10 Free AI Tools for Students in 2026 (With Student Discounts)

If you want free AI for college work in 2026, start with these ten: Gemini, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, GitHub Copilot, Gemini Notebook, Perplexity, Notion, Claude, Canva and Adobe Express.

All ten have a free way in. A few also have a student price or a free year on top. Those extras are not the same in every country. The US ChatGPT deal does not cover Indian colleges. Google's free student year is wider, but you still have to pass a check, and it can turn into a paid plan if you forget to cancel.

This page is for school and college students in India. Prices and offers below were checked against the companies' own pages in September 2026. Recheck the checkout screen before you add a card. A discount page from last semester is not a promise.

What the surveys actually show

Students are already using these tools. The useful question is which free plan covers the job, and which "student discount" is a trial with a card attached.

The clearest large survey is from the UK, so treat it as a direction, not as an India census. In the Higher Education Policy Institute and Kortext survey (Josh Freeman, published February 2025), Savanta interviewed 1,041 full-time UK undergraduates in December 2024. The margin of error is about 3 points.

UK undergraduates using AI, 2024 to 2025

Share of full-time undergraduates who reported each behaviour

050100

Any AI use, 2024

Any AI use, 2025

GenAI for assessments, 2024

GenAI for assessments, 2025

Two shifts matter more than the headline. Any reported AI use rose from 66% in 2024 to 92% in 2025. Use of generative AI for assessments rose from 53% to 88%. The most common assessment use was still explaining a concept (58%). Summarising articles jumped into second place. About a quarter used AI text to help draft, and 18% said they had put AI-generated and edited text into submitted work.

Why they do it is ordinary. 51% said it saves time. 50% said it improves the work. The reasons they hold back are also ordinary: being accused of misconduct, and getting a wrong or biased answer. Only 36% said their university had helped them build AI skills, even though 80% said the institution had a clear AI policy.

India does not yet have one survey of that size that you can quote as "Indian students". Smaller studies point the same way, and they should stay labelled as smaller studies.

• IIT Delhi's committee, reported by The Indian Express in 2025, surveyed 427 students. About four in five used AI, often several times a week. About one in ten paid for a premium plan to get past the limits of the free version.
• A 2025 paper in Discover Education surveyed 421 university students and research scholars in India and found 90.3% used AI tools for study or research. ChatGPT was the tool used across the most tasks, ahead of Grammarly and Quillbot. Science students in that sample used AI a bit less than technology students (85% versus 95%).
• A separate convenience sample of 1,197 Indian undergraduates and postgraduates found 83.5% had used generative AI at least once. The same paper's respondents also scored high on knowing that these tools invent facts and struggle with hard tasks.

Read those together. Most students already have a chat tab open. Very few need five paid subscriptions. The IIT Delhi figure, one in ten paying, matches what you see in a hostel: the free plan is the default, and a card comes out only when a deadline is close.

That is the case for this list. Get the free tier working. Claim a student plan only when the steps below match your college, your age and your country. Then cancel anything that renews.

Three ways a discount works

Student deals are not one switch. They fall into three types. If you know which type you are looking at, you will not paste your ID into the wrong form.

1. A checker such as SheerID. Google, Perplexity and the US ChatGPT offer use this. You sign in, the site sends you to SheerID, and you prove enrolment with a school email or a document. The discount sits on that product account. It does not move if you later change the email. A card is often required even when the first months are ₹0.

2. Your college email, checked by the company. Notion works this way. The address has to be the institution's own domain, and the college has to be in the database Notion uses (the World Higher Education Database). A photo of an ID card on a Gmail account does not pass. GitHub prefers this path too. If recent students from your college verified with a college email, later applicants from the same college are asked for that email as well.

3. A licence the college already bought. Microsoft Copilot Chat, Claude for Education, Canva Campus and Adobe Express for Education are mostly this type. You do not "apply" on a public discount page. You sign in with the college account, or you ask IT whether the product is turned on. Paying yourself for the staff plan is usually a waste.

School students (roughly classes 6 to 12) and college students are not in the same bucket. Canva Education and Adobe Express for Education are built for schools, and a teacher or admin has to invite you. College students use the college-email and SheerID routes above.

The short list

How to pick

Do not install all ten. Pick one chat tool, one place for your own notes, and one design tool.

Use the chat tool when you are stuck on a concept. Use the notes tool when the answer has to come from your syllabus PDF, not from the open web. Use the design tool for the poster or slide deck, not for the thinking.

If a page says "students get it free" but the next screen wants a card, read the renewal line. A free year that turns into the full monthly price is not free. It is a trial. Google's US student plan renews at $19.99. ChatGPT Plus renews at $20. The India renewal for Google AI Plus is whatever that checkout shows, so copy that number down.

The ten tools

1. Gemini

Gemini is the easiest start if you already live in Gmail and Google Docs. The normal app is free. In August 2026 Google also offered eligible college students 12 months of a paid Google AI plan at no charge.

In the US that plan is Google AI Pro. Google's own student page says it includes higher Gemini limits, Gemini inside Gmail and Docs, and 5 TB of storage. You must be 18 or older, verify through SheerID, and add a payment method. If you do not cancel, it renews at $19.99 a month after the year. The claim window on that page runs until 31 December 2026.

Outside the US, Google's education post says eligible students can get Google AI Plus free for the year, with lower storage (400 GB in that post) and a separate discount path for AI Pro. Google's help page excludes a short list of places, including Canada, Hong Kong and Bolivia. India is not on that exclusion list. Your college still has to pass SheerID. Open the student offer while signed into the Google account you actually use, and read the price that appears for you.

Who can apply. College students, 18 or older, at a higher-education institution in a country where the plan is sold. US students are pointed at AI Pro. Students elsewhere, including many in India, are pointed at AI Plus if the offer page accepts them. Both new users and students whose 2025 trial has already ended can be eligible. You verify again if you want to keep a student rate in a later year. A school Google account is not required. Use a personal Google account you control.

Where to apply. gemini.google/students or the link in Google's 19 August 2026 post. Do not use a reseller link.

Steps.

1. Sign in to the personal Google account you want the year attached to.
2. Open the student page and start the offer. You will be sent to SheerID.
3. Use a real school email if you have one. If SheerID asks for a document, upload a current ID or enrolment letter that shows your name, the college's full name and a date. Blurry photos get rejected.
4. Add a payment method when asked. You should not be charged during the free year.
5. On the confirmation screen, write down the date the paid plan starts and the monthly price in your currency.
6. Put a reminder in your calendar two weeks before that date. Cancel in Google One if you do not want to pay.

What people get wrong. Applying on a friend's Google account, then losing the login. Applying under 18 and wondering why the button never appears. Assuming an Indian college is included because a US YouTube video said "worldwide". The exclusion list is short, but SheerID still has to recognise your institution. If it does not, request that the college be added, and keep using free Gemini while you wait.

2. ChatGPT

ChatGPT's free plan is enough for explaining a chapter, turning notes into questions, or rewriting a mail in plainer English.

The headline student deal is narrower than the ads make it sound. OpenAI's 2026 back-to-school offer is four free months of ChatGPT Plus for current students at eligible US colleges and universities. Claim by 31 October 2026. You need a card. After the four months it renews at $20 a month unless you cancel. Subscriptions bought through the Apple or Google app stores are not included.

If you study in India, do not wait for that link to accept your college. It will not. Stay on the free plan.

Who can apply for the paid months. Current full-time or part-time students, including graduate students, enrolled at a US college that grants degrees. SheerID decides whether the institution counts. The offer can be claimed once, by 31 October 2026. New users and people who already pay ChatGPT directly for monthly Plus can use it. People who subscribed through the App Store or Google Play cannot.

Where to apply. The signed-in flow on chatgpt.com/students, with the rules on OpenAI's help page. Your ChatGPT email and your SheerID email do not have to match. Finish the check while you are logged into the ChatGPT account that should receive the months.

Steps, if you are actually at a US college.

1. Sign in to the ChatGPT account you want upgraded.
2. Open the student offer and complete SheerID.
3. Add a card if you are new. Existing direct subscribers apply the offer to the plan they already have.
4. Cancel from settings if you do not want the $20 renewal. If you cancel mid-offer, OpenAI says you keep Plus only until the end of the current billing period. The leftover free months are gone.

What Indian students should do instead. Use free ChatGPT for explanations and practice questions. When a task needs citations back to your own PDF, switch to Gemini Notebook (below). When a task is coding, use GitHub Copilot Student. Paying $20 because a reel said "students get Plus" is how the card gets charged in November.

3. Microsoft Copilot

A lot of Indian colleges already give students Microsoft 365. If yours does, sign in with the college account before you pay for anything else.

Microsoft says Copilot Chat is included at no extra cost for people on Microsoft 365 A1, A3 or A5, including higher-education students aged 13 and above, when an admin has switched it on. You can chat, upload a file, and see web sources. It does not read your whole college mailbox unless the college has also bought the paid Copilot add-on.

That paid add-on, Microsoft 365 Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams, is an academic price of about $18 per user per month. Students rarely buy that themselves. Ask the college IT desk whether Copilot Chat is enabled. Microsoft's own note: for some school accounts it stays off until an admin turns it on.

There is also a consumer Copilot site you can use without a college login. Use the college one when you can. It sits next to the files you already have.

Who gets it free. Faculty, staff, and higher-education students aged 13 and older who already have Microsoft 365 A1, A3 or A5, and whose admin has enabled Copilot Chat. For some school tenants, student chat stays off until IT sets the age group correctly. Students under 13 are not in this offer. You do not qualify just because you installed Word on a laptop you bought yourself.

Where to apply. There is no public student coupon. Sign in at Microsoft 365 or Copilot with the college address. If Copilot never appears, write to the college IT helpdesk and ask whether Copilot Chat is enabled for student accounts. Quote that it is included with A1, A3 and A5, so they are not being asked to buy the $18 add-on for a basic chat.

Steps.

1. Open Outlook or Teams with the college login, not your personal Outlook.
2. Look for Copilot. If it is there, upload one lecture PDF and ask for a summary with sources. That tells you whether file upload works on your tenant.
3. If it is missing, mail IT. Include your roll number and the college email. One mail from a class representative works better than fifty separate mails.
4. Do not enter a card on a "Copilot Pro" checkout while you are waiting. That is a personal subscription, separate from the college licence.

What it will not do. Copilot Chat does not quietly read every SharePoint file and exam paper on the tenant. That deeper access is the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on. If a senior says "our college Copilot can see all notes", ask which licence IT actually assigned.

4. GitHub Copilot

If you write code, this is the student deal that is actually built for students worldwide, not just the US.

Verified students on GitHub Education can turn on Copilot Student for free. GitHub's docs say the benefit is checked about once a month, and that approval and activation are two different steps. If you only see Copilot Free or a paid checkout right after verification, wait. GitHub tells you not to complete a purchase while the student plan is still applying. You can try again from Copilot settings or the student signup link.

Copilot Student and Copilot Free both use an allowance of AI credits, and model choice is automatic. You do not get the full model picker that paid Pro plans have. For coursework and small projects, that is usually enough.

The Student Developer Pack also bundles other tools (cloud credits, domains, and so on). Those partner offers change. Read the pack page the week you apply, and use a real college ID or fee receipt. Fake documents get accounts banned.

Who is eligible. GitHub's student application rules are stricter than a blog checklist, and they are the ones that count.

• You are enrolled in a degree or diploma programme (school, college, university, or homeschool that meets their bar).
• You have a personal GitHub account.
• You are at least 13.
• You can prove current enrolment.

You are not eligible if the course is an informal class outside a degree or diploma, if the degree ends in the current academic session, or if you are under 13. Teachers can get other GitHub education discounts. They do not get the Student Developer Pack.

Documents that work. A college email is the clean path. If recent applicants from your college verified with that email, you will be asked for it too. Add the email to the GitHub account and verify it before you apply. If the college does not issue email, GitHub accepts a school webpage or a letter on letterhead that says so, plus proof of enrolment.

Proof GitHub lists: a photo of a school ID that shows a current date, a class schedule, a transcript, or an enrolment letter. The image must be readable. It should show your name, the college's full name (a logo alone fails), and at least one date. If the document is not in English, photograph it next to a translation. Your GitHub profile name and billing name should match the document. You do not have to add a card to fill in the billing name. Turn on two-factor authentication if the form asks.

Where to apply. Education benefits settings. Click Start an application, choose Student, submit. After approval, activate Copilot from the same benefits page, from Copilot settings, or from github.com/github-copilot/free_signup.

Steps.

1. Put your full legal name on the GitHub profile. No nickname.
2. Add and verify the college email if you have one.
3. Turn on two-factor authentication.
4. Open the education benefits page and start the application.
5. Upload one clear photo. Phone camera, good light, all four corners in frame.
6. Wait for the email. If it asks for another document, send a transcript or fee receipt with a date, not the same blurry ID again.
7. After approval, activate Copilot Student. If you only see a paid plan, wait several days. GitHub says the student benefit can lag behind the education approval.

What people get wrong. Applying with a coaching-centre certificate. Uploading an offer letter for a course that has not started. Paying for Copilot Pro "just for this week" and then discovering the student plan cannot stack cleanly. Use Copilot Free until the student plan shows as active.

5. Gemini Notebook

This used to be called NotebookLM. Google's education pages now call it Gemini Notebook. The idea is the same: you upload your own material, and the chat stays tied to those files, with citations back to the page.

That is the right tool the night before a test. Drop in the syllabus PDF, a few lecture slides and your notes. Ask for a study guide, flashcards or a quiz. If it cannot point at your file, do not trust the line.

You can use it free on a personal Google account at notebooklm.google. A college Google Workspace account can use it too, but only if the admin has allowed it. Some features, including Deep Research, slides and infographics, are limited to users 18 and over on a school account. Education Fundamentals, the free Workspace for Education edition many colleges already have, includes Gemini Notebook as a core service once an admin allows it. Higher editions raise the limits. You do not need the 12-month Gemini student trial to use the notebook.

Who can use it. Anyone with a personal Google account in a supported country, after age checks on the account. School and college accounts work when IT has not switched the service off. Under-18 school users get a tighter version: chat, sources, quizzes, flashcards and audio overviews are in; Deep Research and some video styles are not.

Where to open it. notebooklm.google on the web, or the Gemini Notebook app. There is no SheerID form because the base product is free.

Steps for a test week.

1. Create one notebook per subject, not one giant notebook for the whole semester.
2. Upload the syllabus, two lecture PDFs and your own notes. Skip random blogs.
3. Ask: "What does this unit expect me to be able to do?" Then: "Quiz me on unit 2. Mark an answer wrong if it is not in the sources."
4. If a line has no citation, delete it from your notes.
5. If the college account says the app is off, use your personal Gmail for the same PDFs. Do not upload another student's graded paper.

This is the tool that matches how students in the HEPI survey actually work: explain a concept, summarise a reading. It is weaker as a search engine for facts that are not in your upload. That is Perplexity's job.

6. Perplexity

Perplexity is a search box that answers in sentences and lists sources. Use it when you need a starting point and a link, not when you need a finished assignment.

The free plan is usable. Verified students and teachers can move to Education Pro, which Perplexity describes as Pro at a discount: more searches, file uploads, Learn Mode, and newer models. SheerID's offer page has listed that student price at $10 a month (half of a $20 Pro plan). Confirm the number on perplexity.ai/students before you subscribe. Discounts are tied to the account you verified. You cannot move the discount to a new email without verifying again.

If your college is missing from the list, SheerID lets you request that it be added. That can take time. Do not pay full price while you wait unless you already know you want Pro.

Who can apply. Students and educators who pass SheerID. Perplexity's help centre, updated in September 2026, says you can create the account with any email, personal or college. The school email is for the check, not for the login. K-12 access depends on whether SheerID lists the school. There is no India-only block published on the student page. If your college is missing, that is a database gap, not a country ban.

Where to apply. perplexity.ai/students. If you already have an account, open Upgrade, switch to the Education plan, and choose Verify as student. The steps are on Perplexity's verification article.

Steps.

1. Create the account on the email you will keep for the degree. Discounts do not transfer.
2. Start verification. Use the college email in SheerID even if the Perplexity login is Gmail.
3. Wait until the status says approved. Pending does not unlock Pro.
4. Read the monthly price on the pay screen. SheerID's shop listing has shown $10 a month. Your screen wins if the two differ.
5. If you are rejected, clear the browser cache and try once more, then write to SheerID. A second college ID photo is more useful than refreshing all afternoon.

Use the free plan for "what is this paper about, and what should I read next?" Click the sources. If the source is a blog post repeating another blog post, do not put it in a reference list. Education Pro's Learn Mode is for flashcards and quizzes after you already have a reading, not instead of the reading.

7. Notion

Notion is where a lot of students keep notes, internship trackers and society work. The student part is real, and smaller than "free Notion AI" posts claim.

If you are at an accredited college or university and you sign in with the college email (not a Gmail ID card photo), Notion offers a free Education Plus plan for a one-person workspace. Notion checks that email about once a year. K-12 students are not in this individual offer. Student clubs can apply separately for a shared workspace.

Plus means more pages, uploads and history. It does not mean unlimited Notion AI. Free and Plus include only a small set of AI replies. If a blog says students get Notion AI free forever, it is out of date.

Indian college domains such as @college.edu.in work when the institution is in the database Notion uses (WHED). If the "Get free education plan" button never appears, write to Notion with your college domain. A personal Gmail will not pass.

Who is eligible. A student or teacher at an accredited college or university, with that institution's email, on a workspace that has one member. Notion does not accept student ID photos for this plan. K-12 students stay on the normal free plan. Student societies at verified colleges can apply for a separate shared Plus workspace. That application is for the club, not for your personal notes.

Where to apply. Sign up or sign in at Notion using the college email. Then Settings, Upgrade plan, Get free education plan. The written rules are on Notion's education help page. If the button is missing and your college is in WHED, mail team@makenotion.com with the domain.

Steps.

1. Create the account on the college email. Add a personal email only as a backup, and keep the college address as the main one.
2. Leave the workspace as just you. Inviting a classmate can knock the workspace off the individual education plan.
3. Open Settings, Upgrade plan, and take the free education plan.
4. Once a year, Notion asks you to confirm the college email still works. If you ignore that, the plan drops.
5. Use the built-in AI a few times so you see the cap. When it stops, go back to Gemini or ChatGPT. Do not buy a Notion AI add-on on the same day you already have a free chat tool.

A practical setup: one database for subjects, one for internship deadlines, one for society work. That is the part of Notion that is actually free for the whole degree. The AI panel is a sample.

8. Claude

Claude's free plan is good at long documents: a 20-page reading, a lab report you want tightened, a diff of two drafts. Use it when Gemini or ChatGPT starts summarising past the point where you can check the source.

There is no public student price for Claude Pro that you can claim with a college ID the way you claim GitHub Copilot. Anthropic sells Claude for Education to universities. If your college has signed up, you sign in with the college account and the college sets the limits. If it has not, you are on the same free plan as everyone else.

Anthropic also runs campus clubs and ambassador programmes. Those are applications, not a discount code. Do not pay a middleman who says they can "activate Claude Education" on a Gmail account.

Who gets more than the free plan. Students, faculty and staff at a university that has signed Claude for Education. You will know because the college IT or library page says so, and login is the college email or single sign-on. Anthropic's help centre says that campus plan can include larger file uploads, projects, and higher daily limits. Your college can turn pieces off. There is no age-and-ID form on claude.ai that upgrades a random student to Pro for a year.

Where to check. Ask the library or the software-licences desk, and try signing in at claude.ai with the college email. Campus programme applications, which are clubs and stipends rather than a personal discount, sit on claude.com/programs/campus. Those have their own dates and an age floor of 18. They are not how you get Tuesday's assignment done.

How to use the free plan well. Paste a section of a reading, not the whole question paper. Ask Claude to list the author's claim, the evidence, and one objection a teacher might raise. Then write the answer yourself. For code, prefer GitHub Copilot in the editor. Claude is the better second opinion when a function is long and you want a walkthrough in plain language.

If your college adds Claude later in the year, move the habit, not the chat history full of other people's notes. Start a fresh project per course.

9. Canva

Canva Free covers normal student needs: a fest poster, a simple slide deck, a resume layout. Magic Studio (the AI writing and image tools) is included with limits on the free plan.

Canva Education, the plan with premium assets and more AI, is free for eligible school teachers and their students. Students do not self-serve it. A teacher invites you. Canva's help centre says this school plan is not the same as a college login. Colleges use a paid campus product called Canva Campus, which only helps you if your institution has bought it.

So: school students, ask your teacher. College students, use Canva Free unless the design cell or placement cell already has Campus seats.

Who gets Canva Education. K-12 teachers who pass Canva's check, and students those teachers invite. It is free worldwide for eligible schools, not only for one country. Students cannot open the education plan by uploading a college ID. College and university students are outside that individual plan. A campus-wide Canva Campus rollout is a paid institutional product. You only benefit if your college has crossed Canva's licence threshold and IT has provisioned student teams.

Where school students join. The teacher invites you from their Canva Education settings, by email, link, or a class import such as Google Classroom. The student page that explains this is Canva for students. Rules for the plan are in Canva's education help article.

Where college students should stop. Create a free Canva account with any email. Use it for posters and simple decks. Magic Write and image tools exist on the free plan with a ceiling. When you hit the ceiling, finish the slide yourself. Do not pay for Canva Pro in the week of a fest unless you are designing every day. A one-month Pro subscription is cheaper than a year you forget to cancel, and even that is optional.

What admins can switch off. On education accounts, teachers and admins get Magic tools by default. Students are limited unless an admin opens more of them. If Magic Write is missing on a school login, that is a setting, not a bug in your account. Ask the teacher. Do not create a second personal account to dodge a school restriction. That can break the class submission flow.

10. Adobe Express

Adobe Express is the quicker cousin of Photoshop. You can make a poster, trim a reel, or generate a simple image without installing the full Creative Cloud apps.

Adobe Express for Education is a free school deployment, with Firefly image tools that an admin can switch off. Colleges get Express when the campus already licenses Creative Cloud, or when IT assigns it. Individual students can also buy Creative Cloud at Adobe's education price, which is a discount, not a free product. Read the education overview and the student checkout. If the page does not say "no charge", it is not the free plan.

For one festival poster, Canva Free or Express Free is enough. Pay for Creative Cloud only if a course or internship needs Photoshop, Illustrator or Premiere every week.

Who gets the free education app. K-12 schools and districts. An IT admin deploys it, often with a Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for Education admin account, through Adobe's school onboarding. Students join with a class code or the school login. Firefly image generation is on by default for those school users, and an admin can turn it off. Shared-device licences that only cover desktop apps do not include Firefly. You need a named user or an Express licence.

Who gets it in college. Colleges that already license Creative Cloud All Apps for higher education can assign Express. Individual students can also buy Creative Cloud at Adobe's education price from Adobe's own student checkout. That price is a discount for people who can prove they are students. It is not a free year of Photoshop. Read the line that says what you pay after any intro month.

Steps if you are in school.

1. Ask the teacher for a class code or a school login.
2. Sign in at express.adobe.com.
3. If Generate Image is missing, the district has switched Firefly off. Use the normal templates.

Steps if you are in college and only need a poster.

1. Open Express and use the free account.
2. Export the file.
3. Leave the Creative Cloud student page alone unless a syllabus names Photoshop, Illustrator or Premiere.

Steps if a course really needs the full apps.

1. Go to Adobe's education store, not a coupon site.
2. Verify with the method on that page (usually SheerID or a college email).
3. Compare the student annual price with the monthly price. Annual is cheaper per month and harder to exit.
4. Install only the apps the course uses.

If your application is rejected

Most rejections are boring. The photo is dark, the college name is only a logo, the date is from last year, or the name on the form does not match the ID.

GitHub. Read the email. It usually says which check failed: unreadable image, no date, name mismatch, missing college email, or two-factor authentication still off. Fix that one thing, log out, log in, and apply again. Do not open a second GitHub account. GitHub Education support can be contacted with the college's full name, website, and the email domain you are trying to use, especially when the college does not issue email and the form will not move.

SheerID (Google, Perplexity, and the US ChatGPT offer). Use a document issued this term. Fee receipts work when they show your name, the college and a date. If the college is not in the list, use SheerID's "request my school" path and keep the free product. Clearing cache fixes a stuck "pending" page more often than people expect. The help article for Perplexity says to contact SheerID, not Perplexity, when the verifier itself is stuck.

Notion. The button is missing because the domain is not allowlisted, or because you are signed in with Gmail. Mail team@makenotion.com from the college address if you have one. Include the college website and a line that the institution is in WHED, if you have checked that.

Microsoft, Claude, Canva Campus, Adobe campus. A rejection here is usually "your college has not bought this". No document will fix it. Use the free consumer tier, or ask IT once, in writing.

Keep copies of what you uploaded. You will need a fresh copy next year. GitHub rechecks students. Notion rechecks about once a year. Google's student page says eligibility is verified again if you want to stay on a student plan.

What to skip

Skip "lifetime student AI packs" sold on Telegram or Instagram. The real offers are on the company's own site, and they ask for SheerID, a college email, or GitHub's education form.

Skip Cursor's old one-year student discount if a 2025 blog still recommends it. Cursor stopped new sign-ups for that discount on 25 June 2026. People who already had it keep the rate until that plan ends. New students get the free Hobby plan, plus credits at campus events, not a standing half-price Pro.

Skip paying for five chat subscriptions in the same month. One free chat tool, Notebook for your PDFs, and Copilot if you code, covers almost every college week.

A simple weekly setup

Monday. Put this week's PDFs into one Gemini Notebook. Ask for a one-page brief and five questions. Answer the questions yourself before you read the model's version.

During practicals. If you code, keep GitHub Copilot on in the editor. When it suggests a block you do not understand, ask it to explain the lines. Do not submit code you cannot walk through in a viva.

Before a presentation. Build the slides yourself in Canva or Express. Use the AI only for a first layout or a missing icon. Fix the words so they sound like you.

Before you pay. Open your college mail and search for "Copilot", "Gemini" or "Adobe". A licence the college already bought beats a personal card.

If you want a credential after you have used the tools for a few months, the certification guide covers which exams are worth the fee. A badge does not replace a small project you can demo.

Sources

Checked in September 2026. Offers move. If a checkout price disagrees with this page, trust the checkout.

• Google, college students get 12 months of Google AI free (19 Aug 2026)
• Google, back-to-school 2026 student offers
• Google One Help, claim a student offer
• Gemini for students
• OpenAI Help, ChatGPT back-to-school offer for students
• Microsoft, Copilot in Education
• GitHub Docs, Copilot for students
• GitHub Education, Student Developer Pack
• Google for Education, Gemini Notebook
• Perplexity, verify student status
• Perplexity, Education Pro
• Notion Help, Notion for education
• Anthropic, Claude for higher education
• Canva Help, Canva Education
• Adobe, Express for Education overview
• Cursor Help, student discount
• HEPI and Kortext, Student Generative AI Survey 2025
• GitHub Docs, apply to GitHub Education as a student
• The Indian Express, on the IIT Delhi student and faculty AI survey
• Discover Education, AI-assisted learning among Indian university students and scholars