Anthropic gives startups a free year of Claude Team. Here's how to apply
- of Claude Team
- 1 year
- Premium seats included
- 5
- office hours every other week
- 45 min
On October 6, 2026, Anthropic expanded its program for founders. If your startup is young or recently funded, you can get a year of Claude Team for up to five people, API credits and offers on the tools you run on. You don't need investors. Here's who qualifies and a prompt that gets your application ready.
What it is
Claude Startups is Anthropic's program for founders building on Claude. Approved members get:
- Claude Team: one year free for up to five Premium seats, if your company is new to Team.
- API credits: a one-time credit, available as soon as you're approved. You claim it on the Claude Startups page in the Claude Console. Members with credits also get higher API rate limits.
- Startup Stack: discounts and credits on tools from AI-native companies building on Claude, like ElevenLabs, Gamma and Granola. You redeem each offer with a code in the Console.
- Office hours: 45-minute live sessions with Anthropic's Applied AI team, held every other week.
- Marketplace help: hands-on help building a connector or plugin listing for Claude Marketplace and submitting it for review.
- Events: Founder House, hackathons and meetups, plus the Startup Newsletter.
How to apply
Step 1. Check that you qualify
Your startup was founded in the last five years or raised money in the last two. Bootstrapped, pre-seed and venture-backed companies can all apply. To get the free year of Team, your company has to be new to Claude Team.
Step 2. Get ready with Claude Code
Paste the prompt below. Claude checks your answers against the requirements and writes the short description of what you're building.
Step 3. Apply in the Claude Console
Sign in to the Claude Console and fill out the application with your company email, the one on your website's domain. Most applications are decided within minutes; the rest go to a manual review that usually takes two to three business days.
Copy this into Claude Code
Help me get ready to apply to Claude Startups, Anthropic's program for founders. First open claude.com/programs/startups and read the requirements yourself. Then ask me questions one at a time to check that I qualify: when the company was founded, when it last raised money if it ever did, whether we already have a Claude Team plan, whether I have a Claude Console account, and whether my email is on the same domain as our website. Tell me plainly if something doesn't fit. Then open our website [your website] and write the short description of what we're building: three or four plain sentences that match what the site says. Don't invent customers, numbers or features. Finally, give me a checklist of what to have ready when I apply. Don't create accounts or submit anything: I'll apply myself in the Claude Console. If something doesn't work, explain what the problem is. I'm not a programmer: anything you can do yourself, do it yourself.
Want this working for your business?
- AI agents for your business
- Automations for the work you repeat
- 1:1 consulting calls
Good to know
Credits run on a clock
API credits expire six months after they're granted. Have a first project ready to spend them on, like wiring up the API, testing a few ideas and running early evals.
Backed by a VC? Ask them
If your investor is in Anthropic's partner network, you can get additional API credits on top, claimed through your VC.
Get in front of Claude users
Claude Marketplace is where people using Claude find connectors and plugins. Members get help building a listing and submitting it for review.
The honest read
- Only companies new to Claude Team get the free year. If you already have a Team plan, that part doesn't apply.
- The credits work only with the Claude API through the Claude Console, not on AWS Bedrock, Google Cloud Vertex AI or other platforms.
- Partner offers come from independent companies, not from Anthropic. Anthropic notes you may not be able to get or combine every offer.
- Anthropic reviews every application, and applicants must comply with its supportability policies.
Want this built for your business?
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