{"rid":"compute/digitalocean-gradient-ai","card":{"rid":"compute/digitalocean-gradient-ai","eid":"devpost","topic":"compute","slug":"digitalocean-gradient-ai","provider":"DigitalOcean Gradient AI","url":"https://digitalocean.devpost.com/","domain":"devpost.com","category":"cloud VM","tier":null,"verdict":"trial-only","vorder":2,"grp":"trial","confidence":"documented","binding":"write-gated","identity_kind":"email","identity_basis":"stated","needs_card":0,"needs_phone":0,"needs_id":0,"needs_institution":0,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":null,"egress_metered":null,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00.000Z","verified_basis":"live","checked_on":"2026-10-22","stale_on":"2026-11-21","n_evidence":3,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"The prize carries cloud credit alongside cash, quoted from the listing: '$ 20,000 in cash', and the prize rows '1 winner - $8,000 USD in cash - $600 in Digit...","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":9},"record":{"topic":"compute","slug":"digitalocean-gradient-ai","provider":"DigitalOcean Gradient AI","url":"https://digitalocean.devpost.com/","category":"cloud VM","free_tier":{"stated":"The prize carries cloud credit alongside cash, quoted from the listing: '$ 20,000 in cash', and the prize rows '1 winner - $8,000 USD in cash - $600 in DigitalOcean credits' and '2nd Place ... $4,000 USD in cash'. Entry is a DigitalOcean signup through an MLH link, and the resources page states: 'Signup for a DigitalOcean account! - Head over to https://mlh.link/digitalocean-signup for $200 in free credits.' The event ran, quoted: 'Jan 28 - Mar 18, 2026 | Online | Public | 2592 participants'.","unit":"none","metered_on":"wall-clock","source_url":"https://digitalocean.devpost.com/","read_on":"2026-10-22","notes":"one-time-grant"},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"not applicable","bytes":null,"source_url":"https://digitalocean.devpost.com/","notes":null},"retention":{"stated":"not applicable","days":null,"source_url":"https://digitalocean.devpost.com/","notes":null},"egress":{"terms":"not stated","metered":false,"free_allowance":null,"price_per_tb":null,"source_url":"https://digitalocean.devpost.com/"},"interface":["unknown"],"interface_detail":"inferred from the tooling the provider documents; not probed","tooling":"not stated","chaining":"The signup credit is the composable part: USD 200 at DigitalOcean's own prices buys a GPU droplet for a weekend or a small always-on instance for months, and it stacks with the MLH attendee trial because the two arrive through different links. The prize credit does not compose, because it arrives only after a win.","limits":[{"kind":"write-gated","value":"the $200 credit is a signup promotion and the useful prize credit is $600 for one winning team out of 2,592 entrants, so the credit that is certain is small and the credit that is large is a lottery.","source":"https://digitalocean.devpost.com/"}],"limits_note":"the $200 credit is a signup promotion and the useful prize credit is $600 for one winning team out of 2,592 entrants, so the credit that is certain is small and the credit that is large is a lottery.","binding":"write-gated","binding_note":"the $200 credit is a signup promotion and the useful prize credit is $600 for one winning team out of 2,592 entrants, so the credit that is certain is small and the credit that is large is a lottery.","identity_cost":{"kind":"email","detail":"email: entry is 'Signup for a DigitalOcean account' through an MLH link that carries '$200 in free credits'; no other identity requirement appears on the pages read. Whether a card is required at signup, and whether any hold is taken, is not stated in any evidence row: unknown - the record's notes say the billing page that would settle it needs an account and a card, which is an inference and not a reading.","country":null},"reliability_note":"no reliability event recorded","confidence":"documented","evidence":[{"url":"https://digitalocean.devpost.com/","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"'The DigitalOcean Gradient(TM) AI Hackathon challenges developers, builders, and creators to design and launch new, working AI-powered applications'; 'Signup for a DigitalOcean account'; 'In Partnership with Major League Hacking'; page 200"},{"url":"https://digitalocean.devpost.com/resources","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"'Signup for a DigitalOcean account! - Head over to https://mlh.link/digitalocean-signup for $200 in free credits'; 'Having trouble claiming credits? Head over to https://discord.mlh.io/ and open a ticket'; read through the search index for devpost.com"},{"url":"https://www.mlh.com/challenges/01a06f9d-f1a8-0c75-88f3-037bed6db6c4","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"MLH's 'All Attendees' prize row: '$100, 60-day free trial of DigitalOcean', '90-day extended trial of Balsamiq Cloud', '$20 worth of credits for Linode'; read through the search index for mlh.com"}],"verdict":"trial-only","verified_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00.000Z","notes":"Included as the clearest instance of the recurring shape: a cloud vendor sponsors a hackathon, the participants get a signup credit, and the winners get a larger credit. Two readings of the $200 were considered: a genuine no-conditions credit and a trial that converts to billing at expiry; the resources page calls it 'free credits' and gives no expiry, while MLH's own attendee row calls a different offer a '60-day free trial', which suggests the two are different products. The route that would settle it is the DigitalOcean billing page after signup, which needs an account and a card and was not created.","extras":{"wave2":{"class":"hackathon-credit","free_tier_kind":"one-time-grant","shape":{"vcpu":null,"ram_gib":null,"gpu_class":null,"gpu_count":null}}}},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:write-gated","num":200,"unit":"credit","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"}],"unknown":[["$.egress.metered","egress-unknown"],["$.egress.terms","not-stated"],["$.interface","interface-unknown"],["$.per_object_cap.notes","process"],["$.per_object_cap.stated","not-applicable"],["$.reliability_note","none-observed"],["$.retention.notes","process"],["$.retention.stated","not-applicable"],["$.tooling","not-stated"]],"history":[],"drift":[]}