AI Student Discounts 2026: Free ChatGPT Plus, Google AI Pro, Copilot and More

As of October 2026, the best AI student discounts are 4 free months of ChatGPT Plus for US college students, a free year of Google AI Pro, free GitHub Copilot through GitHub Education and Perplexity Education Pro at $10/month. Two of the biggest offers have deadlines: October 31, 2026 for ChatGPT and December 31, 2026 for Google. Cursor’s free student year closed on June 25, 2026.

We track verified promotions for 100 AI tools. Below: who qualifies, how verification works and what you pay when the free period ends.

Which AI tools have student discounts in 2026?

Eight AI student offers are listed on our deals page as of October 12, 2026: seven are open to new sign-ups and one, Cursor’s, has ended.

What are the best AI student offers right now?

ChatGPT Plus, Google AI Pro, GitHub Copilot Student and Perplexity Education Pro offer the most value; Notion and Lovable cover notes and app building.

ChatGPT Plus: 4 months free for US students

OpenAI’s 2026 Back to School offer gives eligible students 4 free months of ChatGPT Plus, worth $80. According to OpenAI’s help center, it is open to full-time and part-time college and graduate students at eligible US degree-granting institutions. You verify enrollment with SheerID while signed in to the ChatGPT account you want upgraded.

• Claim deadline: October 31, 2026.
• After 4 months, ChatGPT Plus renews at $20/month unless you cancel.
• The offer can be redeemed once and isn’t available if you’re billed through the App Store or Google Play.

ChatGPT Plus adds OpenAI’s advanced reasoning models, expanded deep research and more Codex usage, with no ads. Our ChatGPT page compares every plan.

Google AI Pro: a free year for US students

Google gives eligible US college students 12 months of Google AI Pro free, according to Google’s announcement of August 19, 2026. Google AI Pro normally costs $19.99/month and includes 4x higher Gemini usage limits and 5 TB of storage. Google’s student page sets the minimum age at 18.

Outside the US, eligible students in more than 140 markets get a free year of Google AI Plus, which doubles Gemini’s free limits and adds 400 GB of storage. The AI Plus offer excludes Bolivia, Albania, Canada, Macau, Hong Kong and Tunisia.

• Verify through SheerID on a personal Google Account.
• Add a payment method to start the free 12 months.
• Redeem by December 31, 2026. Afterward, Google AI Pro charges $19.99/month and Google AI Plus $4.99/month unless you cancel.

Plans and limits are on our Gemini page.

GitHub Copilot Student: free while you’re verified

Verified students get GitHub Copilot at no cost through the Copilot Student plan: unlimited code completions plus a monthly allowance of AI credits for chat and agents. Eligibility runs through GitHub Education, and GitHub’s docs say GitHub re-evaluates it every month.

• Apply to GitHub Education as a student, then activate Copilot from github.com/settings/education/benefits.
• Activation can take a few days. GitHub advises against buying a paid plan while you wait.
• Copilot Student users can’t pick models manually; auto model selection chooses them.

GitHub paused new Student sign-ups on April 20, 2026 and began reopening them on June 17, 2026. More on our GitHub Copilot page.

Perplexity Education Pro: $10/month

Perplexity Education Pro costs $10/month for students and educators who verify with SheerID, half the $20/month Pro price. It includes everything in Perplexity Pro, including Perplexity Computer, plus Learn Mode. To switch, open Upgrade in the Perplexity app, choose the Education plan and select Verify as student.

Notion Education Plus: free

Notion’s Plus plan is free for students and educators at accredited colleges and universities, limited to 1 member per workspace. Notion’s help center says the school email must be the main email on your account; a secondary address, a student ID or a Gmail address won’t count. K–12 students and educators aren’t eligible.

• Claim it from Settings with Get free education plan. Each school email can claim the offer once, for one workspace.
• You get up to 100 guests, unlimited uploads and 30 days of page history.
• Re-verify once a year. If you graduate or lose your school email, the workspace moves to the Free plan.

Notion Plus includes only a limited Notion AI trial; Notion Agent starts with Business at $24/member/month.

Lovable: 50% off, or free in Sweden

Lovable gives students and teachers 50% off Pro with 100 monthly credits for up to 12 months after they verify an academic email, for Free workspaces only. Students at Swedish universities, university colleges and folk high schools get Lovable Pro free until December 31, 2026, after which the 50% student discount applies automatically. The Swedish offer is limited to one workspace per student and can’t be combined with other Lovable offers.

Cursor: the free student year has ended

Cursor closed its student discount to new sign-ups on June 25, 2026. Cursor’s help center says students who already redeemed it keep their rate until the plan expires; standard Pro pricing of $20/month applies after that unless they cancel. Undergraduates can still get credits at on-campus and online events, and master’s students, PhD candidates, researchers and educators can request credits through a form. Cursor’s free Hobby plan remains available.

Claude: ask your university

Claude has no individual student discount on Anthropic’s pricing page. Claude for Education is a university-wide plan instead: institutions buy it, and students, faculty and staff get access through their school. Anthropic names partners including the London School of Economics, Northeastern University, Dartmouth and the University of Pittsburgh, and its Learning Mode asks guiding questions rather than handing over answers. If your school isn’t a partner, Claude Pro costs $20/month or $200/year; see our Claude page.

Which other AI tools offer education pricing?

We track 12 more AI tools that list student or education pricing, from 20% off to a free year.

How does student verification work?

Most AI student discounts verify you through SheerID, GitHub Education or your school email, not by uploading a student ID at checkout.

• SheerID: ChatGPT Plus, Google AI Pro and Perplexity Education Pro. According to OpenAI, SheerID may check trusted enrollment records, ask you to sign in through your school’s single sign-on or request documents.
• GitHub Education: Copilot Student. You apply once, and GitHub rechecks eligibility every month.
• School email: Notion (it must be your primary email), Lovable, Beautiful.ai and Otter (.edu), Wispr Flow and Udio.
• Student-discount networks: Speechify verifies through UNiDAYS or Student Beans.

A .edu address isn’t always required. Notion accepts school domains listed in the World Higher Education Database, while Beautiful.ai and Otter ask specifically for .edu.

What happens when the free period ends?

Most free student periods turn into paid subscriptions automatically, so the renewal date matters more than the start date.

• ChatGPT Plus renews at $20/month after the 4 free months unless you cancel.
• Google AI Pro charges $19.99/month after 12 months, and Google AI Plus $4.99/month.
• Lovable’s Swedish offer switches to the 50% student discount after December 31, 2026.
• Notion Education Plus needs yearly re-verification; lose it and the workspace drops to Free.
• Cursor students on the closed offer move to Pro at $20/month when their plan expires, unless they cancel.

How do you get the most out of AI student discounts?

Claim only what you’ll use, put every renewal date in your calendar and check what your university already pays for before buying anything.

• Set a reminder a week before renewal. Google takes a payment method up front, and ChatGPT Plus renews automatically.
• Check university-wide licenses first. Claude for Education is sold to institutions, some schools provide Microsoft 365 at no extra cost, and Canva Education covers K–12 schools.
• Use the right account. Google requires a personal Google Account, and ChatGPT’s offer won’t apply to App Store or Google Play billing.
• Don’t double up. Google AI Pro, ChatGPT Plus and Perplexity Education Pro overlap heavily. Our ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini comparison helps you pick one.
• Watch deadlines. Our deals calendar shows when each offer ends.

When the free months run out, our guide to saving money on AI subscriptions covers yearly billing and cheaper tiers, and the best free AI tools lists what costs nothing at all.

Bottom line: which AI student discount should you claim?

US college students should claim Google AI Pro’s free year first, then add ChatGPT Plus before October 31, 2026 only if they use ChatGPT daily.

• US college students: take the 12 free months of Google AI Pro. Claim ChatGPT Plus by October 31, 2026 if you need it, and set a reminder for month 4.
• Students outside the US: Google AI Plus is free for a year in 140+ markets; Perplexity Education Pro at $10/month and Mistral Pro at $5.99/month are the cheapest paid upgrades.
• Computer science students: GitHub Copilot Student is free while you’re verified, and it is still open now that Cursor’s student year has closed.
• Note-takers and researchers: Notion Plus is free with a school email, and Perplexity Education Pro adds cited research.
• Everyone: ask your university IT office about Claude for Education or Microsoft 365 before paying for either.