Students · 14 October 2026 · 7 min read

The best free AI tools for students this school year

Free AI tools that help you study, take notes, check your writing and understand maths, plus the simple rules for using them honestly so they help you learn instead of getting you in trouble.

By Manish

AI can be one of the best study helpers you have ever had. It can explain a hard topic in simple words, quiz you before a test, check your grammar, and show you the steps of a maths problem you are stuck on. Best of all, many of the most useful tools have a free plan.

But AI can also get you into trouble. If you hand in work that AI wrote for you, most schools treat that as cheating. And AI sometimes gets facts wrong, which can cost you marks.

This guide covers the best free AI tools for students this school year, sorted by what you need them for. At the end, you will find simple rules for using AI honestly and safely.

Before you start: check your school’s rules

Every school, and often every teacher, has different rules about AI. Some allow it for research and checking work. Some ban it for certain assignments. Some ask you to say when you used it. Before you use any tool on this list for schoolwork, read your school’s AI policy or ask your teacher. It takes two minutes and can save you a lot of stress.

How we picked these tools

Every tool here is in the Solthar directory, and every one has a free plan, so you can use it without paying. Free plans usually have limits, such as a number of uses per day. For most students, those limits are enough. We chose tools that help you learn, not just tools that do the work for you.

Every tool here has a free plan. Free plans have limits, which are usually enough for schoolwork.
If you need help with…	Try this free tool	Why it helps
Studying your own notes	NotebookLM	Turns your notes into study guides, quizzes and audio
Maths homework	Khanmigo, Photomath	Shows the steps or gives hints, not just answers
Maths and science facts	[Wolfram Alpha](tool:Wolfram Alpha)	Worked answers with the method shown
Grammar and spelling	Grammarly	Catches mistakes before you hand work in
Finding real sources	Perplexity, Consensus	Answers come with links you can check
Slides and posters	Canva, Gamma	Quick, good-looking designs
Listening instead of reading	Speechify	Reads documents out loud

For studying and notes

NotebookLM, from Google (official site), is one of the most useful free study tools around. You upload your own sources, like class notes, articles or PDFs, and it helps you understand them. It can turn your notes into study guides and short summaries, and even into audio overviews you can listen to like a podcast while you walk or travel. Because it works from the sources you give it, its answers are tied to your actual course material.

Tip: upload your notes for one topic, then ask it to make ten practice questions. Answer them without looking, then check. This is one of the best ways to remember things.

For maths and science

Khanmigo is an AI tutor from Khan Academy (official site). What makes it different is that it does not just give you the answer. It guides you with hints and questions, like a good teacher would, so you work it out yourself. That makes it great for learning, and much safer to use for homework help.

[Wolfram Alpha](tool:Wolfram Alpha) has been helping students with maths for years. Type in a problem and it gives you the answer with worked steps, so you can see how it was done. It is very strong at maths and at science facts and calculations.

Photomath lets you take a photo of a maths problem with your phone. It then shows you the method, step by step, not just the answer. It is very handy when you are stuck on homework and want to see where you went wrong.

The best way to use maths tools: try the problem yourself first, then use the tool to check your steps. If you just copy the answer, you will not be able to do it in the test.

For writing

Grammarly checks your writing for grammar, spelling, clarity and tone. It works in many places you type, such as your browser and documents. It is a great way to catch small mistakes before you hand in an essay.

QuillBot helps with paraphrasing, summarising and grammar. Be careful with paraphrasing tools, though. Rewording someone else’s work with a tool and handing it in is still copying, and many schools can detect it. Use it to understand a hard text or to tidy your own sentences, not to disguise someone else’s writing.

For research

Perplexity is an AI search tool that shows its sources. You ask a question, and it gives you an answer with links to where the information came from. That makes it much easier to check facts and to find real sources for your work. Always click through and read the source yourself before you use it.

Consensus is built for research questions. You ask a question and it finds answers in published scientific papers. It is very useful for science projects and essays that need real evidence.

Elicit is another research helper. It finds academic papers on your topic, sorts them, and summarises them. It is great for older students working on longer research projects. Our step-by-step literature review guide shows how to use these research tools together.

For projects and presentations

Canva makes it easy to design posters, slides, videos and more, and it now has AI tools built in. Many students already use it for school projects.

Gamma can turn an outline or a short description into a presentation. It is a fast way to get a first draft of your slides. Just make sure the words and ideas on the slides are your own, and check every fact it adds.

For listening and lectures

Otter.ai turns speech into text and writes notes for you. It can be useful for recording a lecture or a group meeting. Important: always ask the teacher or the people in the room before you record them. Recording someone without asking can break school rules, and in some places the law.

Speechify reads text out loud in a natural voice. You can listen to articles, PDFs and documents. It is very helpful if you learn better by listening, or if you want to review notes while doing something else.

All-round helpers

ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini all have free plans. Not sure which to pick? Read ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini?. They are good for explaining topics in simple words, brainstorming ideas for a project, or quizzing you before a test. Try asking: “Explain photosynthesis like I am 12, then ask me three questions to check I understood.” That turns the AI into a study partner instead of an answer machine.

A simple weekly study routine with free AI

Tools work best when you use them in a routine. Here is a simple one you can try for any subject:

Monday: after class, upload your notes to NotebookLM and ask for a one-page summary. Read it and fix anything that is wrong.
Tuesday: ask an assistant to explain the hardest idea from the week in simple words, then explain it back in your own words.
Wednesday: do practice problems on your own. Use Khanmigo or Photomath only to check the steps you got stuck on.
Thursday: ask NotebookLM or an assistant for ten practice questions. Answer them without looking at your notes.
Friday: look at the questions you got wrong and study just those. Listen to an audio overview on the way home.

This takes about 20 minutes a day. It works because you are doing the remembering and the thinking. The AI just helps you practise.

What AI is still bad at

AI tools are impressive, but they have real weak spots that students should know about. They can make up facts, quotes and even book titles that do not exist. They can be confidently wrong about maths, especially long problems with many steps. They may not know about very recent events. And they do not know what your teacher actually wants from an assignment.

That is why your own judgement matters so much. Treat AI like a clever classmate who is usually right but sometimes makes things up. Listen to it, then check.

How to use AI honestly

Here are simple rules that keep you learning and out of trouble:

Follow your school’s rules. If you are not sure, ask your teacher before you use AI on an assignment.
Use AI to understand, not to copy. Ask it to explain, give hints or quiz you. Do not hand in words it wrote.
Do the thinking yourself first. Try the problem or write your draft, then use AI to check or improve it.
Check every fact. AI can make up facts and even fake sources. Look them up in a trusted place.
Say when you used it. If your school asks you to mention AI help, be honest about it.

Keep your information safe

Do not share private information with AI tools. That includes your full name with your address, passwords, phone numbers, or private details about other people. Be careful about uploading photos of other students or personal documents. If a tool asks you to sign in, check with a parent or guardian if you are under the age the tool allows. Many AI tools have a minimum age, so read the sign-up page.

The bottom line

Free AI tools can make studying faster, easier and even more fun. Use NotebookLM to turn your notes into study guides, Khanmigo and Photomath to understand maths, Grammarly to polish your writing, and Perplexity to find real sources. Just remember the golden rule: use AI to help you learn, not to do the learning for you. Your future self, sitting in an exam with no AI allowed, will thank you.

Sources

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