Startup credits & programs

Real programs from real companies — the kind of self-serve startup credit you could find yourself with enough searching. We did the searching and keep checking it stays current.

These are third-party programs run by the companies named. Anyone can apply directly. WantBorn has not negotiated any of these, earns nothing when you apply, and has no influence on acceptance. We just verify they're real and keep the list current.

Show programs I may qualify for

A free WantBorn account unlocks full eligibility detail, apply links, and this matcher for every card below — three programs stay fully open either way, see them marked below.

For builders

PostHog for Startups

ANALYTICS

Up to $50,000 in credits over 12 months, plus partner-perk bundles

Under 2 years old, under $5M raised

Must have signed up 2023-01-01 or later; YC companies apply via Bookface instead

Final eligibility is decided by PostHog — check their criteria.

Verified 2026-08-06

Official posthog.com/startups and /startups/apply pages, verified 2026-08-06

Apply at PostHog ↗

AWS Activate (Founders track)

CLOUD

Self-serve AWS credit, typically around $1,000

Self-funded/bootstrapped, generally under 10 employees, new to AWS Activate

Requires a live website/product; one-time program per startup, credits expire 12-24 months after issuance

Final eligibility is decided by Amazon Web Services — check their criteria.

Verified 2026-08-06

Cross-checked against multiple third-party credit trackers; the exact current dollar figure could not be independently re-confirmed directly on aws.amazon.com, so this is medium confidence — verified 2026-08-06

Apply at Amazon Web Services ↗

Sentry for Startups

MONITORING

Up to $5,000 in credit, expiring 1 year after joining

Verified 2026-08-06

Official sentry.io/for/startups and /apply pages, verified 2026-08-06

Google Cloud for Startups (Start tier)

CLOUD

$2,000 in Cloud credit, valid 1 year

Verified 2026-08-06

Official cloud.google.com/startup pages, verified 2026-08-06

Notion for Startups

PRODUCTIVITY

3-6 months free of the Notion Business plan (incl. Notion AI)

Verified 2026-08-06

Official notion.com/help/notion-for-startups and notion.com/startups pages, verified 2026-08-06

Cloudflare for Startups (self-serve entry tier)

CLOUD

$10,000 in credit — the self-serve entry tier (higher tiers require a partner referral)

Verified 2026-08-06

Directly fetched cloudflare.com/startups, confirmed the self-serve $10K entry tier requires no VC backing — verified 2026-08-06

Claude for Startups

DEVTOOLS

$25,000-$100,000+ in Claude API credits plus priority rate limits

Verified 2026-08-06

Official claude.com/programs/startups and anthropic.com startup-program terms pages, verified 2026-08-06

Mixpanel for Startups

ANALYTICS

First year free on the dedicated Startup Plan, up to $50,000/year in credit

Verified 2026-08-06

docs.mixpanel.com/docs/pricing/startup-program and the official announcement, verified 2026-08-06

Intercom Early Stage Program

DEVTOOLS

1 year of Fin AI agent free, plus ~93% off Intercom in year 1

Verified 2026-08-06

Official intercom.com/early-stage page and help-center articles, verified 2026-08-06

Twilio Segment for Startups

ANALYTICS

Up to $50,000 in free credit on the Team plan over 2 years

Verified 2026-08-06

twilio.com/solutions/startups, cross-checked against third-party trackers, verified 2026-08-06

DigitalOcean Hatch

CLOUD

Compute credit for early-stage teams, amount varies (up to $100,000 for partner-affiliated applicants)

Verified 2026-08-06

Official "Introducing Hatch" blog post and digitalocean.com/startups pages, verified 2026-08-06

For testers & individuals

JetBrains Non-Commercial License

DEVTOOLS

Full-featured JetBrains IDEs free for non-commercial use

Anyone using it for non-revenue-generating work — hobby projects, learning, unpaid open source

Use must not be intended to generate commercial benefit; select "Free non-commercial" in the IDE license dialog

Final eligibility is decided by JetBrains — check their criteria.

Verified 2026-08-06

Official jetbrains.com/non-commercial page, verified 2026-08-06

Apply at JetBrains ↗

JetBrains Open Source License

DEVTOOLS

Free 1-year license to the full JetBrains IDE suite, renewable

Verified 2026-08-06

jetbrains.com/community/opensource and the license FAQ, verified 2026-08-06

GitHub Student Developer Pack

DEVTOOLS

Bundle of 20+ partner offers — GitHub Pro, JetBrains suite, cloud credits, domains, and more

Verified 2026-08-06

Official education.github.com/pack page, verified 2026-08-06

Notion Education Plus Plan

EDUCATION

Free Plus plan (normally ~$8-10/month) for verified students/educators

Verified 2026-08-06

Official notion.com/students page, verified 2026-08-06

Figma Education Plan

DESIGN

Full Professional-tier Figma free for verified students/educators

Verified 2026-08-06

Corroborated across multiple 2026 student-discount trackers; official apply-flow copy was not independently re-fetched this pass, so this is medium confidence — verified 2026-08-06

Canva for Education

DESIGN

Free Canva Pro-equivalent features for verified K-12 teachers and students

Verified 2026-08-06

Corroborated across multiple 2026 sources; not independently re-fetched from canva.com this pass, so medium confidence — verified 2026-08-06

Verification staleness (computed fresh on every page load, never hardcoded): a program gets an amber notice once it hasn't been re-checked in 90+ days, and moves to the demoted group above past 180 days.