AWS Cloud Credit for Research (web)

Citation

Amazon Web Services (AWS). “AWS Cloud Credit for Research.” Program page, date not stated. https://aws.amazon.com/research-credits/. Read 2026-10-15.

Bottom line

• AWS gives promotional credit to faculty, research staff and graduate students. It reviews proposals on a rolling basis, with “Typical review cycles are 90 to 120 days.”
• The award size follows the need that the application documents. Student awards stop at $5,000. “Faculty and Staff awards are not capped.”
• This page shows only the free credit tier. It does not show a subsidized tier.

Background

The AWS Public Sector team runs the program. The page links to FAQs, Terms and Conditions and previous recipients.

Key claims

• Purpose: the program “supports researchers who seek to” (program summary):
  • “Build cloud-hosted publicly available science-as-a-service applications, software, or tools to facilitate their future research and the research of their community”
  • “Perform proof of concept or benchmark tests evaluating the efficacy of moving research workloads or open data sets to the cloud”
  • “Train a broader community on the use of cloud for research workloads via workshops or tutorials”
• Eligibility (Eligibility):
  • “Full-time faculty at an accredited research institution”
  • “Full-time research staff at an accredited research institution”
  • “Graduate, post-graduate, or PhD students enrolled at an accredited research institution”
• Review: “Amazon Web Services (AWS) will evaluate academic research support proposals on a rolling basis throughout the year. Typical review cycles are 90 to 120 days.” (Application process)
• “Due to the heavy volume of applications received, expedited reviews are not possible.” (Application process)
• Size: “Awarded amounts will vary depending on the research proposal and service usage requirements documented in the application.” (Application process)
• “Student awards will be up to a maximum of $5,000.00. Faculty and Staff awards are not capped.” (Application process)
• Form: “Awards are in the form of AWS Promotional Credit applicable to AWS services. Amazon EC2 usage supported by AWS Promotional Credit will be for on-demand and spot instances only.” (Application process)
• Duration: “the AWS Promotional Credit will be good for the entirety of the one or until the credit has been fully utilized.” (Application process; the page text has a word missing after “one”.)
• Application: an “Apply now” link goes to a form at pages.awscloud.com. (Page header)

Evidence and method

The program’s own page. It states the rules in short form. It defers detail to an FAQ and to the AWS Promotional Credit terms.

Limits

• The page does not state the review criteria or who reviews.
• The page does not state the form’s questions.
• The page does not state reporting or acknowledgement duties.
• The page does not state renewal. It does not say whether a person can apply twice.
• The page does not state usage rules beyond the EC2 limit. The Terms and Conditions page holds them.
• The page names no subsidized or paid tier for research. The page header links to “AWS Free Tier” and “AWS Offers”, which are general AWS offers.