Cursor Student Discount: Current Pricing and Free Options

Cursor does not offer an active Cursor student discount today. A student who signs up receives the standard Hobby plan at no cost. Upgrading to Cursor Pro requires the full consumer price of $20 per month. Cursor's past student promotion is no longer listed.

Free artificial intelligence (AI) coding tools do exist for students. Verified students can get GitHub Copilot Student, a separate GitHub plan that costs nothing.

Copilot Student needs an approved GitHub Education application first, and activation is a separate step.

Is Cursor Free for Students Right Now

The official Cursor students page lists no student discount today. A student who signs up today gets the same free Hobby plan as anyone else. Upgrading beyond Hobby requires paying full price. Cursor Pro costs $20 per month for individual developers.

On its student page, Cursor states: 'Anyone can get started with Cursor for free. To upgrade your access, look out for promotions at our on-campus and online events starting this fall.'

Students who need advanced model capabilities must either purchase a standard subscription or wait for future campus events. Until those promotional events launch, standard commercial rates apply to every user.

Status of Past Cursor Student Promotions

Cursor's past student promotion is no longer listed. Old forum threads about the promotion still show up in search, but none leads to an offer you can claim today.

The official Cursor students page now points to promotions at on-campus and online events instead. Cursor has not published dates, participating schools, or eligibility criteria for those planned events.

Until Cursor posts those terms, plan around Hobby at $0 or Pro at $20 a month.

What Cursor Costs Without a Cursor Student Discount

Students who want to use Cursor must choose between the unpaid Hobby tier and paid commercial plans. Cursor publishes its complete pricing structure on the official Cursor pricing page. The entry plan costs nothing. Hobby requires no credit card to create an account.

Students can write code and test the interface without entering payment details. If your coursework demands heavy daily usage, the free plan might not be enough. Cursor does not publish exact Hobby usage quotas. If Hobby runs short for your coursework, Pro at $20 a month is the next step up.

For a deeper breakdown of commercial limits, read our Cursor pricing guide. Below are the current monthly rates published by Cursor.

• Hobby: Free, with no credit card required.
• Pro: $20 per month, the cheapest paid plan for one person.
• Pro+: $60 per month.
• Ultra: $200 per month.
• Teams Standard: $40 per user per month.
• Teams Premium: $120 per user per month.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing.

GitHub Copilot Student as a Free Alternative

GitHub offers a dedicated Copilot Student plan that is completely free for verified learners. This is a distinct tier, separate from the standard Copilot Pro subscription. Non-students pay $10 per month for Copilot Pro on the GitHub Copilot plans page.

GitHub moved eligible learners to the new plan in March 2026. Details appear in the March 2026 GitHub changelog. On Copilot Free and Copilot Student plans, access to models is available through auto model selection only. You cannot manually pick underlying model checkpoints.

According to a June 1, 2026 GitHub staff post, Copilot Student accounts receive 200 monthly included usage AI Credits. The tier also includes unlimited code completions directly into your code editor.

Individual account sign-ups were paused on April 20, 2026. They reopened gradually from June 17, 2026 per the June 17, 2026 GitHub changelog. Because access expanded in waves, confirm current availability on the GitHub Copilot plans page.

How to Apply for GitHub Copilot Student

Enrolling in GitHub Copilot Student requires completing two distinct setup stages. An approved GitHub Education application does not turn Copilot on by itself, so you activate Copilot Student as a second step.

First, review the requirements on the GitHub Education student application page. Applicants must be at least 13 years old. You must be enrolled in a degree-granting or diploma-granting program, including high school and homeschool programs. Apply through GitHub Education with your dated proof of enrollment. Valid documents include a dated school identification (ID) card, current class schedule, or official transcript.

Once GitHub approves your academic status, visit the GitHub Copilot account management documentation to complete activation. Do not buy a plan if only paid options appear on screen. GitHub reevaluates your eligibility every month. Maintain active enrollment records in case your status requires re-verification. For detailed walkthrough steps, consult our guide to GitHub Copilot Student.

Other AI Coding Options for Students

Students can evaluate several other tools alongside Cursor and GitHub Copilot. OpenAI provides credits for qualifying students. Under the OpenAI Codex student program, verified university students in the United States and Canada can claim $100 in OpenAI Codex credits.

The program limits distribution to one grant per student. These credits expire 12 months after the grant date. They are ChatGPT credits, and they do not work as developer application programming interface (API) credits. For application rules, review our ChatGPT student discount guide.

Anthropic takes a different approach. The Claude pricing page lists no individual student discount. Claude Pro costs $17 per month when billed annually, or $20 monthly. OpenAI offers a student credit for coders, and Anthropic does not. See our Claude student discount guide and our Claude for coding guide for alternatives. You can also explore our broader overview of Cursor alternatives.

Cursor Pricing for Student Teams and Hackathons

A student hackathon team could put everyone on a shared Cursor plan. Cursor Teams Standard costs $40 per user per month. Teams Premium is $120 per user per month. For collegiate hackathon squads, commercial seat fees become expensive quickly.

A group of four members would spend $160 per month on Teams Standard. Cursor publishes no discount for student organizations or campus clubs. Avoid team plans entirely.

Each member can run the free Hobby tier instead. Alternatively, team members can install GitHub Copilot Student directly into their code editors at zero cost.

Deciding on Cursor Pro Without a Cursor Student Discount

Cursor Pro is a poor fit for students on strict monthly budgets, who should not pay $20 per month for it. GitHub Copilot Student provides 200 monthly AI credits and unlimited completions without charge. Try Hobby and Copilot Student on a real assignment before paying for Cursor Pro.

Cursor Pro makes sense primarily for students who require Cursor's specific editing workflows and can comfortably afford the $20 monthly expense. Our answer would change if Cursor launched an official student plan under $10 per month, or event credits that cover Pro. Until then, free alternatives remain the sensible recommendation for learners.

Before you pay for Cursor Pro, check the Cursor students page for an active Cursor student discount from its campus and online events.