Free Year of Claude
0 of 6 steps done
Claude for Startups · checked Oct 8, 2026

How I applied for a free year of Claude

I did this today in about an hour. Below are the exact steps, the screens you will see, and the text you can copy. If you have a company, you can do it too.

1 yearof Claude Team, up to 5 Premium seats
$1,000in Claude API credits (they expire after 6 months)
Minutes to 3 daysto get a decision

Do you qualify?

Already have a domain, email and website? Jump to step 4.

1

Get a domain

Buy a domain for your company at any registrar: Porkbun, Namecheap or Cloudflare. A .com usually costs around $10 a year. I used Porkbun.

2

Make an email on that domain

You don't need a new inbox. A free email forward sends everything for you@yourcompany.com to the Gmail you already use.

  1. In your registrar, open your domain's email settings and add a forward. Porkbun calls it Email Forwarding, Cloudflare calls it Email Routing.
  2. Send a test email to the new address and check that it reaches your Gmail.

Mine went to spam. Fix it before you apply, or Anthropic's reply can land there too. In Gmail, open search options, put your new address in To, click Create filter and tick Never send it to Spam.

3

Put up a one-page website

Reviewers open your site. One simple page is enough if it shows:

  • What your product does, in one sentence.
  • How it works, in 3 short steps.
  • How it uses Claude.
  • Your company's legal name at the bottom.
  • A contact button that actually works.

Any simple builder works (Carrd, Framer), or free hosting like Cloudflare Pages. Keep it on the same domain as your email. I put mine on a subdomain: product.yourcompany.com.

Click every button before you apply. A button that goes nowhere makes the whole site look fake.

4

Create a Claude Console account

Sign up with your domain email, not Gmail. Then you go through six short screens. The yellow boxes show where to click.

Open Claude Console ↗
Screen asking how you will use the Claude API, with Individual and Organization options
Choose OrganizationYou apply as a company, so the account has to be one.
Organization details form with name, entity type and location
Fill in your company Organization name: the legal name from your company documents.
Entity type: the company / business option.
Where: the country your company is registered in, not where you live.
Form asking where and how you will use the Claude API
Tell them how you'll use it Outside the United States: answer honestly.
Customers: External customers if you sell to people outside your company.
What for: one or two sentences about your product.
Two yes or no questions about advice and users under 18
Answer truthfullyFor most products both are No. Anthropic says it may check these answers.
Screen offering to buy usage credits, with a Skip for now button
Click Skip for nowYou don't need to buy credits to apply. If you ever do buy, first switch off Auto-reload. It's on by default and charges your card again every time the balance drops.
Invite members screen with a Continue without inviting button
Click Continue without invitingYou can add teammates later.
5

Fill in the application

Stay signed in to Console and open the form:

Open the application ↗
First and last name
Your real name
Company name
The legal name, exactly as in your documents
Job title
Founder & CEO
Company website
The site from step 3
Country
Where the company is registered
When was it founded
Month and year you incorporated
Latest funding round
Bootstrapped / none, if you have no investors
Investors
Leave empty if you have none
% of AI spend on Anthropic
Your honest share
Two text questions
Use the templates below. Each answer must be 50 to 500 characters.

Edit the parts in [brackets]. The counter turns red when the length is outside 50 to 500.

Where do you want support from Anthropic?

What are you building on Claude?

Bottom of the application form with the support and building questions and the terms checkbox
Tick the terms box lastThe application won't send without it. Read the Startup Program Terms first.
6

Wait for the answer

Thanks for submitting message saying a decision comes within 72 hours
This is what you'll see after you submit. Many answers come within minutes. Manual reviews take up to 72 hours. The answer goes to your domain email, so check spam too.