Grants for builders on Arbitrum in 2026
One entry in our tracker covers Arbitrum: the Arbitrum Foundation’s grants hub for apps and infra on Arbitrum One, Nova and Orbit. What is active there now is mostly support in kind (audit subsidies, gas sponsorship, infrastructure credits); the general Foundation and DAO grant programs are listed as inactive. Data from our web3 grant tracker, last verified 2026-09-27.
What gets funded on Arbitrum
Active programs (tracker, last verified 2026-09-27): the Audit Program ($10M ARB), ArbiFuel gas sponsorship, Gaming Ventures, and the Alchemy-Arbitrum program (up to $500K in infrastructure credits).
Inactive: the tracker lists the general Foundation and DAO grant programs as inactive, so a general-purpose milestone grant is not open at the moment. Ticket size varies by program; the tracker lists no stage requirement and no equity.
From the official page (arbitrum.foundation/grants, checked 2026-09-30):
- Arbitrum Audit Program: $10M in ARB over 12 months to subsidise third-party smart contract audits for early-stage Arbitrum projects. Managed by the Arbitrum Foundation.
- ArbiFuel: a gas fee sponsorship program for early-stage teams. Managed by the Arbitrum Foundation.
- Arbitrum Gaming Ventures: an ArbitrumDAO initiative for builders of gaming projects and gaming infrastructure; teams submit interest to the AGV team.
- Alchemy-Arbitrum Grant Program: up to $500K in Alchemy infrastructure credits for teams building or migrating to Orbit-based rollups. Managed by Alchemy.
- Marked inactive (program complete): the Trailblazer AI Grant Program ($1M for AI agents and other onchain AI products), Trailblazer 2.0 ($1M for DeFi agents and agent templates), Stylus Sprint, the Arbitrum Foundation Grant Program and the Arbitrum DAO Grant Program.
Arbitrum grant programs: amounts, stage, type
| Program | Ticket | Stage | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arbitrum Foundation GrantsOfficial: arbitrum.foundation/grants | Varies by program | Any | Ecosystem foundation |
Equity, per the tracker: “No” for this program. Terms change, so confirm on the official page before you apply.
Which route fits your team
- Contracts that need an audit — Audit Program: it subsidises third-party smart contract audits.
- Early-stage team shipping and testing — ArbiFuel: gas fee sponsorship.
- Game or gaming infrastructure — Arbitrum Gaming Ventures.
- Building or migrating to an Orbit chain — Alchemy-Arbitrum program: infrastructure credits rather than cash.
- Cash for a first milestone — The general grant programs are listed as inactive. A chain-agnostic program is the practical route: see the next section.
Chain-agnostic options
Ecosystem programs fund work on their own chain. The options below do not depend on the chain you build on, and none of them stops you from applying to the Arbitrum program above as well.
ZK Prime Capital grants. $5K–$75K, no equity, idea or prototype stage welcome, reply within 5 business days. The same application document you write for Arbitrum Foundation is accepted, and there is no exclusivity. If the milestone ships, the fund can continue into a $50K–$250K round, 3–6 months of incubation and a token launch. How the program works.
Both Arbitrum programs aimed at AI agents and DeFi agents (Trailblazer AI and Trailblazer 2.0) are marked inactive on the official page. ZK Prime funds that kind of work on any chain: see grants for on-chain AI agents and DeFAI funding. ZK teams: ZK infrastructure grants.
Public-goods rounds. For open-source and public-goods work, the tracker lists quadratic funding rounds that are not tied to one chain: Gitcoin and Giveth.
Everything in one table. The web3 grants tracker compares all 27 programs by ticket, equity and stage; each has a program guide.
Building on Arbitrum? Apply to ZK Prime in parallel
Same document, no exclusivity. $5K–$75K non-dilutive grants for on-chain AI agents, DeFAI and ZK infrastructure at idea or prototype stage; reply within 5 business days.
Apply with the same doc ▸Frequently asked questions
How much funding can builders on Arbitrum get?
Our tracker lists the ticket for Arbitrum Foundation as: Varies by program. Where the ticket varies there is no single fixed amount, so size the request to one milestone. Confirm current amounts on the official page; last verified 2026-09-27.
Do Arbitrum grant programs take equity?
No. Our tracker lists Arbitrum Foundation as non-dilutive: no equity is taken. ZK Prime Capital grants are non-dilutive as well.
Is the Arbitrum Foundation Grant Program open?
Not at the moment, according to our tracker (last verified 2026-09-27): the general Foundation and DAO grant programs are listed as inactive. The active programs are the Audit Program ($10M ARB), ArbiFuel gas sponsorship, Gaming Ventures and the Alchemy-Arbitrum program (up to $500K in infrastructure credits). Check arbitrum.foundation/grants for the current status.
Grants on other chains
Ethereum & L2s · Optimism · Starknet · Solana · Avalanche · Sui · Aptos · Polkadot · Stellar · Celo · Aleo · Zcash · Tezos · Stacks · Filecoin · Cosmos · Cardano · all chains
Source: ZK Prime web3 grant tracker, last verified 2026-09-27; official pages checked 2026-09-30. Writing the application: one-page template. Spotted an outdated detail? Open a PR.