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What Are AWS Promotional Credits?

Quick Answer

AWS promotional credits are account balances that apply automatically against your AWS bill, reducing what you pay for services like EC2, S3, and SageMaker. They come from programs like AWS Activate, promotional offers, or pre-loaded credit accounts ranging from $1,000 to $100,000.

How promotional credits work

Promotional credits sit as a balance on your AWS account. As you use AWS services, the credit is applied automatically against your invoice, reducing or eliminating your bill until the credit is used up. They cover nearly all AWS services.

Where credits come from

AWS issues credits through programs like AWS Activate for startups and occasional promotions. You can also obtain them by purchasing a verified AWS credit account pre-loaded with $1,000 to $100,000 in promotional credit.

What credits cover

Promotional credit applies across the AWS catalog — EC2 compute, S3 storage, SageMaker, RDS, Lambda, and more. Some specialized services may be excluded, but the vast majority of common workloads are fully covered.