AI Perks curates and provides access to exclusive discounts, credits, and deals on AI tools, cloud services, and APIs to help startups and developers save money.
What are the best AI coding tools for students in 2026?
Start with the free plans anyone can use, then add the student upgrades. Up to $120 in GitHub credits comes first, and the catalogue lists ten student perks worth up to $2,338. Each card shows who qualifies and how to claim.
Coding has the most student offers of any category. Besides GitHub, the catalogue lists $199 in JetBrains credits, $100 in Codex credits, $120 in Replit credits and up to $150 in Lovable credits.
This guide groups the options by use: free for everyone, student upgrades, and what has closed or costs money. AI Perks tracks more student offers than fit in one article, so each section points to the cards.
Top AI Credits for Startups
Apply directly through these verified programs.
ChatGPT $80
Eligible for early-stage startups
Google Gemini $240
Eligible for early-stage startups
GitHub Up to $120
Eligible for early-stage startups
Notion $120
Eligible for early-stage startups
Figma $1,080
Eligible for early-stage startups
Perplexity $84
Eligible for early-stage startups
Which AI coding tools are free for everyone?
Several tools cost nothing to start, with no student status needed. They are the right base layer, because the student upgrades sit on top of them.
| Tool | What is free | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot Free | 2,000 completions per month | Capped at 50 chat requests a month |
| Google Antigravity | No charge | Quota refreshes weekly |
| Zed Personal | 2,000 accepted edit predictions, $0 forever | Unlimited use needs your own API keys or external agents |
| Cline | Free tool | You pay for API use or run local models |
| Codex | Included in the ChatGPT Free plan for quick coding tasks | The CLI is open source |
| Replit Starter | Daily Agent credits, monthly cloud credits, one published app | The free app link goes down after 30 days |
Copilot Free is the easiest editor assistant to try. Antigravity suits you if a weekly quota is enough for coursework.
Cline and Zed are the flexible options. They cost nothing themselves, but heavy use means paying for an API or running a local model, so check that before a big project.
Which student upgrades are worth claiming?
The student upgrades add real value on top of the free plans. They are listed here from the most broadly useful to the most specialised.
Copilot for verified students
Copilot is free for verified students, and the catalogue shows the GitHub value at up to $120. The plan has limits: you can only use auto model selection, so you cannot pick a model. It includes agents but excludes third-party agents.
It also comes with an allowance of AI credits, but GitHub publishes no number for it. The student bundle adds free GitHub Pro while you are a student, plus a free Azure offer with 25+ cloud services and $100 in Azure credit.
JetBrains IDEs
The catalogue value is $199. The student pack gives the full versions of IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm, plus GoLand, PhpStorm and others. The AI part is only a limited trial of code completion, AI chat and an AI coding agent, so treat this as an IDE upgrade first.
Codex credits
Codex student credits are worth $100, which is 2,500 credits. That suits agent-style tasks where you hand over a multi-step job. Our Codex for students guide goes deeper on how far those credits stretch.
Kiro, Replit and Lovable
Kiro gives students at eligible universities 1,000 credits a month free. Replit is $120 in the catalogue, and Lovable is up to $150. Both suit building and publishing small apps rather than editing an existing codebase.
Student discounts reported by third parties, such as a rumoured Replit discount, are not always shown on the vendor's own pricing page. Third-party roundups found that only 3 of 10 student coding deals they listed were confirmed on the company's own page. Check each card before you plan around a number.
Top AI Credits for Startups
Apply directly through these verified programs.
ChatGPT $80
Eligible for early-stage startups
Google Gemini $240
Eligible for early-stage startups
GitHub Up to $120
Eligible for early-stage startups
Notion $120
Eligible for early-stage startups
Figma $1,080
Eligible for early-stage startups
Perplexity $84
Eligible for early-stage startups
How much free credit can a student coding stack add up to?
Here are the coding perks from the AI Perks catalogue, with their values. Open any card to see who qualifies and how to claim.
| Company | Free credits | How to get |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub (students) | Up to $120 | Get this perk |
| JetBrains (students) | $199 | Get this perk |
| OpenAI Codex (students) | $100 | Get this perk |
| Replit (students) | $120 | Get this perk |
| Lovable (students) | Up to $150 | Get this perk |
| Anthropic API | $20,000 | Get this perk |
Total: up to $689 across the five student coding perks ($120 + $199 + $100 + $120 + $150 = $689), or up to $20,689 with the Anthropic API perk ($689 + $20,000 = $20,689).
The five student coding perks sit inside a wider set. All ten student and education perks in the catalogue add up to up to $2,338 in student AI value, and the other five cover chat assistants and other tools. Our free AI credits for students comparison lines up every program side by side.
What has closed or costs money?
Not every tool people mention is free for students, and some offers have ended. Knowing this saves you from planning around something that is gone. Check the cards for which student offers are open now.
Claude Code has no free plan. It needs Claude Pro at $20/month or a Max plan from $100/month. If you want Claude models without a subscription, the Anthropic API perk above shows a $20,000 value, and its card explains who qualifies. Read Claude Code for students for the full breakdown.
Top AI Credits for Startups
Apply directly through these verified programs.
ChatGPT $80
Eligible for early-stage startups
Google Gemini $240
Eligible for early-stage startups
GitHub Up to $120
Eligible for early-stage startups
Notion $120
Eligible for early-stage startups
Figma $1,080
Eligible for early-stage startups
Perplexity $84
Eligible for early-stage startups
Which tool should you pick for each use?
Match the tool to the job, not to the biggest number. This ranking goes by how often a student will use each one.
| Rank | Use | Pick | Free amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daily editor help | Copilot | Free for verified students, up to $120 in the catalogue |
| 2 | Full IDE for a language | JetBrains | $199 |
| 3 | Agent for multi-step tasks | Codex | $100 (2,500 credits) |
| 4 | Building and publishing apps | Replit, Lovable | $120, up to $150 |
| 5 | Cloud hosting for projects | Azure offer in the GitHub bundle | $100 credit, 25+ services |
| 6 | Credit-based agentic editor | Kiro | 1,000 credits a month |
Rank 1 and 2 pair well, since JetBrains IDEs can run the Copilot extension. For a deeper look at what the bundle holds, see what is inside GitHub's student bundle.
How do you set up your free AI coding stack?
Follow these steps in order. Each one is quick, and the first does the most work.
Step 1: Get credits via AI Perks. Open the student cards at getaiperks.com and read the amount, who qualifies and how to claim for each coding perk. Pick the two or three that match how you code.
Step 2: Start with the free plans. Use Copilot Free, Antigravity, Zed or Cline while any student claims are pending. Copilot Free gives 2,000 completions and 50 chat requests a month, which is enough to test your workflow.
Step 3: Match each claim to a job. Use Copilot or JetBrains for editing, Codex for agent tasks, and Replit or Lovable for app projects. One tool per job avoids burning credits on overlap.
Step 4: Install in your editor. Add the extension in VS Code or a JetBrains IDE, sign in and run a small test project. Note which limits you hit, such as the auto-only model choice on the Copilot student plan.
Step 5: Recheck the card terms. Values and deadlines change. Come back to the card before you plan a long project around any credit.
Top AI Credits for Startups
Apply directly through these verified programs.
ChatGPT $80
Eligible for early-stage startups
Google Gemini $240
Eligible for early-stage startups
GitHub Up to $120
Eligible for early-stage startups
Notion $120
Eligible for early-stage startups
Figma $1,080
Eligible for early-stage startups
Perplexity $84
Eligible for early-stage startups
FAQ
What is the best free AI coding assistant for students?
Copilot is the strongest starting point. Anyone gets Copilot Free with 2,000 completions and 50 chat requests a month, and verified students get Copilot free on a student plan. The GitHub card shows the value, up to $120 in the catalogue, and how to claim it.
Does Claude Code have a free plan?
No. Claude Code needs Claude Pro at $20/month or a Max plan from $100/month. If you want Claude models without a subscription, the Anthropic API perk shows a $20,000 value in the catalogue. Browse getaiperks.com to open that card and see who qualifies and how to claim.
How much free credit can a student coding stack add up to?
The five student coding perks add up to $689: $120 + $199 + $100 + $120 + $150 = $689. All ten student and education perks in the catalogue reach up to $2,338. Each card lists its own amount, so open them at getaiperks.com before you decide which to claim.
Do I need student status to use Cline or Zed?
No. Cline is a free tool, and Zed Personal includes 2,000 accepted edit predictions at $0 forever. Heavy use can cost extra, though: Cline needs paid API use or local models, and unlimited Zed use needs your own API keys or external agents.
Can I trust student discounts I read about online?
Check them on the card first. Third-party roundups found that only 3 of 10 student coding deals they listed were confirmed on the company's own page, and a rumoured Replit discount is one example. The Replit card shows the catalogue value of $120.
Ready to build your free AI coding stack?
Start with the free plans, then add the student perks that match how you code. Every card shows the amount, who qualifies and how to claim, so you can pick the two or three worth your time and skip the rest.
Get free AI credits at getaiperks.com →
Browse every student coding perk and more at getaiperks.com.
