How to Get Up to $10,000 in Free Cloudflare Credits

Running a startup and watching your cloud bill climb? Cloudflare's startup program covers up to $10,000 of it for a year, and you don't need VC funding to qualify.

That is $10,000 in credits for bootstrapped teams or companies that have raised under $1M. Funded startups can apply for more — $100,000 if you have under $5M in funding and a qualifying VC or accelerator partner, or $350,000 with $5M+ and a qualifying partner. Those higher tiers go through extra eligibility checks, and credits generally last 12 months or until they run out.

Tutorial

1. Open https://www.cloudflare.com/startups/ to start your application.
2. Have a live startup website running on your own domain.
3. Apply with your company email, not a Gmail or Outlook address.
4. Explain what your startup actually builds. A clear description of the real product makes for a much stronger application.
5. Complete the application with accurate company and funding details.
6. Wait for Cloudflare's review and approval. A domain and a company email don't guarantee you get in.

Wrapping Up

Once you're approved, remember the credits don't necessarily cover every Cloudflare product, and a payment card may be required — anything beyond the covered credits can be billed. Agencies, consultancies, blogs and resellers may not qualify, so read the current program terms before you apply. And don't build a fake startup just to chase credits: a real product and a working website go a lot further.