10 Free AI Tools Students Should Use in 2025

For students in 2025, it is turning out to be a golden year for AI-driven learning. Whether you’re writing essays, creating presentations, or researching topics, these ten tools are must-haves—free tiers included—that can level up your productivity.

Explore essential free AI tools for US/UK students in 2025. Improve writing, research, design, and study productivity with tools like ChatGPT, Notion AI, Perplexity, Canva, and more.

University students in the US and UK are seeing a revolution in how they learn. Generative AI has moved from being something futuristic to becoming part of daily study routines. In 2025, a growing number of free or freemium AI tools are not only lightening the load of assignments but also helping students become better researchers, writers, and creators.

One standout is Google AI Pro Plan, recently made free for students aged 18+ in the U.S. and U.K. It includes access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, advanced research tools, and deep learning features for writing, summarisation, image uploads and more. Another favourite is Notion AI: with its free tier for students, it helps organise notes, set up study plans, and summarise long lectures in a clean, intuitive workspace.

When long research papers loom overhead, Perplexity AI comes to the rescue. It helps students by fetching sourced summaries, offering precise answers, and cutting down the hours usually spent searching through dozens of web pages. For those juggling visuals, Canva's free version (with AI-assisted layout and “Magic Write”) lets students build polished presentations, posters, even simple graphic design without needing expensive software.

Writing and refining essays also get easier with tools like Grammarly and QuillBot. Grammarly helps with grammar, tone, clarity, and more; QuillBot provides paraphrasing and summarization—ideal when you need fresh wording without losing original meaning. 

For content creation, SlidesAI.io and Tome help students convert bullet-point notes into slide decks or visual storylines. These tools are especially handy just before presentations or group projects. And when study sessions stretch, Otter.ai ensures no detail is lost: it transcribes lectures so students can revisit what was said in class at their own pace.

These tools aren’t perfect; many free tiers have usage limits, and some features are locked behind paywalls. But combined, they form a powerful toolkit. For U.K. and U.S. students, where the cost of textbooks, subscriptions, and supplies keeps rising, leveraging these free AI tools means stretching time and budget further.

In 2025, free AI tools are transforming how students in the UK and US learn. Tools like Google’s AI Pro Plan, Notion AI, Perplexity, Canva, Grammarly, QuillBot, SlidesAI, Tome, and Otter.ai make research, writing, presentations, and learning more efficient. Using these tools wisely not only builds skills but also gives a serious edge in academics without breaking the bank.