Three ways students get AI for free
- Student offers you claim yourself. You verify that you are a student and get a paid plan for free or at a discount for a set time, like Google's AI Pro student plan in the US, Microsoft 365 Premium for college students or GitHub Copilot Student.
- Through your school account. If your school uses Google Workspace for Education or Microsoft 365 Education, Gemini or Copilot Chat may already be included. Your school's IT team decides whether it is switched on.
- Free plans that suit studying. Some tools are free for everyone and fit schoolwork well, like Gemini Notebook for working with your own sources or Colab for learning to code with notebooks.
Teachers have their own free plans too: Khanmigo's teacher tools and MagicSchool's Forever Free plan are both aimed at educators.
Check who qualifies before you sign up
Student offers differ a lot in age, country and proof. The details from the official pages:
| Offer | Who | Deadline or length |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Pro student plan | Eligible US college students 18 and older; payment method required | Redeem by December 31, 2026; one year |
| GitHub Copilot Student | Verified students through GitHub Education, at least 13 years old | While you stay verified |
| Microsoft 365 Premium | College students with a college email | 12 months, for a limited time |
| Copilot Chat at school | Students 13 and older with an A1, A3 or A5 student license | Set up by the school |
Offers also change by country. When we opened gemini.google/students from Germany, the page offered a free year of Google AI Plus instead of AI Pro, for eligible people 18 and older, valid until December 31, 2026. Always read the version of the page for your own country.
GitHub's student application page asks for enrollment in a degree or diploma program, including high school and homeschool, and accepts proof like a dated school ID, class schedule or transcript.
Watch the end of the free period
Several offers turn into paid plans on their own. Google's US page says AI Pro charges $19.99 a month after the free year unless you cancel earlier, and eligibility must be verified again each year. Put a reminder in your calendar a week before the end date.
Offers also close. Google's Colab FAQ says it is not accepting new signups for Colab Pro for Education, although the regular free Colab is still free of charge. If an offer from a news article is missing here, it may have ended or we could not confirm it on the vendor's page.
Using AI for schoolwork
Check your course's AI policy before you use any of these tools for graded work, and keep a note of how you used AI in case you need to explain it. School accounts can have extra protections: Google says data from Gemini for Education is not human reviewed or used to train AI models, and Microsoft says students under 13 cannot access Copilot Chat with a school account.
A few free tools on this site help you study with or without AI: the prompt builder for clear questions, the flashcard maker to turn notes into cards, the citation generator for your sources and the focus timer for study sessions.
How we checked
We opened each vendor's own offer, pricing, help or documentation page on the date in the table and copied who qualifies and what is included in the vendor's words. Nothing from deal sites or news articles. Offers whose official page we could not read are not listed, and a "Not stated" cell means the page does not say it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemini free for students?
In the US, Google offers eligible college students 18 and older a free year of Google AI Pro if they redeem it by December 31, 2026. Students whose school uses Google Workspace for Education may also get the Gemini app through their school account at no charge, if the school turns it on.
Can high school students get free AI tools?
Some. GitHub Education accepts students from 13 years old, including high school and homeschool. Microsoft lets students 13 and older use Copilot Chat with a school license once an administrator enables it, and Google says the Gemini app for education is available to users of all ages, with extra guardrails under 18.
Do I need a school email address?
For some offers. Microsoft's 12 months of Microsoft 365 Premium needs a college email, and GitHub may ask you to add and verify an academic email when you apply. Perplexity says any email address can be used for its SheerID student verification.
What happens when the free year ends?
Read the offer terms. Google says its US student plan charges $19.99 a month after the free year unless you cancel earlier. Other offers end when you stop being a verified student, so check the renewal rules on each page.