Free AI Tools for Students

The starting point. Free tier includes GPT-4o. Use for brainstorming essay angles, explaining difficult concepts, generating study questions, and outlining assignments. Don't use it to write your essays — use it to understand topics you're struggling with.

AI research engine with cited sources. Ask a question, get an answer with links to where the information came from. Use it to find and understand sources quickly, then cite the original papers and articles — not Perplexity itself.

Catches grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors in real time. Works in your browser and Google Docs. The free tier handles the essentials. Run every paper through it before submitting — two minutes of cleanup that prevents embarrassing errors.

AI search engine for academic research papers. Ask questions and get answers backed by peer-reviewed studies with citations. Great for evidence-based learning and writing research papers.

AI-powered workspace for notes, tasks, and projects. Summarizes lectures, generates study guides, organizes your semester. Set up one workspace per course and use templates — 20 minutes of setup saves hours of chaos.

AI-generated presentations. Describe your topic and key points, get a polished deck. The free tier includes Gamma branding but it's subtle. For class presentations, it saves hours of slide-building.

If you're a CS student, this is free with your .edu email. Full AI code completion in VS Code. Explains code, generates functions, helps debug. The best free AI coding tool available — and it's completely free for you.