Best offer on record: Modal Starter Plan — $30/month free compute credits (free tier). 8 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Live check of “Modal for Academics — up to $10,000 free compute credits (student/researcher program)”:Confirmed
Modal for Academics offers "up to $10k of credits to be used on Modal" per modal.com/academics, and modal.com/pricing states that "Graduate students, labs, and researchers can get up to $10k free compute credits on Modal," with an "Apply now" button linking to /academics — so the $10,000 amount and student/researcher eligibility both match the claim. No expiry date or fixed deadline is published; awards are made by application and the actual amount granted varies by project, with the academics page pointing applicants to a grant-program signup at /academics#apply.
Modal Starter Plan — $30/month free compute credits (free tier) high confidence
Starter plan: $0/mo base + pay-as-you-go compute, with $30/month of free compute credits included, billed per second with no minimums. GPU list prices per second: B300 $0.001972/s (~$7.10/hr), B200 $0.001736/s (~$6.25/hr), H200 SXM $0.001261/s (~$4.54/hr), H100 SXM5 $0.001097/s (~$3.95/hr), RTX PRO 6000 $0.000842/s, A100 80GB $0.000694/s, A100 40GB $0.000583/s, L40S $0.000542/s, A10 $0.000306/s, L4 $0.000222/s, T4 $0.000164/s (~$0.59/hr). So $30 ≈ ~50 T4-hours, ~12 A100-hours, ~7.6 H100-hours, ~6.6 H200-hours, ~4.8 B200-hours. CPU $0.0000131/core/s (min 0.125 cores/container), memory $0.00000222/GiB/s, volumes $0.09/GiB/mo with 1 TiB/mo free, egress $0.04/GiB with 1 TiB/mo free on Starter. Signup is OAuth (GitHub/Google/SSO) — no credit card required to sign up; a payment method is only needed if you exceed $30. Credits reset monthly, no rollover. No published sunset date.
Eligibility
Anyone — no .edu email, no funding proof, no credit card for signup (GitHub/Google/SSO OAuth). No region limit stated on the pricing page. Limits: up to 3 seats, 100 containers, 10 GPU concurrency, 200 deployed apps, 5 cron jobs, 1-day log retention. Team plan (paid, $250/mo) includes $100/mo compute credits, unlimited seats, 5000 containers, 50 GPU concurrency, 10 TiB/mo egress.
How to claim
Go to modal.com/signup → 'Continue with GitHub/Google/SSO' → workspace is created instantly with $30/mo free compute; install Python SDK (`pip install modal`, then `modal setup`) and deploy. Credits apply automatically to all billed compute.
Gotchas
Trial-vs-free: $30/mo is a recurring free tier, not a one-time trial. If usage exceeds $30 without a payment method on file, workloads stop (or you add billing) — no quiet overcharge, but a card/ACH is needed for anything above the free pool. Sandboxes + Notebooks CPU/memory are billed at non-preemptible 3x list ($0.00003942/core/s). Shared Endpoint LLM tokens are billed separately and NOT covered by the $30. Region selection multiplies base prices 1.15–1.75x. 1-day log retention and no deployment rollbacks on Starter. Volume storage beyond 1 TiB/mo and egress beyond 1 TiB/mo bill at list.
Modal for Startups — one-time free compute credit grants (VC-backed startups) medium confidence
Two tiers, application-based, one-time grants: (1) Seed to Series A: 'Free credits for rising startups' — eligible if raised ANY amount of VC funding from Modal's partner network (Y Combinator, a16z, Sequoia, Khosla, Neo, HF0, Pear, Lux Capital, plus others in FAQ) OR raised >$1M VC from any fund; (2) Scaling / Series B+: 'Custom' grants for AI-native companies that raised >$30M or are post-Series B with a partner-network VC. Official page says 'thousands of free GPU credits' but does not publish exact dollar amounts; third-party trackers and Modal's own restructure history indicate the Seed–Series A tier is up to $25,000 in credits valid for 12 months (was $50,000 before the Q4 2025 cut). Also includes direct access to Modal's engineering team, GTM amplification on launches/raises, and an exclusive founder community.
Eligibility
Must be NEW to Modal (no existing paid use). Seed–Series A: any funding from a Modal partner fund, or >$1M VC from any fund. Series B+: >$30M raised or post-Series B, with partner-network VC. No company-age cap and no explicit employee-count cap on the official page; no equity taken. No .edu requirement. Global (no region limit stated).
How to claim
Sign up for Modal, create a team (shared) workspace, then at modal.com/startups click 'Apply Now' (modal.com/startups#apply) → submit company/funding details + proof of funding + use case → review takes ~3–14 days → credits are provisioned to your workspace; check status in Usage & Billing.
Gotchas
Payment method is required on file for the program (per the startup FAQ and trackers). Credits are a one-time grant per tier — you may NOT reapply once you received credits in a tier. Exact credit amounts and expiration/reinstatement policy are not published on the official page (FAQ says credits last a period and may be reinstated if expired; trackers say 12 months from issuance). 'Thousands of free GPU credits' on the official page is deliberately vague; the $25K figure comes from third-party trackers + PricingSaaS's Q4 2025 change record ('Modal Reduces Startup Credit Grant from $50k to $25k for Early-Stage Startups'). Personal workspaces reportedly not eligible — use a shared/team workspace. Common rejections: Series C+ stage, already a paying customer, mismatched Crunchbase data.
Modal for Academics — up to $10,000 free compute credits (student/researcher program) high confidence
Modal for Academics gives graduate students, labs, and researchers 'up to $10k' of free compute credits on Modal. Benefits: run workloads on B200s/H100s without requesting quota, autoscaling GPUs, and direct access to Modal's engineers/PhDs for research support. Spun out as its own program in the October 2025 restructure of the formerly unified '$50k for startups and academic researchers' grant. No expiry date or renewal policy is published; no statement whether the $10k is one-time or recurring.
Eligibility
Intended for graduate students, labs, and researchers (e.g., ARC Prize collaboration, MIT/Cornell team). The official page does not state an explicit .edu email requirement, university-affiliation proof, or deadline — eligibility is determined by application. No region limit stated.
How to claim
At modal.com/academics, click 'Sign up to hear about our grant programs' (modal.com/academics#apply) or the 'Contact us' Pylon form to request the grant; researchers are contacted for a partnership/review before credits are issued.
Gotchas
High = I read the official page today, but the page itself is thin: 'up to $10k' is the only number; the program is invitation/application-driven (Modal contacts applicants), so approval time is uncertain and amounts are discretionary ('up to'). No published credit expiry, no published renewal. The separate $30/mo Starter free tier also applies to academic accounts; the $10k grant is additive. The pricing page's 'Credit grants for academics' blurb also cites 'up to $10k'.
Starter free plan — $30/month free compute credits (no monthly fee) high confidence
Starter plan is "$0 + compute / month" and includes "$30 / month free credits" covering GPUs, CPUs and memory (per-second billing; e.g. H100 ~$0.001097/sec, L4 ~$0.000222/sec, CPU $0.0000131/core/sec). Included limits: 3 seats, 100 containers, 10 GPU concurrency, 5 deployed crons, 200 deployed apps, 1-day log retention, 1 TiB/month free network egress. $30 is roughly ~7.5 h H100 or ~37 h L4 GPU time. Usage above the credit is billed per second; nothing is billed at scale-to-zero. No one-time signup/trial credit exists — the $30 is the only free allotment (recurring monthly).
Eligibility
Everyone, no .edu or startup requirement, no funding/age caps. Region limits: none stated on the pricing page. Caveat: per official docs a payment method on file IS required to use Modal at all, so a card/paypal must be added even for the free tier (contradicts any 'no credit card' assumption).
How to claim
1) Sign up at modal.com (GitHub, Google or SSO) — new workspaces start on Starter at $0/month. 2) Credits apply automatically to usage. 3) Optionally set a $30 spending limit to stay free. 4) Add a payment method in account settings (required by Modal docs).
Expiry
Recurring monthly allowance ('$30 / month'); page does not state rollover or a fixed expiry date.
Gotchas
Credit card/payments required on file even for free tier. Overage billed per-second; volumes >1 TiB cost $0.09/GiB/mo; egress >1 TiB costs $0.04/GiB; region pinning costs 1.15–1.75x base; non-preemptible execution 3x base; containers billed for 60s after last input. As of 1 Sep 2026 Shared Endpoints are billed per token from the first request (previously had a free-token allowance) — a 2026 change that adds costs on an otherwise free account. Containers minimum 0.125 cores / 128 MiB.
Modal for Academics — up to $10,000 free compute credit grant (students/labs/researchers) high confidence
Official pricing page: "Graduate students, labs, and researchers can get up to $10k free compute credits". The academics landing page: "Unlock up to $10k of credits" to "Run workloads on B200s, H100s, and more without requesting quota", plus "Direct access to the Modal team of engineers and PhDs for research support". Award size is discretionary ('up to', not guaranteed); used for training/experiments on Modal's pay-per-second platform. Real-world use: cited by academic papers (e.g., the Forge/TMLR paper thanks Modal for academic credits).
Eligibility
Aimed at graduate students, academic labs, researchers (pricing-page audience line). The page itself states no hard .edu-only clause, no funding/age cap, no region limit; a valid academic email is the practical claim path (a third-party guide describes .edu/institutional email in the apply form — unverified on the official page, so treat .edu requirement as likely but not officially confirmed).
How to claim
1) Go to https://modal.com/academics. 2) Click 'Sign up to hear about our grant programs' (anchor /academics#apply) — this is a mailing-list/apply form (fields not rendered in the fetched page). 3) Modal contacts eligible applicants for the next grant cycle; a modal.com account (with payment method on file, per docs) is needed to use the credits. Educators can also email partnerships@modal.com for course integration (per third-party guide).
Expiry
Not stated on the page — no grant-cycle dates, deadline, or credit-expiry window is published. A third-party tracker (Token Thrift) lists 'no expiry date' but that is not official. Treat award duration as unknown and confirm at award time.
Gotchas
This is a grant Modal selects, not a self-service education license: eligibility is 'decided by Modal'. 'Up to $10k' — actual amount varies. No official statement that .edu email is required; the apply form is a waitlist-style signup. Payment method still required on the Modal account. Stacking behavior with the $30/month Starter credits or startup credits is not documented.
Modal for Startups — tiered one-time free compute-credit grants (seed→Series A and Series B+) high confidence
Official startups page: two tiers, one-time credit grants for customers new to Modal. Tier 1 (Seed to Series A): eligible if you 'Raised any amount of VC funding from our VC partner network' OR 'Raised VC funding >$1m from any fund'. Tier 2 (Scaling / Series B+): 'Custom for rapidly growing AI-native companies' — 'Raised VC funding > $30m or post-series B' and the VC must be in Modal's partner network. The page says 'Unlock thousands of free GPU credits' but does not publish per-tier dollar amounts (the '>$1m' figures are funding thresholds, not credit caps). VC partner network listed: Y Combinator, a16z, Sequoia, Khosla Ventures, Neo, HF0, Pear VC, Lux Capital. Extras beyond credits: 'Direct access to Modal's engineering team for technical support and GTM amplification on launches and raises' and a founder network with online/in-person events.
Eligibility
Must be a new-to-Modal customer meeting a funding-stage criterion (Tier 1: any VC funding from the partner network, or >$1m VC from any fund; Tier 2: >$30m or post-Series B with partner-network VC). No startup-age cutoff, total-funding cap, or region limit is stated on the page.
How to claim
1) Go to https://modal.com/startups. 2) Click 'Apply Now' (form at /startups#apply; form fields not rendered in the fetched page). 3) VC funds can separately apply to join the partner network via a dedicated form. 4) Credits are applied to your Modal account; a payment method must be on file per docs.
Expiry
Credits are 'a one-time grant and you may not reapply once you have received credits in a given tier' (reapplication across tiers is not explicitly ruled out). A FAQ heading 'How long do my credits last? Can they be reinstated if they expire?' exists but its answer is not rendered on the fetched page, so the expiry window is unpublished.
Gotchas
Dollar amounts are discretionary and unpublished — 'thousands of' credits, not a fixed number. No reapply within the same tier. The FAQ on credit duration/reinstatement is not publicly readable in page text; ask Modal at application. Credits offset compute usage but CPU/memory/egress/volume multipliers (3x non-preemptible, 1.15–1.75x region pinning, $0.04/GiB egress beyond allowance) still apply. Separate AWS Activate add-on credits may stack (see next finding).
AWS Activate partnership — additional Modal credits for eligible startups medium confidence
From the official pricing-page FAQ: 'we have a special partnership with AWS that allows eligible startups to unlock additional Modal credits if they are part of AWS Activate.' No dollar amount or eligibility beyond AWS Activate membership is stated on the page.
Eligibility
Startups that are part of AWS Activate; final eligibility 'decided by Modal' per the pricing page's program section. No .edu, age, or region limits stated.
How to claim
1) Be/qualify for AWS Activate (AWS's own program). 2) Apply via Modal (startups page or by contacting Modal) — the pricing FAQ does not publish a separate form URL; /startups#apply or support are the paths. 3) Credits appear on your Modal account.
Expiry
Not stated on the page.
Gotchas
Amounts unpublished and discretionary; confirm with Modal that they stack with the startup-tier grant. AWS/GCP/Azure credits of the cloud providers themselves 'cannot be applied towards your Modal usage' (pricing FAQ) — only Modal-issued credits count.
Team plan — $100/month free credits on a $250/month paid plan (context, not a student offer) high confidence
Team plan: '$250 + compute / month' and includes '$100 / month free credits', 5000 containers, 50 GPU concurrency, unlimited crons, 30-day log retention. Listed for completeness of every free-credit mechanism; it is a paid plan, so not a free offer for students/startups unless funded by a grant.
Eligibility
All paying customers; no student/startup-specific eligibility. Not a free offer in itself.
How to claim
Upgrade a workspace to Team in the dashboard; the $100/month credit is included automatically in the $250 base fee.
Expiry
Recurring monthly; base fee charged even in quiet months.
Gotchas
The $100 credit does not offset the $250 base fee — it only covers usage beyond plan limits; a third-party guide (Codeables) even misstates this, so rely on the official pricing page. Enterprise plan is custom and adds volume discounts rather than free credits.
2025–2026 changes (from PricingSaaS Pulse captures of modal.com): (1) Oct 5, 2025 — Modal restructured its credit grants: the single unified 'up to $50k for startups and academic researchers' grant was split into 'Credit grants for startups' (then up to $50k) and 'Credit grants for academics' (up to $10k); cloud marketplace committed-spend also expanded from AWS-only to AWS + GCP (+Azure/OCI in that capture). (2) Q4 2025 — Modal cut the early-stage (Seed–Series A) startup credit grant from $50k to $25k. (3) Q2 2025 — H200 GPU option added at $0.001261/sec; (4) Mar 2026 — RTX PRO 6000 added at $0.000842/sec; B300 now listed at $0.001972/sec (the task's known H200/B300 range is confirmed live). No offer was fully sunset: the $30/mo Starter free tier, the startup grants, and the academics grants all remain active as of Oct 22, 2026. Team plan is now $250/mo including $100/mo of compute credits. Sources: https://modal.com/pricing , https://modal.com/startups , https://modal.com/academics , https://modal.com/signup , https://pricingsaas.com/companies/modal/diffs/2025Q3 , https://sidehustletools.app/free-credits/modal-for-startups , https://perkbook.co/vendor-directory/modal/ , https://creditforstartups.com/companies/modal , https://grabaicredits.com/en/deals/modal-for-startups , https://aifree.dev/offer/modal-startup-program
As of 2026-10-22 no student/startup free program was found to be sunset: the $30/month Starter free credits, the up-to-$10k academic grant, the tiered startup credit program, and the AWS Activate add-on are all live on official pages read today. Changes found: (1) Shared Endpoints moved to per-token billing from the first request, effective 1 Sep 2026 (pricing page) — this removes a former free-token allowance and is the most material 2026 change for free-tier users; (2) 2025–2026 changelog page 1 (Sep–Oct 2026) shows no credit-tier, startup-program, or academic-program changes or sunsets. Not verified (could not rule out): a one-time signup/trial credit — no such credit appears on any official page today; a third-party guide's claim of '$1 at signup + $29 after adding a payment method, $0.50 one-time fee' is unverified and contradicts the official '$30/month' wording, treat as unreliable. Also unverifiable from fetched pages: exact academic grant cycle timing/expiry, per-tier startup credit dollar amounts, and whether .edu email is formally required for the academic grant (likely in practice, not stated on the official page).