Zoho Catalyst & Zoho Classes: free credits and offers
Best offer on record: Catalyst Student Program: $250 usage / 6 months, no credit card, non-commercial only. 7 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Offers
Catalyst Student Program: $250 usage / 6 months, no credit card, non-commercial only high confidence
Catalyst is free for students building non-commercial projects: full-stack hosting (frontends Next.js/React/Vue/Nuxt/Angular, serverless functions, managed data, built-in auth, AI/ML tooling). Each student project gets up to $250 of usage at no cost over a six-month period. Bandwidth is free, unlimited; unlimited collaborators (no per-seat pricing). If a project hits the $250 threshold, the application is temporarily stopped and students are NOT auto-charged; they can email Catalyst Support with project details to request an extension, and 'eligible projects can receive additional free usage' (repeatable, case-by-case review). No subscription fee, no credit card, no edu-email verification described on the official page; no region restriction mentioned. Program launched with the first cohort of 'Catalyst Student Clubs' at three Chennai, India colleges (RMKEC, RMKCET, RMDEC).
Eligibility
Students, legitimate non-commercial use only (learning, coursework, hackathon builds, side projects, experimentation). .edu email NOT required per official page; no region limit stated; credit card NOT required. Commercial use excluded.
How to claim
1) Open https://catalyst.zoho.com/students/ and click 'Claim credits' (deep-links to standard catalyst.zoho.com signup). 2) Sign up with an email address or existing Zoho account (no card). 3) Build/deploy; usage counted up to $250 per 6-month window. 4) At the cap: contact Catalyst Support to request extended free usage; they review the project's student-program qualification.
Expiry
No sunset date published. The $250 allowance is measured over six months per project, after which the app is stopped (not charged) until an extension is approved by Support.
Gotchas
Non-commercial only — commercial projects must use the standard Catalyst account. The official claim flow just opens the standard signup, so activation of the no-card student allowance should be confirmed with Catalyst Support (support@zohocatalyst.com). Students hitting the cap lose their running app until approval. Note the distinction: this no-CC student allowance is separate from the generic $250 wallet credit for all new users, which DOES require adding a card. Program is new (announced Sept 2, 2026; blog Sept 6, 2026).
Monthly free usage that auto-renews, 'Forever, no expiry', across all components. Monthly free limits (assume single-component use; limits are account-wide across all orgs/projects): Functions 25,000 GB-seconds; AppSail 900 GB-minutes; Circuits 2,000 state transitions; Data Store 2 GB-days storage + 10,000 SELECT / 5,000 INSERT / 1,000 UPDATE / 1,000 DELETE requests, 10,000 bulk-write rows; Stratus 5 GB file storage, 10,000 downloads; NoSQL 1 GB table + 1 GB index storage; Cache 1,000 GET / 5,000 PUT; API Gateway 100,000 requests; Web Client Hosting 300,000 requests; Mail 100 emails; Push Notifications 500; Search 1,000 queries; Slate (frontend) 12 GB-minutes build & deploy (2vCPU 4GB), 500 MB CDN storage, 25,000 GB-seconds invocations; QuickML 1,000,000 LLM input / 500,000 output tokens, 1 GB data storage; Zia Services 100 calls per API; SmartBrowz 7,200 GB-seconds headless, 50 PDF/screenshot conversions; DevOps CI/CD 1,200 GB-minutes, 100 alerts. You get usage alerts at 90% of any component's limit.
Eligibility
All new Catalyst users on the pay-as-you-go pricing model. No credit card to sign up ('you don't need to provide your card details to sign up to Catalyst's free tier'); a payment method is requested only when a resource's free allowance is about to run out.
How to claim
Sign up at catalyst.zoho.com (email address, or existing Zoho account). Choose the pay-as-you-go model; free tier applies automatically, refreshed after each bill/payment cycle. Keep usage within the hard limits to stay free indefinitely; delete unused projects to avoid the minimum bill.
Expiry
None — 'Renewal: Monthly; Forever, no expiry'. Limits refresh monthly.
Gotchas
Hard limits are consolidated across your ENTIRE account (all orgs and projects), not per project. Exceeding any component's limit triggers pay-as-you-go billing for that resource, PLUS a minimum billing of $5/project/month (introduced 2024-04-01) — delete unused projects to avoid it. Listed limits assume a component is used alone; mixing components dilutes each allowance. The generic $250 new-customer credits sit on top of (are exclusive of) this free tier and require a card. Bandwidth/egress is free (Catalyst's stated position).
Catalyst Free Trial + one-time $250 production wallet credits (all new customers; card required for the credits) high confidence
Free Trial: free full-featured development environment (Functions, AppSail, QuickML, ConvoKraft, SmartBrowz, AutoML, auth, Web Client Hosting, APM, push/mail, etc.) that does NOT expire; up to 50 projects per account; no auto-charging unless you move a project to production; one account per new customer; signup needs only an email address. The $250 wallet credits apply to production usage when your first project is deployed live; they are a one-time benefit, valid 6 months from the date claimed, and are exclusive of the monthly free-tier allowance and of the $5/month free tier bundled with subscription plans. After credits + free tier are exhausted, pay-as-you-go billing applies.
Eligibility
All new Catalyst customers who have never had a Catalyst account or received wallet credits (students, startups, individuals — no commercial restrictions on this general path). Free Trial needs no card; the $250 production credits require adding a payment method ('Add a card to claim them').
How to claim
1) Sign up at catalyst.zoho.com (email or Zoho account) — development use is free and non-expiring. 2) To claim $250: in Billing, click 'Get $250 Credits' → Select Payment Plan → add a payment method; credits become valid for 6 months. 3) Deploy first project to production; usage bills against the $250 first.
Expiry
Free Trial: no expiry. $250 credits: expire 6 months after claiming; not refreshed monthly; unused credit cannot be recovered or extended.
Gotchas
Trial-vs-free: 'Free Trial' (dev sandbox, no expiry, no card) is NOT the same as the 'Free Tier' (monthly free usage, pay-as-you-go). The $250 credit IS card-gated, unlike the student no-card allowance. Once credits lapse, usage beyond free tier is billed (with $5/project/month minimum). ConvoKraft is separately free of charge per Catalyst docs. The 2024 price-change notice ended the old free sandbox on 2024-03-31 and moved billing to usage-based from 2024-04-01.
Zoho Classes Free Edition: free for schools/teachers up to 100 students ('no questions asked') high confidence
Zoho Classes (AI-powered LMS: live streaming classes, course distribution, assignments, attendance, mobile apps) has a free edition 'completely free for all schools for up to 100 students. No questions asked' and a 'Free-For-Teacher License for up to 100 students' (per the signup page). No .edu or domain requirement is stated and no payment method is needed for the free license. Paid editions: $4 per student per year globally ('33 cents per student per month', stream live to 50,000 students); ₹250 per student per year in India. With the July 15, 2026 Classes 2.0 relaunch, paid tiers for private institutions are billed per instructor per month (Standard ~$7/instructor/month, Pro ~$20/instructor/month per press reporting; India from ~₹500/teacher/month; Zoho renders these prices dynamically and doesn't print them as text).
Eligibility
Any school or college up to 100 students (worldwide); individual teachers teaching up to 100 students. No edu-email, no accreditation proof, no credit card stated — 'no questions asked'. Larger institutions need a trial license registration or paid plan.
How to claim
Sign up at zoho.com/classes (classes signup page advertises the free-for-teacher license up to 100 students); the free edition applies automatically. Schools over 100 students register for a trial license / paid plan via the pricing page.
Expiry
No sunset date published for the 100-student free edition; 'completely free', no stated trial window.
Gotchas
The 100-student cap is on total students, so a class with 50 students in two sections consumes the whole allowance. Feature depth (AI course builder, agentic AI, lifecycle management) ships with Classes 2.0 (July 2026) and is rolling out region-by-region — India first; check your region's feature availability. Per-instructor paid pricing (2026 model) means costs scale with faculty headcount, not enrollment. Pricing figures for Standard/Pro are press-reported, not Zoho-published text — verify on the live pricing page (which blocks scrapers; direct fetch returned 403).
Zoho Classes 2.0: free for ALL Central and State government schools, colleges, and universities in India high confidence
Announced July 15, 2026 with Classes 2.0: Zoho Classes is available 'at no product licensing cost to all Central and State Government schools, colleges, and universities' in India (AI LMS with embedded AI for lesson planning/grading/reporting, student lifecycle management, institutional dashboards, attendance, and support for all 22 scheduled Indian languages). Private institutions pay per-instructor subscriptions. Global rollout is 'in the coming months' with regional capabilities; the government-free offer is India-only.
Eligibility
Central and State government educational institutions in India (schools, colleges, universities). Private institutions are NOT covered (paid tiers). Individual teachers up to 100 students are covered by the separate free edition. No .edu/student-email condition; no credit card for the government free offer.
How to claim
Government institutions obtain it via Zoho's education program channels (Zoho's launch announcement and education/relationship team; larger private schools can register for trial licenses from the Classes pricing page). No self-serve public application form is published on the pages read today.
Expiry
No sunset date stated; presented as an ongoing commitment ('no product licensing cost').
Gotchas
India-only (government offer) and the 2.0 platform initially launched in India; global features/rollout pending — international government institutions should not assume coverage yet. 'No product licensing cost' excludes implementation/infrastructure costs borne by the institution. Zoho is building an education-specific LLM (Zia-based); AI features may evolve.
Zoho for Startups: Zoho Wallet credits (up to ₹3,00,000 / ₹1,86,000 in India; 360-day validity) — 23 countries, DPIIT-gated in India medium confidence
Program giving startups Zoho Wallet credits to explore 55+ Zoho applications (suits, individual apps, upgrades, add-ons, renewals) plus weekday classic email support and free consultation. Credits valid 360 days from when Stage 1 is enabled; Stage 2 is an extra tranche unlocked by hosting and mapping your business domain with Zoho within 15 days of receiving Stage 1 (both tranches share the 360-day expiry, which cannot be extended). India figures (from the official Startup India resource-partner page, updated Sept 14, 2026): DPIIT-beneficiary startups (tax-exempt, National Startup Award winners, SISFS) up to ₹3,00,000 total = ₹2,00,000 for 360 days + conditional ₹1,00,000 promotional credits for 90 days (dependent on usage, non-negotiable); DPIIT-recognized startups up to ₹1,86,000 = Stage 1 ₹1,00,000 + Stage 2 ₹86,000 (domain on Zoho Mail within 15 days; note ₹1,00,000 cap on Zoho Workplace/Mail purchases). The zoho.com/startups page renders the USD amount dynamically, so it couldn't be captured by scrape today; no public funding/grants — software credits only. Credits can't buy Zoho Voice, Zoho Start, Zoho Domains, Zoho Backstage, Zoho Sign API, Campaigns PAYG, Qntrl, Vikra, TrainerCentral, most ManageEngine products, premium support, or email domains; non-transferable, non-cashable.
Eligibility
Startup must furnish a DPIIT certificate (Startup India, India) OR be associated with a startup enabler that is a registered Zoho collaborator. Must NOT be a current or past paying Zoho customer (creating a new account does not reset this); prior program beneficiaries excluded; free-trial-only usage is fine; solopreneurs/bootstrapped founders qualify if they hold the DPIIT certificate. No startup-age cap or funding cap is stated. Eligible countries (limited access, live): Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uganda, UAE, United Kingdom. .edu not relevant; org admin email required.
How to claim
1) Create a Zoho account using the organization's primary/admin email. 2) Apply at zoho.com/startups (or via your Zoho-collaborator enabler; DPIIT-beneficiaries apply through the Startup India link). 3) Respond to Zoho's confirmation email; validation/credit enabling takes 5–7 business days. 4) Within 15 days of Stage 1, host and map your domain with Zoho to unlock Stage 2. 5) Spend credits in the Zoho store before the 360-day expiry.
Expiry
Credits expire 360 days from Stage 1 activation (Stage 2 shares that date); the conditional ₹1L promotional tranche (DPIIT-beneficiaries) is valid 90 days. No program-level sunset date published.
Gotchas
Exact USD credit amounts are not printed as static text on zoho.com/startups (dynamically rendered; scrape today returned gaps) — confidence in specific dollar values is therefore medium; the India-facing amounts are the firm public numbers. One-time opportunity per startup (no re-application through multiple enablers). No funding/grants. Excluded product list is long. The program is 'exclusive for startups associated or incubated with Zoho collaborators' pending broader rollout. The old 'free Zoho One for a year' subscription (previous program version) has been replaced by wallet credits.
Zoho general free Standard editions (available to anyone, including students and startups) low confidence
Most Zoho apps ship a free 'Standard' edition with a small seat cap (commonly up to 3 users, more in some apps, e.g., Zoho Mail/Books/Analytics allow a few more), plus 15-day full-feature paid-plan trials. These are not education- or startup-specific offers — they are open to students and startups as individual accounts, no credit card for the free edition. Useful as a base layer (CRM, Docs, Mail, Analytics) under the Catalyst/Classes offers above.
Eligibility
Anyone (individuals, students, startups). No .edu requirement; free editions have no CC requirement in most apps (paid trials do). Seat caps vary per app.
How to claim
Sign up at zoho.com with a personal/edu/any email, start the free Standard edition of each app (or claim the 15-day paid-plan trial from the app's trial page).
Expiry
No sunset; free Standard editions are standing offers. (Not re-verified page-by-page today; per-app seat caps vary — treat 3-user as the typical default, not a guarantee.)
Gotchas
Not verified today per-app (listed at low confidence deliberately); seat limits are per-app and some require billing details to start (e.g., certain apps' trials). For startups, the Zoho for Startups credits program is the higher-value path instead of piecing together free Standard plans.
No 2025–2026 sunset of the core free offers; the changes were additive or model-level: (1) Zoho Catalyst Student Program ($250/6 months, no CC) is NEW — announced Sept 2, 2026, blogged Sept 6, 2026; nothing before it was retired. (2) Zoho for Startups: the old 'free Zoho One subscription for a year' was replaced by the wallet-credit model (FAQ explicitly calls Zoho One 'our old offering'); Stage 1/Stage 2 structure and 360-day validity are the current model. (3) Zoho Classes 2.0 relaunched July 15, 2026: pricing model flipped from per-student-per-year ($4/₹250, 2020 model) to per-instructor-per-month (Standard ~$7, Pro ~$20, press-reported) for private institutions; the 100-student free edition and the India government free-license offer were kept/strengthened — the government offer expanded explicitly to all Central & State government schools, colleges and universities at no licensing cost. (4) Catalyst historical price-change notice (effective Jan 1, 2024 / Apr 1, 2024 for pre-existing users) ended the free sandbox on Mar 31, 2024, introduced the monthly-renewing free tier and $5/project/month minimum billing on Apr 1, 2024 — still in force today, relevant gotcha for the free tier. Method note: final web-search budget was exhausted after six searches; all findings above were read today via WebFetch or same-day official-page search snapshots (zoho.com direct fetches returned 403 to the fetcher, so zoho.com pages were read via search snapshots of the live pages).