Best offer on record: Startup Program — $1M free Billing. 4 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Live check of “Startup Program — $1M free Billing”:Partly confirmed
The Chargebee for Startups program is live and open to applications (headline "Free billing to $1M"), but the $1M is a billing threshold, not a credit amount: qualifying startups get Chargebee Billing free only until they invoice their first $1,000,000 in cumulative revenue through Chargebee (not ARR/MRR), then move to pay-as-you-go with no annual commitment — so the real value is a few thousand dollars of waived subscription fees, not $1,000,000. Eligibility is narrower than the claim implies: you must be a new Chargebee customer not on a paid plan, belong to a partner accelerator or VC portfolio network, and have raised under $5M (companies above that, or already billing over $1M, can request a custom offer); free migration and 24/7 email support are included, and non-US thresholds convert from USD.
Startup Program — $1M free Billing high confidence
Chargebee's official startup offer: 'Bill your first $1M of usage and subscriptions for free.' Chargebee Billing is at zero cost (stated as 'zero dollars, no fine print') until cumulative invoiced revenue through Chargebee reaches $1M, plus free data migration and 24/7 email support, access to 40+ gateways, and the modular stack (CPQ, tax, revenue reporting). After crossing $1M (cumulative, not ARR/MRR), the account transitions to a pay-as-you-go plan with no annual commitment, with advance notice. Companies that have raised over $5M are not excluded: the form has a '$5M+ funding' option and Chargebee proposes a custom offer. Amounts are USD; non-US thresholds adjust for current FX rates. No public sunset/end date found on the page.
Eligibility
All three conditions required: (1) NEW Chargebee customer, not already on a paid plan; (2) company belongs to a partner Accelerator or VC portfolio network (the key gate — no founding-date or revenue cap otherwise listed); (3) total funding raised below $5M. No .edu/student route.
How to claim
Apply via the 'Apply now' form on https://www.chargebee.com/startups/ (choose the '$5M+' option if funding exceeds $5M so the team tailors terms), or email startups@chargebee.com / use on-site chat. A representative reviews the application and follows up within 2-3 business days to get you set up.
Expiry
No published end date; individual free period ends when cumulative invoiced revenue hits $1M, then pay-as-you-go (no annual commit) begins automatically.
Gotchas
The partner-accelerator/VC-portfolio requirement is easy to miss — independent bootstrapped startups with <$5M funding do not qualify on the letter of the offer. '$1M free' is cumulative lifetime billing, not ARR/MRR, and not a forever-free tier: after $1M you are on standard usage pricing. This is the only genuinely free-for-new-customers offer on the site; the $0 add-ons (Growth Starter, CPQ Lite) are gated behind an active paid Billing plan.
The Growth module's 'Starter' plan is priced at $0: pricing tables, hosted checkout, self-serve portal, no-code cancel pages, 1 growth experiment; single-brand; aimed at 'teams with hundreds of subscribers'. It is a free add-on, not a free platform tier.
Eligibility
ANY Chargebee Billing customer — the page states 'Exclusively for Chargebee Billing customers' and Billing itself has no free tier (entry plan is usage-priced Flow: $0 + 0.80% of monthly invoiced volume up to $500K/mo, breakeven ~$66K vs $99 + 0.65% above $500K). So in practice you need an active paid billing relationship (or the startup program) before this is usable.
How to claim
Included at $0 once you are a Chargebee Billing customer; no separate enrollment. Claim path: start on a Billing plan (e.g., via the startup program or Flow plan), then enable the Growth Starter module.
Expiry
No expiry noted; $0 while Growth Starter conditions hold.
Gotchas
Trial-vs-free trap: $0 price does not mean $0 total cost — the required Billing plan bills usage (0.80%+ of invoiced). Do not count this as a free tier for new startups.
The CPQ 'Lite' module is 'Free for the first 50 quotes': quote creation and immediate amendments; paid add-on for CPQ for Salesforce/HubSpot. Free beyond 50 quotes or full CPQ requires a paid/enterprise arrangement ('Talk to sales').
Eligibility
ANY Chargebee Billing customer ('Available exclusively for Chargebee Billing customers'), i.e. same paid-billing gate as Growth Starter. No student/education angle.
How to claim
Available at no cost on the free 50 quotes once a Billing plan is active; full CPQ or extra gateway integrations go through sales.
Expiry
The free portion is capped at 50 cumulative quotes, not time-limited.
Gotchas
The 50-quote allowance is cumulative; 'free' quotes still presume the paid billing relationship that is the module's precondition. No egress/data export on the free modules — data export to GCS/S3/Snowflake and higher API/webhook limits are paid add-ons.
Every Chargebee page carries a 'Start Free Trial' CTA leading to the signup form at /trial-signup/ (US/EU/AU data residency selection, ToS/privacy consent). However, the trial duration and credit-card requirement are NOT stated on the pricing page, the signup page, or the homepage as of 2026-10-22. Historically Chargebee ran a ~30-day trial with no credit card, but I could not re-verify that on any official page today, so treat those specific parameters as unconfirmed.
Eligibility
Open to anyone who signs up at /trial-signup/; no student or startup condition stated.
How to claim
Go to https://www.chargebee.com/trial-signup/, pick a data center, and complete the sign-up form.
Expiry
Trial terms (length, auto-conversion) not published on the pages read; confirm in the signup flow or with Chargebee support.
Gotchas
A trial is not a free tier: without publishing trial terms, verify whether a card is required and whether it auto-converts to the usage-priced Flow plan at the end. Do not quote '30 days, no CC' as current fact.
(1) Education/student license: NONE found — as of 2026-10-22, chargebee.com has no education page (/education/ and /for-education/ do not host a student program; the 'e-learning' section is a vertical marketing page FOR e-learning companies like Study.com), no .edu/email-verified student offer anywhere on the site, no footer or nav link to an academic program, and no trial credits of any kind. (2) Free-tier sunset: the pricing page now lists only two Billing plans — 'Flow' ($0 + 0.80% up to $500K/mo invoicing, $99 + 0.65% above $500K/mo, ~$66K breakeven, 100M usage events/mo included) and 'Enterprise' (custom) — so there is no free core-Billing tier for new users; the old-style free entry plan (Basic) is no longer offered. What remains free is: the $1M-cumulative startup program (with partner-network eligibility), the 50 free CPQ quotes and $0 Growth Starter (both gated behind an active paid Billing relationship), and the marketing trial whose terms are no longer published on-site. (3) Methodology caveat: the official pages (https://www.chargebee.com/pricing/, /startups/, /trial-signup/, homepage) were read directly on 2026-10-22 (high confidence for those); the session's WebSearch budget was exhausted mid-task, so 2025-2026 change history (e.g., prior startup-offer versions, trial-terms changes) could not be independently verified — statements about prior-plan lineup above rest on pre-existing knowledge and are medium confidence.