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.
Is Colab Pro free for students in 2026?
No, not for new students. The free one-year Colab Pro student offer is closed to new signups, and Colab Pro now costs $9.99 a month for 100 compute units. Free Colab still gives a T4 GPU when one is available.
If your project has outgrown a notebook, the bigger number in the catalogue is $350,000 in Google Cloud credits. The card shows who qualifies and how to claim. AI Perks also tracks more student and education offers, so you can compare them before paying for anything.
Students who already hold the free Pro year keep it until the year is up. If you are one of them, note that buying a paid personal plan cancels the student subscription permanently, so do not switch casually.
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
What does free Colab actually give you?
Free Colab grants access to Nvidia T4 GPUs, subject to quota and availability. Google describes GPU access on the free tier as heavily restricted. Notebooks can run for at most 12 hours, depending on availability and your usage.
Google does not publish the usage limits, in part because they vary over time. Memory and disk sizes are not published either. Free sessions get VMs with a standard system memory profile, while paid plans can reach high-memory machines, subject to availability and your compute unit balance.
That makes free Colab fine for coursework, small fine-tuning runs and experiments. It is a poor base for a project that needs a guaranteed GPU on a deadline.
How do Colab Pro and Pro+ compare on price?
Here is the paid ladder in the US, using the published numbers.
| Plan | Price (US) | Compute units | Longest run | Extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free of charge | Quota not published | Up to 12 hours | T4 GPU when available |
| Colab Pro | $9.99 a month | 100 a month | Not published | 15 extra Kaggle GPU hours a week |
| Colab Pro+ | $49.99 a month | 600 a month | Up to 24 hours with enough units | 30 extra Kaggle GPU hours a week, background execution |
Pro+ gives you six times the units of Pro (600 / 100 = 6) for about five times the price ($49.99 / $9.99 is roughly 5). That makes Pro+ the better deal per unit, but only if you will actually use the larger allowance.
Paid plans also include free access to popular LLMs through the google-colab-ai Python library. A Google AI plan and a Colab Pro or Pro+ subscription can be active on the same account together.
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
What are compute units, and what happens when they run out?
Compute units are the currency behind paid Colab. How far one goes depends on your VM configuration and usage, and Google gives no fixed figure. You cannot reliably convert 100 units into a number of GPU hours.
When units run out, you drop back to free-tier rules and a running job can be stopped. Google also warns you can expect backend termination if you exhaust units on a Pro, Pro+ or Pay As You Go plan. For long training runs, that is the real risk: a job that dies at hour six is wasted units.
If you hit the ceiling, you can buy more through Pay As You Go. It has no subscription and costs $9.99 per 100 units or $49.99 per 500. Pro+ also has background execution, so notebooks keep running after you close the browser tab. The details are in Google's Colab FAQ.
Where do bigger GPU credits come from?
Colab is one way to rent a GPU by the hour. Another is a credit balance on a compute platform, which you spend on whatever machine your project needs. The catalogue lists these amounts for builders:
| Company | Free credits | How to get |
|---|---|---|
| Modal | $50,000 | Get this perk |
| RunPod | $1,000 | Get this perk |
| Together AI | Up to $50,000 | Get this perk |
| Google Cloud | $350,000 | Get this perk |
| NVIDIA | Credits vary | Get this perk |
Total: up to $451,000 across the four fixed amounts ($50,000 + $1,000 + $50,000 + $350,000 = $451,000), plus NVIDIA credits that vary.
For scale, 100 months of Colab Pro at $9.99 comes to 100 x $9.99 = $999, so a $1,000 balance covers that much spend. Treat that as a rough price comparison only, because the two services meter usage differently. Each card shows who qualifies and how to claim.
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 do you get free GPU access step by step?
Step 1: Get credits via AI Perks. Browse the AI Perks catalogue, open the cards above, and check which ones match your situation. Student and education cards sit alongside startup and builder ones, so you can see all your options in one place.
Step 2: Start on free Colab. Prototype on the T4 while your code is still changing. Keep notebooks short enough to finish well inside the 12-hour limit, and save checkpoints to storage you control.
Step 3: Measure before you buy. Run one realistic job and see how it behaves. Because Google publishes no fixed GPU-hours figure per compute unit, your own test is the only reliable number.
Step 4: Move heavy training to credits. Once a job needs long, uninterrupted GPU time, use a credit balance from the table instead of paying $9.99 or $49.99 a month. Credits cost you nothing, and a stopped job costs you only time.
Step 5: Keep Colab for what it does well. Use it for quick experiments, teaching notebooks and sharing work. If you later want more of it, Pro at $9.99 a month is the cheapest step up.
For more student-specific options, see Free AI Credits for Students 2026: Every Program Compared and Free AI API Keys for Students: Every Free Tier in 2026.
Which option fits which project?
- Course assignment or a small model: free Colab is enough. Accept that the GPU may not always be available.
- A semester project with repeated training runs: Colab Pro gives 100 units a month, but they can run out and stop a job. A credit balance is safer for runs you cannot restart.
- Overnight jobs: Pro+ allows up to 24 hours with enough units, and background execution keeps notebooks running after you close the tab. A dedicated VM bought through GCP Marketplace removes runtime limits and idle timeouts entirely.
- Research with a lab or a team: shared credit balances are easier to manage than individual subscriptions. See Free AI Credits for University Labs: 2026 Provider Guide.
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
Is there still a free Colab Pro year for students?
Not for new students. The free one-year Colab Pro offer for university students and faculty is closed to new signups, though existing holders keep it until their year ends. Other student and education offers are listed with amounts at getaiperks.com, and each card shows who qualifies.
Does free Google Colab include a GPU?
Yes, with limits. Free Colab grants access to Nvidia T4 GPUs, subject to quota and availability. Google calls access to expensive resources like GPUs heavily restricted, and it does not publish the usage limits. Sessions run for at most 12 hours, depending on availability and your usage.
What is the Colab Pro price?
Colab Pro costs $9.99 a month for 100 compute units in the US. Colab Pro+ costs $49.99 a month and includes 600 units. Pay As You Go has no subscription and charges $9.99 per 100 units or $49.99 per 500, if you only need extra units occasionally.
How long does one compute unit last?
Google gives no fixed figure. How far a unit goes depends on your VM configuration and usage. The practical approach is to run one real job, note how many units it used, and plan from that. When units run out, you fall back to free-tier rules and a running job can stop.
Where can I find bigger GPU credits than Colab offers?
The AI Perks catalogue lists amounts such as $50,000 in Modal credits and $1,000 in RunPod credits. Each card shows who qualifies and how to claim. Browse the full list at getaiperks.com.
Does Colab Pro+ run notebooks with the tab closed?
Yes. Colab Pro+ has background execution, so notebooks keep running after you close the browser tab. It also supports continuous execution of up to 24 hours, but only if you have enough compute units. Free and Pro plans do not get the 24-hour option.
Ready to find your GPU credits?
Free Colab is a good start, but for serious training the larger balances in the catalogue are worth a look. Compare the cards, check what each one offers, and pick the one that fits your project.
Get free AI credits at getaiperks.com →
Student offers change often, so check the cards at getaiperks.com for the current list.
