Best offer on record: ClickHouse Cloud free trial: $300 credits over 30 days (no credit card). 5 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Live check of “ClickHouse x Y Combinator deal: $10,000 credits for 24 months”:Confirmed
ClickHouse's official YC page still offers "$10,000 in ClickHouse Cloud credits, valid for 24 months," plus Basic Support, a one-hour expert training session and joint promotion. Eligibility: companies in the current Y Combinator program (page header reads "Current & Alumni" but the criteria say current YC program), pre-Series D, holding a valid YC secret code, and not already a ClickHouse Cloud customer; the page shows "Apply now" with no deadline or closed notice as of 2026-10-22. Note the separate general startup offer is a different deal ($5,000 credits for 12 months via partner codes), so the $10,000/24-month figure is specific to the YC offer.
Live check of “ClickHouse Startup Program: $5,000 credits for 12 months (partner-gated)”:Confirmed
ClickHouse's official Startup Program page (live as of 2026-10-22, no deadline or closing notice) offers "$5000 in ClickHouse Cloud credits, valid for 12 months," plus ClickHouse Basic Support, a joint blog feature and community speaking opportunities. It is partner-gated as claimed: applicants must be part of a selected partner's program (listed: Antler, Bessemer, Blackbird, Google for Startups, Lightspeed, Merantix, Station F, TechLeap, TechStars), be under three years old, pre-Series D, new to ClickHouse Cloud (not a prior paid customer), and hold a verification code from their accelerator, incubator or VC; there is no self-serve path without a partner. Note a separate Y Combinator track exists at clickhouse.com/deals/ycombinator offering $10,000 over 24 months.
Live check of “Open-source ClickHouse - free forever (self-hosted)”:Confirmed
ClickHouse's official pricing page lists open-source ClickHouse as "free forever" for self-hosting, with no cost, time limit or eligibility restriction (Apache-2.0 licensed; install via `curl https://clickhouse.com/ | sh`). The separate ClickHouse Cloud trial on the same page remains open to new users at $300 in credits over 30 days, no credit card required, ending at 30 days or when credits run out, whichever comes first, after which the account converts to pay-as-you-go.
ClickHouse Cloud free trial: $300 credits over 30 days (no credit card) high confidence
Official pricing page (verified 2026-10-22): "$300 in credits over 30 days", 1 ClickHouse Credit (CHC) = $1 USD of usage. FAQ: "Is there a free tier? ClickHouse Cloud starts with $300 in credits over 30 days, no credit card required." Trial ends after 30 days or once credits are consumed, whichever comes first; account then converts to pay-as-you-go with no monthly minimum (invoiced in $0.01 increments). No permanent free tier: entry paid tier is Basic (up to 1 TB storage, 8-12 GiB total memory, 24h backups retained 1 day, 1 availability zone). Compute scales to zero when idle ($0 for idle compute time; storage still bills continuously).
Eligibility
Anyone. Sign up at https://console.clickhouse.cloud/signUp via email, Google SSO, or Microsoft SSO. No .edu email, no startup status, no company size limits stated. Available on AWS, GCP, and Azure. Credit card explicitly NOT required.
How to claim
Single step: sign up at console.clickhouse.cloud/signUp; the $300 trial credit is granted to new organizations automatically (campaign page: "Get started for free... Create a free account"). No application or form.
Expiry
30 days or credit exhaustion, whichever comes first; no renewal or re-application. After the trial the account continues on pay-as-you-go usage-based billing.
Gotchas
Trial is not a free tier: once the 30 days/credits end, usage billing begins (no card on file doesn't mean no bill - you can accrue charges after trial, so monitor console). Egress/data transfer, backups, and ClickPipes ingestion are billed separately; public internet egress is from ~$0.1152/GB since the Jan 2025 price change (egress used to be free - now a migration 'divorce fee'). Storage bills even when compute is scaled to zero. Basic plan caps (1 TB, 8-12 GiB, single AZ) apply to the cheapest tier.
Open-source ClickHouse - free forever (self-hosted) high confidence
"Open source (free forever)" per the official pricing page; Apache 2.0 core, no license cost, no per-unit billing, no duration limit. Official one-liner install: `curl https://clickhouse.com/ | sh`. This is the genuine free option for students on any budget: run it on a laptop, student cluster, or own cloud VM. Certain advanced/enterprise features are reserved for the proprietary/Enterprise edition or Cloud.
Eligibility
Anyone (students, academics, startups, enterprises); no .edu or application required.
How to claim
Install locally or on self-managed infrastructure via the curl one-liner or package manager; no signup.
Expiry
No expiry; license is free indefinitely.
Gotchas
Self-hosted means you own ops (upgrades, replication, hardware, cloud instance costs). Open-core model: enterprise-locked features unavailable in the OSS build; OSS version lags behind Cloud features.
ClickHouse Startup Program: $5,000 credits for 12 months (partner-gated) high confidence
Official startup-offer page (verified 2026-10-22): "Founders can apply for $5000 in ClickHouse Cloud credits, expert training, and promotion opportunities". Credits valid for 12 months. Package also includes ClickHouse Basic Support, expert training, a joint blog-post feature/promotion on ClickHouse channels, and speaking slots at ClickHouse community events.
Eligibility
All of: company less than 3 years old; pre-Series D ("haven't raised a Series D or later funding round"); has NEVER been a paid ClickHouse Cloud customer; belongs to a program run by one of the listed partners (Antler, Bessemer, Blackbird, Google For Startups, Lightspeed, Merantix, Station F, TechLeap, TechStars - selected via dropdown in the form); holds a valid verification code obtained from the accelerator/incubator/VC. No .edu/region limits stated on the page. Headcount limits not stated.
How to claim
Three steps on the page: (1) sign up for a free ClickHouse Cloud trial (console signup); (2) complete the application form with your ClickHouse Organization ID, company details, and the partner-program dropdown; (3) wait for approval - the team reviews and confirms the credits.
Expiry
Credits valid for 12 months from approval; no renewal or re-application window described on the page. One-time, new-customer-only offer.
Gotchas
Partner-gated: you cannot apply directly - must be inside a listed partner's program and have its verification code, or the application can't be validated. New-to-ClickHouse requirement excludes any prior paid usage. Hitting Series D before applying disqualifies. Support included is 'Basic' tier only, not enterprise support. No stated extension of the 12-month window.
ClickHouse x Y Combinator deal: $10,000 credits for 24 months high confidence
Official deals/ycombinator page (verified 2026-10-22): "$10,000 in ClickHouse Cloud credits, valid for 24 months" plus ClickHouse Basic Support, a one-hour expert training session, a joint blog-post feature/promotion, and speaking opportunities at ClickHouse community events. Audience labeled "Current & Alumni" of YC, pre-Series D, new to ClickHouse Cloud.
Eligibility
All of: "You're part of the current Y Combinator program"; pre-Series D ("You haven't raised a Series D or later round"); holds a valid YC secret code for verification; "You are not a current ClickHouse Cloud customer". No .edu email requirement (this is a startup program, not a student one). No region limits stated.
How to claim
Three steps on the page: (1) sign up for a free ClickHouse Cloud trial; (2) complete the application form including your ClickHouse Organization ID and company details; (3) wait for approval - the team reviews and confirms the credits. The YC secret code is used for verification.
Expiry
Hard 24-month expiry on the credits; no renewal, extension, or stacking language on the page. One-time offer.
Gotchas
Existing ClickHouse Cloud customers are explicitly excluded. The YC secret code is mandatory - without it verification fails. Pre-Series D cap is a hard ceiling. No stated path to re-apply for a second tranche.
Student/education license: none found (no dedicated program as of 2026-10-22) medium confidence
No free education license, academic tier, .edu discount, or student-specific credit program was found. clickhouse.com/startups and /education return 404; the official llms.txt page index (90+ entries) lists no education/student program - only the trial ($300/30 days), the two startup programs above, a paid/optional certification track (learn/certification: "ClickHouse Certified Developer Exam"), and a government self-managed offering (FedRAMP). Students' free paths are: (a) the $300 trial for any individual, (b) open-source ClickHouse free forever. Verified via official page index and 404 checks on 2026-10-22, but the whole site was not crawled, so a low-visibility program cannot be fully ruled out.
Eligibility
N/A - no dedicated student eligibility (no .edu email gate found anywhere on official pages).
How to claim
Nothing to claim; students use the $300 trial (sign up at console.clickhouse.cloud/signUp, no credit card) or self-host open-source ClickHouse for free.
Expiry
N/A.
Gotchas
The trial is not student-specific and converts to pay-as-you-go; if the program is ever launched, it would likely live at clickhouse.com/education or similar - none exists today.