Startup Program update: empowering every stage of the startup journey

During Cloudflare’s Birthday Week in September 2024, we introduced a revamped Startup Program designed to make it easier for startups to adopt Cloudflare through a new credits system. This update focused on better aligning the program with how startups and developers actually consume Cloudflare, by providing them with clearer insight into their projected usage, especially as they approach graduation from the program.

Today, we’re excited to announce an expansion to that program: new credit tiers that better match startups at every stage of their journey. But before we dive into what’s new, let’s take a quick look at what the Startup Program is and why it exists.

Cloudflare for Startups provides credits to help early-stage companies build the next big idea on our platform. Startups accepted into the program receive credits valid for one year or until they’re fully used, whichever comes first.

Beyond credits, the program includes access to up to three domains with enterprise-level services, giving startups the same advanced tools we provide to large companies to protect and accelerate their most critical applications.

We know that building a startup is expensive, and Cloudflare is uniquely positioned to support the full-stack needs of modern applications. Our goal is simple: ensure that you have access to the best of Cloudflare’s global network, without the barriers of cost or availability.

Since launching the revamped credits system in September, we’ve learned a lot from the startups in our program, including what they’re building, what they need, and where they need more flexibility. One of the most common requests was more credit tier options.

That’s why we’re introducing new tiers that provide even more options to startups as they scale.

The Cloudflare for Startups Program now offers four credit tiers: 

Credit Amount	$5,000	$25,000	$100,000	$250,000
Stage	Bootstrapped, stealth startups	Up-and-coming startups	Seed-funded startups	Tier 1 startups
Description	For startups who are just getting started. This tier is great for building, testing, and iterating your product.	For startups with early adopters and proving product market fit.	For startups that have raised capital, and are experiencing high growth.	For scaling startups that belong to our Tier 1 VC and accelerator network, are building a mission-critical AI application, or are participating in our Workers Launchpad Program.
Criteria	Building a software-based product or service Founded in the last 5 years Valid and matching email address	$5,000 criteria plus: Active LinkedIn Funded up to $1M	$25,000 criteria plus: Funded between $1M and $5M Belong to any of our 250+ approved VC or Accelerator partners	$100,000 criteria plus: High growth / AI companies, OR Tier 1 VC & Accelerators

These tiers are designed to offer simplicity and clarity by aligning with where you are in your growth journey. (You can check out eligibility criteria and apply to the Startup Program here). These tiers are still subject to the same Cloudflare for Startups Terms of Service. Credits are valid for up to one year or when all credits are consumed (whichever comes first).

We understand that each startup may have different needs depending on where they’re at in their journey. Some are just getting off the ground, others are scaling rapidly, and each has unique infrastructure needs. With this expansion, we’re reaffirming Cloudflare’s commitment to startups of all sizes, making it easier for you to access the right level of support and resources, exactly when you need them.

Whether you're launching your MVP or preparing for your next funding round, Cloudflare is here to help you grow.

The vast majority of Cloudflare products (including all products found on the pay-as-you-go plans) can be used on the Startup Program. Beyond going to the website to see what products are included, below are a few examples of what you can use your credits for:  

Build AI applications

Store your training data in R2, build AI-powered agents (via Agents SDK) that autonomously perform tasks with Durable Objects and Workers, or use one of over 50 models to run inference tasks on Cloudflare’s global network.  

Create immersive realtime experiences

Deliver live audio and video via our Realtime Kit, enhance the experience with an AI-powered chatbot running on Workers AI to transcribe the call, broadcast to large audiences with Stream.  

Build durable multi-step applications

Design and run long-lived, multi-step processes like onboarding flows, document processing, or order fulfillment. Use Workflows to coordinate logic across Workers, Durable Objects, Queues, and AI tasks. Easily handle retries, timeouts, and state management without complex orchestration infrastructure.

"From a modern design tool, you'd expect real-time collaborative features and would like to have resources as close to users as possible. Since betting on the Developer Platform architecture, Cloudflare has done more for us than any other vendor out there!" - Oleg Isonen (Founder & CEO)

“Cloudflare’s fusion of edge computing and AI empowers developers to deploy and utilize AI models with unprecedented efficiency and scale, marking a significant leap forward in how we build and interact with intelligent systems.” - Deepak Gupta (Co-founder & CEO)

"Each month Render Better optimizes billions of monthly requests for ecommerce visitors, delivering faster loading sites that make top brands millions more in revenue. We're able to scale up with Cloudflare's serverless workers, handling every request at the network edge within milliseconds, thanks to the rock solid, DX-friendly scope of the Developer Platform." -  James Koshigoe (Co-founder & CEO)

We can’t wait to see what you will build on Cloudflare. Apply here to take advantage of the Cloudflare for Startups Program.