How to get approved for PostHog for Startups with no funding

I applied to PostHog for Startups for eksis, the social media scheduler I'm building, on 8 October 2026. eksis is bootstrapped with no outside funding. It was approved the same day: $50,000 in PostHog credits, valid for 12 months.

I re-checked the requirements and form fields below at posthog.com/startups and in the form's source code (PostHog is open source) on 18 October 2026. The program can change at any time, so open that page again before you apply.

What you get

• $50,000 in PostHog credits for 12 months. You can use them across almost every PostHog product: product analytics, session replay, feature flags, error tracking, surveys, the data warehouse, and more.
• Founder merch. The claim link comes in the welcome email and is only valid for one month, so claim it quickly.
• Partner discounts, which PostHog puts at more than $12,000 in total: $1,500 off an Incident.io Teams plan, 50% off Speakeasy for 6 months, and $5,000 in Depot credit for new users. The links and codes are in the welcome email.
• Invitations to PostHog events and a startup-only newsletter.

Check the requirements first

These come from the official FAQ and from the rules built into the form:

• The company is less than 2 years old, counted from the incorporation date. The form rejects older dates.
• You've raised less than $5M. The form rejects the "$5m or more" option.
• Your PostHog account uses your company email domain. Addresses like gmail.com or outlook.com are rejected, and the form won't submit.
• The organization is already on a paid plan. Otherwise the form refuses with "You need to upgrade to a paid plan before submitting your application".
• You signed up to PostHog on or after 1 January 2023. Earlier sign-ups can still join the program, but they don't get credits.

Organizations that were already in the startup program can't apply again. Y Combinator companies have a separate deal through Bookface, and the two don't stack.

Have these ready before you apply

• A PostHog login on your company domain. My account first signed in with Gmail. I changed the account email to my domain email in the account settings and verified it with the code sent to the new address. After that, Google sign-in with the old Gmail was refused ("You signed in with a different account"), so I set a password through "Forgot password" and now sign in with the domain email.
• A paid plan with a card. PostHog only bills for usage, and every product keeps its monthly free allowance. Adding the card placed a $0.50 verification hold, which was released automatically within 7 days.
• A $0 billing limit on every product. This is what I did so nothing could be billed while I waited: right after moving to the paid plan, I set a $0 billing limit on each product on the Billing page. The free allowance still works. Remember to raise the limits once the credits arrive.
• Admin or owner role in the PostHog organization. The form applies for the organization you're currently in. If you have several, switch to the right one first.
• Your incorporation date and the total funding you've raised.

Fill in the form

On posthog.com/startups, click Apply now. It opens the startup page inside the PostHog app (app.posthog.com/startups), so you need to be signed in. The form is short: about 2 minutes, according to PostHog.

Field	Notes
PostHog organization	Filled in automatically from the organization you're in.
Total funding raised (USD)	Options: Bootstrapped, Under $100k, From $100k to $500k, From $500k to $1m, From $1m to $5m, $5m or more. I picked Bootstrapped.
Incorporation date	The date your company was incorporated. I used the date on my company's incorporation decree.

The YC route asks for different things: a YC verification link, your batch, a screenshot of the PostHog deal on Bookface, and how many merch packs you need.

After you submit the form

The page says "Application submitted successfully!". The PostHog FAQ says credits are applied automatically if you're eligible, and you're told by email.

Mine went through in one afternoon. At 16:47 Jakarta time (UTC+7) on 8 October, I moved the PostHog account email to the company domain. Later that afternoon I switched to the paid plan, set the $0 limits, and sent the form. At 17:22, the "Welcome to PostHog's startup program" email arrived, with the $50,000 in credits already live.

The welcome email and the follow-ups from PostHog landed in a Notification folder in my mailbox, not the inbox. Check your other folders.

After approval

• Check your credits on the Billing page. Mine says "You're on the startup plan" and "Available credits $50,000". The expiry date is there too, and PostHog emails you when credits run low.
• Raise the $0 billing limits you set earlier. While a limit is $0, PostHog stops at the free allowance. I haven't tested whether credits still get used with a $0 limit, so it's safer to raise it to a sensible amount.
• Credits don't cover PostHog's AI tools since 14 September 2026: PostHog Desktop, the PostHog Slack app, Replay Vision, PostHog AI, and Inbox. Those are billed to your card. Credits also can't pay for a BAA on the Boost plan or for paid onboarding services.
• Support stays at normal priority. Startup program members don't get high-priority support or an account manager.
• After 12 months, or once the credits run out, you move to a regular PostHog plan, but you still count as a program member for event invites and other perks.
• Claim the merch within a month of the welcome email.

The short version

Move your PostHog account email to your company domain, switch to the paid plan, and set a $0 billing limit on every product. Then apply at posthog.com/startups: the form only asks for your funding and your incorporation date. Once the $50,000 lands, raise the billing limits and claim the merch within a month.

Sources: posthog.com/startups and its FAQ, the form's source code in PostHog's GitHub repo (read 18 October 2026), the Billing page of the eksis PostHog account, and program emails received by eksis.