TinyFish for Startups: Up to $12,000 in Credits, Tiers and How to Apply
TinyFish for Startups is our new program for early-stage teams building products on the live web. Accepted startups get free TinySearch and TinyFetch at 4x the normal rate limits, wallet credits for TinyAgent, TinyBrowser and TinyMonitor, and up to $12,000 in total value. There are two tiers: Tier 1 (up to $7,000) for independent teams that are still pre-production, and Tier 2 (up to $12,000) for startups backed by an accelerator, VC or angels. Applications are open now at tinyfish.ai/startups.
Building on the live web? Apply to TinyFish for Startups: free TinySearch and TinyFetch at 4x rate limits, plus up to $12,000 in value.
This post covers everything in one place: what each tier includes, who qualifies, how to apply, what happens when the program ends, and what to do if you're bootstrapped and already in production.
Why we built a startup program
Founders kept asking us for startup credits, so we built a program. Most of the startups we talk to hit the same wall. The product needs fresh information from the web: prices, listings, job posts, filings, reviews, competitor pages. The prototype works on a handful of URLs. Then real usage arrives and the team is suddenly maintaining scrapers, proxy pools, headless browsers and retry logic instead of building the product.
TinyFish is one API that gives AI agents and products access to the live web. Search, Fetch, Agent, Browser and Monitor all sit behind the same API key and the same wallet. TinySearch and TinyFetch are already free for everyone (here's why). The startup program goes further: higher rate limits so you don't hit a ceiling while you grow, credits for the paid surfaces, and a direct line to the engineers who build them.
The two tiers at a glance
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total value | Up to $7,000 | Up to $12,000 |
| Who qualifies | Independent, pre-production teams (idea, prototype or private beta) | Backed by an accelerator, VC or angels, at any product stage |
| TinySearch + TinyFetch | Free at 4x rate limits for 6 months | Free at 4x rate limits for 12 months |
| Wallet | $100 every month for 6 months | $500 to start |
| TinyAgent + TinyBrowser | 50 concurrent runs | 50% off for 24 months |
| Proof needed | A verified business email domain | Batch page, program profile or funding news |
Tier 1: up to $7,000 in value
Tier 1 is for independent teams with an early-stage product. "Independent" means you are not part of an accelerator and not backed by investors. "Early-stage" means you are still pre-production: an idea, a prototype or a private beta.
What you get:
- Free TinySearch and TinyFetch with 4x rate limits for 6 months. That is 120 searches a minute and 600 TinyFetch URLs a minute, compared with 30 searches and 150 URLs on a default account.
- $100 in your wallet every month for 6 months. Spend it on TinyAgent, TinyBrowser and TinyMonitor. The wallet refreshes to $100 each month, so unused credit does not roll over.
- 50 concurrent TinyAgent and TinyBrowser runs, so you can run agents in parallel instead of queueing them.
Tier 2: up to $12,000 in value
Tier 2 is for startups in an accelerator or backed by investors, at any product stage. You will need proof: a batch page, a program profile or funding news.
What you get:
- Free TinySearch and TinyFetch with 4x rate limits for a year: 120 searches and 600 TinyFetch URLs a minute for 12 months.
- 50% off TinyAgent and TinyBrowser for 24 months.
- $500 in your wallet to start.
What both tiers get beyond credits: GTM help and a direct line
Credits get you building. Getting found is the other half, so both tiers include go-to-market help:
- Your build story featured on the TinyFish blog and socials. If you ship something interesting, we want to tell people about it (see our customer stories for the format).
- Invites to TinyFish founder dinners and events.
- A direct line to our engineers when you get stuck.
What you can build with it
The credits only matter if the API does something your product needs. Here's what each part of TinyFish does, with the playground view for each.
TinySearch returns fresh, ranked results from the live web as structured data, ready for an agent or a pipeline to use. Startups use it for research features, lead lists, news monitoring and grounding LLM answers in current information.
TinyFetch turns any URL into clean markdown, HTML or JSON. You can scope extraction to parts of the page with CSS selectors, strip boilerplate and fetch up to 10 URLs per call. It is the piece most products need first, because almost every web-data feature starts with "read this page properly".
TinyAgent takes a goal in plain English and completes it on a real website: clicking, filling forms, dismissing cookie banners and returning structured results. In the run below, the agent opens an Amazon product page and extracts the name, price, rating, review count and stock status.
TinyBrowser gives you a remote browser session when you want to drive the page yourself, and TinyMonitor watches pages for changes and notifies you when something you care about moves. If you're not sure which one fits your feature, start with which TinyFish API should you use.
Startups already building with TinyFish include Momentic, Acyclic, Perfectly, Keiki, Maven Bio and Oasive. You can see what teams have shipped on the customers page, and how TinyFish compares on speed and accuracy on the benchmarks page.
Who qualifies
The short version:
- In an accelerator or backed by investors? Pick Tier 2, at any product stage.
- Independent and still pre-production? Pick Tier 1.
- Bootstrapped and already in production? The program isn't designed for you, but we'll build a custom plan instead (more below).
- Not sure? Pick the closer tier. We'll move you if needed.
A few rules apply to everyone:
- One application per company, and one tier at a time.
- A verified business email domain is required. Apply from your company email, not a personal Gmail or Outlook address.
- Existing TinyFish users can apply. Use the email on your account so we can add the credits to it.
- Approval isn't guaranteed. We approve teams that are building real products on TinyFish.
How to apply, step by step
- Sign up for TinyFish with your company email if you don't have an account yet. TinySearch and TinyFetch are free, so you can start building before you hear back.
- Pick your tier using the rules above. For Tier 2, have your proof ready: a batch page, a program profile or a funding announcement.
- Apply at tinyfish.ai/startups. Tell us what you're building and how you plan to use the web in your product. Specific beats impressive: "we monitor 2,000 supplier pages for price changes" tells us more than "we're building an AI platform".
- Wait for the weekly batch. We review applications in weekly batches and email you either way.
- Start building. Once approved, your rate limits and credits apply to your account. If you get stuck, you have a direct line to our engineers.
Questions before you apply? Email accelerator@tinyfish.ai.
What happens when the program ends
Nothing breaks. Your account stays as it is. TinySearch and TinyFetch stay free, at the default rate limits, and you pay only for what you use on TinyAgent and TinyBrowser. There's no contract to cancel and no surprise migration.
If you started on Tier 1 and later join an accelerator or raise a round, you can apply again and pick Tier 2.
Bootstrapped and already in production?
The program is built for early-stage and backed startups, so a profitable, bootstrapped company that's already live doesn't fit either tier. That doesn't mean we can't help. Use the Talk to us button on the startups page and we'll build a custom plan around your usage.
How the value estimates work
We'd rather be precise about the headline numbers. The "up to $7,000" and "up to $12,000" figures assume you use the full 4x TinySearch and TinyFetch rate limits for each tier's whole window. Tier 1's estimate includes $600 in wallet credits ($100 a month for 6 months). Your actual value depends on how much you use. A team running a few hundred fetches a day will get far less in dollar terms, and that's fine: the point is that you never have to think about the bill while you find product-market fit.
The usual fine print applies. Credits are non-transferable, can't be resold, have no cash value and expire at the end of the window. We may revoke credits for abuse, including multiple accounts or resale. TinyFish may update or end the program at any time, and all other TinyFish Terms of Service apply.
Other credits worth stacking
TinyFish for Startups works alongside the big cloud and AI programs, not instead of them. If you're putting together a credits stack, start with our full list of startup credits and the AI-specific AI credits for startups. If you're still deciding whether to join an accelerator, see AI accelerators in 2026, including the TinyFish Accelerator.
Ready to build? Apply to TinyFish for Startups. Applications are reviewed in weekly batches.
Keep reading
- Introducing TinyFish for Startups
- Startup Credits in 2026: The Complete List
- AI Credits for Startups in 2026: Every Program Worth Applying To
- 25 AI Startup Ideas Built on Live Web Data
- How to Build an AI Agent: A Founder's Guide
- Which TinyFish API Should You Use?
Follow TinyFish for new guides and startup builds: X (@Tiny_Fish) · LinkedIn · Discord
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Content on this website may be created or refined with the assistance of AI tools and is subject to human editorial review.
