Up to $25,000 in Modal free credits can cover a serious amount of serverless GPU compute, plus CPU and memory, if you qualify for the Modal Startup Program. The big draw is that you can apply those credits to per-second billed GPU time (including H100s), so you’re not paying for idle capacity.
Founders building AI products, engineers shipping inference endpoints, and teams doing fine-tuning or batch jobs all tend to get value here. Honestly, Modal’s “scale to zero” approach is a nice fit when your workload is spiky or still evolving.
This guide covers Modal Startup Credits eligibility, the exact signup steps, what the credits cover, the restrictions that trip people up, and a few practical ways to stretch the grant.
Program at a Glance
| Provider | Modal |
| Credit Amount | Up to $25,000 (tiered; $5K to $25K) |
| Duration | One-time grant (duration not specified) |
| Eligibility | Early-stage startups; tier depends on funding and investors. |
| Credit Card Required? | No for signup; yes after you exceed free credits. |
| Difficulty | Intermediate; tiering and VC network requirements apply. |
| Best For | Inference APIs, fine-tuning, batch processing, training |
| Official Page | Modal Program Page |
What You Actually Get
Modal’s startup program offers up to $25,000 in free serverless compute credits for accepted early-stage AI startups. The credits apply to GPU, CPU, and memory usage on Modal’s serverless platform, which supports AI inference, fine-tuning, batch processing, and training workloads. On top of the credits, approved startups get direct access to Modal’s engineering team, go-to-market amplification, and an exclusive founder network. Modal bills per second with no idle costs, and can auto-scale from zero to thousands of GPUs based on traffic.
The $25K tier can be meaningful in real workload terms. Modal’s own estimate is roughly 6,300 hours of H100 time, about 11,900 hours of A100 (40 GB), or roughly 42,500 hours of T4 time (all approximate). That’s enough to run a real inference service for a while, or do multiple fine-tuning runs and batch evaluations without immediately sweating the bill.
Who Qualifies (and Who Doesn’t)
Modal splits eligibility by funding stage, and the rules are not identical across tiers. If you are bootstrapped, you can qualify without being in a specific VC partner network. If you’re Seed through Series A (or later), the investor requirement is the main gate.
- You’ll qualify for Bootstrapped credits (up to $5,000) if you have a full-time team, have raised less than about $500K outside Modal’s VC network, and you have an active company website.
- The Seed-to-Series-A tier can be up to $25,000, but it requires VC funding up to $30M and an investor from Modal’s partner VC network.
- Series B+ / Scaling is a custom credit amount, typically for companies over $30M funding or post-Series B, and it also hinges on partner VC involvement.
- No credit card is required to sign up and start using Modal’s Starter plan free credits.
If your investors aren’t in Modal’s partner VC network, you may not qualify for the Seed-to-Series-A or Series B+ tiers (even if you’re otherwise a fit). Also, the startup credits are a one-time grant per tier, so you cannot reapply after receiving credits in a given tier.
How to Sign Up
Signup is quick, and the startup application is a separate step.
- Go to modal.com/signup.
- Sign up using GitHub, Google, or SSO (no credit card required at signup).
- After signup, you immediately receive $30/month in free compute credits on the Starter plan.
- To apply for startup credits, go to modal.com/startups.
- Click “Apply Now” and fill out the application form with your company details, funding stage, and use case.
- Wait for review; Modal evaluates applications based on your tier eligibility and VC backing.
- If approved, credits are applied to your workspace as a one-time grant.
One small gotcha: you can start on the free tier without payment info, but a payment method is needed once you exceed free credits or want to scale beyond the free tier.
What the Credits Cover
Modal startup credits apply to all Modal compute usage, and everything is billed per second with no minimums. That includes GPU time across multiple NVIDIA options, plus CPU (physical core) and memory (per GiB). You can use the platform for inference endpoints, fine-tuning jobs, batch processing, and training workflows.
| Service / Feature | What It Does | Included? |
|---|---|---|
| GPU compute (e.g., H100, A100, T4) | Runs inference, fine-tuning, batch, and training jobs. | ✓ |
| CPU + Memory compute | Supports preprocessing, orchestration, and non-GPU workloads. | ✓ |
| Web endpoints | Deploys inference APIs with streaming, auth, and timeouts. | ✓ |
| Volumes and storage | Persistent volumes, bucket mounts, dicts, and queues. | ✓ |
What’s easy to miss: the “credits” apply to compute usage, not some separate product add-on. You still need to stay within the free tier limits if you’re only using the Starter plan (like GPU concurrency), or move beyond it with a payment method.
Limitations to Know About
Every free credit program has catches. Modal’s are mostly about tier gating, reapplication, and what happens after your free allowance is gone.
- The Seed-to-Series-A and Series B+ tiers require an investor from Modal’s partner VC network, and the full list is not publicly listed.
- Startup credits are a one-time grant, so you cannot reapply after receiving credits in a given tier.
- The Starter plan free tier has limits (for example: 3 workspace seats, 100 max containers, and 10 GPU concurrency).
- You won’t need a credit card to sign up, but you will need a payment method to exceed free credits or scale beyond the free tier.
When your credits run out, your workloads don’t magically stay free. If you’ve added a payment method, usage continues as normal and you pay per second; if you haven’t, you will need to add payment details to keep scaling past the free allocation. The startup grant itself is applied as a one-time credit to your workspace, so once it’s consumed, you’re back to standard billing.
Have Unused Modal Credits?
Credits are great until they’re not. Teams get grants, priorities change, and suddenly a chunk of compute budget sits unused while the clock keeps moving. If you end up with surplus Modal credits you can’t realistically burn, AI Credit Mart gives you a way to sell them instead of letting the value go to zero. It’s a practical option when you’ve outgrown Modal, moved stacks, or simply overestimated GPU needs.
Need More Modal Credits?
Once your Modal free credits are gone, paying retail isn’t your only path. On AI Credit Mart, companies that can’t use all of their allocations list discounted Modal credits, and buyers typically see about 30–70% off face value. If you’re scaling inference or running bigger training batches, that discount can stretch runway without changing providers.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Credits
- Start with the $30/month free tier first, because it lets you validate cold starts, endpoints, and basic job flows without any payment setup.
- Lean into per-second billing by designing jobs that stop cleanly when idle; Modal is built to scale back to zero, so take advantage of it.
- If your utilization is steady and high (roughly “always on”), do a reality check: Modal itself notes other reserved instance options may be cheaper for 24/7 dedicated GPUs.
- If you already have committed spend with AWS or GCP, consider paying for Modal through the AWS or GCP Marketplace so that spend may count toward existing cloud commitments or credits.
- Outgrowing the Starter plan doesn’t mean you must jump straight to enterprise; Modal’s Team plan is $250/month and includes $100/month in credits, with higher limits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Up to $25,000 in credits can translate into a lot of GPU time on Modal’s per-second billing. Modal estimates the $25K tier at roughly 6,300 hours of H100, about 11,900 hours of A100 (40 GB), or roughly 42,500 hours of T4 usage (approximate equivalents). In practice, the value depends on what GPU you pick, how much CPU and memory you attach, and whether your workloads actually scale down to zero when idle. If you’re building an API with bursty traffic, the “no idle costs” part is often where you really win.
No—signup does not require a credit card, but you’ll need a payment method once you exceed free credits or want to scale beyond the free tier.
The startup grant is described as a one-time credit applied to your workspace, but Modal does not specify an exact expiration timeline on the program page.
Yes. If you have Modal credits you won’t use before they expire, you can list them on AI Credit Mart and sell them at up to 70% of face value. Companies regularly list surplus credits from startup programs and enterprise agreements.
AI Credit Mart has discounted Modal credits available from companies with surplus allocations. Prices are typically 30-70% below retail.
Once your credits are used up, continued usage is billed at standard per-second rates (and you’ll need a payment method to keep scaling past the free allocation).
The Seed-to-Series-A tier offers up to $25,000 for startups with VC funding up to $30M, and it requires an investor from Modal’s partner VC network.
No. Modal states the startup credits are a one-time grant and you cannot reapply after receiving credits in a given tier.
Modal’s startup program is one of the better “real GPU” credit deals if your investor situation matches their tiers. Get the free $30/month started today, apply for the grant when you’re ready, and if you end up with surplus credits later, you’ve got a place to move them.
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