AWS Activate is Amazon Web Services’ programme for startups. Its main draw is promotional credits: money that pays your AWS bill for a while, so you can build and launch before cloud costs start coming out of your own account.

The credits are real, but the application is easy to get wrong. This post covers who qualifies, what to have ready, and how to make the credits last once they arrive.

The two tiers

AWS also runs invite-only credit programmes for AI startups. You can’t apply for those directly, so plan around Founders or Portfolio.

All Activate credits are in US dollars and are covered by the AWS Promotional Credit Terms & Conditions.

Who qualifies

Going by AWS’s own credits page, your startup needs to:

• Be pre-Series B.
• Have been founded in the last 10 years.
• Have a working company website. A holding page or a social profile is not enough.
• Have an AWS account on the paid plan (more on this below).
• Be new to Activate credits, or be asking for more than you received before.

For Portfolio you also need an Organization ID (Org ID) from your Activate Provider. It is a case-sensitive code that only the provider can give you, so ask your accelerator or investor for it before you start the form.

What to have ready

• A personal email to create your AWS Builder ID (this is your login to the Activate portal).
• A business email on your company domain, for example founder@yourstartup.in. AWS uses it to check you are who you say you are.
• A short, clear description of your product, market and traction.
• Your funding stage and the date of your latest round.
• The AWS account you want the credits on, and admin access to it.
• For Portfolio: your provider’s Org ID.

How to apply

1. Create your AWS Builder ID and sign in to AWS Activate.
2. Pick the tier: Founders or Portfolio.
3. Fill in your startup details using your business email.
4. Link the AWS account that should receive the credits.

AWS says it reviews applications in about 5 to 10 business days and emails you the result. You can also check the status in the Activate portal.

Why applications get turned down

• A Gmail or Outlook address instead of an email on your company domain.
• A website that isn’t live, or doesn’t say what the company does.
• Funding details that don’t match what is public about you, or a stage above pre-Series B.
• Credits already received at the same tier.
• A wrong or mistyped Org ID for Portfolio.
• The wrong AWS account linked. Credits can’t be split across accounts, so link the one you will actually run on.

Founders or Portfolio: which should you apply for?

If an accelerator, incubator or investor has backed you, ask them first whether they are an AWS Activate Provider. Many Indian accelerators and VC firms are, and Portfolio offers far more credit than Founders. If they are, get the Org ID and apply for Portfolio.

If nobody has backed you yet, or your backer isn’t a provider, apply for Founders now rather than waiting. You can apply again later for a larger package when you join a programme, because AWS accepts applications that ask for more than you received before.

Don’t try to apply for both at once from the same company. Pick the one you actually qualify for today.

A sensible order of steps

1. Week 1: get your website live, set up email on your company domain, and decide which AWS account will be your main one.
2. Week 1: upgrade that account to the paid plan and set a budget alert straight away, so nothing surprises you while you wait.
3. Week 1 or 2: ask your accelerator or investor for the Org ID, if you have one, then submit the application.
4. Weeks 2 to 3: AWS reviews it. Use the time to set up tagging and switch-off schedules for anything that isn’t production.
5. Once approved: note the expiry date in your calendar, with a reminder three months before, so you plan for life after credits instead of finding out from the bill.

How credits work once you have them

• They are applied to new charges each month. They don’t pay bills you have already received.
• They expire, usually within one to two years depending on the package. Unused credits don’t roll over.
• They sit on one AWS account. If you use AWS Organizations, plan which account gets them.
• Read the AWS Promotional Credit Terms before you plan around them. They list what credits can’t pay for.

Make the credits last

The most common story we hear is “our credits ran out three months early”. A few habits prevent it:

• Set an AWS Budget on day one with alerts at 50%, 80% and 100% of your monthly plan. Watch your credit balance too, not just the bill.
• Tag everything by environment (production, staging, dev) so you can see what is spending.
• Switch off non-production at night and at weekends. A dev server that runs only in working hours costs about a third as much.
• Right-size early. Start small and grow; most first servers are bigger than they need to be.
• Watch the quiet costs: NAT gateways, idle load balancers, old snapshots and data transfer.
• Pick the region on purpose. For Indian users, Asia Pacific (Mumbai) is the usual choice. See our post on Mumbai or Hyderabad.

Where DevOps TechLab fits

We have helped more than 70 startups with cloud credits. We check which tier and programme you fit, help you prepare the application, and set up your AWS account so the credits last: budgets, tagging, a sensible landing zone, and alerts before anything runs away. We can’t promise approval, as AWS decides every application, but we can make sure yours is complete and accurate.