Search "free ChatGPT for students" and you'll get a wall of results describing a 12-month Google AI Pro giveaway or a ChatGPT Plus student promo. Both existed. Both are gone. The AI industry ran a wave of aggressive student promotions through 2025 to build habits early, and most of those windows have closed. What's left is a smaller, real list — institutional access, ongoing education tiers, and one or two individual discounts that still work. This is that list, not the recycled one.
What's actually expired (stop looking for these)
Two offers get cited constantly and neither is claimable anymore:
- Google's free 12-month Google AI Pro for students — ran from April 2025 through regional cutoffs between October 2025 and March 2026, with the last US redemption window closing April 30, 2026. If you claimed it before your deadline, you keep it until your 12 months run out. New signups are closed everywhere.
- OpenAI's free two-months-of-Plus student promo — ran March 31 to May 31, 2025 in the US and Canada through SheerID verification. The banner is gone from chatgpt.com and the link no longer accepts new claims.
If a page tells you to claim either of these today, it's stale content or bait for your email address.
What's still real
Perplexity Education Pro — 50% off, ongoing
Perplexity's student tier is the most straightforward one left standing. Verified students get Perplexity Pro at roughly half the standard $20/month rate through Education Pro — same feature set as regular Pro (unlimited Pro Search, file uploads, premium model access), just discounted. Verify inside the app: Upgrade → Education → "Verify as student" through SheerID using your academic email. If your school's domain doesn't auto-verify, you can submit a photo of your student ID or an enrollment letter and it clears in 24–48 hours. This one has no end date attached — it's a standing plan, not a promo window.
Claude for Education — free, but only if your school is in the program
Anthropic doesn't run an individual student discount — there's no verification flow you can complete on your own. What exists instead is Claude for Education: universities that partner with Anthropic get Pro-level access rolled out to every enrolled student automatically, no application. Confirmed partner schools include Northeastern, LSE, Syracuse, Pitt, and Lehigh, among others, but Anthropic doesn't publish a full list. The only way to know is to log into claude.ai with your .edu email and see if it upgrades on its own. If your school isn't in the program, the free tier is genuinely capable for most coursework, and the standard Pro rate is $17/month if billed annually.
GitHub Student Developer Pack — free, but Copilot access is capped right now
The pack itself is unchanged: free for anyone 13+ enrolled in a degree or diploma program, verified with a school email or proof of enrollment, approvals typically landing within 72 hours. It still bundles GitHub Pro, a JetBrains license, cloud credits from DigitalOcean and Azure, and a free domain. The one thing to know before you apply expecting full Copilot Pro: GitHub restructured student Copilot access in March 2026 and paused new signups for the enhanced Copilot Student plan in April 2026 citing compute demand. Students verified before the pause kept their plan; new applicants get Copilot Free — usable, but with premium models limited to auto-routing rather than manual selection. Worth applying for the rest of the pack regardless; Copilot access reopening is worth checking back on.
Notion Education Plus — free, but it's not an AI plan anymore
Notion's free Education Plus plan is still live: sign in with an institutional email recognized in the World Higher Education Database, go to Settings → Upgrade plan → "Get free education plan," and it applies automatically for recognized schools. The catch is that Notion restructured its AI pricing in 2026 — full Notion AI now sits behind the Business plan ($15/month billed annually), not bundled into Free or Plus tiers the way it used to be. Education Plus is worth claiming for the workspace features alone (unlimited blocks, file uploads, version history), just don't expect AI writing tools to come with it. Pair it with a separate AI tool rather than upgrading to Business for that alone.
How to check before you apply
- Verify with your institutional (.edu or equivalent) email first — most of these run through SheerID or a WHED lookup, and a personal email won't clear either.
- If a page promises a free year with no verification step, it's describing an expired 2025 promo, not a live one.
- Institutional programs (Claude for Education, GitHub's Copilot Student tier) depend on your school being enrolled — the only way to know is to try logging in with your school email, not to search whether your specific university is listed.
None of these require a credit card to check eligibility. If a "student verification" flow asks for payment details before confirming you're eligible, that's the promo talking you into a trial, not a discount.