,000 pool among 3 winners (i.e., ~$33K each, not $50K). Winners are also 'considered' for Techstars programs, not guaranteed. In-person, US-based venue in 2025.
AWS Activate Program (flagship startup credit program; the VC/accelerator-funded front): up to $100,000 - $200,000 in AWS credits high confidence
AWS Startups portal (read live 2026-10-22): the join page advertises 'Apply for up to $200,000 in Activate Credits' and the credits widget says 'Eligible startups can receive up to $100,000 in AWS Activate Credits. These credits can be used for AWS services and support, including infrastructure and emerging technologies.' Credits are claimable in one step when affiliated with an AWS Activate Provider (VC, accelerator, angel group, or other partner); the portal notes 'Home to over 350,000 startups globally.' Legacy structure (2023-2025): standard AWS Activate up to $1,000 in credits; Accelerate (VC/accelerator-backed) up to $100,000 over 12+ months. The $200K figure on the live join page indicates a 2026 headline increase; the $1,000 standard-tier copy no longer appears on the pages read today. Benefits besides credits: partner offers/exclusive deals, global events, training, technical support.
Eligibility
Startup founded within the last 10 years; funding stage at or below Series A (Series B+ explicitly rejected); most recent funding round within 12 months of application; application email domain must match the AWS account email domain (free email providers rejected); company website must be live and functional (no under-construction/maintenance/404/redirect); account in good standing; reseller-affiliated accounts need reseller confirmation; not available in every country ('AWS Activate is not available in your country' rejection exists); if you already received equal-or-greater Activate credits, a new award is the current offer minus the previous amount. No .edu requirement; no credit card to receive the credit itself (a payment method is normal for the AWS account).
How to claim
Apply at the AWS Startups portal (startups.aws.com) - if you have a VC/accelerator/angel partner, apply 'in one step' through provider affiliation (provider must confirm within 30 days or the application can stall). Processing ~5-10 business days. Alternatively, the $5,000 bootcamp credits are claimed through the same Activate application flow. As of 2026-10-22 the program is live and open to qualifying startups.
Gotchas
'Up to' is literal: actual awards are tiered and smaller than the headline (widget says $100K max while the join page says $200K - the $200K ceiling is not broken down on the pages read today). Promotional credits are not redeemable for data egress/inter-region transfer beyond free allowances and expire unused. Duplicate applications rejected; email-domain mismatch is the most common rejection reason; provider non-confirmation after 30 days stalls the application. Regional availability restrictions apply.
AWS Free Tier (revamped): Free plan - up to $200 in credits, 90+ services for up to 6 months; Paid plan - pay-as-you-go plus up to $200 in credits high confidence
Current AWS Free Tier page (read live 2026-10-22) describes a restructured model: Free plan - 'Start building on AWS with up to $200 in credits. Get access to over 90 services for up to 6 months as you build and experiment with no charges and no surprise overages.' Paid plan - 'Access the full range of AWS services with pay-as-you-go pricing. New customers on the Paid plan are also eligible for up to $200 in credits.' Short-term trials - 'Try selected Paid plan services through limited free trials. Your trial begins when you activate the service, and any eligible credits automatically apply to usage beyond the trial limits.' Always Free - '30+ AWS services are always free within monthly usage limits on both the Free and Paid plans; if you go beyond these limits or access paid features, credits are automatically applied to cover the costs.'
Eligibility
All new AWS customers (including students; no .edu email or credit card documented on the page). Free plan requires simply opening a new account; a payment method is normally required for the account but the Free plan's usage up to limits is covered by the $200 credits with 'no surprise overages'.
How to claim
No application: open a new AWS account at aws.amazon.com; Free plan benefits and trial offers are automatic, and the $200 credits apply to usage within the 6-month window / beyond trial limits.
Expiry
Free plan: up to 6 months of covered access; Always Free items: indefinite within monthly limits; $200 credits: burn off over the period, unused value does not roll over as cash.
Gotchas
This is NOT the old '12-month free tier' - see sunset_notes. The $200 is a usage-credit ceiling, not a cash grant; after 6 months or when credits run out, Paid-plan usage is billed. Data transfer, inter-region egress, and paid features beyond always-free monthly limits can incur charges ('credits are automatically applied to cover the costs' - credits, not a no-cost promise, cover overage). Trial periods are per-service and only start on activation.
AWS Educate: free education license for students and educators (no credit card) high confidence
Official AWS Educate page (read live 2026-10-22): 'AWS Educate provides students and educators with no-cost access to cloud computing skills training developed by AWS experts, plus career pathways for students.' Includes self-paced free learning ('build your cloud skills... completely for free'), hands-on labs - e.g., build a static website on S3, EC2 instance, VPC networking, RDS database, Cloud operations course with a cost-estimation lab - and a job board / employer program ('AWS Educate for employers'). Page states explicitly: 'Sign in to AWS Educate: No credit card needed.' No dollar credit pool; the value is free training + sandboxed lab access rather than account credits.
Eligibility
Students, K-12 and higher-ed educators, and employers (recruiters). No .edu email is documented as required on the current page; no credit card needed. Institution-based accounts have historically been free 12-month licenses renewable annually - the current page does not state a duration, so treat renewal terms as unverified.
How to claim
Register at https://aws.amazon.com/education/awseducate/ (Register for AWS Educate), sign in to the AWS Educate portal, then complete courses/labs for free. No payment or card at any step per the page's 'No credit card needed' statement.
Gotchas
Not a credits offer - no cloud spend allowance for personal AWS accounts beyond the generic Free Tier. Distinct from AWS Academy, which is an institutional/licensed program (usually paid by the institution) - AWS Academy's own site was unreachable during this research, so no claim is made about it. Labs are time-boxed sandbox environments.
AWS Skill Builder: 600+ free courses and certification exam prep medium confidence
AWS Skill Builder (skillbuilder.aws, read live 2026-10-22): 'an online learning center where you can learn from AWS experts... With access to 600+ free courses, certification exam prep, and training that allows you to build practical skills.' Free for self-directed learners, including students; no enrollment gate, no credit card. This is the successor to much of AWS's formerly free training content.
Eligibility
Anyone, for free; no .edu requirement, no card. Free content is the baseline; AWS has added paid professional subscription tiers in recent years (not verified in today's read - treat as a gotcha, not a fact).
How to claim
Sign up at skillbuilder.aws and take courses/digital badges at no cost.
Gotchas
Do not assume everything is free if you later see 'Professional' tier marketing; today's read confirms the free 600+ course base only.
AWS Free Plan (new accounts, credit-based, in effect since 2025-07-15) high confidence
New accounts get $100 in credits immediately at sign-up, plus up to $100 more by completing 'Explore AWS' service-exploration activities in the Console Home widget (filtered to 'Earn AWS credits') = up to $200 total usable over 6 months. Covers 90+ services for up to 6 months, including Amazon RDS, Aurora Serverless, and DynamoDB. 'No charges and no surprise bills on the Free plan' unless you convert to a Paid plan or activate paid-only services. Account auto-closes at the earlier of 6 months after account opening or when credits run out; on expiration AWS suspends the account and retains your data 90 days (upgradable to Paid within that window), then account/content is permanently erased. Free plan is NOT eligible for promotional credits (e.g. AWS Activate).
Eligibility
One free grant per identity: 'ineligible for the Free plan or Free Tier credits if you have an existing AWS account or have previously had one'. Payment method NOT required for most new signups (AWS may still request one for identity verification). Credits are USD, apply across participating global regions; NOT available in China regions or AWS GovCloud (US). No .edu requirement.
How to claim
Sign up for a new AWS account choosing the Free plan at aws.amazon.com/free -> $100 credit applied automatically. Complete service-exploration activities in the 'Explore AWS' widget on Console Home (filter: 'Earn AWS credits') within 6 months of account creation to earn up to $100 more.
Expiry
Initial $100 credit expires when the 6-month Free plan window ends (credit validity stated as 'up to 12 months' on service pages; activity-earned credits expire 12 months after account creation per FAQ). Account auto-closes at 6 months or when credits are exhausted, whichever is first; 90-day data retention after closure; no renewal, no second grant on a new identity-linked account.
Gotchas
Auto-close at 6 months means long-lived free work must be migrated/billed; data permanently deleted 90 days after closure. Free plan excludes promotional credits (Activate) and some paid-only services; upgrading to Paid to unlock those is irreversible (cannot revert to Free plan). Credits apply across regions but China/GovCloud excluded. Upgrading converts to pay-as-you-go once credits burn.
AWS Paid Plan new-customer credits medium confidence
New customers choosing the Paid plan get 'up to $200 USD free credits' plus full access to all AWS services (including paid-only services like Bedrock AgentCore) and eligibility for promotional credits. Selected services can be trialed via 'limited free trials'; the trial clock starts at activation and remaining credits 'automatically apply to usage beyond the trial limits'. Pay-as-you-go billing applies beyond credit exhaustion.
Eligibility
Same one-free-grant-per-identity rule; a billing/payment method is in practice expected for a Paid plan (Free plan needed none). No .edu requirement.
How to claim
Sign up choosing the Paid plan, or convert an existing Free-plan account to Paid (irreversible).
Expiry
Credits usable 'for up to 12 months' on the Paid plan per service pages (e.g. Aurora pricing page), vs the 6-month Free-plan window; trial clocks start at service activation.
Gotchas
Pay-as-you-go charges begin the moment credits run out; Free-to-Paid conversion is one-way; trials are time-boxed per service.
Legacy 12-month Free Tier for RDS (accounts created before 2025-07-15) high confidence
Grandfathered pre-2025-07-15 accounts keep the service-level 12-month free tier: up to 750 hours/month of single-AZ instance databases (aggregated across instance types), engines limited to MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server (Express Edition only), 20 GB/month of gp2 general-purpose storage, and 20 GB/month of automated backup storage for 1 year.
Eligibility
AWS accounts created before July 15, 2025 only; not the credit-based model.
How to claim
N/A - grandfathered automatically; nothing to claim.
Expiry
12 months from account creation, then billed.
Gotchas
No free-tier credits available in AWS GovCloud (US) regions or the China (Beijing) region; SQL Server only in Express edition; 750 hours aggregate means running multiple RDS instances splits the hours.
DynamoDB always-free allowances plus credit boost high confidence
Per the DynamoDB pricing page today: 25 WCUs and 25 RCUs of provisioned capacity (per Region, per payer account, monthly), 25 GB of data storage, 25 rWCUs for global tables deployed across two regions, 2.5 million stream read requests from DynamoDB Streams, 1 GB data transfer out per month (15 GB for the first 12 months, aggregated across AWS services); plus 'up to $200 USD in credits' to use the full DynamoDB feature set for up to 6 months on the Free plan.
Eligibility
Always-free allowances apply while you are an AWS customer (Free or Paid plan); the $200 credit boost is for new accounts under the credit-based model. No .edu requirement.
How to claim
Always-free allowances apply automatically; the credit boost comes with a new Free/Paid plan account (see the main Free plan finding).
Expiry
Monthly allowances recur; the 12-month egress allowance lapses at month 12; the $200 credit is within the 6-month Free plan window (or 12-month credit validity on Paid plan).
Gotchas
The page presents allowances without an explicit legacy/new split - the '15 GB first 12 months' egress language is legacy-style; request-based allowances (25 WCUs/25 RCUs) are the current always-free shape. Old (pre-2025) free tier was expressed as 25 GB + 2.5M write/5M read requests, so verify the exact current RCU/WCU mix against AWS Billing if cost-critical.
Aurora free availability (Free plan) + credit validity high confidence
The Free plan 'provides Aurora PostgreSQL serverless instances with up to 4 ACUs and 1 GiB of storage per cluster' (paid plans scale to 256 ACUs and 256 TiB). New customers receive '$100 in AWS credits at sign-up' usable 'for up to 12 months, in both Free and Paid plans' plus 'an additional $100 in credits, for a total of $200'.
Eligibility
New AWS accounts (Free or Paid plan); no .edu requirement; no payment method required for most Free-plan signups.
How to claim
Automatic with new-account signup ($100); extra $100 via service-exploration activities.
Expiry
Credits usable up to 12 months per the Aurora page; the Free plan account itself auto-closes at 6 months - so the 12-month credit validity practically matters only if you convert to the Paid plan before closure.
Gotchas
Only Aurora PostgreSQL Serverless is named as a free-plan offering (not MySQL, not provisioned instances, no I/O/storage free GB figures on today's page - the legacy 120 hours db.t3.medium/10 GB storage/100 GB backup tier is not listed on the current Aurora page).
AWS Activate Founders (self-funded / bootstrapped startups) high confidence
'Up to $5,000 USD in Activate Credits', with 'Start with $1,000 USD in Activate Credits' - select participants may qualify for the full $5,000. Credits offset infrastructure, data services, and AI/ML models, and are redeemable on third-party models on Amazon Bedrock. Includes mentorship, AWS Startup Advisor, and partner-network co-build/co-market access.
Eligibility
Pre-Series B stage; founded in the last 10 years; must have an AWS account on a Paid-plan tier; must be 'new to Activate Credits or requesting more credits than previously received'; apply with an AWS Builder ID using a professional email - no .edu requirement and no country restrictions stated on the page. USD credits subject to AWS Promotional Credit T&C.
How to claim
Create an AWS Builder ID -> choose self-funded (Founders) tier at aws.amazon.com/startups/join?destination=/credits/apply -> provide product, funding stage, and company details -> link/create a Paid-plan AWS account and submit; response in 5-10 business days.
Expiry
Not stated on the page - governed by the AWS Promotional Credit Terms & Conditions (typically ~12-month burn-down, unverified today).
Gotchas
Amount is 'up to' $5,000 - default grant is $1,000; must run a Paid plan (the Free plan excludes promotional credits entirely); no .edu, but a professional email is required.
'Up to $200,000 USD in Activate Credits' for Pre-Series B startups, gated by an 'Organization ID (Org ID)' issued by an Activate Provider (accelerator, angel investor, or VC firm; named examples: Andreessen Horowitz, Brex, Carta, Greylock Partners, Sequoia, Y Combinator). The /startups/ page headlines 'Get up to $200,000 in AWS Activate Credits and expert support'.
Eligibility
Pre-Series B; founded in the last 10 years; AWS account on a Paid plan; must be new to Activate credits or requesting more than previously received; requires provider-issued Org ID (no .edu requirement; no country restrictions stated on the page).
How to claim
Get an Org ID from your VC/accelerator/angel provider, then apply via the AWS Builder ID credits-application flow choosing the Portfolio tier; 5-10 business day review.
Expiry
Not stated on the page - AWS Promotional Credit T&C apply.
Gotchas
The ceiling is 'up to' $200,000 (variable award); provider gating means bootstrapped founders cannot use this tier; credits are USD and promo-T&C bound.
AWS Credits for AI Startups (invite-only add-on track) medium confidence
'$200,000+ in AWS Credits' described as 'Invite only for startups ready to scale post Activate Portfolio', accessed through an Account Manager; separate 'AI startups ready to grow may be eligible for additional credits beyond Activate' noted on the main startups page.
Eligibility
Invitation-only; aimed at AI startups that have already gone through Activate Portfolio; via an AWS Account Manager.
How to claim
No self-serve application - request via your AWS Account Manager after Activate Portfolio participation.
Expiry
Not stated on the page - promo T&C apply.
Gotchas
Invite-only means no guaranteed path; the '+' after $200,000 is not quantified on the page.
A separate, smaller AWS credit program 'available to eligible startups without current Activate Credits' from the Kiro agentic IDE program (launched 2025); also described as 'Kiro credits designed for startups'. Exact amounts, duration and eligibility criteria were not retrievable today (kiro.aws and /aws.amazon.com/kiro/ did not resolve from this environment).
Eligibility
Startups without current Activate credits, per the credits page; further criteria unknown.
How to claim
Details not retrievable in this environment; check Kiro's official site/credits page directly.
Expiry
Unknown.
Gotchas
Unquantified in official AWS pages fetched today; treat any third-party numbers as unverified.
AWS Educate (free student/individual training, not a credit program) high confidence
AWS Educate (successor of Cloud Academy) is active and 'completely for free': free self-paced online training and hands-on labs covering Storage (S3), Compute (EC2), Networking (VPC), Databases (RDS) and Cloud Operations, with shareable digital badges. Open to any individual, 'no credit card needed'; learners as young as 13 can register with just an email address; 18+ also get job-board access; 'AWS Educate for employers' gives recruiters access to the trained talent pool. The page (copyright 2026) contains no dollar-credit amounts and no mention of granting personal AWS Free Tier accounts.
Eligibility
Any individual with an email - no .edu requirement, no institutional enrollment required; age floor 13.
How to claim
Register at aws.amazon.com/educate/ with any email address; complete self-paced courses and labs; earn badges.
Expiry
No expiry; free while the program is live.
Gotchas
Not a money-credit offer - value is training/badges, not AWS usage credits; if you need actual AWS usage (RDS/Aurora/DynamoDB) you still sign up for the regular AWS account (and, if brand-new, get the Free plan credits under the general program, which does not itself require .edu).
AWS Free Plan (new-customer Free Tier): up to $200 credits over 6 months high confidence
New AWS customers get $100 in Free Tier credits immediately on account creation, plus up to $100 more earned by completing 5 console activities in the 'Explore AWS' widget ($20 each: launch & terminate an EC2 instance; configure an RDS database; build a Lambda function with a function URL; submit a prompt in the Bedrock text playground; create an AWS Budgets alert). The Free plan covers 90+ services for up to 6 months with 'no charges and no surprise bills'; 30+ services remain always-free within monthly limits on both plans. Credits are auto-applied to eligible usage, including always-free overages. Free-plan accounts cannot use 'certain AWS services that would rapidly consume the entire credit amount, or hardware purchases'; Amazon Bedrock AgentCore is paid-plan exclusive. Announcement: AWS 'what's new' July 16, 2025; AWS News Blog July 15, 2025. Eligible EC2 free-tier instance types for accounts on/after Jul 15, 2025: t3.micro, t3.small, t4g.micro, t4g.small, c7i-flex.large, m7i-flex.large (t2.micro no longer eligible). RDS free on db.t3.micro / db.t4g.micro (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, SQL Server Express); Aurora PostgreSQL serverless up to 4 ACU + 1 GiB storage; Aurora DSQL always free at 100k DPU + 1 GiB storage/month.
Eligibility
New AWS customers only (any existing or previously-held AWS account disqualifies you). All customers can sign up online; no .edu or startup requirement. Excluded regions: China (ZHY) and China (BJS) regions, and AWS GovCloud (US) regions (with a carve-out for certain services such as Lambda in GovCloud). Credit card NOT required to sign up for most new customers (AWS may request a payment method to verify identity in some cases).
How to claim
Go to https://aws.amazon.com/free/ -> 'Create a free account' -> choose the Free account plan during signup. $100 credit posts automatically (may take up to ~10 min to appear on the Credits page). Complete the 5 Explore AWS activities inside 6 months to earn the remaining $100. Monitor balance via the Cost & Usage widget on console home.
Expiry
Free plan expires at the earlier of (a) 6 months from account creation or (b) credits exhausted. Unused credits stay usable up to 12 months from account creation if you upgrade to a Paid plan within the window. After the Free plan period, you have 90 days to upgrade; then AWS permanently closes the account and deletes content/resources. Earned-credit activities must be completed within 6 months of creation; eligibility to earn ends permanently if you join AWS Organizations or set up a Control Tower landing zone.
Gotchas
Free plan is NOT eligible for promotional/incentive credits (e.g., AWS Activate) - those require a Paid plan; enrolling a Free-plan account in AWS Organizations auto-upgrades it to Paid. Usage is aggregated across all regions; no monthly free-usage rollover. AWS may reclaim resources unused for 3 months after 30 days' notice. Free plan is for evaluation only - 'should not be used for processing sensitive data'. Data transfer/egress beyond always-free allowances draws on credits, then pay-as-you-go once credits run out. New sign-up experience launched October 2026 (credit expiry view moved to Settings Portal; older accounts use the Credits page in the Billing console).
AWS Always Free offers: 30+ services with monthly free usage limits (all customers) high confidence
On both Free and Paid plans, '30+ AWS services are always free within monthly usage limits' (ongoing monthly allowances, e.g., Lambda free requests/month, Aurora DSQL 100k DPU + 1 GiB storage/month). If usage exceeds the monthly allowance, remaining Free Tier credits auto-apply to cover eligible costs (Free plan); on Paid plans you pay standard rates beyond the credit balance. Per-service numeric limits are listed on the Free Tier page filters ('Explore our offers' by offer type + product category) and on individual product pricing pages; the main page does not publish the full numeric list.
Eligibility
All AWS customers, new and existing, on either plan. No credit card needed to keep an account. No regional restrictions stated beyond the general Free Tier exclusions.
How to claim
Nothing to claim - always-free allowances are automatically active on any AWS account. Find each service's allowance at https://aws.amazon.com/free/ via the offer-type/category filters, or on the product's pricing page.
Expiry
Ongoing for as long as you have an AWS account (no 12-month sunset). Unused monthly allowances do not roll over. AWS may terminate any offer at any time (Free Tier Terms, last updated Jul 9, 2025).
Gotchas
Overage handling differs by plan (credits vs pay-as-you-go). A few services/trials are paid-plan exclusive. AWS can reclaim resources idle for 3 months (30 days notice); usage is aggregated across regions.
Legacy 12-month Free Tier (accounts created before July 15, 2025) high confidence
Accounts created before Jul 15, 2025 keep the classic per-service 12-month Free Tier instead of the credit model: e.g., EC2 750 hrs/month of t2.micro/t3.micro with free-tier-eligible EBS (standard, st1, sc1, gp2, gp3); legacy allowances like 30 GB EBS / 2M I/Os / 1 GB snapshot storage and 750 hrs/month ELB (Classic+ALB shared, 15 GB data processing, 15 LCUs). Exceeding limits bills pay-as-you-go. RDS legacy free usage (db.t3.micro/db.t4g.micro) runs up to 12 months from signup for such accounts. The legacy EC2 free-tier box in the console only appears for pre-Jul-15-2025 accounts.
Eligibility
Only AWS accounts created before July 15, 2025.
How to claim
No claim - applied automatically at legacy signup; track via the EC2 'Free Tier usage' console box (end-of-month forecast / exceeds-free-tier warnings).
Expiry
12 months from account creation; then standard pay-as-you-go rates with no credit-based protection.
Gotchas
Do not confuse the two regimes: new accounts (on/after Jul 15, 2025) have NO per-service 12-month allowances - usage is instead covered by the $200 credit pool and always-free offers. t2.micro is not free-tier eligible for new accounts.
AWS Activate Founders (self-funded startups): $1,000, up to $5,000 credits high confidence
Activate Founders tier: start with $1,000 USD in AWS Activate credits; 'select participants may qualify for additional credits up to $5,000' over time. Credits offset costs on 200+ AWS services incl. infrastructure, data services, and third-party models on Amazon Bedrock (OpenAI, Mistral, Anthropic, Meta). Includes technical guidance, business mentorship, and go-to-market resources. AWS Activate has served 350k+ startups and granted $8B+ in credits since 2013.
Eligibility
Self-funded/bootstrapped startup; new to AWS Activate Credits; fully functioning company website; founded in the last 10 years; AWS account must be on a Paid plan (Free-plan accounts are ineligible).
How to claim
https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ -> 'Apply now' (/startups/join?destination=/credits/apply) -> create/sign in with an AWS Builder ID using a professional (business-domain) email -> complete the one-time AWS Activate profile with your business email (matching startup domain) -> choose Founders tier -> provide product description, funding stage, company profile -> link your AWS account and submit. Response in 5-10 business days.
Expiry
Govered by AWS Promotional Credit Terms & Conditions; check the specific award notice for the credit's expiry window (not stated on the program page).
Gotchas
Paid-plan account required - convert your Free plan account first; using an inconsistent email domain hampers validation; if you previously received equal-or-greater Activate credits you cannot re-claim. Kiro Startup Credits exist as an on-ramp for startups that do NOT yet hold Activate credits. Credits are USD and non-transferable between programs.
AWS Activate Portfolio (VC / accelerator / angel-backed startups): up to $200,000 credits high confidence
Activate Portfolio tier: up to $200,000 USD in AWS Activate credits, applied through the backing provider's Organizational ID (Org ID). Named provider examples on the page: Andreessen Horowitz, Brex, Carta, Greylock Partners, Sequoia, Y Combinator, NVIDIA (among 'thousands' of VCs, accelerators, and startup-enabling organizations). Credits work across 200+ services and Bedrock third-party models. Program page headlines 'Get up to $200,000 in AWS Activate Credits' and notes AI startups 'may be eligible for additional credits beyond Activate'.
Eligibility
Pre-Series B stage (most recent funding round within the last 12 months, if applicable); affiliated with an Activate Provider who issues your Org ID; not previously received AWS Activate credits of equal or greater value; functioning company website; founded in the last 10 years; AWS account on a Paid plan.
How to claim
Verify your investor/accelerator is a listed Activate Provider at https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ -> apply with the provider's Org ID (same Builder ID / Activate profile flow as Founders) -> submit startup details -> link AWS account. Rolling review, 5-10 business days.
Expiry
AWS Promotional Credit T&Cs apply; per-award expiry is in the award notice.
Gotchas
Without an Org ID from a participating provider you cannot access this tier - bootstrapped founders should use Founders instead. Pre-Series B requirement and 10-year founding-age cap apply. The Free plan does not qualify (Paid plan required), and Free-plan accounts became ineligible for promotional credits effective Feb 16, 2026.
AWS Credits for AI Startups (invite-only): $200,000+ credits high confidence
Separate, invite-only track on the official credits page: '$200,000+ in AWS Credits' for 'startups ready to scale post Activate Portfolio', accessed by 'talk with your Account Manager'. The June 4, 2026 step-by-step guide confirms 'Additional AWS Credits above $200,000 are available for AI startups ready to scale beyond Activate's tiers.'
Eligibility
AI-focused startups that have already moved through Activate Portfolio and are scaling; not publicly self-service - routed via an AWS Account Manager. Pre-Series B context applies to the Activate program family; account on Paid plan.
How to claim
Engage your AWS Account Manager; no public application form.
Expiry
AWS Promotional Credit T&Cs; per-award notice.
Gotchas
Not available to self-funded/bootstrapped founders; no public quota or deadline - purely relationship/invite-driven.
Kiro Startup Credits: up to 1 year of Kiro Pro+ credits (3 user tiers) medium confidence
Kiro (AWS's agentic AI IDE) offers startups 'up to 1-year's worth of Kiro Pro+ credits' in three tiers: Starter - up to 2 Kiro users; Growth - up to 10 users; Scale - up to 30 users. Credits are added to the startup's AWS account and used via AWS IAM Identity Center. Described as designed for startups and serving as an on-ramp for startups that do not yet hold Activate Credits.
Eligibility
Early-stage to Series A startups; official business email address matching the startup's domain; an AWS Account ID with a matching email required. Startups already holding active AWS Activate credits are NOT eligible for this promotion (their existing credits can still be used toward Kiro). Offer excludes residents of several listed countries/regions (listed on the page).
How to claim
Submit the form on the linked AWS Startups page (kiro.dev/startups/) -> sign in with your AWS account -> applications reviewed on a rolling basis -> if approved, credits are automatically added to your AWS account.
Expiry
Credits expire one year after issuance to the AWS account; after depletion, billing automatically switches to standard Kiro Pro+ billing. No dollar amount is published (value = 1 year of Kiro Pro+ at the tier's user count).
Gotchas
No exact dollar figure on the official page; tier is by user count, not dollars; region exclusions apply; Kipro... (correct: Kiro) usage requires logging in through AWS IAM Identity Center - set that up before claiming.
AWS Builder Center Student Rewards (launched Aug 20, 2026): up to $579 value for verified university students high confidence
New student program on AWS Builder Center, part of AWS's $500M+ commitment to student cloud/AI training: verified + profile complete = 12 months of Skill Builder Premium ($449 value; 900+ courses, hands-on labs, cert exam prep, game-based learning); 7 badges = $10 AWS credits; 14 badges = additional $20 AWS credits; 21 badges = AWS Foundational-level certification exam voucher (~$100, e.g., Cloud Practitioner). Total potential value $579/student. Free Builder Center workshops (no credit card) and Student Builder Groups in 60+ countries available to all.
Eligibility
Students 18+ enrolled at an accredited higher-education institution, worldwide; enrollment verified via SheerID (name, college name, school email; sometimes extra documentation, 24-48h). No .edu-only restriction beyond SheerID verification; no credit card.
How to claim
https://builder.aws.com -> sign in with AWS Builder ID -> /student-rewards -> start SheerID student verification -> complete profile (photo + About section) to unlock the 12-month Skill Builder Premium -> earn community badges (publish articles, comment, maintain 7/30/90-day activity streaks, wishes) to unlock $10 / $20 credits and the exam voucher -> claim at builder.aws.com/profile/rewards.
Expiry
Skill Builder Premium lasts 12 months from claim. The 21 badges include time-gated ones (7-day, 30-day, 90-day streaks), so the program effectively requires sustained engagement over ~90 days to capture the full value; credits/voucher per promotional terms.
Gotchas
The credits/voucher are NOT handed at signup - they require earning 7/14/21 Builder Center activity badges (community badges, not course-completion badges). Start long-timer badges on day 1 or you can stall at 15-18. Verification is individual; your college does not need to be an AWS Academy member.
AWS Educate ('Cloud Skills for Education'): free self-paced learning, hands-on labs, no credit card high confidence
AWS Educate is open to any individual regardless of education, experience, or career stage: free curated learning paths in cloud and AI with five hands-on 'Getting Started' lab tracks (Storage/S3 static website, Compute/EC2, Networking/VPC, Databases/RDS, Cloud Operations/cost estimation), shareable digital badges, and a Job Board (learners 18+; separate recruiter portal). Learners as young as 13 can register with just an email address - 'no credit card needed'. Complemented by free self-paced digital training on AWS Skill Builder (500+ on-demand courses, 17 languages) and free Builder Center workshops in real AWS environments.
Eligibility
No .edu email required - any valid email; age 13+ to register, 18+ for the Job Board. Global.
How to claim
https://aws.amazon.com/education/awseducate/ -> sign in / register for AWS Educate; each hands-on lab links to a registration page (promo code 'EducateLP'); Skill Builder at https://skillbuilder.aws (free tier) or Builder Center workshops.
Expiry
Ongoing program - no expiry. (Legacy monetary grants no longer exist; see sunset notes.)
Gotchas
Since Feb 21, 2023 AWS Educate focuses on pre-professional learners and no longer offers grants to institutions or educators; classroom credit allotments now run through AWS Academy/instructor-managed labs. Educator tools were migrated to AWS Academy. Hands-on lab accounts are restricted/sandboxed (third-party docs describe ~3-hour activity logoff and feature limits).
AWS Academy provides higher-education institutions a free, ready-to-teach cloud/AI-ML curriculum (6 foundational courses incl. Generative AI Foundations and ML Foundations, 5 associate-level courses, 2 lab sets, plus an ad-hoc 'Learner Lab' sandbox). Educators: complimentary enablement sessions, 100% discount vouchers on AWS Certification exams, and complimentary 12-month AWS Skill Builder subscription. Students: complimentary 12-month Skill Builder subscription and, on course completion, access to the Emerging Talent Community (challenges redeemable for discounted certification exam vouchers). Institutions: 50% discount voucher on certification exams (redeems to students for 100% of value). No cost to join. Third-party university IT docs (Univ. of Iowa) describe 'Learning Labs' giving instructors $100 of AWS credit per student for the course duration, no credit card from students, instructor-funded.
Eligibility
Institution level: higher-ed institutions offering accredited degrees, diplomas, certificates, or continuing-education programs, with an authorized Program Administrator/CPOC who applies. Educators must be nominated by the member institution and complete the mandatory Educator Getting Started course (associate-level courses additionally require educator certification). Courses may only be delivered to students enrolled at the institution.
How to claim
Institution applies via https://aws.amazon.com/training/awsacademy/ -> CPOC nominates educators -> educators set up portal access, acknowledge Program Guide, complete onboarding course -> deliver courses (synchronous/asynchronous, LMS integration allowed) -> students register an AWS Training & Certification account and get course links; classroom credits (where available) are provisioned by the institution's AWS team.
Expiry
12-month Skill Builder subscriptions from award; certification vouchers per program terms ('all rewards subject to change'); Emerging Talent Community rewards vary.
Gotchas
This is an education-license/curriculum offer, not direct cash credits - the per-student classroom credits (~$100, per institution docs) are not published on AWS's national pages and depend on your institution's enrollment; confirm amounts with your AWS regional team. No cost to join, but delivery requirements (accredited educators, full curriculum) apply.
AWS Cloud Credit for Research: up to $5,000 for students, uncapped for faculty/staff high confidence
AWS Public Sector Cloud Credit for Research Program grants AWS Promotional Credit to support finite research projects: building cloud-hosted science-as-a-service applications/tools, proof-of-concept or benchmark tests of moving research workloads/open data to the cloud, or training the community via workshops/tutorials. Student awards capped at $5,000; faculty and staff awards are not capped; recipients may receive less than requested. EC2 usage is on-demand and spot instances only. Awards are AWS Promotional Credit under the AWS Promotional Credit T&Cs, valid one year from application to the account or until fully utilized.
Eligibility
Full-time faculty, full-time research staff, or graduate/post-graduate/PhD students at an accredited research institution. An institution-issued email (.edu, .org, or equivalent) is REQUIRED - non-institution domains are not accepted. An existing AWS account is required. Program is global except the greater China region (India administered by AISPL). Effective Feb 16, 2026, Free Tier (Free plan) accounts are ineligible for promotional credits.
How to claim
Submit a short single-page proposal (problem statement, project summary, specific AWS services, timeline/milestones, plan to share outcomes, future use, AWS contacts, any AWS Public Datasets used) via https://pages.awscloud.com/aws-cloud-credit-for-research.html; rolling review; decisions via aws-research-credit@amazon.com.
Expiry
Credits valid 1 year from application to the account or until fully used - plan the project timeline accordingly.
Gotchas
Does NOT fund administrative workloads, operations, ongoing/established research, or general lab funding. Review cycle is listed as 30-60 days on the apply page (the main page says 90-120 days) - plan ahead. Promotional credits cannot cover upfront fees of services. Free-plan accounts are excluded as of Feb 16, 2026 - you need a Paid-plan account to hold the award.
Amazon SageMaker Studio Lab: free hosted Jupyter ML environment (CPU/GPU sessions, no AWS account) medium confidence
SageMaker Studio Lab is a completely free notebook environment for learning/experimenting with ML code and models: Jupyter-based with terminal access and GitHub integration; per university ITS documentation, access to CPU (12 hours per user session) and GPU (4 hours per user session) plus 15 GB of persistent storage that survives between sessions. No credit card or even an AWS account needed - a valid email is enough. Instructors can obtain reference codes from their regional AWS team for classroom access.
Eligibility
Anyone with a valid email address; no credit card, no AWS account, no .edu requirement. Class-wide access via instructor-issued reference codes.
How to claim
Sign in at https://studiolab.sagemaker.aws/ (linked from https://aws.amazon.com/sagemaker/studio-lab/) with a valid email; instructors request reference codes from the AWS team supporting their institution.
Expiry
Session-based limits (CPU/GPU hours per user session); the 15 GB persistent storage persists between sessions.
Gotchas
For learning/experimentation only - not a production or long-term workload environment. Exact current session caps should be confirmed at sign-in (the site blocked automated fetching today, 403; figures above are from a 2024 university IT page).
AWS Free Tier (2025 revamp) — Free account plan: up to $200 credits, 6 months no-cost high confidence
Since July 15, 2025, new AWS accounts get $100 USD in credits immediately at sign-up, and can earn up to $100 more (5 activities x $20: launch/terminate an EC2 instance, RDS basics, Lambda function URL, Bedrock text playground, AWS Budgets) = up to $200 total. The Free plan incurs no charges for up to 6 months or until credits are exhausted, whichever comes first; the account then auto-closes unless converted to a Paid plan (upgrade must happen within 90 days of expiry notice or AWS permanently deletes account content/resources). 30+ services remain 'Always Free' on both plans. Not available in GovCloud (US) or China regions. A new sign-up experience launched October 2026 (credits tracked in Settings Portal instead of Billing console).
Eligibility
All new AWS customers (no prior/existing AWS account). No .edu required, no funding cap, no minimum funding; explicitly aimed at students, developers and early entrepreneurs. Payment method/credit card NOT required to sign up for most new customers (AWS may request one for identity verification in some cases). Free plan excludes 'hardware purchases' and services that would rapidly burn credits; enrolling the free account in AWS Organizations upgrades it to Paid and forfeits Free Tier credits.
How to claim
Create a new AWS account, choose the Free account plan (or Paid plan, which also gets the $200 credits), $100 is credited automatically; complete the five 5-activity tasks in the 'Explore AWS' widget to earn the remaining up to $100; upgrade to Paid at any time one-click. No application, no CC needed.
Expiry
Free plan period ends 6 months after account creation or when credits are used up. Terms state Free Tier credits expire 12 months from account opening; Free Tier FAQ says credits expire 6 months — treat 6 months (Free plan) as the practical window; on the Paid plan unused credits remain usable up to 12 months from sign-up. 'Always Free' offers never expire.
Gotchas
Legacy 12-month tier (750 hrs/mo t2.micro/t3.micro, 30 GB EBS, 100 GB egress/mo) applies ONLY to accounts created before July 15, 2025. Credits cannot be combined with other promotional offers, one account only, not transferable. Exceeding Always-Free limits auto-applies credits; beyond that you must be on Paid plan. Free plan accounts are 'for evaluation purposes, not for sensitive data'. Unused monthly allowances don't roll over; AWS may reclaim resources idle for 3 months on 30 days' notice. EC2 free-tier-eligible instance types under new model are t3.micro/t3.small/t4g.micro/t4g.small/c7i-flex.large/m7i-flex.large — no bare-metal (e.g. c7i-metal) or dedicated-host free offer exists; those are billable to credits only. No separate VPS product: the VPS front is covered by EC2 micro/small instances charged against credits rather than the old 750-hour cap.
AWS Activate Founders (self-funded startups): $1,000 credits, up to $5,000 high confidence
Activate Founders package grants $1,000 USD in AWS Activate Credits; 'select participants may qualify for additional credits up to $5,000' total over time. Credits are USD, governed by the AWS Promotional Credit T&Cs, and can offset 200+ AWS services including Amazon Bedrock third-party models. Decision within 5-10 business days of submission.
Eligibility
Self-funded (bootstrapped) startup; founded in the past 10 years; fully functioning company website; new to AWS Activate Credits; pre-Series B by definition (no external round). No .edu email requirement, no published HQ-country restriction. Must hold an AWS account on a Paid plan to receive credits.
How to claim
1) Create/verify an AWS Builder ID (personal email). 2) Complete the one-time AWS Activate profile using your business email (matching startup domain). 3) Choose the Founders tier on the credits application page. 4) Provide product/funding details, link your AWS account, submit; track status on the Credit Application Status page. Apply at aws.amazon.com/startups/join?destination=/credits/apply. A new 'apply using your AI agent' path also exists.
Expiry
Validity window not stated on the current official credits page (deferred to Promotional Credit T&Cs). Historical materials: 2-year validity windows for pre-seed tiers in 2024 AWS Japan materials; CNBC (June 2024) reported the legacy $100K tranche expired in 1 year vs 3 years for the $200K. Verify at grant time.
Gotchas
Requires a paid AWS account (payment method implications), so the 'no credit card' property of the Free Tier does not carry over. Inaccurate funding info can cause denial. Credits are one-way: amount is fixed once selected (per 2024 materials). Support plan fees (Developer/Business) have historically been credit-eligible per AWS materials, while partial/all-upfront Reserved Instances are NOT eligible.
AWS Activate Portfolio (VC/accelerator-backed): up to $200,000 credits high confidence
Activate Portfolio grants up to $200,000 USD in credits to provider-backed startups. The ceiling was $100,000 and was doubled to $200,000 in June 2026 (confirmed by the redesigned live credits page and awslabs/startups content update, June 2026). Credits offset infrastructure, data services and AI/ML models; redeemable on third-party foundation models in Amazon Bedrock. AWS has provided over $7-8B in Activate credits since 2013 to 350,000+ startups.
Eligibility
Associated with an AWS Activate Provider (VC, CVC, accelerator, angel, e.g. a16z, Greylock, Sequoia, YC, Brex, Carta) and holding that provider's Organizational ID; has not previously received AWS Activate Credits of equal or greater value; pre-Series B with the most recent funding round within the last 12 months (if funded); founded in the past 10 years; fully functioning company website; AWS account on a Paid plan. No .edu requirement.
How to claim
1) Founder creates/verifies AWS Builder ID. 2) Complete AWS Activate profile with business email. 3) Choose Portfolio tier and enter the provider's Org ID. 4) Provide startup/funding details, link an existing or new AWS account, submit; decision in 5-10 business days. If funded after a pre-seed grant, top-up to the higher tier is possible (historically the system grants the difference, validity reset per terms).
The June 2024 CNBC report ('$200K for Series A funded in past year, effective July 1, 2024') was not reflected in 2025 official materials (which still said 'up to $100,000'); the official cap only moved to $200,000 in June 2026. Credits cannot be applied to partial/all-upfront Reserved Instances; some services are excluded. No self-service: you need a provider Org ID — cold-start founders without VC ties get Founders ($1k-5k) only.
AWS Credits for AI Startups (invite-only, above Activate) medium confidence
A new tier announced alongside the June 2026 credits-page redesign: 'AWS Credits for AI Startups' offering $200,000+ in AWS Credits, invite-only, for AI startups 'ready to scale post Activate Portfolio.' Access is via your AWS Account Manager; no public application form. Amount has no stated cap.
Eligibility
AI startups that have completed/exhausted the Activate Portfolio tier and are scaling beyond it; engagement is AM-driven (invite-only). Implied pre-Series B / within Activate program terms, but no published caps.
How to claim
No self-serve path: talk with your AWS Account Manager (or request via the AWS Startups team) to be referred for the AI startup credit offer. Application still anchored on the AWS Builder ID + Activate profile.
Expiry
Not published (invite-only, per-account). Governed by AWS Promotional Credit T&Cs like all Activate credits.
Gotchas
Amounts not disclosed publicly; eligibility is at AWS's discretion; 'apply using your AI agent' from the IDE (AWS Startup Advisor) is a new 2026 convenience but the >$200K tier itself requires AM engagement.
Kiro Startup Credits: up to 1 year of free Kiro Pro+ (2-30 users) high confidence
Kiro (AWS's agentic IDE) offers early-stage startups up to a 1-year's worth of free Kiro Pro+ usage credits in three tiers: Starter (up to 2 users), Growth (up to 10 users), Scale (up to 30 users). Credits are delivered to the AWS account and expire one year after issuance; when depleted the account auto-switches to standard Kiro Pro+ billing. Not refundable, re-issuable, transferable or sellable; can be shared among authorized users of the same company.
Eligibility
Early-stage to Series A startups; matching business-domain email and corresponding AWS Account ID required; companies with ACTIVE AWS Activate Credits are excluded from this promotion (though Activate credits can still be applied to Kiro usage); a list of excluded countries/regions applies (not itemized on the page).
How to claim
Sign in at kiro.dev/startups with your AWS account, select a tier (2/10/30 users), submit; review on rolling basis with follow-up email; approved credits are added automatically to your AWS account. Use Kiro via AWS IAM Identity Center (not Builder ID or social login).
Expiry
Credits expire 12 months after issuance to the AWS account; tier caps usage seats, not dollar amount.
Gotchas
If your startup already holds AWS Activate Credits, you are not eligible for this Kiro promo — plan which benefit to take. 'Kiro' is a tool-specific credit, not general AWS infrastructure credit.
AWS Impact Accelerator (launched April 2025): $125,000 cash + up to $100,000 AWS credits medium confidence
Under a >$30M, three-year commitment, each qualifying startup receives $125,000 cash plus up to $100,000 in AWS credits (up to $225,000 combined), an 8-week personalized program with AWS startup experts, mentoring, investor networking and Amazon-leader introductions. Runs in founder-demographic tracks: Black Founders (inaugural cohort, June 2025, US-based), Women Founders (H2 2025, US-based), with Latino and LGBTQIA+ tracks following.
Eligibility
High-potential, pre-seed early-stage startups led by Black, women, Latino, or LGBTQIA+ founders (track-dependent); US-based cohorts at launch. No .edu or funding-stage exception beyond pre-seed.
How to claim
Apply through the program's dedicated application page when a track opens (inaugural Black Founders track applied via aws-startup-lofts.com, linked from the AWS announcement). Cohort-based: application windows are per track, not rolling.
Expiry
Program commitment spans three years from the April 2025 launch; individual cohort windows open/close per track. Whether tracks remained open in 2026 could not be re-verified (web-search budget exhausted this session).
Gotchas
Competitive cohort selection, not a self-serve credit grant. Cash leg ($125k) is separate from the AWS-credit leg. Demographic eligibility narrows applicant pool vs generic Activate.
AWS Generative AI Accelerator (GAIA): up to $1,000,000 AWS credits (cohort program) low confidence
GAIA is AWS's flagship cohort accelerator for generative-AI startups. The official 'What's New' page states the 2025 cohort 'will receive unmatched benefits designed to accelerate both technical growth and market traction, including up to $1 million in AWS credits' (per-startup figure cited by third-party trackers; the official page only states 'up to $1 million in AWS credits' for the cohort). Includes hands-on AI expertise, GTM resources, and investor/mentor connections. 80 startups were selected for the 2024 program.
Eligibility
Early-stage generative-AI startups; cohort is competitive/selected (applications open in cycles; 2025 cohort applications were open at time of the What's New entry). No .edu requirement. No public funding cap stated.
How to claim
Apply during open application windows on the GAIA program page (linked from AWS Startups news; the deep URL I attempted returned 404, so use the AWS Startups 'What's New' / Generative AI Accelerator landing when live).
Expiry
Cohort-based; 2025 cohort cited; a 2026 cycle likely but not verified in this session (search budget exhausted). Credit validity per-grant not published on fetched pages.
Gotchas
The exact per-startup dollar figure (commonly reported as up to $1M for top cohorts) is not confirmed on the pages I could load; cohort status for 2026 unverified.
AWS education / student offers: free learning (no .edu required), no student-specific credits medium confidence
AWS has no student-specific free credit program and no 'education license' VPS offer. Free offers for students are: (1) the standard AWS Free Tier (up to $200 credits, 6 months, explicitly marketed to students — no .edu email and no credit card required for most new customers); (2) free digital training / courses and certification-voucher programs (AWS Academy resources, AWS Educate-style free self-paced content); (3) institutions can get 'special pricing for education customers' via sales (discounts, not free). The education page confirms 17,000+ education customers but lists no student credit dollar amounts.
Eligibility
Students: same as general Free Tier — new AWS account, no .edu requirement, no CC for most customers. Institutions: separate education customer pricing negotiated via AWS sales. No funding caps (N/A).
How to claim
Students: sign up for AWS Free Tier (Free or Paid plan) at aws.amazon.com/free and complete the credit-earning activities. Training: enroll in free AWS digital courses / Academy resources (free signup, no .edu). No application steps for credits themselves.
Expiry
Free Tier: 6-month plan / 12-month credit expiry (see Free Tier finding). Free training content has no expiry. Education-institution special pricing has no published sunset.
Gotchas
Do not confuse 'AWS Academy' (partner-facilitated, some paid programs) with 'free digital training'. There is no dedicated .edu-gated offer; a school email is NOT required anywhere in the AWS free stack. Any 'student voucher' deals are ad-hoc campaign offers, not standing programs.
AWS Free Plan (new accounts, since Jul 15 2025): up to $200 credits, 6-month free plan high confidence
New AWS customers get $100 USD in credits immediately at signup and can earn up to $100 more by completing five 'explore' activities ($20 each: launch/terminate an EC2 instance, launch an RDS database, build a Lambda web app with a function URL, run a Bedrock prompt in the text playground, and create an AWS Budgets cost budget). Total up to $200. Choosing the Free account plan (the default at signup) means zero charges: 'no surprise bills', access to 90+ services for up to 6 months. The account auto-closes 6 months after opening or when credits run out, whichever is first. AWS suspends the account at expiry, retains your data 90 days, then permanently deletes account + content. Free plan includes Basic Support. Free plan cannot receive other promotional/incentive credits (e.g., AWS Activate), cannot buy hardware, and some 'large enterprise' services are unavailable; upgrade to Paid plan anytime (credits then remain valid until 12 months from signup).
Eligibility
All new AWS customers (anyone creating a brand-new AWS account); students and startups qualify exactly like everyone else — no .edu email, no student verification required. A credit/payment method is NOT required for most new customers (FAQ: 'A payment method isn't required to sign up for most new customers'; AWS may still request one or other identity info for verification in some cases). Excludes accounts that already have (or ever had) an AWS account; one Free Tier credit grant per person. Excluded regions: AWS GovCloud (US) and China (Beijing/Ningxia) regions; all other commercial regions GA.
How to claim
1) Go to https://aws.amazon.com/free/ and create a new AWS account, selecting the Free account plan during sign-up. 2) $100 credit appears automatically. 3) In the AWS Management Console, complete the 5 explore activities (shown in the 'Explore AWS' widget / Credits page in Billing & Cost Management console; credits may take up to 10 minutes to post). 4) Track balance/expiry on the Credits page; AWS emails reminders as expiry approaches. 5) To keep using AWS after the 6-month free window, upgrade to Paid plan within the 90-day data-retention window (Settings portal > Payment > Upgrade).
Expiry
Free plan period: 6 months from account creation or credit exhaustion, whichever is first — no extension possible. Credits expire 12 months from account creation (if you upgrade to Paid, unused credits stay valid to that 12-month mark). After free-plan expiry: 90 days of data retention, then permanent deletion. A new sign-up experience is noted to launch in October 2026 (FAQ).
Gotchas
This replaces the old free 750 h/month EC2 VPS: on the new plan EC2 usage is credit-based (eligible instance types changed — t2.micro no longer listed; free-tier-eligible types are t3.micro, t3.small, t4g.micro, t4g.small, c7i-flex.large, m7i-flex.large), so a running VM burns your $100-$200 credits. Credits are non-transferable and non-stackable with any other AWS promo (Activate/Partner) credit. Enrolling in AWS Organizations or a Control Tower landing zone voids remaining explore activities and extra credits (account auto-upgrades to Paid). Resources unused for 3 consecutive months can be reclaimed on 30 days' notice. Go beyond always-free monthly caps on the Free plan and remaining credits are auto-deducted; once depleted you must upgrade to Paid. Free plan is intended for evaluation and 'should not be used for processing sensitive data'.
Legacy 12-month Free Tier (accounts created before July 15, 2025) high confidence
Accounts created before 15 Jul 2025 still hold the old 12-month offers: EC2 free-tier-eligible instances t2.micro and t3.micro (the classic 750 h/month 'free VPS'), plus legacy per-service 12-month allowances (e.g., RDS db.t3.micro/db.t4g.micro for MySQL/PostgreSQL/MariaDB/SQL Server Express; S3, Lambda, etc. per the old terms, last updated Aug 14, 2018). Usage past limits is billed pay-as-you-go during the 12 months. This is now strictly legacy: the cutoff date is 15 Jul 2025 — new accounts cannot obtain it.
Eligibility
Only AWS customers who created their account before July 15, 2025. Not claimable by new accounts under any circumstances.
How to claim
Already enrolled automatically for pre-cutoff accounts; nothing to do. For new accounts: not claimable.
Expiry
12 months from account creation (legacy terms, last updated 2018-08-14); after that, standard pay-as-you-go. Legacy RDS/other service offers follow their own per-service legacy pages (e.g., https://aws.amazon.com/rds/free/ shows 'Legacy Free Tier' for accounts activated before Jul 15, 2025).
Gotchas
Any 2024-era guide saying 'free t2.micro for 12 months' is stale for new signups — since 15 Jul 2025 there is no hours-based EC2 free tier for new accounts; new accounts are on the credit-based Free Plan instead. Exceeding legacy monthly limits before the 12-month end triggers pay-as-you-go charges.
Always Free tier (30+ services, monthly caps, indefinite, both plans) medium confidence
30+ AWS services remain 'always free within monthly usage limits' on both the Free and Paid plans, indefinitely. Verified example today: AWS Lambda free tier = 1,000,000 requests + 400,000 GB-seconds per month, free 512 MB ephemeral storage, first 6 MB streamed response per request free (100 GB/month streamed bytes). Other long-standing always-free allowances across the catalog (e.g., S3 storage, DynamoDB, CloudFront egress) live on individual service pricing pages; the /free/ page now routes per-service limits to those pages. Usage is aggregated across all regions; unused monthly amounts do not roll over.
Eligibility
All AWS customers (new AND existing) — including Paid-plan customers who skip the free plan. No credit card required for the always-free usage itself; no region/industry exclusions stated.
How to claim
Nothing to claim — automatically applies to any account on eligible services within the monthly caps. Monitor via service dashboards/Billing console.
Expiry
No expiry; perpetual monthly allowances. Amounts do not roll over between months. AWS may reclaim resources unused for 3 months (30-day notice) and may terminate any offer at any time.
Gotchas
On the Free plan, overflow beyond always-free caps automatically consumes your remaining Free Tier credits (and once credits are gone, you must upgrade to Paid to keep resources running). On the Paid plan, overflow is billed at standard rates. Concrete always-free numbers for each of the 30+ services must be checked per-service (today's /free/ page no longer prints them); only the Lambda figures above were re-verified on an official page today. Lambda provisioned concurrency has NO free tier.
AWS Activate / AWS for Startups — up to $200,000 in credits + partner offers high confidence
AWS for Startups (includes the former AWS Activate): headline is 'up to $200,000 in AWS Activate Credits' (credits offset infrastructure, data services, and AI/ML model costs, and are redeemable on third-party models on Amazon Bedrock). The /free/offers/ page states the Activate grant as '$1,000 to $100,000 in AWS credits' (tier-dependent) plus 'access to 80+ exclusive offers' in third-party products, memberships, and education programs, valued at up to $800,000. 'AI startups ready to grow may be eligible for additional credits beyond Activate' (no amount published). A separate 'Kiro credits' offer for startups is referenced (amount not published). Application is processed in 7-10 business days; an 'AWS Startup Advisor' can scaffold architecture and apply from an IDE.
Eligibility
Startup must be self-funded or externally funded up to and including Pre-Seed, Angel, Seed, Debt Finance, or Series A; must have a company website or public company profile; must have been founded in the past 10 years. No .edu/student track is published — student/educator access is via the general new-account Free Plan (above) or, as a new customer, AWS Free Tier + activation.
How to claim
1) https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ → 'Join now' (/startups/join); for credits specifically: /startups/join?destination=/credits/apply. 2) Submit application (company details, public website); AWS reviews in 7-10 business days; decision by email. 3) Important: an account on the Free Plan is NOT eligible for Activate/promotional credits — you must be on the Paid plan (the new-account $200 Free Tier credits exist but the Free Plan 'cannot receive' other incentives).
Expiry
Per-tier credit durations are not published on the pages read today (legacy program historically allowed credits over 12-36 months depending on stage; not verifiable today due to web-search budget exhaustion — treat durations as unconfirmed). Credits governed by AWS Promotional Credit Terms & Conditions.
Gotchas
Cannot combine with the Free Plan: AWS Promotional Credit terms bar combining Free Tier credits with other promo/incentive offers, and the Free Plan FAQ says Free-plan accounts can't receive other promotional credits like AWS Activate — so to collect Activate you must run a Paid plan and rely on standard pricing. Amounts: the public range is $1,000-$100,000 (Activate tiers) with a program headline of 'up to $200,000' plus unspecified extra AI credits. 80+ partner offers are third-party value, not AWS dollars. Kiro credits banner references an AI IDE credit program whose amount isn't disclosed on the pages read.
Education: no standalone free student/educator VPS or credit program published (AWS for Students/Faculty) medium confidence
The AWS education pages publish no student- or educator-only free instance/VM program and no .edu-gated credit offer. What exists: (1) students get the same universal new-account AWS Free Plan ($100 + up to $100 credits, 6 months) as anyone — no .edu verification; (2) free hands-on training content (AWS Training & Certification: self-paced digital courses, free digital certificates via the Skill Builder / free-course paths); (3) institutions: 'special pricing for education customers' by contacting public-sector sales (/government-education/contact/), on-campus training, and an education catalog on AWS Marketplace. The former dedicated AWS Activate portal for students/educators (historically up to $100k/$150k credits for verified students/faculty and accelerators) is no longer at its old URL — /activate/ now serves the AWS for Startups program page. No per-service 'education license' free-tier (like GitHub Education's free cloud credits) exists on AWS pages read today.
Eligibility
Students: standard new AWS account requirements (no .edu email required, no payment method required for most). Institutions/faculty: engage AWS public-sector sales for education pricing; free courses open to anyone via AWS Training.
How to claim
Students: create an account at https://aws.amazon.com/free/ (same as any new customer) to get the $100-$200 Free Plan; take free courses at https://aws.amazon.com/training/. Educators/institutions: request education pricing through /government-education/contact/; no self-serve credit application exists.
Expiry
N/A — no published education-only credit program to expire. Universal Free Plan rules apply (6 months/credits, 12-month credit expiry) to student accounts exactly as to all new accounts.
Gotchas
Do not expect a perpetual free VPS for students from AWS: the old 'free for 12 months' EC2 offer is gone for new accounts of any kind (15 Jul 2025 cutover). AWS has no .edu-verified free-credits program on its public pages today; the startup-track (Activate/Startups) is the only published large-credit program and it targets companies, not individuals (a solo founder's startup can qualify if it has a public company profile and fits the 10-year/ Series-A funding caps). Web search budget was exhausted mid-research, so absence-of-offer claims reflect the official pages fetched today, not an exhaustive search of AWS announcements.
Unlimited-duration, per-account monthly allowances confirmed on the CloudWatch pricing page today: 10 custom or Detailed Monitoring metrics; 1M CloudWatch API requests/month (excluding GetMetricData, GetInsightRuleReport, GetMetricWidgetImage, which are always charged); CloudWatch Logs 5 GB/month covering ingestion + archive storage + Logs Insights data scanned, plus 1,800 Live Tail minutes/month, 1 Contributor Insights rule/month and first 1M matching log events/month free; 3 custom dashboards referencing up to 50 metrics each (all Automatic Dashboards free); 10 alarm metrics (Standard resolution, direct metric listing, no Metrics Insights queries); Synthetics 100 canary runs/month (uptime checks); X-Ray first 100,000 traces recorded/month and 1,000,000 traces retrieved/scanned/month; RUM one-time trial of 1M web events; Application Observability: 3-month trial per account OR caps of 100 GB ingested / 1M X-Ray trace-summary spans / 100M signals, whichever first. The 'known so far' amounts (1M API requests, 10 metrics, 5 GB logs, 100 canaries, 3 dashboards, 10 alarms, 100K X-Ray traces) are all still correct today.
Eligibility
All AWS customers, new and existing, indefinitely; no .edu email, no startup status, no funding cap, no credit card required for most sign-ups (payment method may be requested for identity verification in some cases). Not available in China (Beijing/Ningbo) or AWS GovCloud (US) regions; limits are aggregated across all regions per account, no monthly rollover.
How to claim
Nothing to claim or activate: create a normal AWS account (Free plan at sign-up gets zero charges) and usage under these caps bills as $0 automatically. Verify in Billing console > Free Tier page; CloudWatch Free Tier usage alerts fire at 85% of a limit.
Expiry
Always-free: no sunset, caps reset monthly, do not roll over. Under the new Free plan (accounts after Jul 15 2025), Always-Free offers are the only offers active on the Free plan; on the Paid plan, overage past these caps is automatically covered by remaining Free Tier credits, then standard pay-as-you-go.
Gotchas
GetMetricData / GetInsightRuleReport / GetMetricWidgetImage API calls are ALWAYS charged even within the 1M limit; High/Composite alarms, Container Insights observations, OTel metrics ingestion ($0.50/GB), Metrics Streams and Anomaly Detection alarms cost extra; exceeding a cap on the Free plan suspends the account once credits run out (no overage bills possible, but your monitoring dies); 3-month Application Observability trial starts on first use.
AWS Free Tier credit model (up to $200 credits, 6-month Free plan) high confidence
As of Jul 15, 2025 the 12-month free tier for NEW accounts was replaced by a credit model: $100 credit at sign-up + up to $100 more earned via 5 activities in the Explore AWS widget (EC2 launch/terminate, RDS config, Lambda web app, Bedrock prompt, AWS Budgets budget = $20 each), max $200. Free plan: no charges ever, expires at earlier of 6 months or credit exhaustion, then account is suspended with a 90-day window to upgrade to Paid before AWS permanently deletes the account and data. Paid plan: same credits but pay-as-you-go after they run out; new customers on Paid can still redeem promotional credits (e.g. AWS Activate). 30+ always-free services remain on both plans.
Eligibility
All new customers worldwide, students included; no .edu email required; new AWS customers ONLY — anyone who has ever had an AWS account is ineligible; payment method not required for most new customers (social sign-in via Google/GitHub/Apple/Amazon supported since the Oct 2026 new sign-up experience); excluded from China (ZHY/BJS) and GovCloud regions.
How to claim
Create account at aws.amazon.com (or new sign-up flow) choosing Free or Paid plan; complete the 5 activities within 6 months to earn the extra $100; upgrade to Paid within 90 days of suspension to keep resources and remaining credits.
Expiry
Free plan: 6 months from account creation or credit depletion, whichever first; 90-day post-suspension grace then permanent deletion. Credit expiry is inconsistent across AWS pages: FAQ says base $100 expires 6 months and earned credits 12 months from account creation (upgrade to Paid shifts remaining credits to a 12-month window per Jul 2025 terms), while the Jul 9 2025 Terms say 12 months — plan on the EARLIER date and check the Credits page / Settings Portal in your account.
Gotchas
Free plan accounts are NOT eligible for promotional/Activate credits and cannot purchase paid offers — startups needing Activate credits must run a Paid plan; joining AWS Organizations or a Control Tower landing zone instantly upgrades Free to Paid and you stop earning credits; on Free plan only the ~90 services on the restricted list are available and overage on always-free items consumes your credit pool; no credit transfer between accounts; Free plan is for evaluation only (no sensitive data).
AWS Activate Credits for startups (Founders up to $5K, Portfolio up to $200K) high confidence
Two tiers read from aws.amazon.com/startups/credits today: (1) Activate Founders — self-funded/seeded: $1,000 at start, select participants up to $5,000 total; (2) Activate Portfolio — must use an Organization ID (Org ID) from an Activate Provider (accelerator/VC/angel, e.g. Y Combinator, Sequoia, a16z, Brex, Carta, Rho): up to $200,000. Credits apply to 200+ AWS services, third-party foundation models on Amazon Bedrock, Kiro, and eligible Support plans. An invite-only 'AWS Credits for AI Startups' tier offers $200,000+ post-Activate via your Account Manager. Application turnaround 5-10 business days.
Eligibility
Startups: pre-Series B (most recent funding round within last 12 months, if applicable), founded in the last 10 years, fully functioning company website, AWS Account on Paid Tier Plan required, and must be new to Activate Credits or requesting more than previously received; no .edu email involved; no hard 'funding cap' — stage gates it. Portfolio tier additionally requires being affiliated with an Activate Provider and holding their Org ID.
How to claim
1) Create/verify an AWS Builder ID (personal email); 2) complete the AWS Activate profile (use your business-domain email); 3) pick tier — Founders directly, or Portfolio with your provider's Org ID; 4) link your AWS account and submit; AWS responds in 5-10 business days and credits are applied to the account.
Expiry
Promotional-credit expiry by size (since Jun 2024): $100K-class credits expire in 1 year, $200K-class in 3 years from receipt; confirm exact dates on the Credits page. The program itself is ongoing, not a trial; repeated applications are allowed only when requesting more than previously received.
Gotchas
AWS Account must be on a Paid plan (so a real billing payment method is effectively required — the Free plan cannot hold Activate credits); Free-plan accounts get none of this; credits do not cover AWS Marketplace purchases, RI upfront, training/cert fees or professional services; AWS has final say even with a provider vouch; multiple startups per founder or equal/higher prior credits can make a startup ineligible; credit exhaustion auto-switches to pay-as-you-go.
Kiro Startup Credits (AI IDE, for early-stage startups) high confidence
Relaunched Apr 7, 2026: up to 1 year of Kiro Pro+ (agentic AI IDE by AWS) across three tiers — Starter (up to 2 users), Growth (up to 10), Scale (up to 30). Approved credits are deposited into the startup's AWS account and bill Kiro usage for free until exhausted or expired, then standard Kiro Pro+ billing starts automatically on the card on file. The original v1 (launched Dec 3, 2025 at re:Invent, up to 100 users, pre-seed to Series B, apply by Dec 31, 2025) is closed and was replaced.
Eligibility
Early-stage to Series A startups; current promotion states VC-backed; official business email whose domain matches the startup's company website AND an AWS Account ID using that same email; 18+; excludes residents of Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, China/GCR, Cuba, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Mexico, North Korea, Poland, Russia, Spain, Syria, Crimea, DNR, LNR, UAE. Startups with ACTIVE AWS Activate Credits are NOT eligible (Activate credits can instead be used to pay for Kiro; Kiro first, then Apply to Activate is allowed).
How to claim
Apply at aws.amazon.com/startups/credits/kiro (window Apr 7 – Dec 31, 2026, rolling review, email notification). On approval: enable IAM Identity Center in AWS (required first step), create users/groups, activate the Kiro subscription in the AWS console, and sign developers in to Kiro via the org identity (Builder ID or Google/GitHub sign-in will NOT redeem the credits).
Expiry
Application deadline Dec 31, 2026; credits expire exactly 1 year after issuance to the AWS account; non-refundable, non-reissuable, one subscription per startup; overage past your tier's user count or upgrade above Pro+ incurs charges.
Gotchas
Team members must cancel their individual paid Kiro accounts after setup or they get double-billed; choosing the wrong region when enabling IAM Identity Center causes silent sign-in auth failures; credits activate on provision, not on your schedule — claim only when you'll use it within the year.
AWS Educate + Student Rewards on AWS Builder Center (students) medium confidence
AWS Educate is now a free, self-paced learning platform (labs for S3/EC2/VPC/RDS + job board) open to anyone 13+ with just an email address — no credit card needed, no .edu required, and no universal credit grant (institute credit grants were discontinued Feb 2023; some member institutions still run their own grants, e.g. $100/yr per student, refreshed until graduation; legacy qwikLABS 'Starter Account' gave $75 credits no-CC). The new student money program is Student Rewards (launched Aug 2026, part of a $500M commitment): verified university students 18+ get 12 months Skill Builder Premium (900+ courses/labs, $449 value) for a complete profile, $10 AWS credits at 7 badges, $20 at 14 badges, and a $100 AWS Foundational exam voucher at 21 badges — up to $579 total per student. Credits redeem as promo codes in the Billing console and apply to eligible AWS services (not Marketplace, exam fees, RI upfront, or Pro Services).
Eligibility
Student Rewards: verified higher-ed enrollment via SheerID (enrollment check, not a .edu email), 18+; open to students worldwide in 60+ countries. Educate: anyone 13+ with an email (verified), no payment method; institutional grant variants require enrollment at a participating school.
How to claim
Sign in to AWS Builder Center, complete SheerID student verification, fill the profile (unlocks Skill Builder premium), then earn badges by publishing articles/comments/engagement to unlock the $10 + $20 credit codes and the $100 exam voucher; redeem codes in AWS Billing & Cost Management > Credits.
Expiry
Skill Builder access lasts 12 months from unlock; the program is ongoing (no published end date; rolling); institutional grants renew annually until graduation where the school still participates.
Gotchas
The $30 in credits is modest — the real value is Skill Builder + exam voucher; to redeem into a standalone AWS account, AWS may still ask for a credit card on file; do NOT plan a project around Educate credits that no longer exist; legacy 12-month and pre-Jul-2025 free tier limits are gone — use the Free Tier credit model instead.
CloudFront Free plan (CDN/Uptime front) high confidence
CloudFront now ships a standing $0/month 'Free' plan tier (alongside Pro/Business/Premium/Custom): 100 GB of data transfer out per month + 1M requests/month, 'no overage charges', 5 GB of S3 Standard storage credits, default WAF/DDoS/TLS with 5 WAF rules. This is the successor presentation of the classic 'always-free 100 GB/month CloudFront' allowance. Missing from Free tier: Uptime SLA, logging, bot management, advanced DDoS, private origins, origin failover, high-speed origin routing, and >5 WAF rules.
Eligibility
All AWS customers indefinitely (standing plan tier, not a trial or 12-month offer); no .edu or startup status; no credit card required for most sign-ups; same region/policy constraints as standard CloudFront.
How to claim
Create a CloudFront distribution and leave it on the Free plan (default); upgrade to Pro/Business/Premium/Custom when you need the missing features — overage does not exist on Free, you simply upgrade.
Expiry
Indefinite; no sunset date. 'May not be combined with other offers, promotions, or discounts.'
Gotchas
No Uptime SLA or CloudWatch access logs on Free (your monitoring/dashboards that rely on them lose data — relevant to the Uptime & CDN fronts); 5-WAF-rule cap; the S3 'credit' is a 5 GB storage allotment, not $ value; if your distribution outgrows 100 GB you must move to a paid plan, which has its own egress pricing.
AWS Academy (accredited-institution education license) medium confidence
For AWS-accredited universities/institutions: free instructor-led curriculum (Cloud Foundations, ML Foundations; Associate level adds Cloud Development/Architecting/Cloud Operations/Data Analytics), free lab environments, a 50% discount exam voucher for AWS certification exams for students, and labs provisioned with up to US$100 of AWS credits per student per lab (budget provided by the institution, not a universal student grant).
Eligibility
Students and faculty at AWS-accredited institutions; faculty must complete AWS Academy instructor accreditation for Associate-level courses; no individual self-serve enrollment — it is an institution license, so eligibility is effectively 'your school must be an AWS Academy partner.'
How to claim
Institution becomes AWS Academy accredited; faculty enroll students into class; students access learning + lab environment with institution-provisioned credits.
Expiry
Institution license term; the 50% exam voucher is one-time per license grant; lab credits refresh per lab as provisioned.
Gotchas
Not a universal student offer — if your institution is not accredited, there is no personal grant; credits are per-lab, not a standing balance; exam discount is 50%, not free.
AWS Education Equity Initiative (education-focused orgs) medium confidence
Part of a $100M commitment of AWS technology: edtech companies, non-profits, governments and CSR teams building digital learning solutions for underserved learners can apply for up to $10,000 USD in AWS credits plus technical advising from AWS Solutions Architects (advice/demos only — no build service). Applications reviewed on a rolling basis, responses ~3 weeks; typically each organization is supported once.
Eligibility
The ORGANIZATION applying (edtech/startup/non-profit/government), not individual students; pro-social enterprises welcome; new-to-AWS orgs self-serve the application; existing customers with an Account Manager go through the AM.
How to claim
Submit the application form (or ask your AM), describe underserved audience + quantified reach + proposed solution; credits + SA advising issued on award.
Expiry
Ongoing program; credits are standard AWS promotional credits (subject to AWS Promotional Credit T&Cs).
Gotchas
Not monitoring/observability-specific and not a student offer — included only because it sits under the education front; advising is guidance, not implementation; 'we typically support organizations once.'
AWS Free Plan (credit-based Free Tier, 2025 revamp) — up to $200 in trial credits, 6 months high confidence
New customers get $100 in AWS credits immediately on signup, plus up to $100 more earned by completing 'Explore' activities in key services (Explore AWS widget); total up to $200 usable over up to 6 months. Covers access to 90+ services on the Free plan for up to 6 months (the start-here page says 100+ services, incl. EC2, S3, DynamoDB, Lambda, Bedrock, SageMaker AI). Going beyond always-free monthly limits or using paid features is auto-covered by remaining credits. No charges unless you convert to the Paid plan. New customers on the Paid plan are also eligible for up to $200 in credits; the Paid plan offers limited free trials of selected services and a monthly spend limit starting at $20 (alerts at 50/75/90%, workload paused at limit).
Eligibility
All new customers; NOT eligible if you have ever had an AWS account before. No credit card required to start for most new customers (AWS may run a fraud check that places a USD $1 hold for 3-5 days, no charge). Region limits: credits not available in China (ZHY) and China (BJS) or in AWS GovCloud (US) except certain services (e.g., Lambda for GovCloud). Credits apply across global regions, calculated monthly in USD.
How to claim
Create a new AWS account (Fast sign-up with Google/GitHub/Apple/Amazon login creates an 'AWS Builder ID' personal profile; or advanced account creation for region control) at aws.amazon.com/free or signin.aws.amazon.com/signup?request_type=builderId — Free plan auto-enrolled, $100 credit lands in the billing console; earn the second $100 within 6 months by completing Explore activities (may take up to 30 minutes to appear).
Expiry
Free plan lasts the EARLIER of 6 months from account creation or credit exhaustion; account then auto-closes, cannot be extended. On expiry AWS suspends the account; data retained 90 days, then permanently erased. You can upgrade to Paid within the 90-day window; remaining credits roll onto Paid bills (FAQ states they expire 12 months after account creation, while the Advanced-Features section states 6 months — treat as 6-12 months, check billing console). No downgrade back to Free plan.
Gotchas
Free plan is a LIMITED subset of services (Bedrock AgentCore is Paid-plan exclusive) and excludes services that would immediately consume the whole credit amount or require hardware purchases. Free-plan accounts are INELIGIBLE for promotional/incentive credits (e.g., AWS Activate) — startups need a Paid-plan account. Joining an AWS Organization/Control Tower or activating Advanced Features (multi-region, enterprise services) makes you ineligible to earn extra Explore credits and credits then expire 6 months after account creation. Credits are not transferable. GPU/ML note: no GPU-specific free allotment; GPU instances (EC2 P-series, SageMaker GPU notebooks) are payable with the $200 credits rather than always-free.
Always Free layer — 30+ services free within monthly usage limits, indefinite high confidence
Separate from the 6-month credit-based Free plan: '30+ AWS services are always free within monthly usage limits on both the Free and Paid plans.' Applies to ALL customers (new and existing), no application. If usage exceeds the monthly limits, remaining Free Tier credits automatically cover the cost (on Free plan). The hub page (aws.amazon.com/free) lists flagship services (EC2, S3, Aurora, RDS, DynamoDB, AWS Transform, Bedrock, SageMaker AI) as available on both plans but does NOT publish the per-service monthly quota numbers on the page fetched today; per-service limits live on each product pricing page.
Eligibility
All AWS customers on Free or Paid plan; not restricted by region except the same China/GovCloud caveats as the Free plan.
How to claim
Automatic — no signup step beyond having an AWS account; available on aws.amazon.com/free.
Expiry
Indefinite; no renewal, no sunset date published.
Gotchas
Quota figures (hours/GB/requests) are not on the free-plan hub; verify per-service numbers on each service pricing page before relying on a specific limit. Egress/data transfer beyond limits and any charged feature draws on credits (Free plan) or bill (Paid plan).
Amazon SageMaker free notebook allowance (ML notebooks front) — 250 hours sc.t3.medium, first 2 months high confidence
Per the SageMaker pricing page (SageMaker Unified Studio era): AWS provides 250 hours of sc.t3.medium notebook instances during the FIRST 2 MONTHS of a new account, for Amazon SageMaker notebooks. Also always-free monthly items for the SageMaker Catalog (built on DataZone): 20 MB metadata storage, 4,000 API requests, and 0.2 compute units per account per billing month; plus 'always-free' core Unified Studio requests (IdC-based domain setup, user/project management, policy grants). SageMaker Data Agent (new) is pay-as-you-go at $0.04 per credit, no free allowance. Non-GPU only (sc.t3.medium); GPU notebook/training instances (p3/p4/p5, Trainium) are paid and can be covered by Free Plan credits or Activate credits.
Eligibility
New AWS account, first 2 months only; available to Free and Paid plans (notebook hours) per the pricing page; notebook service 'honors your current AWS Free Tier allocations'.
How to claim
Create a SageMaker notebook (Unified Studio) on a new account within the first 2 months; the 250 sc.t3.medium hours apply automatically; no separate application.
Expiry
250-hour notebook allowance: first 2 months of account, no renewal. Catalog always-free allowances: recurring monthly, indefinite.
Gotchas
This is a material shrink vs the legacy free tier's 750 hours/month of ml.t3.medium for 12 months (old figure from the pre-revamp page, not re-verified today). Storage (S3), EKS clusters, endpoints, and GPU instances cost extra; SageMaker usage through Unified Studio is billed per underlying service. Data/prep jobs are not listed as free in the section fetched.
AWS Activate (AWS for Startups) credits — Founders up to $5,000, Portfolio up to $200,000, AI startups $200,000+ high confidence
Three tiers on the current credits page: (1) Activate Founders (self-funded/bootstrapped): start with $1,000 in credits, earn up to $5,000 total; apply directly. (2) Activate Portfolio (VC/accelerator/angel-group backed, use the provider's Organization ID): up to $200,000 in credits. (3) AWS Credits for AI Startups: $200,000+ for 'AI startups ready to scale', invite-only, via your AWS account manager. All credits in USD, redeemable on AWS services including third-party models on Amazon Bedrock. Beyond credits: mentorship (ex-founders, CTOs, VCs, angels), technical/business guidance, co-build/co-market/co-sell, AWS Marketplace listing, and the new 'AWS Startup Advisor' (IDE-integrated cost tracking and credit applications). The separate offers page still lists the program as '$1,000 to $100,000' plus '80+ exclusive third-party offers valued at up to $800,000' — figures now inconsistent with the credits page (up to $200,000).
Eligibility
Founded in the last 10 years; pre-Series B stage (offers page says funded up to Series A); company website required; needs an AWS account ON THE PAID plan; must be new to Activate credits or requesting more than previously received. Apply with a Builder ID using a professional (company) email. No funding-amount cap is printed; no credit-card detail stated (Paid plan implies a payment method).
How to claim
4 steps from aws.amazon.com/startups/credits: 1) create AWS Builder ID with professional email; 2) pick tier — Founders (self-funded, apply directly) or Portfolio (with provider's Activate Org ID); 3) provide product, funding-stage, company details; 4) link an AWS Paid-plan account and submit. Response within 5-10 business days (credits page; offers page says 7-10).
Expiry
No renewal mechanism published; credits are one-time grants (duration-of-use window not stated on page fetched today).
Gotchas
Free-plan accounts are INELIGIBLE for Activate (FAQ confirms Free plan excludes promotional/incentive credits) — you need a Paid account, i.e., the Free Plan's 6-month account that auto-closes is the wrong vehicle; startups should stay on Paid. Kiro Startup Credits are mutually exclusive with active Activate credits. The '/free/offers' page figures ($1K-$100K, 7-10 days) look stale versus the dedicated credits page ($5K/$200K, 5-10 days) — trust the credits page.
Kiro Startup Credits (separate, non-Activate track, 2025/2026 new) high confidence
Up to one year of Kiro Pro+ credits (Kiro is AWS's agentic IDE) delivered in three tiers: Starter — up to 2 Kiro users; Growth — up to 10; Scale — up to 30. Credits are automatically added to the linked AWS account on approval. Not AWS infrastructure credits — covers Kiro Pro+ subscription only.
Eligibility
Early-stage through Series A startups, global, but EXCLUDED: Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, China/GCR, Cuba, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Mexico, North Korea, Poland, Russia, Spain, Syria, Crimea, DNR, LNR, UAE. Requires a business email matching the startup's domain and an AWS Account ID tied to that email. Startups with active AWS Activate Credits are excluded (Activate credits can still be spent on Kiro separately).
How to claim
Submit the form at kiro.dev/startups (or the AWS Startups Kiro credits page); reviewed on rolling basis, follow-up email; one application at a time per startup; redeem via Kiro using AWS IAM Identity Center sign-in (not Builder ID or social login).
Expiry
Credits expire one year after issuance to the AWS account. Not refundable, re-issuable, transferable, or sellable; shareable across authorized users of associated accounts in the same company. Once depleted, standard Kiro Pro+ billing applies.
Gotchas
Only relevant if you build in Kiro; does not fund GPU/ML compute. Heavy region exclusions (many of the EU, LatAm, ex-USSR).
AWS Educate (education license / student path) — free digital training and credentials, no .edu email required high confidence
Free, curated learning paths and hands-on labs (starter labs in Storage, Compute, Networking, Databases, Cloud Operations); earn shareable digital badges (Credly network). Job board access for learners 18+. Recruiter accounts for employers to source talent. No institutional enrollment needed: 'open to any individual'.
Eligibility
Any individual — NO .edu email required; learners as young as 13 can register with just an email address; 'No credit card needed'.
How to claim
Register at aws.amazon.com/education/awseducate with any email address; take labs; earn digital badges. No application or license to claim.
Expiry
Indefinite; no renewal or sunset noted. (A historical faculty/classroom-licensing front: aws.amazon.com/education/awsclassroom returns 404 — no public classroom-license page found today; institutions are instead directed to contact AWS for 'special pricing for education customers', i.e., not a public free offer.)
Gotchas
This is learning content, not compute: no GPU/ML training credits; no AWS account credits. The education landing page is high-level; program details live on the awseducate page. AWS Academy/partner-institution programs are separate and not free-publicly.
AWS Free Account: up to $200 in Free Tier credits covering Amazon SES (new signup experience, live ~Oct 2026) high confidence
New AWS accounts get a credit-based free tier: $100 in credits immediately at sign-up, plus up to $100 more for completing 'Explore AWS' activities = up to $200 total. Credits are redeemable on eligible services, explicitly including Amazon SES (replaces the old per-service SES allowance of 3,000 emails/month). Sign-up is a choice between a Free plan and a Paid plan; Free plan lasts 6 months after account creation and the account auto-closes '6 months after you open it or when your credits run out, whichever comes first'. On the Free plan, 'no charges incurred unless you upgrade to a Paid plan or activate paid-only services'. Base credits expire 6 months from account creation; if you upgrade to Paid, remaining credits keep applying to bills and expire 12 months from account creation. After the Free plan ends, AWS retains your data 90 days before deletion. A separate 'always free' bucket of 30+ services with monthly limits continues on both plans, with credits covering overages. A payment method is NOT required for most new customers ('AWS may still ask for one to verify identity in some cases').
Eligibility
Any new AWS account under the new sign-up experience (rolled out October 2026). No credit card required in most cases; no .edu or startup status needed. No region limit stated on the credits themselves.
How to claim
Create a new AWS account at the new sign-up flow, choose the Free plan (or Paid and let credits apply to bills), and use SES/SMS/push messaging within the $100-$200 credit envelope; upgrade to Paid if you want to continue past 6 months. Credits apply automatically to new eligible charges.
Expiry
Free plan: 6 months from account creation (account auto-closes). Base credits: 6 months; credits on Paid plan: 12 months from account creation. Data retained 90 days post-closure.
Gotchas
The old per-service 12-month free tiers (incl. SES 3,000 emails/month) are no longer listed on the official pages — they were replaced by this credit model. Free Plan auto-CLOSES the account, so anything not migrated by month 6 is gone after the 90-day data retention. Credits apply to new eligible charges only, not retroactively.
Amazon SES pricing/plan model (2025-2026): new accounts default to 'Essentials' plan from July 21, 2026; à-la-carte $0.10/1,000 emails high confidence
SES pricing is 'per account per region per month'. À-la-carte outbound email is $0.10 per 1,000 emails (matching the 'then $0.10/1K' figure) and inbound $0.10/1,000; attachment data $0.12/GB; dedicated IPs $24.95/IP/month; Mail Manager email processing $0.15/1,000. NEW: 'New SES accounts and account x region combinations with no metered SES activity since June 1, 2025 will start on the Essentials plan beginning July 21, 2026'. Plans: Essentials $0.16/1K (0-10M), no monthly fee; Pro $0.22/1K with $105/mo fee; Enterprise $0.23/1K with $500/mo fee (all with virtual deliverability manager; volume tiers drop to $0.14/$0.17/$0.18 at 10-100M and $0.11/$0.12/$0.13 above 100M). 'You can upgrade or switch to à-la-carte pricing at any time'; downgrades take effect at the next billing cycle.
Eligibility
All SES users in commercial regions (per-account-per-region pricing; GovCloud/sovereign clouds excluded from some features). No card/edu/startup requirement — a standard AWS account (which under the new model may need no card for 6 months on Free plan).
How to claim
Just start sending in the AWS console or via API; new/inactive accounts are put on Essentials by default from 2026-07-21 — if you want the cheaper $0.10/1K à-la-carte rate, switch to à-la-carte pricing in the console; Free Account credits (up to $200) offset early usage.
Expiry
No expiry; pricing structure. Note the old 3,000 emails/month SES free allowance is no longer published on the pricing page — it is superseded by the $200 credit model and the Essentials/à-la-carte structure.
Gotchas
Gotcha: the default Essentials rate ($0.16/1K) is ~60% MORE than à-la-carte ($0.10/1K) — switch deliberately, downgrades lag a billing cycle. Extra metered costs alongside SES: S3 storage for message transfer, SNS notifications, CloudWatch custom metrics/dashboards. Regional price differences apply per account per region.
Push notifications free tier: first 1,000,000 push notifications per month free (AWS End User Messaging) high confidence
On the AWS End User Messaging pricing page: 'You pay $0 for the first 1,000,000 push notifications that you send each month', then $0.000001 each. No time limit or region restriction is stated on the page (language is recurring 'each month'), implying a standing allowance for End User Messaging. This is the successor to Amazon Pinpoint's push channel: AWS 'will end support for Amazon Pinpoint on October 30, 2026'; console and Pinpoint resources (endpoints, segments, campaigns, journeys, analytics) end, while 'APIs related to SMS, voice, mobile push, OTP, and phone number validate are not impacted' and continue under AWS End User Messaging. (Legacy Pinpoint console also offered $0 for 1M pushes/month and $0 for first 100M events collected, first 5,000 targeted endpoints, first 15,000 in-app message requests.)
Eligibility
Any AWS customer sending push notifications through End User Messaging (post-Pinpoint APIs). No card/edu requirement beyond normal AWS account rules (new accounts can be card-free for 6 months on Free plan). No region limit stated.
How to claim
Use the End User Messaging mobile push API; the first 1M pushes/month are $0 automatically — nothing to redeem. Migration users: keep API usage (APNs/FCM/WNS) intact past 2026-10-30 since campaigns/journeys/console state in Pinpoint does NOT survive the sunset.
Expiry
Standing monthly allowance, no stated expiry. Hard date to act on: 2026-10-30 Pinpoint support ends — move off Pinpoint console/journeys before that.
Gotchas
Post-1M pushes cost $0.000001 each. Push is one channel of EUM; SMS/voice/email in the same app are billed separately (email via SES; no free SMS). Inbound/egress data and any EC2/S3 behind your app add cost.
SMS (End User Messaging): no free SMS quota published — pay-per-message with carrier surcharges medium confidence
The End User Messaging pricing page lists NO free SMS/MMS/voice message allowance (unlike push's 1M free). SMS: 'price varies by destination country and, in some cases, carrier within a country' (e.g., Canada toll-free: $0.00581 AWS + $0.00705 carrier). MMS (US/Canada outbound): $0.02 base + $0.01 carrier. Voice (outbound): US $0.013/min, requires a dedicated voice-enabled long code. OTP: $0.045 per successful verification plus the SMS price. Phone Number Validate: $0.006/request. Add-ons: SMS Protect Monitor/Filter $0.01/message; Notify managed feature $0.030-$0.045/message volume-tiered plus channel fee; phone number leasing $1-$995/mo; short codes US setup $650 + $995/mo. The legacy '100 free SMS/month in US regions' SNS free tier is no longer published anywhere on the current End User Messaging/SNS pricing pages — likely absorbed into the $200 Free Account credit model.
Eligibility
Any End User Messaging customer. No free tier to claim; new accounts' up-to-$200 Free Account credits can offset early SMS spend. No card needed during the 6-month Free plan.
How to claim
Nothing to claim for SMS specifically — usage is metered; if you need zero-cost SMS, rely on the up-to-$200 new-account credits or an AWS Activate credit grant.
Expiry
No free tier, so no expiry question; pricing is standing. Legacy 100-msg US free tier: no longer listed as of 2026-10-22.
Gotchas
High gotcha surface: carrier fees are passed through on top of AWS fees (so 'real' per-SMS cost is higher than the AWS number); promotional SMS in many markets is heavily regulated; OTP and Phone Number Validate are separate paid features; scaling past 'Notify' requires dedicated phone numbers + brand verification (US 10DLC etc.), which cost money.
Chat APIs (WhatsApp & RCS via End User Messaging): no free tier — metered with Meta/carrier surcharges high confidence
WhatsApp: AWS fee $0.005 per outbound message globally (except India Authentication/Utility at $0.002), $0.001 per inbound globally; WhatsApp voice calling $0.005/min outbound (India $0.003), $0.001/min inbound; Meta's separate message fees are added on top and vary by country/message type. RCS (US): Rich RCS outbound $0.007/segment AWS + $0.00494/segment carrier; Rich Media RCS $0.020/message AWS + $0.00949 carrier. 'Businesses are only charged when a message is successfully delivered.' No free messages for WhatsApp or RCS.
Eligibility
Any End User Messaging customer; no free tier to claim. No card requirement during the new-account Free plan window.
How to claim
Use EUM WhatsApp/RCS APIs; expect cost from message #1 unless you hold AWS credits (Free Account $200 or Activate grants).
Expiry
Standing metered pricing; no trial stated.
Gotchas
Double billing: AWS fee + Meta fee (WhatsApp) or AWS fee + carrier fee (RCS); 'only charged on successful delivery' cuts both ways for delivery-failure accounting.
AWS Activate Founders tier: $1,000 in AWS credits (up to $5,000 over time) for early-stage, self-funded startups high confidence
Founders tier (current as of the June 2026 applying guide): $1,000 in AWS Activate Credits; 'select startups may qualify for up to $5,000 over time'. Eligibility: new to AWS Activate Credits, self-funded, fully functioning company website, founded in the past 10 years. Credits expire within 1-2 years depending on package and are applied monthly to new eligible charges only (never retroactive). Processing 7-10 business days. Credits are redeemable across 200+ AWS services, including third-party foundation models on Amazon Bedrock (OpenAI, Mistral, Anthropic, Meta, etc.). No credit-card requirement mentioned for the program itself. Re-applying is allowed for a larger tier; you receive the difference up to a lifetime cap; submitted applications can't be edited (cancel + unlink + resubmit).
Eligibility
Startup founders (individuals applying on behalf of a company): self-funded (no institutional funding), company < 10 years old, working company website required, first-time Activate recipient, business email matching the startup domain. Applies to startups of any funding stage at or before Pre-Series B.
How to claim
Create/sign in to an AWS Builder ID (personal email) → complete one-time Activate profile (business email) → choose Founders tier → enter company + funding details → link your primary AWS account (root/admin) → verify in console → submit. Credits land on the linked AWS account and automatically offset SES/SMS/push spend.
Expiry
Credits expire 1-2 years from grant depending on package; no stated renewal — you can re-apply when you qualify for a bigger tier.
Gotchas
Self-funded only — a small funding round or accelerator affiliation pushes you to the Portfolio tier instead. Credits cover new usage only; pre-existing debt on the account is not credited. $5K 'over time' is discretionary/select.
AWS Activate Portfolio tier: up to $200,000 in AWS credits for provider-backed startups (pre-Series B) high confidence
Portfolio tier: 'up to $200,000 in AWS Activate Credits'. Eligibility: associated with an AWS Activate Provider (accelerator/VC/ecosystem org, 'thousands worldwide') and hold their Organizational ID; Pre-Series B (most recent funding round within last 12 months, if funded); founded in the past 10 years; working company website; no prior AWS Activate Credits of equal or greater value. Beyond $200K, 'AI startups ready to grow may be eligible for additional credits' via an Account Manager. Credits redeemable on 200+ services incl. Bedrock third-party models; expire within 1-2 years; applied monthly to new eligible charges. Program stats: 350,000+ startups, $8B+ in promotional credits since 2013. Note: an older marketing page (startups.aws.com LP) still advertises 'up to $100,000' — the June 2026 guide and main page confirm $200,000 as the current ceiling; also a new 'Kiro credits' offer for startups exists (kiro.dev/startups).
Eligibility
Startup companies affiliated with an Activate Provider (Org ID), pre-Series B funding cap (most recent round <= 12 months old), < 10 years old, working website. Not for individuals or non-startup businesses; no .edu involved (student startups go through their university's provider agreement — see Educate finding).
How to claim
Obtain your provider's Org ID → AWS Builder ID + Activate profile (business email) → choose Portfolio tier → submit funding/company details → link primary AWS account → wait 7-10 business days; credits apply monthly to new eligible usage.
Expiry
Grant-to-expiry 1-2 years per package; re-application gives the difference vs previously held credits up to the lifetime cap.
Gotchas
The headline number moved from $100K to $200K (some pages stale); 'most recent round within last 12 months' is a hard timing rule; credits are new-charge-only; wrong/funding details = denial (inaccurate info results in denial).
AWS Educate: student program at partner institutions (credits ~$100/yr; some universities offer up to $5,000 for student startups) low confidence
AWS Educate (successor to AWS Academy's classroom content) is offered through enrolled institutions: students get free self-paced courses, labs, and a promo credit (commonly ~$100/yr, redeemed by code in Billing & Cost Management -> Credits). Some university startup programs (e.g., AWS Activate partnerships at universities like Syracuse's Blackstone LaunchPad) extend student-startup eligibility to up to $5,000 in credits valid ~2 years plus 1 year of AWS Business Support. Note: the official Educate landing page could not be fetched today (404/DNS), so dollar amounts are from university-published pages updated in 2025; treat as approximate.
Eligibility
Enrolled students/faculty at a partner institution; the ~$5,000 startup path requires the university's Org ID and meeting Activate Portfolio-style requirements (website, funding stage). Verification via the institution's enrollment, not a .edu email alone.
How to claim
Register through your school's AWS Educate portal, complete the AWS Educate application, then redeem the emailed credit code in AWS Billing & Cost Management; for student startups, apply through the university's Activate provider page (Org ID) for the larger grant.
Expiry
Educate credits typically annual per-enrollment; university startup grants ~2 years. Verify current numbers with the school's page.
Gotchas
Credit codes are account-bound (redeem on the account you'll use, they don't transfer); some schools cap or restrict production use (learning-only policies, e.g., UC Berkeley's disclaimer that these are sandbox resources, not for launching a business).
AWS Builder Center student rewards: free Skill Builder year + badge-earned credits, no credit card required high confidence
Verified students at accredited higher-education institutions (verified via SheerID with name, college name, and school email — .edu domain NOT strictly required) get: 1 year of AWS Skill Builder (900+ courses, labs, cert exam prep, game-based learning) just for completing a profile; badge-based rewards — 7 badges = $10 AWS credits, 14 badges = $20 AWS credits, 21 badges = $100 AWS Certification voucher; plus free workshops/courses/community, explicitly 'No credit card'. Student Builder Groups (student-led campus communities) also exist.
Eligibility
Students (or staff) of an accredited higher-education institution, verified by SheerID (most checks minutes; up to 24-48h with extra docs). No startup/funding rules.
How to claim
Sign in with an AWS Builder ID at builder.aws.com → complete SheerID student verification → complete profile (unlocks Skill Builder) → earn badges (articles, comments, streaks) to unlock the $10/$20 credits and $100 voucher. Credits apply to AWS usage (incl. messaging services) if you have/created an AWS account.
Expiry
Skill Builder benefit is 1 year; badge credits/voucher have no expiry stated on the page; program is ongoing.
Gotchas
Rewards are small ($10-$20 credits, $100 voucher) — meaningful but not a production budget; the cert voucher is a voucher, not exam free passage; no card needed but actual AWS production usage still requires a billing account.
AWS Free Tier — Free Plan: up to $200 credits, 6 months, no charges high confidence
As of the July 15, 2025 revamp (current structure, verified today): new customers get $100 in credits immediately on sign-up and can earn up to $100 more (5 console activities worth $20 each: launch an EC2 instance, create an RDS database, build a Lambda web app, try a Bedrock foundation model, set an AWS Budgets cost budget). Free plan = access to 90+ select services for up to 6 months with no charges and no surprise overages; you cannot exceed limits — remaining credits auto-apply. Upgrade to Paid plan any time; on the old sign-up experience unused credits stay usable up to 12 months from sign-up, but under the new sign-up experience (launched Oct 2026) the FAQ states Free Tier credits expire 6 months from account creation. Free plan accounts auto-enroll at account creation.
Eligibility
New AWS customers only (an existing or previously-had AWS account makes you ineligible). No .edu email or student status required — open to anyone worldwide. Credit card NOT required for most new customers (FAQ Q4: 'A payment method isn't required to sign up for most new customers. In some cases, we may request additional information, such as a payment method, to verify your identity'). NOT available in China (ZHY/Ningxia, BJS) regions or AWS GovCloud (US) regions (certain services such as Lambda excepted). Free plan + credits are NOT available through AWS Organizations: enrolling a Free plan account in Organizations upgrades it to Paid, and an Organization can benefit from offers via only one account (usage aggregated).
How to claim
1) Create an AWS account, select Free plan (default). 2) $100 credit appears on the Credits page (up to 10 minutes to show). 3) Complete the five 'Explore AWS' activities in the AWS Management Console Home widget to earn up to $100 more. 4) Monitor balance/days remaining via the Cost & Usage widget or Settings Portal (new sign-up experience) / Credits page in Billing console (pre-Oct-2026 sign-ups). 5) Upgrade to Paid plan to continue after expiry.
Expiry
Free plan expires at the earlier of 6 months from account creation or credit exhaustion (cannot be extended). After expiry AWS suspends the account and resources; data is retained 90 days, then the account and all content are permanently erased unless upgraded within 90 days. Credits expire 6 months from account creation on the new sign-up experience (FAQ); 12 months per the July 2025 Free Tier Terms for earlier sign-ups.
Gotchas
Suspended after expiry — move data/projects before the 90-day window or lose them. Free plan is 'evaluation only' per terms (sensitive data processing disallowed). Credits can't be transferred to other accounts. AWS may reclaim resources after 3 months of inactivity with 30 days' notice. Unused monthly free amounts don't roll over. Activating paid-only services upgrades you to Paid plan (bills on pay-as-you-go beyond credits). EC2/RDS/S3/API Gateway on new accounts are no longer fixed monthly free allowances — they consume the $200 credit pool; new free-plan-eligible EC2 types: t3.micro, t3.small, t4g.micro, t4g.small, c7i-flex.large, m7i-flex.large (t2.micro is legacy only).
All AWS customers (new and existing, Free and Paid plans) get over 30 'Always Free' services with monthly usage caps; usage is aggregated across all regions; excess usage automatically applies Free Tier credits (Free plan) or bills at standard on-demand rates (Paid plan). Representative always-free caps (per service docs and community verification, not all published on the /free/ page itself): Lambda 1M requests + 400,000 GB-seconds; DynamoDB 25 GB + 25 provisioned RCU / 5 WCU; SQS 1M requests; SNS 1M publishes; CloudWatch 10 custom metrics + 10 alarms + 1M API requests; CloudFront 1 TB data transfer out.
Eligibility
Any AWS customer — no .edu, no student status, no credit card required for the account itself. Available in regions where AWS operates (Always Free offers are region-broader than the Free Plan credits, which exclude China and GovCloud).
How to claim
Automatic once you have an AWS account; no application.
Expiry
No expiry while you hold an AWS account; monthly limits reset each month with no rollover. AWS may terminate any offer at any time.
Gotchas
Data transfer out (egress) beyond CloudFront's 1 TB and inter-region traffic are billable; paid add-on features auto-bill on Paid plans; individual service caps vary — check each service's pricing page before heavy use. The per-service figures above are medium-confidence (sourced from the EC2 docs and builder-community summaries, since the /free/ page lists service tiles without caps).
AWS Free Tier — short-term trials on selected Paid-plan services medium confidence
Selected Paid-plan services can be 'tried' with limited free trials; the trial begins when you activate the service, and any eligible Free Tier credits automatically apply to usage beyond trial limits. Some offers are limited in duration or free-usage amount; on a Free plan, activating a paid-only service upgrades the account to Paid plan.
Eligibility
New AWS customers (per-service trials listed on aws.amazon.com/free/); no .edu required; same region caveats (Free Plan credits unavailable in China/GovCloud).
How to claim
Activate the trial service from the console; track the trial end date yourself — AWS does not always notify when a trial ends.
Expiry
Per-service trial windows; AWS may end any offer at any time.
Gotchas
Trial vs Always Free confusion: trial periods end and pay-as-you-go billing starts without a notification in some cases — delete trial resources before expiry. Egress/data-transfer and public IPv4 charges ($0.005/hr) commonly surprise trial users.
Free, self-paced online cloud training 'designed for beginners': hundreds of hours of content incl. Getting Started with Storage (S3), Compute (EC2), Networking (VPC), Databases (RDS), and Cloud Operations + cost-estimation labs, a Cloud 101 pathway, and a Cloud Literacy interactive badge. Includes free hands-on labs in a sandboxed AWS Console environment (time-boxed, unlimited retries), shareable Credly digital badges, an invitation to the AWS Emerging Talent Community, and an AWS Educate Job Board (18+) with in-demand jobs and internships. No dollar-denominated AWS cloud credits — it is a learning program, not a credit grant.
Eligibility
Open to any individual regardless of education, experience, or career journey — NO .edu email or university affiliation required. Register with just an email address; no credit card needed. Minimum age: 'as young as 13' per the current page; the Educate FAQ says 14+ generally, with EU 16+; Algeria, Lebanon, Portugal 18+; not offered in China or Switzerland.
How to claim
1) Register at the AWS Educate sign-up page (promo code 'EducateLP' referenced on the page) or sign in to AWS Educate. 2) Choose a learning path (Cloud 101 recommended for new-to-cloud). 3) Complete labs/courses. 4) Claim digital badges on Credly. 5) Job board access at 18+.
Expiry
No expiry; content and lab time limits update over time; lab attempts are time-boxed but retries are unlimited.
Gotchas
Labs run on shared sandboxes, not your own AWS account (does not stack with your Free Tier account). No monetary credits. Employer direct-messaging on the job board is US-only per the FAQ. Age minimum varies by country (higher in EU and some regions than the '13+' marketing). No certification exam included — AWS certifications remain paid (see AWS Academy vouchers).
AWS Skillbuilder — 500-600+ free self-paced digital training courses high confidence
AWS's Training FAQ: 'Self-paced digital training on AWS Skill Builder is free.' Free digital training includes 500+ on-demand courses in 17 languages (the /training/ page markets '600+ free digital courses'); free digital badges (knowledge, Cloud Quest) earned at >=80% on the associated assessment, claimable on Credly. Paid Individual/Team subscriptions add more content and labs; free webinars/Twitch training events also exist, while classroom training and certification exams cost money.
Eligibility
Anyone — no .edu or student status; sign in with a free AWS Builder ID (or APN credentials / company Team subscription if an org member). No credit card.
How to claim
1) Open AWS Skill Builder and sign in or create a free AWS Builder ID. 2) Enroll in any free digital course. 3) Score >=80% on the assessment to earn a badge. 4) Claim the badge via Credly.
Expiry
No stated expiry for free access; subscription content changes with plans.
Gotchas
Only part of Skillbuilder is free — advanced lab-heavy content is behind paid Individual/Team subscriptions; certification exams are paid (vouchers only via AWS Academy pathways); don't confuse free digital badges with paid AWS certification badges.
AWS Activate — Founders package: $1,000 credits (select participants up to $5,000) high confidence
For self-funded, early-stage startups new to AWS Activate Credits: $1,000 USD in AWS credits (per AWS's gaming-startups page: 'Start with $1,000 USD in Activate Credits. Select participants may qualify for additional credits up to $5,000'). Credits redeem on 200+ eligible AWS services incl. third-party foundation models on Amazon Bedrock. Also includes technical support, business mentorship, co-build/co-market/go-to-market resources, free pre-built cloud templates, AWS Startup Advisor, AWS Support Plans eligible for credits, and access to 80+ third-party offers. New customers also get the AWS Free Tier when creating a new account.
Eligibility
Startup program — NOT an education/.edu program (student-founded startups can apply as startups). Criteria: self-funded (or pre-Series B per AWS's June 2026 guide), founded in the past 10 years, a fully functioning company website or public company profile, new to Activate Credits (or requesting more than previously received), and a business email matching the company domain. No student-specific grant exists.
How to claim
1) Create a personal AWS Builder ID with a professional email. 2) Complete the AWS Activate profile. 3) Choose the Founders package. 4) Submit company/product/funding details (accurate info required; inaccuracies can be denied). 5) Link an AWS account and submit; decision in 7-10 business days by email, trackable in the console.
Expiry
Credits are subject to the AWS Promotional Credit Terms & Conditions (fixed validity from grant, not re-stated on these pages); not renewable at the same value without a larger request.
Gotchas
Without a functioning startup/website you won't qualify. AWS has final say; website professionalism is weighted heavily. Credits don't cover Marketplace third-party services, Route 53 domain registration/transfer, most support tiers, or Professional Services (except Bedrock third-party model charges). AWS offers generally not available in China regions.
AWS Activate — Portfolio package: up to $200,000 credits (provider-backed) medium confidence
For startups affiliated with an AWS Activate Provider (accelerator, VC, incubator, or partner org — e.g., Y Combinator, a16z, nVIDIA, Carta): up to $200,000 in AWS Activate Credits per the main /startups/ page and AWS's June 4, 2026 step-by-step guide ('The Activate Portfolio tier offers up to $200,000 in AWS Activate Credits for provider-backed startups'); AI startups ready to scale can get additional credits beyond $200,000 via their Account Manager. Also: 80+ exclusive third-party offers/memberships valued up to $800,000, dedicated account managers, and solutions architects. Note: the /free/offers/ comparison page still lists the range as '$1,000 to $100,000' with eligibility 'funded up to and including Series A' — the $200k / pre-Series-B figures come from AWS's newer 2026 pages, indicating the cap and funding stage were raised in 2025-2026.
Eligibility
Must hold an Organizational ID from an AWS Activate Provider; pre-Series B (most recent funding round within the last 12 months, if applicable); founded in the past 10 years; a fully functioning company website; business email; must be new to Activate Credits or requesting more than previously received. Not open to direct application — provider affiliation is mandatory. No .edu/student path.
How to claim
1) Enroll in a program with an AWS Activate Provider and get their Org ID/invitation. 2) Create an AWS Builder ID + complete the AWS Activate profile. 3) Choose the Portfolio package with your Org ID. 4) Submit details; link an AWS account; decision in 7-10 business days.
Expiry
Per the AWS Promotional Credit Terms & Conditions (fixed validity from grant).
Gotchas
Provider gatekeeping (AWS has final say and gets pickier above $5,000). Official AWS pages conflict today on the cap: $100k on /free/offers/ vs $200k on /startups/ and the June 2026 guide — treat 'up to $200,000' as the current advertised max and verify at application. Legacy sub-tiers ($5k/$10k/$25k/$100k; YC's up to $250k) are no longer publicly listed.
AWS Academy — free participation for accredited higher-education institutions (+ exam vouchers) high confidence
AWS Academy 'provides higher education institutions with a free, ready-to-teach cloud computing curriculum' (aligned to AWS certifications) plus Learner Labs. FAQ: 'There is no cost to join.' Educators may request a 100% discount voucher on AWS certification exam cost; member institutions may request a 50% discount exam voucher that students redeem at 100% of the voucher's value; students in badge-eligible courses earn Emerging Talent Community points redeemable for rewards such as discounted AWS certification exam vouchers. This is AWS's closest university-scoped free offer.
Eligibility
Institutional, not individual: accredited higher-education institution offering degrees, diplomas, certificates, or continuing-ed programs, with an authorized Program Administrator or Central Point of Contact (CPOC). No .edu-email-only rule, but institutional membership is required; individual students/educators can't self-enroll.
How to claim
1) Institution applies to join AWS Academy (or is added to an existing membership). 2) CPOC nominates educators; educators complete the mandatory Getting Started course. 3) Educators teach courses; students use Learner Labs. 4) Educators/students claim exam discount vouchers per program rules.
Expiry
No expiry while the institution remains a member; voucher/reward programs are 'subject to change' per the FAQ.
Gotchas
Vouchers discount exam fees only — they are not AWS usage credits. Institutional onboarding can be slow; the free value to students is mainly the curriculum, labs, and exam discounts — hands-on AWS usage still comes from the regular Free Tier (which needs no Academy affiliation).
SUNSET / MATERIAL CHANGES 2024-2026: (1) The classic AWS 12-month free tier (EC2 750 hrs/mo, S3 5 GB, 1M input + 1M output free Bedrock model-invocation tokens per month for 12 months across ~75 models, RDS 750 hrs, etc.) has been SUPERSEDED by the new Free plan / Paid plan model: $100 signup credits + up to $100 earned, 6-month window, 30+ 'always free' services, and notably no payment method required for most new customers. The Bedrock-specific free-token docs page (docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock/latest/userguide/free-trial.html) now renders empty/removed, and the new Free Tier FAQ contains zero mention of Bedrock free tokens, 750 EC2 hours, or 5 GB S3 - legacy per-service allowances no longer exist. So the 'free Bedrock tokens for students' front is effectively dead; Bedrock access now comes via (a) Free plan $100-200 credits, (b) AWS Activate credits, or (c) Kiro credits for agentic coding. (2) June 2024: AWS doubled the portfolio/accelerate credit ceiling from $100,000 to $200,000 (announced July 1, 2024, for startups that raised Series A in the past 12 months; seed stage stayed at $100,000 at the time; credits' expiry moved from 1 year to 3 years - per CNBC 2024-06-28). The current credits page (2026) shows one Portfolio tier at up to $200,000. (3) 2026: the credits page was redesigned (awslabs/startups PR #75, June 2026) renaming tiers to Activate Founders ($1,000 start, up to $5,000 - NOT the ~$100 sometimes misreported; the $100 figure matches the new Free plan signup credit, not Activate), Activate Portfolio (up to $200,000), and adding the invite-only 'AWS Credits for AI Startups' tier ($200,000+) plus the new Kiro Startup Credits program. (4) 'Known so far' figures from the task (~$100K Portfolio, ~$100 Founders) are outdated: Portfolio is now up to $200K and Founders is $1,000-to-start/up-to-$5,000. No standalone student Bedrock/LLM free offer from AWS exists today - the closest student fronts are the no-card Kiro Student Offer (1,000 credits/month x 12 months) and AWS Academy (training only, no credits). Verification caveat: today's live fetches of aws.amazon.com/startups/credits/ and free sub-pages intermittently returned 403 via proxy, but credits-page content was captured today via the official page mirror in the awslabs/startups repo and search snippets of the live page; free-plan figures came directly from aws.amazon.com/free/ and /free/free-tier-faqs/ read today.</sunset_notes>
Major 2025-2026 changes (all verified on official AWS pages fetched today, 2026-10-22; WebSearch budget was exhausted so only official-page fetches were used): (1) The legacy usage-based 12-month AWS Free Tier (750 RDS hours, 5 GB S3, etc.) was replaced by a credit-based model for accounts created on/after July 15, 2025 — $100 at sign-up + up to $100 earned, Free plan (6-month auto-closing account) vs Paid plan (12-month credit validity); a refreshed sign-up experience launched October 2026, and pre-October accounts still see the old credits console. The RDS pricing page still documents the legacy 750-hour/20 GB free database for pre-July-15-2025 accounts only. (2) Per-service 'Always Free' and legacy free-trial figures (e.g., Athena GB-per-month, Redshift RA3/RA2 1-node 12-month developer tier and 30-day standard tier, Glue 1M source-records ETL free allowance, Bedrock character-based free tiers) no longer appear on today's service pricing pages — the credit model absorbed them, so do not quote legacy numbers for new accounts. (3) Activate program structure is now three tiers: Founders ($1,000, up to $5,000), Portfolio (up to $200,000 via provider Org ID), and an invite-only 'AWS Credits for AI Startups' tier adding $200,000+ for AI startups scaling past the Portfolio ceiling. Credits now explicitly cover Amazon Bedrock third-party models (OpenAI, Mistral, Anthropic, Meta). Note a discrepancy: /free/offers/ still lists Activate as '$1,000 to $100,000' — likely stale vs the $200,000 ceiling on the credits page/FAQ. (4) New Kiro startup credits program (up to a year of Kiro Pro+, 2/10/30-user tiers, 'limited time only', excludes France/Germany/Italy/Spain/Poland/UAE and ~13 other countries). (5) AWS Academy / Cloud Career Academies: no working page found on today's main AWS site (URLs 404; cloudcareeracademies.org DNS-failed) — status unconfirmed; AWS Educate (free, 13+, no credits/vouchers) is explicitly still active with a 2026 copyright. Also of note: AWS Educate bundles no cloud credits and no free exam vouchers on any page I could read today.
(1) AWS Free Tier revamp: the classic structure - 12 months of Free Trial on ~75 services plus a separate 'Always Free' tier - is no longer on the official page; it has been replaced (2025-2026) by the Free plan / Paid plan model with up to $200 in credits, 90+ services for up to 6 months, and '30+ services always free within monthly usage limits'. The exact launch date of the revamp could not be confirmed (web-search budget exhausted mid-session); the page read today (2026-10-22) shows only the new structure. (2) AWS Activate: the legacy 'standard program up to $1,000 in credits' copy no longer appears on the live portal; the join page now says 'Apply for up to $200,000 in Activate Credits' while the application widget caps at 'up to $100,000' - consistent with a headline increase beyond the old $100K Accelerate ceiling, unconfirmed via a dated press release. (3) AWS Impact Accelerator, the US-only predecessor (part of AWS's 2022 $30M commitment to Black, Women, Latino and LGBTQIA+ founders), was superseded by the global AWS Impact Bootcamps announced Jul 30, 2025; the 2022-2023 US cohorts are closed. (4) All AWS Impact Bootcamps application windows through the 2026 Tokyo and Berlin cohorts are closed (deadlines Feb 27 and Mar 13, 2026), so as of 2026-10-22 the $5,000 credits, $50K grant and $15K credits are only obtainable in future, not-yet-announced cohorts. (5) Research caveat: https://startups.aws.com/lp/aws-impact-bootcamps currently returns HTTP 500 at the server level (its Next.js content payload is intact and was extracted from the raw HTML); the shared WebSearch budget for this session was exhausted, so 'was this changed in 2025-2026' checks rely on today's live pages rather than dated announcements.
Key 2025-2026 changes: (1) 2025-07-15 cutover - AWS replaced the legacy 12-month service-level Free Tier with a credit-based model: new accounts get a 6-month 'Free plan' ($100 signup credits + up to $100 service-exploration credits = up to $200) or a Paid plan; accounts created before 2025-07-15 are grandfathered on the old 12-month per-service free tier (e.g. RDS: 750 hours/month single-AZ, 20 GB gp2 storage, 20 GB backup). (2) Free-plan accounts auto-close at 6 months or when credits run out; data retained 90 days, then permanently erased. (3) Startup program restructuring: the /startups/credits/ page now lists 'Activate Founders' (up to $5,000; starts at $1,000) and 'Activate Portfolio' (up to $200,000, was the $150,000 Founders' Program era ceiling; the previous 'Accelerate' up to $100,000 tier name no longer appears) plus two newer tracks - 'AWS Credits for AI Startups' ($200,000+, invite-only post-Portfolio) and 'Kiro Startup Credits'. The exact 2025-2026 rename/retirement dates could not be confirmed: WebSearch budget for this session was exhausted, so only the current official pages could be verified. (4) No .edu-gated student dollar-credit license was found: the education front is AWS Educate (free training/badges, no credits) and institutional 'special pricing' programs; AWS Academy pages returned 404 on fetched sub-paths, so its current status/offerings are unverified rather than confirmed active or sunsetting. (5) Free-plan credits are unavailable in China regions or AWS GovCloud (US); the Free plan also excludes all promotional credits (Activate), so startup credits effectively require a Paid-plan account.
Major 2025-2026 changes: (1) July 15, 2025 - the classic 12-month per-service Free Tier was replaced for NEW accounts with a credit-based model: $100 sign-up credit + up to $100 earned via 5 console activities, a 6-month Free plan window (account closes at 6 months or when credits run out), 90+ services, and 30+ always-free services; accounts created before July 15, 2025 retain the legacy 12-month tier. Free-tier-eligible EC2 instances changed too (t2.micro dropped; t3.small, t4g.small, c7i-flex.large, m7i-flex.large added). (2) Short-term free trials are now paid-plan-only; the Free plan only gets 'Always Free' offers. (3) Feb 21, 2023 - AWS Educate stopped its old monetary grants ($35/$100 student grants, $75/$200 educator grants); educator tooling moved to AWS Academy. (4) Feb 16, 2026 - Free plan (Free Tier) accounts became ineligible for promotional credits, which affects AWS Cloud Credit for Research and similar programs (a Paid plan is required to hold awards). (5) Aug 20, 2026 - AWS launched Student Rewards on AWS Builder Center as part of a $500M+ student commitment; the old 'AWS Activate for Students' style offer no longer appears on aws.amazon.com - student benefits are now Builder Center Student Rewards + AWS Educate + AWS Academy. (6) October 2026 - new AWS sign-up experience launched; credit-expiry display moved to the Settings Portal (accounts that signed up before Oct 2026 still use the Credits page in the Billing console). No free offer listed above was fully sunset as of 2026-10-22.
Sunset/changed in 2025-2026: (1) 15 Jul 2025 (announced AWS Summit NY, 15-16 Jul 2025): the 12-month Free Tier was retired for NEW accounts and replaced by the credit-based Free Plan ($100 signup credit + up to $100 explore credits, 6-month auto-closing plan, 90-day post-expiry data retention); pre-cutoff accounts keep their legacy 12-month offers until each one's own expiry. (2) EC2 free-VPS offer sunset: t2.micro (and hours-based t3.micro 750 h/mo) free tiers no longer apply to new accounts; new free-tier-eligible EC2 types are t3.micro, t3.small, t4g.micro, t4g.small, c7i-flex.large, m7i-flex.large, consumed via credits. (3) AWS Activate was folded into AWS for Startups: /aws.amazon.com/activate/ now serves the startups program (startups.aws.com); headline credit figure is 'up to $200,000' with published tiers $1,000-$100,000, 80+ partner offers valued up to $800,000, plus undisclosed extra AI-startup credits and Kiro credits — replacing older multi-year $1M total caps and old student/faculty Activate tiers (up to $100k/$150k) which no longer appear on official pages. (4) The Free Plan explicitly cannot combine with any other promotional/incentive offer, and joining AWS Organizations/Control Tower auto-upgrades to Paid and voids remaining explore credits. (5) AWS signals a new sign-up experience in October 2026 (FAQ note); Free Tier Terms last updated 9 Jul 2025. Note: session web-search budget was exhausted, so 2025-2026 change verification relied on WebFetch of official AWS pages (free/, free/offers/, free/free-tier-faqs/, free/terms/, startups/, education/, EC2 docs, Lambda pricing, RDS free page, what's-new Jul 2025 entry, AWS blog 15 Jul 2025) rather than broader search.
Material 2025-2026 changes (all verified against AWS pages today, 2026-10-22): (1) Jul 15, 2025 — the legacy "12 months free" tier was replaced for NEW accounts by a credit-based Free Tier: $100 sign-up credit + up to $100 earned, 6-month Free plan; every legacy 12-month offer on pre-Jul-15-2025 accounts (including legacy CloudWatch 12-month items) has now fully lapsed. (2) Oct 2026 — AWS launched a new sign-up experience: social sign-in (Google/GitHub/Apple/Amazon), no credit card needed for most customers, and credit tracking moved from the Billing console to a Settings Portal for accounts signed up after the rollout; the Free Tier FAQ now states base credits expire 6 months (vs. 12 months in the Jul 9, 2025 Terms) — a live contradiction AWS hasn't harmonized, so treat 6 months as the safe planning horizon. (3) Dec 3, 2025 — Kiro Startup Credits v1 launched (up to 100 users, pre-seed to Series B, apply by Dec 31, 2025) and closed; relaunched Apr 7, 2026 with 2/10/30-user tiers, early-stage to Series A (VC-backed per the current promotion), apply by Dec 31, 2026; startups with active AWS Activate credits are excluded from the Kiro promo. (4) Jun 2024 (context) — AWS doubled Portfolio credits $100K to $200K and extended expiry 1 year to 3 years; still the structure in effect. (5) Feb 2023 (context) — AWS Educate stopped issuing universal/institutional credit grants; it is now free learning only, and student credits now flow through Builder Center Student Rewards (up to $579 incl. $30 credits + $100 exam voucher, launched Aug 2026). (6) CloudFront's classic "100 GB/month always-free" line is now presented as a standing $0 "Free" plan tier with 100 GB + 1M requests + 5 GB S3 storage credits and no overage charges — not sunset, but restructured. No CloudWatch/observability offer was sunset; the known limits (10 metrics, 1M API requests, 5 GB logs, 100 canaries, 3 dashboards, 10 alarms, 100K X-Ray traces) all still apply as ALWAYS-FREE allowances. There is no CloudWatch-specific startup or student grant beyond the general AWS Free Tier credits and Activate credits, which can offset CloudWatch usage on a Paid plan.
Major 2025-2026 changes verified on official pages today (2026-10-22): (1) The legacy 12-month Free Tier is gone — the old 'free for 12 months' language no longer appears on aws.amazon.com/free; it has been replaced by the credit-based Free Plan ($100 signup + up to $100 explore = up to $200 over 6 months), after which the account auto-closes (data kept 90 days, then erased). (2) The classic 'Always Free' list was narrowed in messaging to '30+ services' with monthly limits (legacy tier had 60+ services); per-service quota numbers are no longer published on the hub. (3) SageMaker notebook free allowance shrunk to 250 hours of sc.t3.medium for the first 2 months (vs legacy 750 hours/month ml.t3.medium for 12 months). (4) AWS Activate tiers renamed/revalued: 'Activate Community' no longer appears on the current credits page — it is now 'Activate Founders' (up to $5,000, start $1,000) alongside 'Activate Portfolio' (now up to $200,000, previously up to $100,000) plus a new invite-only 'AWS Credits for AI Startups' ($200,000+); a new Kiro Startup Credits track (up to 1 year of Kiro Pro+, 1/10/30 users) was added. The stale /free/offers page still shows old $1,000-$100,000 figures and 7-10 day processing, inconsistent with the current credits page ($5,000/$200,000, 5-10 days) — treat the credits page as authoritative. (5) WebSearch was unavailable during this run, so no third-party press confirmation of announcement dates was possible; all claims above are from the official AWS pages fetched today.
1) Amazon Pinpoint sunset (HARD DATE): AWS ends support for Amazon Pinpoint on October 30, 2026 — console access and all Pinpoint resources (endpoints, segments, campaigns, journeys, analytics) terminate that day; only the messaging-channel APIs (SMS, voice, mobile push, OTP, phone number validate) continue under the rebranded "AWS End User Messaging" service. Anyone relying on Pinpoint journeys/campaigns must migrate before 2026-10-30. 2) Legacy per-service Free Tier replaced: the old model — e.g., "SES: 3,000 emails/month free for the first 12 months, then $0.10/1K" and "SNS: 100 SMS/month free, US regions" — is no longer published; as of the October 2026 sign-up experience, new accounts instead get up to $200 in Free Tier credits over 6 months (Free plan auto-closes at 6 months or when credits run out). The "then $0.10/1K" figure survives, but as the à-la-carte SES price, while NEW SES accounts default to the more expensive Essentials plan ($0.16/1K) starting July 21, 2026. 3) The formerly permanent "3,000 emails/month free (US regions, no purchase of sending capacity)" SES allowance is not listed on today's official pricing page — treat it as superseded by the credit model for new accounts; legacy account behavior not verifiable (docs pages didn't render). 4) The legacy 100-free-SMS/month US-regions tier also no longer appears on End User Messaging pricing; SMS is now fully pay-per-message. 5) AWS Activate credit ceiling was raised to $200,000 (some pages still show the old $100,000 figure — a 2025-2026 program change, not a sunset).
2025-2026 changes (verified against official AWS pages on 2026-10-22): (1) Classic 12-month Free Tier sunset for NEW accounts on July 15, 2025 — replaced by the credit-based Free Plan ($100 + up to $100 earned = up to $200 over 6 months, auto-enrolled, no charges); accounts created before July 15, 2025 remain on legacy 12-month terms (750 hrs/mo t2/t3.micro etc.); legacy terms still published. (2) October 2026: AWS launched a new sign-up experience; the current FAQ now states Free Tier credits expire 6 months from account creation (vs 12 months under the July 2025 Free Tier Terms) and moved credit tracking to the Settings Portal — AWS's own FAQ is internally inconsistent between sections (6 vs 12 months), so treat credit expiry on the new experience as 6 months and verify per-account in the Settings Portal. (3) AWS Activate restructured in 2025-2026: old tiers (Starter $5k / Portfolio up to $100k / YC up to $250k / $5k-$100k sub-tiers) are no longer publicly listed; current structure is Founders ($1,000, up to $5,000 for select participants) + Portfolio (up to $200,000, cap raised from $100,000), with eligibility shifted from 'funded up to Series A' to 'pre-Series B, most recent funding round within the last 12 months', and the application flow now goes through the AWS Builder ID. AWS pages are inconsistent today: /free/offers/ still advertises '$1,000 to $100,000' while /startups/ and the June 4, 2026 AWS blog advertise 'up to $200,000'. (4) No education-only (.edu/student-email) free credits exist at AWS: no free offer requires a .edu or student email — AWS Educate is open to anyone 13/14+ with just an email, the Free Tier is open to any new customer, and AWS Marketplace 'education pricing' is a paid discount, not free. The only university-scoped free offer is AWS Academy (free institution participation + exam vouchers). (5) Free Plan/credits unavailable in China (ZHY, BJS) and GovCloud (US) regions, and not usable via AWS Organizations (auto-upgrades to Paid plan). (6) AWS Educate availability excludes China and Switzerland and raises minimum age in the EU (16) and Algeria/Lebanon/Portugal (18).
Critic corrections
AWS Activate (Amazon Bedrock): Figures are out of date. The Activate Founders self-serve package is $1,000 (select participants can reach $5,000), not about $100. The Portfolio package, for startups tied to an Activate Provider with an Org ID, is now up to $200,000; it was $100,000 before June 2026. Credits can be used on Bedrock third-party models. AI startups ready to scale can talk to an account manager about more.
AWS Startups: Range is outdated. Current tiers are Activate Founders at $1,000 (up to $5,000 for select startups) and Activate Portfolio at up to $200,000 (raised from $100,000 in June 2026). The top of the range should read $200,000 for Portfolio, not $100,000+.
Up to ~$100K in AWS credits (Portfolio/Partner tier; ~$100 Founders self-serve): The current official maximum is up to $200,000 for the Portfolio tier (requires a provider Org ID; pre-Series B). The Founders (self-funded) tier starts at $1,000, with up to $5,000 for select participants, not about $100.