AI Promotions: xAI opens Grok for Startups credits, and ZenMux now lists four free models
xAI's startup program offers application-gated credits across Grok, Grok Build, Grok Bot and the Grok API from one balance, staged 20/80. ZenMux's models page now tags four entries Free, with Atria Dawn Preview removed. Verified on the vendor pages.
AI Promotions: xAI opens Grok for Startups credits, and ZenMux now lists four free models
Two vendor pages I read on October 23, 2026. xAI's Grok for Startups page offers application-gated credits that work across Grok, Grok Build, Grok Bot and the Grok API from a single balance, sized to each company and aimed at roughly six months of realistic usage; approved startups get 20% of their credits up front and the remaining 80% after completing initial onboarding. Separately, the ZenMux models page now shows four entries tagged Free: Atria Dawn, Dots3-Note Preview, GLM 4.7 Flash and GLM 4.6V Flash, with Atria Dawn Preview no longer listed.
What xAI is offering
The Grok for Startups page pitches one package: credits and support across four products - the Grok assistant, the Grok Build coding agent, Grok Bot for back-office automation, and the Grok API - all drawn from a single balance, so there are no separate grants to juggle. The page says credits are "sized to your goals" and that xAI aims to offer six to twelve months of real usage, plus hands-on onboarding and a direct line to its startups team. There are two doors in: apply as a startup, or join as a VC or accelerator partner for a portfolio. xAI startups page
Who qualifies and how the credits pay out
The page's FAQ sets the bar: xAI checks every application for venture backing, a live product, and a company email that matches the company website, and it says applications using a personal email cannot be approved. The credit amount depends on funding, revenue and current AI spend; the FAQ says xAI aims for about six months of realistic usage, a slightly narrower promise than the six-to-twelve-month line on the marketing half of the page. The payout is staged: 20% of credits arrive on approval, and the other 80% is released automatically once the initial onboarding steps are done and the team is up and running. One grant per company, though companies that received credits under an earlier program may be offered more. The application asks for a work email, LinkedIn profile, company website, funding details, revenue, current AI spend, team size and investors, and terms apply. If you do not qualify yet, the FAQ says you can reapply after raising.
The fine print
Three cautions. First, nothing on the page publishes specific credit amounts, so treat any dollar figure quoted elsewhere as unconfirmed. Second, the page says nothing about how fast decisions arrive; I found no vendor statement about decision emails or same-day credit issuance, so claims of that kind circulating elsewhere are unverified. Third, the two usage-window statements differ - six to twelve months in the pitch, about six months in the FAQ - so plan against the smaller number. When credits run out, the page says you keep building at standard pricing.
ZenMux: four models now carry the Free tag
ZenMux, a model-routing platform, lists its catalog on a public models page. As of my read on October 23, 2026, four entries carry the Free tag: Atria Dawn (atria-asi/atria-dawn), described as an agentic model for research and engineering workflows, listed at $0 input and output per million tokens with a 524.29K context window and 65.54K max output; Dots Studio's Dots3-Note Preview; Z.AI's GLM 4.7 Flash (listed as z-ai/glm-4.7-flash-free); and Z.AI's GLM 4.6V Flash. Atria Dawn Preview, which previously held a Free slot, no longer appears on the page. One more observation: inclusionAI's Ling 3.1 Flash currently lists $0 input and output prices as well, but without the Free tag, so I am not counting it among the four. ZenMux models page
Caveats on the free tier
Free here means a $0 listed price on ZenMux's router, not necessarily unlimited use: the page does not state rate limits, quotas or how long the Free designation lasts, and this week's swap - Atria Dawn Preview out, the list otherwise intact - shows the lineup changes without notice. If a free model matters to a workload, confirm the current price and limits in your own ZenMux console before building on it.