AWS continuously expands the range of their services and to stay competitive, your AWS architecture requires constant adjustments.
Optimizing your cloud architecture within AWS demands a strategic approach, with a pivotal emphasis on comprehensive experimentation. Recognizing the crucial role that rigorous testing plays in effectively leveraging public cloud resources, AWS extends an assortment of discretionary discount programs to facilitate this explorative journey.
You can apply for these programs via your AWS Account Manager, and you should ensure that your AWS Account manager is well informed about your firm, your goals, and the technologies you use. All these programs are discretionary, and the amounts awarded depend on how well you communicate your use case.
Credits for Startups (<10 years old)
| Credits Program | Purpose | Credits Amount |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Kickstarter | Credits to start development | $3,000 to be spent within 90 days and if spent another $1,000 can be awarded |
| AWS Activate | Credits to enable promising startups to grow and go to market | Up to $100,000 with various incubators |
Universal Credits
| Credits Program | Purpose | Credits Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Proof of Concept Program | Credits awarded for migration solutions to AWS. Proof-of-Concept (POC) funding is for small scale projects (<$250K ARR) where the customer has not fully committed to adopting AWS but are keen to see if AWS is a viable solution for their business project through a POC project. For new customers, POC projects can demonstrate feasibility and benefits of the AWS Cloud. For existing customers, POC projects can help grow their AWS utilization by optimizing current solutions and introducing new AWS products where applicable. POC funding cannot be combined with other funding programs. | Discretionary, usually $10,000 per technology |
| MAP Program | 3-year program where the first year AWS spend should be at least $250,000 with the 3rd year spent above $500,000. If the spend is not met, there is no penalty. The Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) is a comprehensive and proven cloud migration program that supports migrations of any size or workload throughout each phase of the customer migration journey: Assess, Mobilize, and Migrate & Modernize. Eligible AWS Services Path Partners can use MAP benefits to help customers to migrate to AWS, by offsetting the cost of the migration project. | For $250,000 the retroactively applied credits are 13% of the annual spend. For $500,000 the retroactively applied credits of 25% fo the annual spend |
| AWS Partner | Support for firms focusing on delivering solutions on AWS for AWS clients. | For a payment of $2,500 annual fee, and meeting certification requirements and monthly spend criteria, you get about $5,000 credit. Upon meeting AWS Competency goals, another $10,000 credit etc. |
Universal Discounts
In addition, to the credits programs, AWS offers the below discounts programs
| Discount Name | Purpose | Discount Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Volume Discounts | The more you use certain AWS services the more discount you get – for example, AWS Data Transfer, AWS S3. | Under NDA |
| Private Pricing | Applicable for extensive use of AWS resources. For example, storing more than 1 PB of data in AWS results in being able to use private pricing. | Under NDA |
| Enterprise Discount Program | For committing to spend annually more than $1m with AWS, additional discount | About 9-13% on all AWS prices |