AWS vs Google Cloud vs Microsoft startup credits

Google for Startups Cloud offers the largest headline amount, Microsoft Founders Hub is the easiest to get without a referral, and AWS Activate sits in between with the widest partner network. Most startups should apply to all three: they are not mutually exclusive.

These three programs cover the overwhelming majority of cloud spend for early-stage startups, and the comparison people usually publish stops at the headline number. The headline number is the least useful part, because the largest tier of each is gated behind a referral you may not have.

The table below is generated from our catalog, so the amounts are the ones we last verified against each provider rather than the ones a blog post copied in 2024.

Side by side

Amounts and terms come from our catalog, not from this article.

ProgramPublished amountBest forThe catch
Google for Startups Cloud Program$200,000AI-first startups. The AI track is the largest single credit allocation available anywhere.The biggest tiers expect accelerator, incubator or VC affiliation. The self-serve tier is a fraction of the headline.
AWS Activate$200,000Startups already on AWS, or those in an accelerator. The partner network is the broadest, so a referral is easiest to come by here.The self-serve tier is small. Almost everyone quoting a six-figure AWS number got it through a partner.
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub$150,000Founders with no accelerator and no VC. It is the most accessible of the three without an introduction.Credits are staged across a programme rather than granted up front, and the Azure ecosystem is a real switching cost if you are on another cloud.

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What we would actually do

Apply to all three

Nothing in the terms of any of them stops you holding credits from the others, and the application is 20 minutes each. Treating this as a choice is the most common mistake founders make here.

The referral matters more than the provider

Across all three, the gap between the self-serve tier and the partner tier is far larger than the gap between the providers. If you are in or near an accelerator, that route is worth more than picking the "best" program.

Pick your primary on architecture, not credits

Credits run out. Migrating a production system does not get cheaper later. Choose the cloud you actually want to run on, then take the others as a bonus for side workloads and experiments.

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Common questions

Yes. They are separate programs from competing companies and none of them requires exclusivity. Plenty of startups run their main workload on one and use the others for experiments, batch jobs or model training.

Microsoft Founders Hub is generally the most accessible without an introduction. The very largest tiers at all three providers route through a partner.

All three are time limited, typically one to two years. That matters more than the amount: a large credit you cannot spend before it lapses is worth less than a smaller one you fully use.

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