ChatGPT Student Discount 2026: Is ChatGPT Plus Free for Students?

OpenAI runs ChatGPT student offers as time-limited promotions, and one is live right now with a hard deadline. Here is what students can get from OpenAI this term, who is eligible and who is not, what you pay when the free months end, and how a student founder gets OpenAI credits after that.

Current offer 4 months ChatGPT Plus free, an $80 value

Who U.S. only College and grad students, verified by SheerID

Claim by Oct 31 2026, then $20/month unless you cancel

Student founders Credits OpenAI API credits through partner VCs

What you can actually get

Free credits that open up the day you start a company.

Every ChatGPT student offer in 2026, and who can get it

OpenAI does not have one student page that lists everything. These are the offers on OpenAI's own pages as of our verified date.

Offer	What you get	Who is eligible	Deadline
Back to School offer	Four free monthly billing periods of ChatGPT Plus, including ChatGPT Work. Then $20/month.	Current full-time and part-time college and graduate students at eligible U.S. degree-granting institutions.	Claim by October 31, 2026
Codex for university students	$100 in ChatGPT credits (2,500 credits) to extend Codex usage beyond your plan's limits. Expire 12 months after grant.	Students at degree-granting universities in the U.S. or Canada who live there when claiming. Works on Free, Go, Plus or Pro.	No end date stated
ChatGPT Edu	A university-wide ChatGPT workspace with higher limits than Free. Conversations are not used to train OpenAI models.	Students at universities that have bought it. You cannot sign up individually.	Ongoing
OpenAI Student Collective	For selected undergraduate Campus Leads: a ChatGPT subscription and Codex credits for the program, event funding and a stipend.	Undergraduates 18+ in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany, India, Japan or South Korea. Competitive.	Fall 2026 cohort closed; register interest for future cohorts

The Codex credits are not API credits. OpenAI's page says they are ChatGPT credits for Codex usage, so they do not pay for an app you build on the OpenAI API.

The fine print on the four free months

From OpenAI's help article and the offer page:

It is U.S. only. The offer covers students "enrolled at eligible U.S. degree-granting institutions". SheerID decides whether your school and enrollment count. Part-time and graduate students are included.
A payment method is required. You are not charged for the four months, then Plus renews at $20 a month. ChatGPT Plus has no annual option, so $20 a month is the price after.
Existing Plus subscribers can claim it, if their monthly Plus is billed directly by ChatGPT. Subscriptions billed through the Apple App Store or Google Play are not supported while they stay store-billed.
Your ChatGPT account does not need your school email. You verify with a school email inside the SheerID step, but the free months land on whichever ChatGPT account is signed in. OpenAI says it cannot move the offer to another account afterwards.
Cancelling early forfeits the rest. If you cancel, Plus continues to the end of the current monthly billing period and the remaining free months are lost. So do not cancel in month one to "avoid forgetting"; set a reminder for month four instead.
One redemption per student. Having used an earlier OpenAI student promotion does not by itself disqualify you.

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How to claim ChatGPT Plus free as a student

Before October 31, 2026. Use a web or mobile web browser, not the app.

1

Decide which ChatGPT account gets the offer

Use the personal account you plan to keep. The offer cannot be moved later. If you already pay for Plus through the App Store or Google Play, cancel there first and wait for the period to end, because store-billed subscriptions are not supported.
2

Open the offer page and sign in

Go to chatgpt.com/students/2026, click "Claim free offer" and sign in to that account.
3

Verify with SheerID

Depending on your school, SheerID checks enrollment records, asks you to sign in through your school's single sign-on, or asks for documents. If it fails, use SheerID's support form.
4

Add a payment method and activate

New subscribers add a card. You will not be charged for four monthly billing periods starting on the claim date.
5

Set a reminder for the renewal

Plus renews at $20 a month after the fourth period. If you want to drop to Free or Go, change plans near the end of month four rather than cancelling early.
6

Claim the Codex credits too, if you code

U.S. and Canadian university students can add $100 in Codex credits at chatgpt.com/codex/students. They stack with any ChatGPT plan, including Free, and last 12 months.

What stage are you at?

Building something? Founders who incorporate unlock far more than any student plan. See what you qualify for in 60 seconds.

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What ChatGPT costs students after the offer

There is no student column because there is no standing student price. Go is from OpenAI's January 2026 announcement; Plus and Pro from the ChatGPT pricing page.

Plan	U.S. price	What you get
Free	$0	Unlimited everyday text chats, with tighter limits on image generation, file uploads and data analysis.
Go	$8/month (localized in some markets)	Higher limits than Free for images, file uploads and data analysis, longer memory, projects and custom GPTs. Available in every country ChatGPT supports.
Plus	$20/month	Advanced models, ChatGPT Work agent across apps and files, Codex, expanded memory and 20 GB of storage, email and calendar connections, no ads. The plan the student offer gives you.
Pro	From $100/month	OpenAI's most capable Pro model, more Work and Codex usage, 100 GB of storage, three usage tiers.

OpenAI does not offer annual billing on Go, Plus or Pro, so there is no annual discount to wait for either. Full model and API rates are on our OpenAI pricing page.

Not in the U.S.? What students elsewhere can get

The four-month Plus offer is limited to U.S. institutions, and searches for a ChatGPT student discount in India, the UK or Europe mostly end at third-party coupon sites. There is no OpenAI student price for those countries on any OpenAI page we checked.

The realistic options are the Free plan, which has unlimited everyday text chats, and ChatGPT Go, which OpenAI sells in every country ChatGPT supports with localized pricing in some markets. Canadian university students are the one exception with something extra: they qualify for the $100 Codex credits alongside U.S. students.

If your university has ChatGPT Edu, that is the best deal available anywhere. It is sold to the institution, so ask IT or the library whether your school has it. And if you want to compare, Google is currently giving students in more than 140 markets a free year of Google AI Plus; see our Gemini student plan guide.

ChatGPT vs Gemini vs Claude for students right now

Checked on the same day. The offers differ more than the products.

ChatGPT

4 months free

Plus for students at U.S. institutions, claim by October 31, 2026. Then $20 a month. Plus $100 in Codex credits for U.S. and Canadian students.

Google Gemini 12 months free

Google AI Pro for U.S. college students, Google AI Plus in 140+ other markets. Redeem by December 31, 2026.

Claude No discount

No individual student pricing on Claude Pro. Free plan, or Claude for Education through your university.

GitHub Copilot Free while a student

The AI coding assistant with a standing student offer, through the GitHub Student Developer Pack.

For founders

Building something? Free months of Plus will not cover an API bill.

ChatGPT Plus and the Codex student credits are for using OpenAI's apps. Neither pays for the OpenAI API, which is what your product calls once you build something real.

Stage: Pre-seed to Series A
Equity: None taken
Referral: VC or accelerator

See eligibility & how to apply Apply

The fine print

For that, OpenAI for Startups offers free API credits, rate limit upgrades and time with OpenAI's solutions engineers, but according to openai.com/startups the credits come through OpenAI's VC partner network: you need a referral code from a partner firm, a business email, a product description and basic funding details. Firms OpenAI names include Thrive Capital, Sequoia, a16z, Kleiner Perkins and Conviction. If you are not backed yet, OpenAI also gives out credits at events such as hackathons, and has been running student founder evenings with VCs at U.S. universities this fall.

If you are pre-funding, the other providers have open applications. The Google for Startups Cloud Program gives Seed to Series A startups up to $350,000 in Google Cloud credits, and Microsoft for Startups gives Azure credits. Our OpenAI for Startups listing covers the partner route in detail.

OpenAI for Startups

Up to Varies

API credits through OpenAI partner VCs (referral code required)
Rate limit upgrades
Time with OpenAI solutions engineers

Questions founders ask

Does ChatGPT have a student discount?

Right now, yes, but only in the U.S. and only until October 31, 2026. OpenAI's Back to School offer gives four free months of ChatGPT Plus to full-time and part-time college and graduate students at eligible U.S. degree-granting institutions. After the four months, Plus renews at $20 a month. Outside promotions, there is no standing student price.

Is ChatGPT Plus free for students?

For four months, if you are a student at an eligible U.S. college or graduate school and claim before October 31, 2026. You verify through SheerID and add a payment method. It is not free beyond the four months.

Can students outside the U.S. get ChatGPT Plus free?

Not through the current offer, which is limited to U.S. degree-granting institutions. Students at universities in the U.S. and Canada can claim $100 in Codex credits. Everyone else can use the Free plan or ChatGPT Go, or ChatGPT Edu if their university has it.

I already pay for ChatGPT Plus. Can I still claim the student offer?

Yes, if your monthly Plus is billed directly by ChatGPT and you meet the student requirements. Plus bought through the Apple App Store or Google Play is not supported while it stays store-billed; you would need to cancel there and let the period end first.

Do I need my school email for ChatGPT's student offer?

Not on your ChatGPT account. You use a school email inside the SheerID verification step, but the offer applies to whichever ChatGPT account is signed in, and OpenAI cannot move it to a different account later.

What happens if I cancel before the four months are up?

Your Plus access continues to the end of the current monthly billing period, and you lose the remaining free months. To avoid paying, change plans near the end of the fourth month instead of cancelling early.

What is ChatGPT Edu?

OpenAI's plan for universities. It gives students, faculty and staff a campus workspace with higher message limits than the free version, data analysis, file tools and custom GPTs, and OpenAI does not use the conversations to train its models. Universities buy it through OpenAI sales; students cannot buy it individually.

Do students get free OpenAI API credits?

Not as a student. The $100 Codex student credits are ChatGPT credits for Codex, not API credits. Startups can get API credits through OpenAI for Startups, which currently runs through OpenAI's VC partner network.

Related guides

Gemini student plan

A free year of Google AI Pro or AI Plus for college students.

Claude student discount

What students can get from Anthropic.

OpenAI pricing

API rates and ChatGPT plans.

OpenAI for Startups

API credits through OpenAI's partner network.

GitHub Student Developer Pack

Free Copilot and 70+ other student offers.

Azure for Students

Free Azure credits with no credit card.

More student guides

Programs in this guide

OpenAI Up to Varies

Google Cloud Up to $350,000

Microsoft Up to $150,000