AI Student Discounts in 2026: What's Still Free vs. What Already Expired

Half the "get [AI tool] free as a student" posts floating around right now are describing offers that ended over a year ago. We checked the official pages directly in July 2026 so you don't waste an afternoon signing up for something that already closed. Here's what's real, what's dead, and what depends on your specific school.

**Update, August 22, 2026:** Google relaunched a free student offer for Google AI Pro (and AI Plus internationally) on August 19, 2026, after the version below expired in March. See our [full guide to the new Google AI Pro student offer](https://questloops.com/blog/free-google-ai-pro-for-college-students-how-to-claim-it-and-the-auto-renewal-trap) for eligibility, what's actually included, and the auto-renewal date to watch.

Still free right now (verified)

Two offers held up when we checked the source pages directly:

• **GitHub Student Developer Pack** — Still active, no expiration in sight. Free GitHub Pro, Codespaces at the Pro tier, a JetBrains IDE license, Azure and DigitalOcean credits, and 50+ smaller partner perks. You need a school email or other proof of enrollment to apply.
• **Notion Education Plus plan** — Free unlimited-block Plus plan for college students and educators with a verified `.edu`-style address at a school listed in the World Higher Education Database. The catch: this only includes a *limited trial* of Notion AI, not full AI access — that still requires a paid Business plan.

Expired offers that are still all over the internet

These were real at some point, which is exactly why they keep getting recycled in "free AI tools for students" roundups. As of now, most of these are still dead, with one recent exception noted below:

• **Perplexity Pro "Race to Infinity"** — A referral competition that gave students a free month (and top schools a free year). It ended December 31, 2024. Perplexity still runs a separate, ongoing 50% student discount through Education Pro, unrelated to that expired competition; see our [Perplexity Education Pro guide](https://questloops.com/blog/perplexity-pro-for-students-in-2026-what-education-pro-gets-you) for what it actually includes and how to verify.
• **ChatGPT Plus, two free months** — OpenAI's experimental program for college students in the US, Canada, Australia, and Colombia ran March 31 to May 31, 2025, then closed.
• **Google AI Pro (Gemini) student offer, original version** — This offer ended on March 11, 2026. It's since been relaunched: as of August 19, 2026, Google is again offering eligible US college students a free year of Google AI Pro (AI Plus outside the US), through December 31, 2026. See the [updated guide](https://questloops.com/blog/free-google-ai-pro-for-college-students-how-to-claim-it-and-the-auto-renewal-trap) for the current terms, including the auto-renewal date you need to track. If you're building on the Gemini API rather than paying for the consumer app, our guide to [Gemini's free API tier](https://questloops.com/blog/how-to-use-google-gemini-for-free-in-2026-api-limits-explained) covers what's still usable there.

Claude for Education: real, but not a personal signup

Anthropic does offer free Claude access to students — but only through a university-wide partnership Anthropic sets up directly with a school's IT department, not an individual sign-up page. If your university already has a deal in place, check with your campus IT or library site before assuming you need to pay. If it doesn't, there's currently no public "sign up as an individual student" path for free Claude access.

Before you trust any "free for students" post

• Go to the company's own pricing or education page, not a third-party blog quoting it.
• Look for an explicit end date or "this offer has ended" banner — companies do post these when a promo closes.
• If the claim is "sign up with a promo code," be extra skeptical; the legitimate offers above verify through your actual school email, not a code from a random article.

**Bottom line:** the GitHub Student Developer Pack and Notion's education plan are the two AI-adjacent freebies you can count on right now, and Google AI Pro is back in play for US and international students as of August 19. Everything else billed as "free AI for students" is either already gone or locked behind a deal your school has to negotiate — so budget accordingly rather than counting on a promo that may no longer exist.