Student Budgets Are Tight
As a student, €20–30/month in subscription costs can be significant. The good news: most major services offer student discounts, and many essential tools are free for students.
Free for Students
GitHub Education Pack: free GitHub Pro, plus dozens of developer tools. Adobe Creative Cloud: free for qualifying students. JetBrains IDEs: free with student email. Notion: free for students. Microsoft 365: free through many universities. Spotify: 50% discount for students.
How to Get Student Discounts
Most services require verification via your university email address or through a student verification service (SheerID, UNiDAYS, Student Beans). Always check the provider's website for a "Students" or "Education" link before paying full price.
Free Tiers That Are Genuinely Enough
Spotify Free: works fine with shuffle play. Dropbox Free (2 GB): sufficient for documents and notes. Google Drive (15 GB): usually enough. Canva Free: excellent for presentations. Figma Free: 3 projects, enough for coursework. Notion Free: unlimited personal pages.
SubTracker for Students
SubTracker's Free plan covers up to 10 subscriptions — more than enough for most students. No credit card required. Use it to track your streaming services, any software subscriptions, and especially any free trials that auto-convert.
One Rule for Students
Never set up a free trial you are not willing to cancel. Your cash flow is limited. One forgotten €10/month subscription is €120 per year — that is a significant amount on a student budget. If you are not sure you will cancel, do not sign up.