Your first paid bill is your full usage at standard rates, not a step up from zero, because credits are a discount on a gross bill that already exists. AWS charges anything above your remaining credit to the card, and Microsoft keeps workloads running on pay-as-you-go. Read the expiry date in your billing console, forecast one full-price month now, and spend the credit months cutting waste before you commit to anything.
How much will the first bill be once the credits stop?
Your gross usage: what you'd pay with no credits. The credits hide it, so the number on your invoice today is a net figure, and the gross figure is the one to forecast from. In the AWS console, Billing > Credits shows your approved credits, the balance and the expiry date.
To forecast month six, take the last full month of gross usage and treat that as the bill. Compare it with the cash you pay now: the difference is the size of the surprise, and your board should see it before the date, not after.
Some charges were never covered by credits: Marketplace purchases, upfront fees, domain registration, taxes and some Support plans. They're already on your bill in cash, which is why an invoice can show a charge while credit remains.
The credit itself has a hard edge. AWS credits are forfeited if you haven't used them by expiry, with no refunds, and AWS can cancel a credit under its promotional terms, so don't plan on a balance you haven't spent.
For example, say you run $9,000 a month gross, hold $54,000 in credits, and the expiry is five months away.
- Months 1-5 consume $45,000, and the remaining $9,000 of credit is forfeited at the date.
- Month 6 bills $9,000 in cash.
- If an audit removes 30% of gross spend by then, month 6 bills $6,300 instead.
Cutting during the credit months costs you nothing, since the unused balance disappears anyway. That's the cheapest time to find out what breaks.
When do the credits actually end on each cloud?
The date in your own account is the one that counts.
| Programme | Size | Term | After the credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Activate | Founders from $1,000, up to $5,000 for some; Portfolio up to $200,000 | Usually 1-2 years by package | Charges bill to your account |
| Google for Startups Cloud | Year one 100% up to $100,000, year two 20% up to $100,000 | Two years | Not stated on Google's page |
| Microsoft for Startups | Up to $150,000 | No fixed term stated | Workloads keep running, pay-as-you-go |
Google's biggest headline number is for AI startups, so other teams should plan on the year-one and year-two terms in the table.
Programme terms checked 6 November 2026.
What should you cut or change while the credits still cover it?
Find the gross spend
List the top five services by gross cost for the last full month. That's a one-day job for whoever holds the console login, whether that's an engineer or the contractor who set the account up. It shows where the bill actually lives.
Delete and right-size before you commit
The usual finds are servers nobody uses, databases bigger than the load needs, leftover disks and snapshots, and test environments that run all night. Switch off or schedule what nobody uses, then shrink what's left. The same person can do it. Our guide to cutting engineering costs in order of reversibility covers how cloud waste ranks against other lines.
Commit last
AWS Savings Plans work like this: you promise a fixed hourly spend for one or three years in return for a lower rate, and anything above it is billed at the normal price. A promise made on a bill you haven't right-sized locks in the waste for years, and an upfront fee paid while credit remains comes out of the bank in cash.
Should you switch provider or reapply?
Reapplying is narrower than it sounds. AWS Activate Portfolio goes up to $200,000 if you're pre-Series B, founded within the last 10 years, and asking for more than you've had before, as long as you still meet the requirements. Google asks that you've received no more than $5,000 in prior Google Cloud credit, so a team that has already used Google credit may not qualify again.
Moving to another provider just to start a new credit clock means paying for a migration. What a cloud migration costs in labour is a project with its own bill, and it rarely pays for a credit chase.
Who does the cut: your team, a short DevOps engagement, or nobody?
If one engineer can name the top five services by gross cost and owns your infrastructure code, do it in-house in a sprint. Nobody else needs to be involved.
If nobody owns the cloud account (a common state for a founder-led team), the audit stalls because no one is accountable for the answer. A bounded engagement with a senior DevOps engineer fits better: a defined audit, a fix list, and a handover. Don't hire full-time for a one-off cut: the work is a few weeks, and the salary is for years.
Whoever does it, ask for a fixed-scope estimate after the one-day audit, with the fixes listed and priced one by one. That turns an open-ended job into a number you can compare with the bill it removes.
What this means for your runway
Put the credit expiry date in your budget as a line item, with the gross monthly forecast next to it. Brief the board on the cash month, not the credit months, so month six isn't a surprise.
Then decide three things in the first week. Who owns the cloud account? Is the cut an in-house sprint or an outside engagement? And what's the freeze rule on commitments until the bill is right-sized? Assign one named owner now, even if the work is outsourced.
For where the infrastructure line sits in a larger plan, see the infra line in a Series A engineering budget.
Cutting your cloud bill with a DevOps engineer through HighCircl
If nobody owns the cloud account and the credit date is close, the cut is a short, scoped job, not a hire. HighCircl can match you with a senior DevOps engineer within 72 hours, which leaves most of your credit months for the work itself. There's no minimum hour commitment, so you can book the audit and the fixes alone and stop when the bill is right-sized. Hire a DevOps engineer through HighCircl.
FAQ
Do AWS credits expire?
Yes. Activate credits usually expire within one to two years, depending on the package, and the exact date shows in your Billing console under Credits. Unused credit is forfeited when it expires, and AWS doesn't refund expired credit.
What happens to my services when the credits run out?
They keep running, and you pay standard rates. AWS bills charges above remaining credit to your account, and Microsoft says workloads continue on pay-as-you-go. Your first paid bill is your gross usage.
Can I get more AWS Activate credits?
Possibly. Activate Portfolio goes up to $200,000 for startups that are pre-Series B, founded within the last 10 years, and requesting more than they received before. It's not automatic, so check the requirements first.
Do Activate credits cover Savings Plans?
Not the upfront fee. AWS excludes upfront fees on Savings Plans and Reserved Instances from credit, so those fees hit your card in cash even while credit remains.
What happens when Google for Startups credits end?
Google's page doesn't say what happens after the two years. Year two is covered at 20% up to $100,000, so plan for a full-price bill once that ends, and check your own billing account for the date.