How every figure is sourced, dated, and computed
StartupPerks exists to be trusted. Every value, eligibility rule, and score on this site traces to one place, the provider's own official page, carries a confidence tier, and is stamped with when we last checked it. This page is the full account, so you never have to take a number on faith.
What a confidence dot means
Every figure carries one of four tiers. The dot's color is the same on every surface, so a claim's KIND is always legible at a glance. Color is never used alone: a text label always accompanies it.
Confirmed against the provider's own official program page.
Stated by the provider, not re-confirmed this cycle.
From a public directory or announcement.
Derived by StartupPerks (the value score); shown with a leading ~.
Editorial as-of vs live retrieval
A comparison site fails the moment it presents a stale figure as current. We keep two clocks and never let one stand in for the other.
The curated, code-owned catalog (program identity, categories, this copy, the source registry) is dated as of Aug 13, 2026. It changes only when the code is edited, and it is never shown next to a live number.
Each program's value and eligibility carry their own fetched_at from the last time we re-checked the provider's page, and read as verified X ago. Right now the catalog shows:
A verified value whose re-check has not run within its cadence is visibly downgraded (its dot turns amber, then red) rather than shown as confidently live. A stalled pipeline surfaces as stale, never as silence.
How each figure on a program is built
Three of these are read straight from the provider's own page. One, the value score, is the only figure we derive, and we show exactly how.
Benefit value
VerifiedThe headline worth of a program ("up to $100K in credits", "90% off for a year"), taken verbatim from the provider's own official program page. It is compared on the same basis across every program, and every value on the site links straight to the page that states it.
Eligibility
VerifiedWho actually qualifies: startup stage, funding or backing required, company-age and funding-raised caps, and geography, read directly from the provider's terms. We never infer eligibility, and a rule the provider does not state is shown as unknown, never as open.
How to apply
VerifiedThe exact apply path and any referral requirement, linked to the provider's own application page. When a link is a disclosed partner referral it is labeled as such, and it never changes the value or the eligibility rule.
Value score & ranking
ComputedThe one number we compute ourselves. We weigh a program's benefit value, how broadly startups qualify, and how well its terms are confirmed, then map that onto a 0 to 100 scale so headline offers compare on one basis. It is a transparent proxy for how much a program offers, not a verdict on whether it fits you: a high score means a large, widely-open offer, not a guaranteed match.
Source: StartupPerks re-verification
The source registry
Every fact on the site names one of these sources. A Primary mark means it is load-bearing: the provider's own page, and the re-verification that keeps it current.
The source of record
The benefit value, eligibility terms (stage, funding, caps, geography), and how to apply, exactly as the provider states them. Every figure on the site links to the specific page it came from.
Each provider (AWS, Google, Mercury, Neon, ...)
How we discover programs
Community-maintained lists of startup credits and deals, used to discover programs and cross-check that our catalog is complete. Never used as a value source: every figure is re-verified against the provider's own page.
Open-source community (GitHub)
New product and startup deals as they launch, used to spot programs to add. Value and eligibility are always confirmed on the provider's page before a program goes live.
Product Hunt
How we keep it fresh
A scheduled job re-fetches each program's official page and updates its value and eligibility, stamping the date it was last checked so every surface shows the true age of the data.
StartupPerks
Neutrality, and the caveats we never hide
StartupPerks ranks by the underlying facts (benefit value and how well you qualify), and a partner never changes a value or an eligibility rule. Partner status is one bounded, disclosed signal in how results are ordered: all else equal it can lift a partner above a comparable option, but never above a clearly bigger or more relevant benefit, and every partner is labeled. We show a value only when we have a real source for it; when we do not, we show an honest gap, never an invented number.
Authorship and expertise
Every value and eligibility rule on StartupPerks is drawn from the provider's own startup-program page and links back to it. We publish what the source says, cite where it came from, and stamp when we retrieved it.