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Baseten vs Modal: startup credits compared

Side-by-side amounts, eligibility and access paths, both verified against the official program pages.

At a glance

FactBasetenModal
ValueUp to $25,000 (Dedicated Deployments/Training) + up to $2,500 (Model APIs)Free Modal credits, tiered by stage (amount set on approval)
TypeCreditsCredits
Duration6 monthsNot stated
StagesSeed, Series ASeed, Series A, Series B+
RegionsGlobalGlobal
Max funding raisedNot statedNot stated
Max company age5 yearsNot stated
Ways to get it
  • Apply directly — Up to $25,000 + up to $2,500 Model API credits
  • Modal VC partner network — Seed to Series A tier credits
  • Apply directly — Seed to Series A tier credits
  • AWS Activate — Additional Modal credits for Activate members
Requirements
  • Seed to Series A
  • Founded less than 5 years ago
  • AI-first, VC-funded startup
  • Net-new Baseten customer
  • New to Modal (no prior credits in the tier)
  • VC funding from a Modal partner fund, or more than $1M raised from any fund (Seed to Series A tier)
  • More than $30M raised or beyond Series B for the custom Scaling tier
Not eligible
  • Companies that previously received Baseten credits
  • Domains subscribed to a paid Baseten plan within 31 days of applying
  • Companies that have IPO'd or been acquired, educational institutions, government entities, nonprofits
  • Personal blogs or content sites, dev shops, consultancies and agencies
  • Companies that already received credits in the same tier
  • Cloud-provider credits (AWS, GCP, Azure) cannot be applied to Modal usage
VerificationVerified· Nov 3, 2026Partially verified· Nov 3, 2026

Which should you pick?

The two programs are not directly comparable on dollar value. Modal accepts a wider range of funding stages, while Baseten is more targeted. Note that only Baseten is fully verified against its official page; double-check the other before relying on it. If you qualify for both, there is usually no reason not to apply to both; the programs are independent.