Vercel offers up to $30,000 in credits.
No equity, no fees. You need a referral or partner code to apply.
Stage fit: Pre-seed to Series A. Difficulty: moderate.
Vercel at a glance
- Max value
- Up to $30,000
- Stage fit
- Pre-seed to Series A
- Takes equity
- No
- Who files it
- You, with a code (investor or partner code)
- Geography
- No country restrictions are published for the credits program, and the apply form offers a long country list.
- Referral needed
- Yes
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Review time
- 5-7 days for the application decision
- Credits expire
- Credits last up to one calendar year from the date the Flexible Commitment Amount is applied.
What Vercel actually gives you
- Vercel for Startups (Flexible Commitment)Up to $30,000 Flexible Commitment Amount, valid 12 months, on Enterprise terms; exact amount set by your partner's arrangement with Vercel. Max 50% of each month's credit can go to AI Gateway.Startups affiliated with an approved Vercel Startup Partner (VC or accelerator) that have raised Series A or earlier and apply within 12 months of their last round.
- Vercel AI Accelerator (separate annual cohort)Announced in Feb 2026 as over $6M in credits across 40 teams; Vercel's later pages cite over $8M and 39 teams in the final cohort. Per participant, as listed on the accelerator page: $30,000 Vercel + $5,400 v0 + $25,000 AWS (Activate) + $15,000 Anthropic + $2,500 OpenAI, plus credits from many other partners (23 credit providers in total per the announcement). Vercel's recap says each team received over $200K in value. First place got a Vercel Ventures investment.Pre-seed AI teams who are Vercel customers, can commit to the full 6-week program, and are not subject to U.S. sanctions. Competitive. The 2026 application closed Feb 16, 2026 and the program ran Mar 2 to Apr 16, 2026. Vercel said on Apr 28, 2026 that applications for the next cohort would open later in 2026; no dates were published as of Oct 9, 2026.
Who qualifies
You likely qualify if
- Your company is backed by, or enrolled in, a VC firm or accelerator on Vercel's approved Startup Partner list (the apply form has a dropdown of well over 100 partners, e.g. Y Combinator, Sequoia, Accel, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Index, Bessemer, GV, Kaszek).
- Your most recent round is a Series A or earlier (pre-seed, seed, Series A).
- You apply within 12 months of your most recent funding round.
- Your company has never received Vercel for Startups credits before.
- You have a company website and apply from an email address on that domain.
- You can upload a full-window screenshot of your partner's dashboard, hub, wiki, or console showing the Vercel offer (an acceptance email or profile page is not accepted).
- The receiving Vercel team has a valid payment method on file; credits do not activate without one.
You won't qualify if
- Bootstrapped or angel-only startups with no relationship to an approved partner. The FAQ says eligibility typically covers partner-backed companies 'or startups that meet certain criteria set by Vercel' but publishes no such criteria; your investor can request to become a partner at vercel.com/startups/partners, and the main page has a Contact the Startups Team form.
- Companies that have raised a Series B or later.
- Companies more than 12 months past their most recent funding round.
- Teams that already received Vercel for Startups credits in the past.
- Applicants using a personal email (Gmail, etc.) or without a company website.
- Credits cannot be applied retroactively to invoices already paid, cannot be moved to a different Vercel team, and cannot be postponed once activated.
- AI Accelerator track only: employees of Vercel, program partners, judges or coaches (and their immediate or household family), government entities, and anyone located in or subject to U.S. sanctions restrictions.
Geography. No country restrictions are published for the credits program, and the apply form offers a long country list. The partner dropdown includes many international partners (e.g. Kaszek, Balderton, Seedcamp, Station F, Antler, Square Peg, Startmate), but access in practice depends on your investor or accelerator being listed. The separate AI Accelerator excludes anyone located in or subject to U.S. sanctions.
How to apply to Vercel for Startups
- 01Confirm your VC or accelerator is on Vercel's approved partner list at vercel.com/startups/partners. If it is not, ask your investor to submit the partner request form on that page first.
- 02Find the Vercel offer inside your partner's portal (dashboard, hub, wiki, or console) and take a full-window screenshot of it.
- 03Go to vercel.com/startups/credits and complete the form: your company-domain email, the Vercel team to credit (select an existing one or create it), your partner from the dropdown, and the screenshot upload.
- 04Wait for Vercel's review; they say they reply within 5-7 days.
- 05If approved, accept the Flexible Commitment for Startups Terms via the email Vercel sends, and make sure the team has a valid payment method on file.
- 06Credits and Enterprise access go live within 5-7 business days of accepting; the 12-month clock starts when the commitment is applied.
Review time: 5-7 days for the application decision; credits and Enterprise access activate within 5-7 business days after you accept the terms by email.. Apply at vercel.com/startups/credits.
What changed in 2025 and 2026
Flex Commit credit terms apply to startups accepted on or after August 6, 2026: credits are now issued as a Flexible Commitment Amount under Vercel's Enterprise terms, with the 50% monthly AI Gateway cap; founders accepted earlier keep the benefits listed in their original acceptance email. Separately, on February 5, 2026 Vercel announced the 2026 AI Accelerator cohort (40 teams, over $6M in credits including $1M of AWS Activate credits); applications closed February 16, 2026 and the program ran March 2 to April 16, 2026. Vercel's later pages raised the headline to over $8M and reported 39 teams at Demo Day, and its April 28, 2026 recap said applications for the next cohort would open later in 2026 (no dates published as of October 9, 2026).
- Aug 6, 2026Vercel moved startup credits to Flex Commit terms
Hold these alongside Vercel
Vercel credits and your AWS bill
Vercel's compute runs in AWS regions (its region codes map one-to-one to AWS regions, e.g. iad1 = us-east-1), but the credit pays only your Vercel invoice and cannot be applied to your AWS account, so it stacks cleanly with AWS Activate: Vercel for Next.js hosting, v0 and AI Gateway (which lists Amazon Nova and Titan models), Activate for backend and Bedrock. The separate AI Accelerator listed $25,000 of AWS credits per participant (described as Activate credits in the announcement) on top of $30,000 Vercel and $15,000 Anthropic.
Vercel startup credits, answered
How much does Vercel give startups?
Vercel offers up to $30,000 in credits. There are 2 tiers: Vercel for Startups (Flexible Commitment): Up to $30,000 Flexible Commitment Amount, valid 12 months, on Enterprise terms; Vercel AI Accelerator (separate annual cohort): Announced in Feb 2026 as over $6M in credits across 40 teams.
Does Vercel take equity?
No. Vercel for Startups is a credits program, not an investment; you keep 100% of your company. You need a referral or partner code to apply.
Who qualifies for Vercel for Startups?
Stage fit: Pre-seed to Series A (within 12 months of last round). You usually qualify if: your company is backed by, or enrolled in, a VC firm or accelerator on Vercel's approved Startup Partner list (the apply form has a dropdown of well over 100 partners, e.g. Y Combinator, Sequoia, Accel, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Index, Bessemer, GV, Kaszek).; your most recent round is a Series A or earlier (pre-seed, seed, Series A).; you apply within 12 months of your most recent funding round. You will not qualify if: bootstrapped or angel-only startups with no relationship to an approved partner. The FAQ says eligibility typically covers partner-backed companies 'or startups that meet certain criteria set by Vercel' but publishes no such criteria; your investor can request to become a partner at vercel.com/startups/partners, and the main page has a Contact the Startups Team form.; companies that have raised a Series B or later.
How long does Vercel take to approve credits?
5-7 days for the application decision; credits and Enterprise access activate within 5-7 business days after you accept the terms by email. Difficulty: moderate, a real application and usually some back and forth.
When do Vercel credits expire?
Credits last up to one calendar year from the date the Flexible Commitment Amount is applied. Unused balance does not roll over at the one-year mark and the benefit cannot be postponed.
Can I combine Vercel credits with AWS credits?
Vercel's compute runs in AWS regions (its region codes map one-to-one to AWS regions, e.g. iad1 = us-east-1), but the credit pays only your Vercel invoice and cannot be applied to your AWS account, so it stacks cleanly with AWS Activate: Vercel for Next.js hosting, v0 and AI Gateway (which lists Amazon Nova and Titan models), Activate for backend and Bedrock. The separate AI Accelerator listed $25,000 of AWS credits per participant (described as Activate credits in the announcement) on top of $30,000 Vercel and $15,000 Anthropic. On AWS, CloudRoute matches you for free with a vetted partner who can file MAP, POC or IW funding when the workload qualifies and AWS approves it. The Vercel application you submit yourself.
