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Unkey

$1,000 in credits per month

Save up to $1,000

Developer & IT

Unkey Startups Program: $1,000 in credits every month until you raise $5M, plus priority support. API key management and rate limiting without building auth.

What you get

  • $1,000 in Unkey credits every month
  • Priority support
  • API key issuance and management
  • Rate limiting per key
  • Usage analytics
  • Temporary and expiring keys

Who can claim it

Startups that have raised less than $5M

Questions

Is Unkey free?

Unkey's API Management product has a Free plan at $0 a month with 150K valid requests, 1k API keys, 7 days of logs and 30 days of audit logs. Pro starts at $25 a month for 250K requests and 1M keys. Deploy, the hosting product, starts at $5 a month.

What is the Unkey startups program?

Unkey's startups page offers $1,000 in credits every month, priority support through a dedicated Slack channel, concierge onboarding and migration help. Eligibility expires once a company has raised $5 million, after which Unkey says you get 50% off your bill.

Which products does the $1,000 credit cover?

Unkey's startups page does not say. It lists the credit without naming API Management or Deploy, and does not say whether unused credit carries over. Ask Unkey when you apply, before you plan around it.

Can I self-host Unkey, and is it MIT licensed?

Mostly no to MIT. The repository uses FSL-1.1-ALv2 for most code, which allows any use except a competing one and converts to Apache 2.0 on each version's second anniversary. A few directories are MIT. The README says you can fork and self-host it, and that it is not accepting external pull requests.

How does rate limiting work in Unkey?

You set a named window on a key or identity, such as 100 requests per 60,000 milliseconds, plus an optional monthly credit quota. keys.verifyKey returns RATE_LIMITED or USAGE_EXCEEDED with HTTP 200, and your server sends the 429. You can change numbers per customer with keys.updateKey.

Does Unkey only do API keys now?

No. Unkey now describes itself as a platform covering deployment, gateways, key management and observability. The docs list two products, Compute (called Deploy on the pricing page) and API Management, which issues keys, enforces limits and reports usage for apps hosted anywhere. It announced a $4.5M seed round on April 23, 2026.