Student Software Deals 2026: Free Pro Plans, AI Credits and Discounts

Student status is still one of the cheapest ways to get paid software. A verified student can run a full professional toolkit in 2026 without paying for most of it: an AI assistant, a code editor with AI completions, a design tool, a notes app, office apps and cloud credit. This roundup lists the student and educator offers we could confirm on each provider’s own page on 1 November 2026, who can claim them, and the ones that have closed.

How student software discounts work

Every programme below checks that you are a real student or teacher before it applies the discount. The methods fall into four groups.

• School email. The simplest check. You sign up or verify with an address on your school’s domain, and the provider matches it against a list of recognised institutions. Some US-only offers, such as Cloudflare’s, accept only .edu addresses. Others, such as Wispr Flow, recognise a long list of non-US university domains too.
• GitHub Education. GitHub verifies you once, and other providers (JetBrains, for example) accept your GitHub Student Developer Pack status as proof. That makes it worth doing first.
• SheerID or similar. A third-party service checks a document you upload, such as a dated student ID, transcript, fee receipt or enrolment letter. Perplexity, Autodesk and Google’s student bundle use this route.
• Manual review. If your school is not recognised, most providers have a support form where you can send enrolment evidence.

What counts as a student varies. GitHub accepts anyone 13 or older in a degree or diploma programme, including high school and homeschool. JetBrains wants a full-time programme of at least one year. Google’s free AI plan, Cloudflare and Azure are aimed at university students, and Google and Cloudflare set a minimum age of 18. Canva is the opposite: it is free for K-12 schools and does not cover university students.

Educators are covered by fewer offers. Teachers usually verify with a staff email, staff ID or a public faculty page. Where a programme covers teachers, we say so in the tables.

Renewal is rarely automatic. GitHub re-checks Copilot eligibility every month. Notion, JetBrains, Google and Autodesk ask you to re-verify once a year. Miss the reminder and the plan drops back to free, or in some cases starts charging the regular price.

After graduation, access ends at the next re-verification. A few providers soften the drop: JetBrains gives graduates 40% off for two years. Others, such as Google AI Pro, roll straight onto a paid plan unless you cancel, which is why the card you enter at sign-up matters.

How we picked these offers

We started from the student offers in the SaaSDeals.io database and opened each provider’s own student page, help centre or announcement. An offer made this list only if the provider still describes it as available and states what you get. Where a provider does not publish a figure, such as a price or a length, we say so rather than guess. We dropped offers that have ended (Cursor’s free year), offers whose official page no longer exists (Bolt’s education discount) and offers we could not confirm anywhere official (a free SuperGrok trial for students, and a free Colab Pro year whose 2025 announcement described a limited number of places).

Coding and developer tools

GitHub Student Developer Pack is the first thing to claim. Verification needs a GitHub personal account and either a school email or a document such as a dated school ID, class schedule or transcript. Once approved you get GitHub Pro while you are a student, plus partner offers with their own terms. Examples on the pack page include $100 of Azure credit (18+), $50 of MongoDB Atlas credit, two years of 1Password and three months of DataCamp.

Copilot changed in 2026. Students now get a dedicated Copilot Student plan rather than Copilot Pro. GitHub says it includes unlimited code completions and an allowance of GitHub AI Credits, with limited chat and agent use. Verified teachers still get full Copilot Pro free. In both cases GitHub reviews eligibility every month, and approval can take a few days to show up after verification.

JetBrains covers IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate, PyCharm, ReSharper and the rest of its IDE range. It accepts a university email, an ISIC/ITIC card or your GitHub Student Developer Pack as proof. The licence is for non-commercial study and research only, and you renew it each year from your JetBrains Account while you are still enrolled.

Cloudflare is narrower than it looks: US students only, 18 or older, and the .edu address must also be your billing email. After 12 months the account moves back to the free Workers plan, and usage above the included limits is billed.

Codex credits need a ChatGPT account on the Free, Go, Plus or Pro plan. You can use a personal account, but you verify with your university email, and the offer is limited to one per student. These are ChatGPT credits for Codex, not API credits.

AI assistants

Google’s student offer is the largest free plan on this list. In the US it is a year of Google AI Pro, which Google prices at $19.99 a month, with 5 TB of storage and higher Gemini limits. Outside the US it is a year of Google AI Plus with 400 GB of storage, available in over 140 markets. Google’s announcement excludes the US (which gets AI Pro instead), Bolivia, Albania, Canada, Macau, Hong Kong and Tunisia from the AI Plus offer. Three conditions matter: you must redeem by 31 December 2026, you need a valid payment method at sign-up, and the plan renews at the paid price unless you cancel. Students whose 2025 AI Pro trial has expired can claim again. Google’s Antigravity coding tool works on any Google plan, including the free one, and AI Pro student members can buy extra AI credits for it.

Perplexity offers Education Pro, a discounted version of Pro for verified students and educators. Its help centre confirms the SheerID check and that any email address can be used for the account, but does not state the price. You see it on the upgrade screen after verification. We could not confirm the free 12-month offer that circulated in earlier years.

Wispr Flow activates its student offer automatically when you sign in with a .edu email. Students without one can send a student ID, enrolment confirmation or fee receipt. The help centre notes that some recognised student accounts get an annual $0 Student plan, but this is selective, not guaranteed.

Design and creative

Figma verifies education status through its apply page, after which you create an Education team. Schools teaching under-13s need a school agreement, and K-12 districts get the Enterprise tier. Figma does not publish a fixed term on its education page; your team’s settings show the expiry date.

Canva for Education is free for primary and secondary schools only. University students and staff are not eligible, and students join when their teacher or school invites them.

Autodesk gives one year of free educational access, renewable while you stay eligible. Use is limited to learning, teaching and research, never commercial work.

Adobe is a discount, not a free plan. The first-year price applies to first-time members on a 12-month plan, then the subscription renews at the higher standard student rate. Prices differ by country, so check the figure on your regional Adobe page.

Notes and productivity

Notion has two rules people miss. Your school email must be the main email on your Notion account, and each school email can claim the plan once for one workspace. K-12 students and teachers are not eligible and should stay on the free plan.

Microsoft 365 A1 covers the browser versions of the Office apps plus PC-only Publisher and Access. Desktop Word and Excel need a paid plan. Many schools are approved instantly, others take up to a month, and if the plan lapses your files become view-only.

Cloud credits and learning

Azure for Students is the easiest cloud credit to get: school email, no credit card, $100 to spend over 12 months, and you can renew each year while you study. If you have the GitHub pack, the same Azure offer appears there.

AWS Educate is training rather than credit. The official page lists free courses and practice labs on S3, EC2, VPC and RDS, with no card required, and does not mention any credit amount.

Google Cloud teaching credits go through your lecturer, not you. Only faculty can apply, with up to three courses per application, and students then receive a redemption link. If your course uses Google Cloud, ask your instructor whether they have applied.

The YC AI Stack is generous but gated. You cannot apply directly; YC emails access to students after an eligible campus event. Imagine Cup is a competition, not a perk: the 2027 champion receives $250,000 in cash and $1,000,000 in startup credits.

Tips before you claim

• Verify with GitHub first. Several providers accept GitHub Student Developer Pack status as proof, and the pack itself includes Azure, JetBrains and other offers.
• Use your school email as the main login where the provider asks for it. Notion requires it, and Wispr Flow fixes your student status at sign-up and does not reassess a later email change.
• Put renewal dates in your calendar. Google AI Pro moves to $19.99 a month and Google AI Plus to $4.99 a month after the free year. Lovable’s discount ends after 12 months. Cloudflare reverts after 12 months.
• Redeem time-limited offers early. The Google offer must be redeemed by 31 December 2026, and Imagine Cup applications close on 28 February 2027.
• Do not cancel and re-subscribe casually. Lovable says a cancelled student discount cannot be reactivated, and Adobe’s intro price is for first-time members only.
• Keep commercial work separate. JetBrains, Autodesk and Databricks Free Edition are for study and personal projects, not client work.
• Keep a document ready. A dated student ID, class schedule or enrolment letter fixes most rejected applications when your school domain is not recognised.