| POC funding | MAP | |
|---|---|---|
| The question it answers | Does this workload belong on AWS? | How do we move what we run onto AWS? |
| Stage | Before a commitment | After a decision, with a plan |
| Size | Sized to one test | Sized to the migration and its projected AWS spend |
| Who requests it | An AWS Partner at Select tier or above, or your AWS account team | Your AWS account team or an AWS Partner |
| How it is released | Approved before the test starts | In stages, against evidence of migrated workloads |
AWS POC funding and the AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) are the two AWS funding routes companies most often confuse. Both can reduce what you pay to move onto AWS, both are requested on your behalf rather than through a public form, and both are approved by AWS case by case. They are built for different moments, though, and asking for the wrong one is one of the most common reasons a request goes nowhere.
This guide compares the two side by side, walks through which one fits common situations, and explains how they work in sequence. Each programme has its own detailed guide: AWS POC funding and MAP for companies in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
AWS POC vs MAP: the core difference
POC funding is for a decision you have not made yet. It pays for part of a short, scoped test of one workload, with written success criteria and an end date. AWS lists it under Partner Opportunity Acceleration (POA) funding for POC and migrations, a benefit for Services Partners at Select tier and above, paid as AWS promotional credits or as cash reimbursement to the partner. It is not meant to fund production.
MAP is for a decision you have made. AWS describes MAP as a programme in three phases (Assess, Mobilize, and Migrate & Modernize) that combines a method, tools, expert help and financial investment to offset initial migration costs. AWS's partner funding page describes MAP funding as available for migrations and modernisations of any size, paid as cash or AWS promotional credits. The amount follows the scope of the migration and the AWS spend it is expected to create.
Which one fits your situation
You are not sure a critical system will perform on AWS
That is a POC. Pick the workload, agree the numbers that would settle it (latency, throughput, cost per transaction, recovery time) and fix a timeline of weeks, not months. If the POC passes, you have the evidence for the migration case; if it fails, you have spent a fraction of what a failed migration would cost.
You have decided to leave your data centre
That is a migration, so MAP applies, or partner migration funding if the migration is small. The first phase, Assess, produces an inventory and a total cost of ownership comparison. Without that business case there is nothing for AWS to fund, so it is the right first step even if you are confident.
You are moving one application now and more later
Treat the first application as the first wave of a migration, not as a POC, if the decision to move it is already made. A POC is for uncertainty; a first wave is for execution. Describing a committed move as a test makes the request harder to approve, not easier.
You are a startup on AWS Activate credits
Activate credits pay for your own usage while you build and are separate from both. A startup trying a new service it does not run today may still have a case for a POC, and one moving an existing product from another cloud may have a case for migration funding. Our AWS Activate guide covers the startup route.
Using POC funding and MAP in sequence
AWS does not publish a rule on combining POC funding and MAP for the same company. What it does say is that partner funding (POA) covers both POCs and migrations, that MAP funding is sized to the migration, and that every request is reviewed on its own. In practice, the programmes follow each other naturally:
- POC on the riskiest workload. A scoped test with written success criteria, funded before it starts.
- Results write-up. A short report against the criteria, which becomes evidence in the migration case.
- Assessment of the wider estate. The inventory and cost comparison that MAP's first phase calls for, now informed by real results.
- Migration plan and funding route. MAP at scale, or partner migration funding for a smaller migration, agreed before the work starts.
- Migration in tagged waves. Migrated resources carry the map-migrated tag so their spend counts, as our guide to MAP funding milestones explains.
Two cautions apply. Funding approved for the POC covers the test, not the later migration, so do not let the POC grow into the first wave. And the same work should not be claimed twice: be clear with the partner and your AWS account team about which costs each request covers.
Who submits each request
- POC funding: an AWS Partner at Select tier or above registers the opportunity in AWS Partner Central and submits the request, or your AWS account team sponsors the trial.
- MAP: engaged through your AWS account team or an AWS Partner. AWS's MAP page names AWS Professional Services and AWS Migration Competency Partners as the experts in the migration phase.
- Partner migration funding: for smaller migrations, a Select tier or higher partner can request POA funding against the registered migration.
AWS also says partner benefits may not be available in every geography and market, so for companies in Egypt or Saudi Arabia the submitting partner should confirm the current terms before you plan around either programme. You can check a partner's tier yourself in AWS Partner Solutions Finder, and our guide to AWS partner tiers explains what each tier can request.
Mistakes that stall both
- Asking for MAP before the assessment. A migration request without an inventory and cost comparison has nothing behind it.
- Calling a migration a POC. A test with no realistic end, or one that is really the first production wave, does not fit POC funding.
- Starting before approval. Neither programme pays retroactively for work done before it was approved.
- Inflating the spend estimate. Both are weighed against expected AWS spend, and an estimate that does not hold up undermines the request.
- Forgetting the tags. Migrated resources without the map-migrated tag do not count towards MAP funding.
Next steps
If you are unsure which route fits, start with what you are trying to decide and what you already run. Our hub comparing AWS funding programmes puts MAP, POC funding and Activate side by side, and the free credit eligibility check takes a few minutes. We come back with the routes that could realistically apply, and say so when none does. Nothing here is a promise of funding: AWS decides every request.