By Google DeepMindLondon, United Kingdom6 products across 6 categories
Built for this. Sits inside Gmail, Docs and Drive, so it already has your context. Very large context windows and a generous free tier.
Free plan
Yes
Free tier with generous limits
Month to month
$4.99/mo
Google AI Plus
Billed yearly
$4.17/mo
$49.99 a year, Google AI Plus plan −16%
Watch out: Which underlying model you get varies by tier, and quality varies with it. Plus and Pro were both showing introductory offers when checked — a fraction of the price for the first three months, or a discount on the first year — so the number on the page is not the standing price, and the rows here quote the standing one.
By Google DeepMindLondon, United Kingdom6 products across 6 categories
Built for this. You upload the sources and it answers only from them, linking every sentence to the passage it came from. The strongest verification pattern here.
Free plan
Yes
Free, and the core product is not gated: what a paid plan buys is headroom — a bigger notebook
Month to month
$4.99/mo
Google AI Plus
Billed yearly
$4.17/mo
$49.99 a year, Google AI Plus plan −16%
Watch out: Deliberately limited — it will not answer what your documents do not cover, and cannot tell you whether they are any good. Paid headroom comes from a Google AI subscription rather than a plan of its own.
All plans (4)
Plan
Price
What you get
Free
$0
Free, and the core product is not gated: what a paid plan buys is headroom — a bigger notebook, more sources per notebook and higher limits on Audio and Video Overviews and Slides
Google AI Plus
$4.99/mo
the cheapest step that raises its limits, with more Gemini access, increased feature limits and a bigger notebook. Introductory offers were showing: $1.29/month for 3 months, or $44.99 for the first year
Google AI Pro
$19.99/mo
expanded Gemini access for complex research, expanded feature limits and a large notebook size. Introductory offers were showing: $4.99/month for 3 months, or $179.99 for the first year
Google AI Ultra
$99.99/mo
the highest Gemini access and the largest source limits, for working across several big notebooks
By GrammarlySan Francisco, United States1 product across 1 category
Built for this. Works inside the apps you already write in rather than a separate window, which is why it actually gets used. Grammar, tone and clarity in place.
Free plan
Yes
Writing without spelling and grammar mistakes, tone detection, and 100 AI prompts for
Month to month
$30/mo
Pro
Billed yearly
$12/mo
$144 a year, Pro plan −60%
Watch out: Better at fixing than composing. It smooths writing toward a neutral register, which is not always what you want.
All plans (3)
Plan
Price
What you get
Free
$0
Free tier: writing without spelling and grammar mistakes, tone detection, and 100 AI prompts for generating text
Pro
$30/mo · $12/mo yearly
rewriting whole sentences in a click, tone adjustment, unlimited personalised suggestions, and plagiarism and AI-text detection. It opens on a 7-day free trial with nothing to pay on the day and a reminder two days before it ends
Enterprise
Custom
adds proactive AI across the apps you work in, dedicated support, bring-your-own-key encryption, custom roles and permissions, and data loss prevention
By Khan AcademyMountain View, United States1 product across 1 category
Strong fit. Tutors by asking rather than answering, and stays inside the material rather than wandering. The teacher tools sit alongside the student ones.
Free plan
Yes
Free for teachers in supported regions
Month to month
$4/mo
For you
Billed yearly
$3.67/mo
$44 a year, For you plan −8%
Watch out: Deliberately slower than a chatbot, because it will not simply give you the solution. Tied to Khan Academy content.
All plans (3)
Plan
Price
What you get
Free
$0
Free for teachers in supported regions
For you
$4/mo · $3.67/mo yearly
personalised tutoring on Khan Academy content, writing and debate prompts, career coaching, coding feedback and chat history
For families
$4/mo · $3.67/mo yearly
everything in the personal plan plus child accounts from a parent login, interaction history, moderation alerts and college admissions coaching
By Jenni AINew York, United States1 product across 1 category
Strong fit. Writes alongside you in an academic register and inserts citations as it goes, in your reference style.
Free plan
Yes
10 AI autocompletes a day, 10 PDF uploads, 3 AI edits, 5 AI chat messages, 3 reviews, unlimited
Month to month
$30/mo
Plus
Billed yearly
$12/mo
Plus plan −60%
Watch out: A suggested citation still has to be checked against the source. The free tier is metered in autocompletes rather than words, at 10 a day, and month-to-month billing costs two and a half times the annual rate on both paid plans.
All plans (3)
Plan
Price
What you get
Free
$0
Free tier: 10 AI autocompletes a day, 10 PDF uploads, 3 AI edits, 5 AI chat messages, 3 reviews, unlimited citations across more than 10,000 styles, and editor content export
Plus
$30/mo · $12/mo yearly
5,000 autocompletes a month, unlimited PDF uploads, 500 AI edits and 500 AI chat messages a month, 10 reviews a month, full document export and live chat support
Pro
$73/mo · $29/mo yearly
unlimited autocomplete, PDF uploads, AI edits, AI chat and reviews, with full document export and priority support
By KickresumeBratislava, Slovakia1 product across 1 category
Strong fit. Drafts and rewrites a resume or cover letter against a specific job advert, and keeps the formatting from falling apart.
Free plan
Yes
Free plan with 4 resume and 4 cover letter templates, a basic website template, 20,000
Month to month
$24/mo
Premium
Billed yearly
$8/mo
$96 a year, Premium plan −67%
Watch out: A generated resume reads like one unless you rewrite it in your own voice. Free tier limits templates and exports.
All plans (2)
Plan
Price
What you get
Free
$0
Free plan with 4 resume and 4 cover letter templates, a basic website template, 20,000 pre-written phrases and unlimited downloads
Premium
$24/mo · $18/mo quarterly · $8/mo yearly
40+ resume and cover letter templates, AI Writer, ATS resume checker, Career Map, LinkedIn and PDF import, mobile apps, with a 14-day money-back guarantee on the longer terms
By ConsensusBoston, United States1 product across 1 category
Built for this. Searches published papers and tells you how many of them support a claim, which turns a yes-or-no question into a count you can inspect.
Free plan
Yes
Basic paper search, 15 Pro messages a month and up to 3 Deep reviews a month
Month to month
$20/mo
Pro
Billed yearly
$12/mo
$144 a year, Pro plan −40%
Watch out: The consensus meter reflects the papers it found, not the state of the field. Deep reviews are the metered resource — 3 a month free, 15 on Pro, 200 on Deep — so that is what decides the tier rather than how much you search.
All plans (3)
Plan
Price
What you get
Free
$0
Free plan at $0: basic paper search, 15 Pro messages a month and up to 3 Deep reviews a month, though the same card also describes the free tier as being without AI analysis
Pro
$20/mo · $12/mo yearly
unlimited Pro messages, 15 Deep reviews a month and unlimited access to every research tool
Deep
$65/mo · $45/mo yearly
everything in Pro with 200 Deep reviews a month, aimed at researchers and clinicians running frequent literature reviews. Team and Enterprise are priced on their own tab
By ScholarcyLondon, United Kingdom1 product across 1 category
Built for this. Breaks a paper into structured cards — aims, method, findings, limitations — instead of one block of summary, which makes skimming a stack of them practical.
Free plan
Yes
Free Article Summarizer: imports a range of file formats but stops at 10 summaries, and exports
Month to month
$9.99/mo
Scholarcy Plus
Billed yearly
$7.50/mo
$90 a year, Scholarcy Plus plan −25%
Watch out: Structure comes from the paper being conventionally written; it copes badly with anything that is not. The free tier stops at 10 summaries, so a reading list of any size needs the paid plan.
All plans (2)
Plan
Price
What you get
Free
$0
Free Article Summarizer: imports a range of file formats but stops at 10 summaries, and exports flashcards only one at a time
By LearneoRedwood City, United States2 products across 1 category
Built for this. The paraphraser most students actually use, with modes that change how far it moves from your original rather than one setting.
Free plan
Yes
Paraphrasing up to 125 words at a time in 2 modes, basic grammar fixes, humanizing up to 125
Month to month
$19.95/mo
Premium
Billed yearly
$8.33/mo
Premium plan −58%
Watch out: Rewriting someone else’s sentence is still their sentence, and universities treat it that way. The free tier caps paraphrasing at 125 words at a time, and paying month to month costs about two and a half times the annual rate.
All plans (3)
Plan
Price
What you get
Free
$0
Free tier: paraphrasing up to 125 words at a time in 2 modes, basic grammar fixes, humanizing up to 125 words for 6 uses a day, basic summaries, and limited access to the AI detector
Premium
$19.95/mo · $8.33/mo yearly
full access to paraphrasing in unlimited modes, advanced grammar recommendations, full humanizing, custom summaries and full access to the AI detector
Team Plan
no price published on the plan cards, sold through a separate page
everything in Premium plus team usage metrics, a user management dashboard, centralised billing, data control, and priority assistance with account management support
Two things separate these and both are on every card.
Fit
Whether a tool is built for this job, a strong fit for it, or
able to do it without that being its focus.
Free plan
Whether there is a tier you can keep using rather than a
trial that expires.
The order
Fit first, then a free plan, then alphabetical. There is
no score, no weighting we decline to publish, and nothing on this site a company can buy.
Questions
What is the best ai for college students?
There is no single answer, which is why this page lists 15 rather than one: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Perplexity, Grammarly, Otter.ai, Notion, Khanmigo, Jenni AI, Kickresume, Replit, Consensus, Scholarcy, QuillBot. 12 of them are built for this kind of work rather than able to do it. Start with a free one.
Which of these have a free plan?
15 of the 15: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Perplexity, Grammarly, Otter.ai, Notion, Khanmigo, Jenni AI, Kickresume, Replit, Consensus, Scholarcy, QuillBot. Free means a real free tier you can keep using, not a trial that expires.
How was this list chosen?
By hand, from the 750 products this site tracks, and it is checked against the catalogue on every build — a product renamed or removed breaks the build rather than quietly disappearing from here. Nothing on this site can be paid for: no listing, no position, no wording.
