Building a voice AI product and looking for free credits? This is our curated list of Voice AI startup programs: credits, grants and discounts from speech-to-text, text-to-speech, voice agent and cloud providers. We put it together for founders in the Voice AI ecosystem, and we check every program on the provider's official page, so you can see what you get, who qualifies and where to apply.
Last checked: 27 September 2026. Every program below was checked on the company's official page on that date. Terms change often, so check the page before you apply.
Voice AI programs open now
LiveKit Startup Program (new)
What you get: up to $23,000 over 12 months: free Cloud Scale plan ($6K), $10K in LiveKit Cloud credits, and $7K in inference credits ($1K each from AssemblyAI, Deepgram, Fish Audio, Gemma, Gradium, Inworld and Rime).
Who it's for: voice, video or physical AI is core to the product. Under 50 employees, under $5M raised, pre-Series A (larger teams case by case). Incorporated, live website, real end users, launched or launching within 6 months.
Apply: livekit.com/startups
Speechmatics Startup Program
What you get: up to $50,000 in Speechmatics usage credits, technical guidance, a fast track to market.
Who it's for: startups that have raised less than $10M, with a working MVP in production or launching within 1 to 2 months. Not for teams already on a paid Speechmatics enterprise plan. Capped at 20 startups per cohort, with a 30-minute call before any decision.
Gradium Startup Program (new)
What you get: $2,000+ in credits: 6 months of full API access, engineering support, early model access.
Who it's for: early-stage voice startups (see the page for criteria).
Apply: gradium.ai/startups/apply
Telnyx Startups Program
What you get: up to $20,000 in credits for voice AI, 3 months of engineering support, 6 months to use the credits.
Who it's for: teams that have raised $500k+ or are earning revenue from production users, with a live product that has a working voice AI agent at its core.
Apply: telnyx.com/startups-program
Deepgram for Startups
What you get: credits tiered up to $100,000 over 12 months. Direct applicants start at $1,000, and referrals from Deepgram's partner accelerators and VCs can unlock bigger tiers.
Who it's for: early-stage startups and AI builders in production or launching within 6 months. Teams that have raised more than $10M are reviewed case by case.
Apply: deepgram.com/startup-program
ElevenLabs Startup Grants
What you get: 12 months on the Scale plan, 33 million characters in total (more than $5,500 in value).
Who it's for: companies with fewer than 25 employees and a business or monetization plan. Not for agencies, products for children, or existing enterprise customers. Reviewed on a rolling basis.
Apply: elevenlabs.io/startup-grants
AssemblyAI Startup Program
What you get: 12 months of recurring free credits (a fixed amount, not published), then startup pricing.
Who it's for: pre-seed to Series A, bootstrapped teams welcome, launching within 6 months. Reply within a week.
Cartesia Startups Grant (new)
What you get: a full year on the Scale plan: 8M Sonic/Ink credits per month plus $299/month in Managed Agents credits. Unused credits roll over (up to 2x).
Who it's for: startups at any stage. Students and one-off projects reviewed case by case. Rolling review, reply within about a week.
Apply: cartesia.ai/startups/apply
Resemble AI Builder's Grant (new)
What you get: $500 to $30,000 in credits, valid 12 months, for voice generation and deepfake detection APIs.
Who it's for: teams under 50 employees or actively building a voice product. New customers only, one application per company. Resemble gets marketing rights for 12 months.
Smallest.ai Startup Grants (new)
What you get: $10,000 in credits for up to 6 months, Scale-tier API access, early model access, co-marketing.
Who it's for: teams of 20 or fewer where voice is a core capability. Open worldwide.
Apply: smallest.ai/grants
Fish Audio Startup Program (new)
What you get: 12 million characters per month for 3 months (240+ hours of audio per month), premium support.
Who it's for: early-stage teams building AI companions, characters or agents.
Apply: fish.audio/startup
Sarvam Startup Program (new)
What you get: 6 to 12 months of API credits sized to your usage, for speech-to-text, text-to-speech and voice agents in 22 Indian languages. Priority engineering support.
Who it's for: startups at all stages and funding levels.
Apply: sarvam.ai/startup-program
CAMB.AI Startup Program (new)
What you get: Up to 33 million characters in text-to-speech API credits (MARS models, 150+ languages), plus an onboarding call with the engineering team.
Who it's for: Pre-seed to Series A startups founded in the last 5 years, under $5M raised, building with voice, speech or localization AI. Not for teams that already received CAMB.AI credits.
Apply: camb.ai/startup-grants
Plivo Startup Credits Program (new)
What you get: Plivo credits for voice, SMS and WhatsApp, with SIP trunking and audio streaming for LiveKit and Pipecat agents, and a direct line to a Plivo engineer. The credit amount is not published.
Who it's for: Startups backed by one of Plivo's partner VC funds, accelerators or incubators (you pick the fund in the form). A Plivo account is required.
Apply: plivo.com/startups
Agora VC Conversational AI Jumpstart (new)
What you get: Up to $50,000 in Agora credits for voice AI agents and real-time voice, video and chat. The amount is at Agora's discretion.
Who it's for: Portfolio companies of venture capital firms. Your VC applies on your behalf, so ask your investor.
Dialpad for Startups (new)
What you get: 10 free seats of Dialpad Connect and Dialpad Meetings for life, plus ongoing discounts on other Dialpad products.
Who it's for: Startups with accredited angel or VC investment, affiliated with a Dialpad partner accelerator or incubator, new to Dialpad, up to 25 employees for the free tier, and based in the US, Canada, UK, Australia or New Zealand.
Hamming YC Deal (new)
What you get: 50% off the Growth plan for the first 6 months for YC alumni, and 75% off for 6 months plus fundraising workshops for companies in the current YC batch. For voice and chat agent testing.
Who it's for: Y Combinator companies. Create an account on Hamming, then email sumanyu@hamming.ai with the title "YC Deal".
Details: hamming.ai/startups
Tencent RTC Startups Program (new)
What you get: Up to $3,000 in free Tencent RTC credits for interactive audio and video.
Who it's for: Eligible startups; Tencent RTC reviews your use case, scale and current status after you apply.
Apply: trtc.io/start-up
Telavox Incubator (new)
What you get: Financial, operational and strategic support to build your own company on Telavox's telecom product portfolio. Telavox calls it the first telecom incubator in the Nordics.
Who it's for: Entrepreneurs who want to start a telecom business in the Nordics.
Apply: telavox.se/telavox-inkubator
Ojin AI Startups in Residency (coming soon)
What you get: A workspace and community home for early AI teams at Ojin AixHaus in Berlin, alongside its hackathons and meetups.
Who it's for: Early-stage AI teams. The residency is listed as coming soon on Ojin's site.
Details: ojin.ai/community
Murf Startup Incubator
What you get: $1,500 in text-to-speech credits for 3 months (about 50M characters).
Who it's for: companies under 10 years old, fewer than 100 employees, with a working website and a valid use case.
Apply: murf.ai/startup-program
Vatis Tech Startup Grants
What you get: 60,000 minutes (1,000 hours) of speech-to-text over 3 months, plus enterprise access.
Who it's for: early-stage companies with up to 20 employees and a monetization plan. One application per company. You display the Vatis Tech logo on your site for 12 months. Reply within a week.
Apply: vatis.tech/startup-grants
Rime Credits for YC Startups (new)
What you get: $5,000 in API credits over the first year, priority support, early access.
Who it's for: Y Combinator companies (W24 or later) using text-to-speech.
Apply: tally.so/r/31JO8Q
General cloud and AI programs useful for voice
Google for Startups Cloud Program (AI track)
What you get: up to $350,000 in Google Cloud credits over 2 years (year 1: up to $250K, year 2: up to $100K more).
Who it's for: AI-first startups founded in the last 5 years, with a Pre-Seed/Seed round in the last 5 years or a Series A in the last 12 months, and no more than $5K in earlier Google Cloud credits.
Apply: cloud.google.com/startup/ai
AWS Activate
What you get: up to $5K (Founders tier) or up to $200K (Portfolio tier, through partner VCs and accelerators).
Who it's for: pre-Series B startups founded in the last 10 years.
Microsoft for Startups
What you get: up to $150,000 in Azure credits, plus GitHub, Microsoft 365 and Copilot benefits.
Apply: microsoft.com/en-us/startups
Claude for Startups (Anthropic)
What you get: free Claude API credits and priority rate limits.
Who it's for: venture-backed startups founded in the last 4 years that have not had Anthropic credits before.
Apply: claude.com/programs/startups
NVIDIA Inception
What you get: discounts on NVIDIA hardware and software, partner cloud credits, training, investor access (no cash credits).
Who it's for: incorporated companies under 10 years old with at least one developer and a working website.
Apply: nvidia.com/en-us/startups
DevRev Startup Program
What you get: 12 months free, up to $10K in credits, 50% off your first paid commitments.
Who it's for: Seed or Series A startups founded in the last 5 years, new DevRev customers.
Apply: devrev.ai/startups
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Getting the most out of a startup program
Budget the credits. Map out what you will spend them on before you start: prototyping, testing different voice models, first users. Credits burn fast when nobody tracks them.
Watch the expiry. Most programs run 3 to 12 months. Telnyx gives 6 months, Murf and Vatis give 3. Apply when you are ready to build, not months before.
Stack them carefully. Many founders use one provider's credits, then move to the next. That extends runway, but switching speech providers mid-build costs engineering time, so plan the handover.
Go beyond the credits. Engineering support, Slack channels and early model access are often worth more than the dollar amount. Use them.
Ask. Terms are not always fixed. Founders with strong traction or a competing offer sometimes get more credits or a longer window.
Full transparency: LiveKit, Speechmatics, Gradium, Twilio, Telnyx and Deepgram are current or past supporters of our initiative to build a free, accessible central hub for the Voice AI community (kudos to them). Their inclusion here is not a paid placement. Every program is presented in the same format and checked against official sources.
