Explore our credit programs for startups and researchers.
WHY RUNPOD
Why startups choose RunPod
From MVPs to market-ready products, RunPod powers every startup workload without the cloud complexity.
Instant Access to GPUs
Remove bottlenecks and enable your team to work on-demand without infrastructure delays.
Startup-Friendly Billing
Pay-as-you-go pricing with no lock-in contracts, perfect for variable startup workloads.
Production-Ready Infrastructure
Run model training, inference, and data-intensive workloads with enterprise-grade reliability.
No Setup or Infra Maintenance
Focus on building your product — we’ll handle the infrastructure.
OPTIONS
Flexible deployment options
More throughput, faster scaling, and higher efficiency—with RunPod, every dollar works harder.
Pods
On-demand compute for development and testing.
Serverless
Cost-efficient, auto-scaling inference for production.
Instant Clusters
Multi-node setups for distributed training and large models.
Bare Metal
Persistent environments for mission-critical applications.
FAQ
Questions? Answers.
Curious about unlocking GPU power in the cloud? Get clear answers to accelerate your projects with on-demand high-performance compute.
How many credits will my startup receive?
Credit amounts are based on your projected GPU usage and planned spend on RunPod. We prioritize teams making an upfront investment in infrastructure — our support scales with your commitment.
Do I need to be venture-backed to apply?
No, but it helps. Venture backing often signals a strong team, market potential, and the capacity to scale. That said, we look at the full picture — traction, tech scope, and GPU needs. If you're building something meaningful, we want to hear from you.
What happens after I apply?
We'll review your application within 48 hours. If there's a fit, we'll reach out to confirm your use case, finalize the credit offer, and help get you started quickly.
Who is this program for, and what makes a strong fit?
This program is for teams building AI, ML, or GPU-heavy applications who are ready to scale — and are looking for a long-term infrastructure partner, not just a one-time credit boost. Startups that tend to be a strong fit typically have: Clear GPU usage plans in the near term, technically complex or compute-intensive workloads, long-term infrastructure needs that align with RunPod, and a sense of urgency — infra is a bottleneck they need to solve now.
What if I don't fit the typical startup profile?
If you're part of a research lab, academic team, or working on something GPU-intensive that falls outside our standard criteria — reach out. We occasionally make exceptions for high-impact or technically aligned projects. Contact us at startups@runpod.io
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We handle millions of gpu requests a day. Scale your machine learning workloads while keeping costs low with RunPod.
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