AI Student Discounts in 2026: Every Free and Half-Price Deal We Verified

AI student discounts are the easiest money you'll save this year. Many of the best AI tools are free or half price if you can prove you're a student, but the offers are scattered across help pages, and some quietly expire. We collected every student deal we've verified on the companies' own websites, so you can claim them in one sitting.

The short list: claim Google AI Pro (free for a year), ChatGPT Plus (4 months free, until October 31, 2026), Cursor Pro and Kiro (a free year each if you code), and GitHub Copilot (free while you study). Together they are worth over $900 in the first year.

The best AI student discounts right now

Every row links to the deal page with the exact steps and the official source.

Free AI chatbots for students

Google AI Pro is the biggest free offer: a full year of Google's top Gemini models, higher limits in Gemini Notebook, and extra storage, at no cost for eligible US college students (18+). It normally costs $19.99 a month.

ChatGPT Plus is free for four months through OpenAI's 2026 back-to-school offer for students at eligible US schools. You must claim it by October 31, 2026, and it renews at $20 a month afterwards, so set a reminder if you don't want to keep it.

Perplexity and Mistral don't give their pro plans away, but they cut them in half or more: Perplexity Education Pro is $10 a month, and Mistral's student plan is $5.99 a month for up to a year.

Free AI coding tools for students

If you study computer science, this is where the biggest savings are:

• Cursor gives verified university students a free year of Pro, including $20 of model usage each month.
• Kiro, the AI coding environment from AWS, gives students 1,000 credits a month free for a year, the same credits as its $20 Pro plan.
• GitHub Copilot is free for verified students through the GitHub Student Developer Pack.
• JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm and more) are free for students, with an AI subscription included.
• Lovable builds web apps from a chat, and students get Pro at 50% off for 12 months.

You can hold all of them at once. Try Cursor and Kiro side by side for a month before deciding which one to keep using after graduation.

Free design and creative tools

• Adobe Creative Cloud Pro: Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator and 20+ apps with Firefly AI for $19.99 a month in the first year (half the regular price).
• Figma: the Professional plan is free for students and educators, with 3,000 AI credits a month.
• Framer: free for students with full access and AI credits, which makes it perfect for a portfolio site.
• Canva Education and Adobe Express: free for K-12 schools in the US.

Study, research and notes

• Granola AI notepad: 12 months free for students.
• Otter.ai: 20% off Pro with a .edu email ($79.99 a year).
• Consensus: 40% off for students on top of its yearly price.
• Udio: 50% off AI music for 6 months.

A worked example: a computer science student's first year

Here's what a typical CS student could claim in one afternoon, using only the offers above:

1. Google AI Pro for research, writing and Gemini Notebook study tools: free instead of $239.88.
2. ChatGPT Plus for four months over the fall semester: free instead of $80.
3. Cursor Pro as the main code editor: free instead of $240.
4. GitHub Copilot inside other editors and on GitHub: free instead of $120.
5. JetBrains IDEs for Java and Python courses: free.
6. Figma for UI and group projects: free.

That's almost $680 of paid AI subscriptions for $0 in the first year, before counting the half-price offers. The only thing it costs is attention to renewal dates: write them down the day you sign up.

Which AI student discount should you claim first?

If you can only be bothered to sign up for a few, prioritize by how often you'll use the tool and how long the offer lasts:

• Time-limited first: ChatGPT Plus has a hard claim deadline (October 31, 2026), so do it now.
• Biggest value next: Google AI Pro, Cursor and Kiro are each worth about $240 in the first year.
• "While you study" offers last: GitHub Copilot, JetBrains and Figma stay free as long as you remain a verified student, so there's no rush, but don't forget to renew your verification each year.

How student verification works (and how to avoid problems)

Most companies check your status in one of three ways:

1. School email domain, such as an address ending in .edu. Sign up with that address, not your personal email.
2. A verification service like SheerID, where you upload a student ID or enrollment document.
3. An existing program, such as the GitHub Student Developer Pack, which other tools (like JetBrains) also accept.

Tips that save headaches:

• Use the same email everywhere. Switching accounts later often breaks the discount.
• Read the renewal date. Free years and "first year" prices renew at full price automatically. Put a reminder in your calendar a week before.
• Check the country rules. Several offers (Google AI Pro, ChatGPT Plus) are for US students only.

Teachers get deals too

Teachers can get Khanmigo for Teachers free, use MagicSchool and Brisk Teaching at no cost, and most of the student offers above (Perplexity, Lovable, Adobe, Figma) also cover educators.

Sources: official offer pages from Google, OpenAI, Cursor, Kiro, GitHub, Adobe and Figma, checked in October 2026.