BuilderPot
Verified Oct 16, 2026

Free money for builders.

Hackathon prizes, grants, and cloud credits you can claim right now. Verified weekly, sorted by deadline, always free to apply.

$1.39M in open prizes
9 hackathons closing soon
6 credit programs, always open

Hackathons closing soon

Online, open to the public, no entry fee. Deadlines are submission cutoffs.

Amazon

Build, Ship, Shape: Amazon Developer Hackathon

$138,000
Closes Oct 23OnlineAI / Productivity
Open to developers worldwide. Build with Amazon developer tools.
Apply on Devpost →
Devpost

Build With AI: Basics

$2,500
Closes Oct 26OnlineBeginner
Smallest pool, lowest bar. Good first entry.
Apply on Devpost →
GitLab

Life After Code

$45,000
Closes Oct 27OnlineDevOps / AI
What comes after writing code: DevOps and AI workflows.
Apply on Devpost →
OpenCV

OpenCV AI Competition 2026, powered by AWS

$20,250
Closes Oct 27OnlineVision / IoT
Computer vision and edge AI projects.
Apply on Devpost →
AWS

AWS CDS Agentic AI Partner Hackathon

$40,000
Closes Oct 28OnlineAgentic AI
Communication and mobile apps with AWS AI services.
Apply on Devpost →
Nebius x NVIDIA

Nebius x NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon

$50,000
Closes Oct 30OnlineAI
Beginner friendly. Global, fully online.
Apply on Devpost →
Qloo

Qloo Agentic Hackathon

$25,000
Closes Oct 30OnlineAI
Build agents on Qloo's cultural taste AI.
Apply on Devpost →
PayPal

PayPal AI Hackathon

$67,500
Closes Nov 12OnlineAI / Low-code
Agentic payments and AI commerce. Low/no-code track included.
Apply on Devpost →
Meta

Meta VR Start Developer Competition 2026

$1,000,000
Closes Nov 18OnlineAR/VR
The biggest open prize pool running right now. VR apps for Meta Quest.
Apply on Devpost →

Cloud credits & startup grants

No deadline. If you are building something, apply to all six: the first tiers stack to over $15K with zero funding raised.

ProgramWhat you getWho qualifies
Google for Startups
Cloud Program
$2,000 – $350,000 $2K for an MVP, no funding needed. Up to $200K (Seed–Series A), $350K for AI-first startups. Apply →
AWS Activate
Founders / Portfolio
$1,000 – $200,000 Self-funded founders start at $1K (up to $5K). Portfolio tier to $200K with an accelerator Org ID. Apply →
Microsoft for Startups
Founders Hub
up to $150,000 Azure credits plus AI tools and GitHub benefits, no funding required to start. Apply →
Cloudflare for Startups
Startup Program
$10,000 – $350,000 $10K with under $1M raised, $100K under $5M, $350K above. One year of credits. Apply →
DigitalOcean Startups
12-month credits
12 mo credits Amount varies by partner. Must have raised $10M or less; new startups only. Apply →
Google Cloud Free
No startup needed
$300 $300 credits plus 20+ always-free products. Any new account, no application. Apply →

The Pot, every Tuesday.

One short email: what just opened, what closes this week, and the credits worth claiming. No fluff, no spam.

First issue Tuesday, Oct 20. Free, no spam. Powered by Buttondown. Also on X.