How to Get Free AWS Credits to Lower Your Cloud Bill

AWS regularly offers credits to help customers offset their cloud bills — but many teams miss them because they don’t know where to look. Credits can cover compute, storage, AI/ML services, and more. The catch: they expire, so you want to claim and apply them as soon as possible.

Ways to Get Free AWS Credits

There are several ways you can get free credits from AWS.

1. AWS Activate for Startups

AWS Activate is the largest AWS credits program, with over 280,000 startups having claimed more than $7 billion in credits to date. It has two tiers:

Activate Founders: $1,000 in credits — no VC or accelerator affiliation required. You just need a paid-tier AWS account, a company website, and to have been founded in the last 10 years (pre-Series B).
Activate Portfolio: Up to $100,000 in credits — requires an Org ID from an affiliated VC, accelerator, or incubator (Y Combinator, Stripe Atlas, Techstars, etc.).
Generative AI Tier: Up to $300,000 in credits for eligible AI startups training large language models.

Credits apply to 200+ AWS services including Amazon Bedrock. Apply at aws.amazon.com/startups/credits.

2. From the AWS Marketplace

The AWS Marketplace has several product and service offerings, some of which are eligible for AWS credits. These products are usually in the big data, networking, and security categories. AWS gives credits worth $200 when a user subscribes to a qualifying product.

3. Attend AWS Webinars

AWS hosts webinars to help users learn more about cloud services, best practices, and new product updates. In some cases, attendees may be eligible to receive free AWS credits after registering and participating.

To improve your chances, sign up with the email address associated with your AWS account, attend the session, and engage where relevant. Some credit promotions may be tied to attendance, participation, or follow-up offers shared after the webinar.

4. Attend AWS Events

Amazon cloud participates in several cloud events, some of which are internal events and conferences. AWS can only organize a few big events a year, though. Moreover, some of these events are physical, so they may not be ideal for everyone. However, if you attend the physical AWS conferences, you can get AWS credits.

AWS also sponsors popular tech podcasts. There is a link provided that listeners can use to redeem free AWS credits. AWS sends representatives to attend non-AWS events, too. Sometimes, reps are independent attendees. AWS has booths at virtual conferences, and most virtual conferencing software lets you network with AWS representatives. You can get a link to redeem an AWS credit after the event.

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5. Use AWS for Nonprofits and NGOs

nOps, a Premier AWS Partner, can help eligible AWS customers qualify for $5,000 in AWS credits through the Well-Architected Framework Review (WAFR) process.

How it works:

Complete a Well-Architected Framework Review (WAFR) with nOps as your AWS Partner.
Resolve at least 25% of the High Risk Issues identified in the review.
Submit your workload ARN and Opportunity ID to qualify.
Complete the AWS CSAT survey to receive $5,000 in AWS credits.

Terms and Conditions for AWS Credits

AWS credits are valid under the following conditions:

Users must redeem them before they expire.
They offset an existing bill and are not transferable from one user to the other.
You can only use them through the official AWS platform redeeming page. You must have an AWS account.
AWS reserves the right to invalidate credits if there is fraudulent activity or a breach of the user’s account. AWS can also invalidate credits if the account breaks any AWS condition.
The users cannot use AWS credits to offset any taxes associated with their AWS accounts.

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