Spire
AfriLink
$2.00/hrAfriLink is our light-weight SDK that enables seamless, programmatic access to H100 GPUs through a secure, interface-agnostic tunneling layer. Run [pip install afrilink-sdk] to install it in a single line.
VS Code
$1.80/hrAfricode is a cloud-based development environment—like a browser version of VS Code—powered by locally hosted African GPUs, giving you fast, low-latency compute where it matters most.
Notebooks
$1.80/hrCloud notebook platform with customized African GPU backend. Interactive coding environment with local infrastructure for faster performance and data compliance.
AWS Educate
Program Name
AWS Educate
Access Type
No credit card required; global access
Credit Amount
$75 - $100 in AWS credits (varies by country and student type)
Duration
1 year, renewable
Age/Eligibility
Students aged 13+; educators; must register with academic email or proof
Notes
Includes 12 cloud learning pathways and downloadable content. Local data centers in South Africa improve latency.
AWS Free Tier + Spot Instances
Program Name
AWS Free Tier + Spot Instances
Access Type
AWS account with optional billing card
Credit Amount
12-month Free Tier + low-cost spot pricing
Duration
Free Tier: 12 months; Spot: indefinite
Age/Eligibility
All AWS users globally
Notes
GPU instances available via spot (e.g., g4dn); Trainium for model training.
Google Cloud Platform Free Tier
Program Name
Google Cloud Platform Free Tier
Access Type
Google account + billing setup (no auto-charge)
Credit Amount
$300 in trial credits + Always Free Tier (e.g., 1 f1-micro instance)
Duration
90-day trial for $300 credits; Always Free continues after
Age/Eligibility
New Google Cloud users only
Notes
Supports compute, storage, BigQuery; credits usable on GPU/TPU with upgrades.
Google Colab
Program Name
Google Colab
Access Type
Free with Google account
Credit Amount
Free access to NVIDIA K80/TPUv2 for limited usage (approx. 12–24 hrs/day)
Duration
Ongoing (auto resets usage limits)
Age/Eligibility
Anyone with a Google account
Notes
Ideal for ML tutorials, notebooks, and lightweight models.
Google TPU Research Cloud (TRC)
Program Name
Google TPU Research Cloud (TRC)
Access Type
Application and proposal required; academic or nonprofit research only
Credit Amount
Free TPU v2/v3/v4 compute (value: up to $20,000 per project)
Duration
6–12 months per approved project
Age/Eligibility
Professors, PhD students, nonprofit researchers
Notes
Supports long-term, large-scale ML projects on advanced TPUs.
IBM SkillsBuild
Program Name
IBM SkillsBuild
Access Type
Free sign-up via academic or personal email
Credit Amount
Free access to IBM courses
Duration
Ongoing (lifetime access to SkillsBuild)
Age/Eligibility
Students, educators, institutions; 16+ recommended
Notes
Offline courses in AI, cybersecurity, data science; IBM partners with African NGOs.
Kaggle Kernels
Program Name
Kaggle Kernels
Access Type
Kaggle account required
Credit Amount
Free access to NVIDIA Tesla P100/TPU v2 (up to 30 hours/week)
Duration
Weekly quotas reset
Age/Eligibility
All Kaggle users
Notes
Ideal for competitions, prototyping, community sharing.
Microsoft Azure for Students
Program Name
Microsoft Azure for Students
Access Type
$100 free credits; no credit card required
Credit Amount
$100 + 12 months of free Azure services
Duration
12 months
Age/Eligibility
Verified university students; 18+
Notes
Free tools like Visual Studio Code, GitHub Student Pack integration, SA data center support.
Oracle Academy
Program Name
Oracle Academy
Access Type
Free registration for educators and institutions
Credit Amount
Oracle Cloud Free Tier + Always Free resources (2 AMD VMs, 1GB RAM, etc.)
Duration
Ongoing
Age/Eligibility
Students and educators globally
Notes
Great for teaching SQL, Java, and enterprise cloud infrastructure.
Africa Compute Fund (ACF)
Invests in compute infrastructure for AI and tech startups across Africa.
Africa Data Centres
A subsidiary of Cassava; provides carrier-neutral data centers across the continent.
AI Grid Sol
Distributes high-performance AI compute resources via innovative grid solutions.
ATLANCIS (Servernah)
Operates Servernah, the first indigenous sovereign cloud platform in East Africa.
Cassava Technologies
Pan-African group focused on digital infrastructure, fiber, and AI solutions.
Cerebrium
Serverless platform for training and deploying large-scale AI models efficiently.
EverseTech
Specializes in AI infrastructure and digital transformation for African markets.
Google Cloud
Expanding infrastructure with a dedicated cloud region located in South Africa.
IBM
Hybrid cloud, regulated industries, and specialized enterprise workloads (like SAP on IBM Power)
Microsoft Azure
Offers comprehensive cloud services through Johannesburg and Cape Town regions.
Raxio Group
Building a network of carrier-neutral data centers across emerging African markets.
Rydlr
Rydlr Cloud Services Ltd is developing a Tier IV Green Data Centre and hybrid GPU cloud network in Kenya, designed to anchor Africa's digital transformation through sovereign, sustainable, and high-performance computing.
Satylt
Satylt is building a decentralized space computing platform that will revolutionize how satellite operators process and utilize satellite data.
Udu Technologies
Developing cloud-native solutions and AI infrastructure for the Nigerian market.
Yamify
Provides data-driven insights and compute infrastructure for Central African enterprises.