Claude for Startups Offers $1,000 API Credits and a Free Year of Claude Team

Approved startups get $1,000 in Claude API credits, a free year of Claude Team for up to five seats, and up to $45K in partner offers.

Oct 8, 2026, 4:55 PM · Anthropic

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Anthropic expanded its Claude for Startups program at SF Tech Week: approved founders get $1,000 in Claude API credits and a free year of Claude Team to build on the platform.

Free year of Claude Team with up to five Premium seats
$1,000 in Claude API credits, claimed in Claude Console; credits expire six months after they are granted
Up to $45,000 in offers from participating Anthropic partners, plus virtual office hours with Anthropic's Applied AI team
Eligibility: founded in the last 5 years or funded in the last 2, with a Claude Console account and a company email matching your website's domain
Most applications are decided within minutes; manual review takes 2–3 business days

Link: Claude for Startups

Offers mentioned

Claude for Startups Verified Oct 12, 2026
Claude Startups members get partner offers worth up to $45,000, Applied AI group sessions and events. The current cohort is full and Anthropic is not accepting new applications; startups backed by a partner VC may get up to $100K in API credits via the VC.

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How to Get Free Claude API Credits
New Claude Console accounts get a small free API credit. How to claim and stretch it, and when Claude for Startups or AI for Science credits fit.
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Run the Cline coding agent in VS Code for free with Cline's FREE-tagged models or an OpenRouter :free model. Setup steps and the real limits.

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