Program Guidelines

AWS Activate Startup Credit Eligibility

Understand the official compliance requirements, credit tiers, and baseline rules established by Amazon Web Services before submitting your application.

Credit Tiers

AWS Activate Program Pathways

AWS offers two distinct pathways for startups depending on their funding status and association with startup ecosystem partners.

Founders Tier

Activate Founders

Designed for early-stage startups that have not raised institutional funding and are not associated with a venture capital firm or accelerator.

  • Up to $1,000 in AWS Activate Credits
  • $350 in AWS Developer Support Credits
  • 1 year of AWS support access
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Compliance

Baseline Eligibility Requirements

Startups must meet these four core technical and organizational requirements to be eligible for either AWS Activate tier. Applications that fail these checks are automatically rejected by AWS.

01

Live, Public Company Website

Your startup must have a fully functional website that describes your product, business model, or service. Under-construction landing pages, social media profiles, or parking pages will result in immediate rejection.

02

Company Domain Email

You must submit your application using an email address registered on your startup's custom domain (e.g., founder@yourstartup.com). Generic addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook are not permitted.

03

Startup Age Limit

Your startup must have been incorporated or founded within the last 10 years to qualify for the AWS Activate program benefits.

04

Lifetime Credit Caps

AWS enforces a lifetime limit of $100,000 in Activate credits per startup. If your company has previously received this maximum amount under any program pathway, it cannot receive further credits.

Verification Details

What AWS Evaluates During Application Reviews

Before submitting, it is critical to ensure that your company's records are fully aligned. Discrepancies between your business details and your AWS account metadata are a primary cause of delays.

  • Matching company registry details with AWS account ownership
  • Correct AWS Account ID verification and region settings
  • Clearly documented business description and product traction metrics
  • Provider Org ID validation and active activation code match
  • Consistency of legal business names across registry databases
  • Technical description of the workloads to be deployed on AWS

Our Commitment: We work diligently to evaluate your startup details and optimize your submission materials for compliance. We do our absolute best to set you up for success, though please note that final credit allocations are determined solely at the discretion of Amazon Web Services and its program administrators.

Assess Your Readiness

Schedule a review with our cloud advisory team to verify your application materials against the official guidelines.

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