Amazon Web Services (News - Alert) (AWS), the cloud-based computing platform, is looking to grow its customer base, and it's looking to do so with a deal.

That deal is a free year of its new product, AWS Activate. AWS Activate is Amazon's new tiered resource center for startups trying to get up to speed with AWS and build new businesses and services in a cost-effective way.

The tiers come in two flavors: one, called the Portfolio package, is for startups backed up by venture capital funds, incubators and other similar organizations; the other, called the Self-Starter package, is for, well, self-starters.

“The ability for startups to quickly build and scale is crucial to their success," said Mark Cranney, Partner, Andreessen Horowitz, in a prepared statement. "With access to resources like AWS Activate, startups can swiftly and easily use AWS and focus on growing their businesses."

The resources being made available to AWS Activate customers include AWS credits, developer support, startup community forums and select deals from third-party organizations.

The Self-Starter package, for example, gives companies a month of AWS developer-level support, along with access to deals, and web-based training for AWS technology. The Portfolio package, meanwhile, offers many of the same resources for a longer period.

By getting even more startups on AWS for free, Amazon is essentially growing a crop of future-paying customers. That strategy makes sense for the cloud service behemoth: Oracle (News - Alert) and Verizon are both actively looking take a slice cloud pie from Amazon with the Verizon Cloud Compute platform and Oracle Cloud.

“Many of the world’s most successful startups already build their businesses on the AWS cloud," said Adam Selipsky, vice president of Amazon Web Services. "Based on feedback from VCs, startups and entrepreneurs, we developed AWS Activate to help even more startup organizations get going quickly by leveraging AWS to help build their business.”