Student Tools & Pricing Guide
You can complete this entire course for $0. Every paid tool has a free alternative or student discount.
Step 1: Get the GitHub Student Developer Pack (Do This First!)
URL: education.github.com/packCost: FREE with a valid .edu email or proof of enrollment What you get: 100+ tools and services, including:
| Tool | Normal Price | Student Pack Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot Pro | $10/month | Free for 1 year |
| GitHub Codespaces | Pay-per-use | Included |
| Microsoft Azure | Pay-per-use | $100 free credits |
| 1Password | $36-60/year | Free for 1 year |
| Sentry | $26/month+ | Sponsored plan (free) |
| Termius | $10/month | Free SSH client |
| DataCamp | Paid | Free access |
| Educative | Paid | Free access |
How to apply: Sign up with your .edu email. Verification usually takes 1-3 days.
Step 2: Get Cursor Pro Free (For Students)
URL: cursor.com/studentsCost: FREE for 1 year (normally $20/month = $240/year savings) How: Verify with your .edu email via SheerID What you get: Full Cursor Pro features — AI chat, autocomplete, codebase understanding, agent mode
The $0 Tech Stack
Here's everything you need for this course, completely free:
AI Coding Tools (Pick Your Favorite)
| Tool | Cost | Best For | How to Get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini CLI | FREE | Terminal coding, largest context (1M tokens) | npm install -g @google/gemini-cli + free Google account |
| GitHub Copilot | FREE | In-editor autocomplete & chat | Free tier (2000 completions/month) OR Student Pack |
| Cursor | FREE | Full IDE experience | Free tier OR 1 year free via student discount |
| Windsurf | FREE | Agentic IDE | Free tier (25 credits/month) |
| aider | FREE | Open-source terminal coding | pip install aider-chat (works with any AI API) |
| Cline | FREE | VS Code extension, open source | VS Code marketplace |
Rapid Prototyping (Week 3)
| Tool | Free Tier | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Bolt.new | 300K daily tokens, 1M monthly | Full-stack apps in browser |
| v0 (Vercel) | Free generations available | React/Next.js components |
| Lovable | 5 generations/day | React apps with clean code export |
| Replit | 10 free projects | All-in-one: code + deploy |
Deployment (Week 3+)
| Platform | Free Tier | Limits | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vercel | Hobby (free forever) | 100GB bandwidth, 150K function calls/month | Frontend, Next.js, React |
| Render | Free tier | Static sites + 1 PostgreSQL DB (1GB) | Full-stack with database |
| Netlify | Free tier | 100GB bandwidth, 300 build min/month | Static sites, JAMstack |
| Railway | $5 free trial | Then $5/month | Backend APIs, databases |
| Replit | Free tier | Limited resources | Quick deploys |
Databases (Week 9)
| Database | Free Tier | Storage | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Free | 500MB + 1GB file storage | PostgreSQL + auth + realtime |
| Neon | Free | 512MB | Serverless PostgreSQL |
| Firebase | Spark plan (free) | 1GB Firestore | NoSQL + auth + hosting |
| SQLite | FREE (built-in) | Unlimited (local) | Prototypes, small apps |
Testing & Quality (Free, All Open Source)
| Tool | Language | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| pytest | Python | Unit & integration testing |
| Jest | JavaScript | Unit & integration testing |
| Vitest | JavaScript | Fast unit testing (Vite-based) |
| Cypress | JavaScript | End-to-end testing |
| ESLint | JavaScript | Code linting |
| Prettier | JavaScript | Code formatting |
| Black | Python | Code formatting |
| Bandit | Python | Security scanning |
| Semgrep | Any | OWASP security patterns |
CI/CD (Free)
| Tool | Free Tier | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub Actions | 2,000 min/month | CI/CD pipelines, automated testing |
| npm audit | Built-in | Dependency vulnerability scanning |
Monitoring (Week 9)
| Tool | Free Tier | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Sentry | Free tier (or free via Student Pack) | Error tracking, crash reporting |
| UptimeRobot | 50 monitors free | Uptime monitoring |
| Better Uptime | Free tier | Status pages + monitoring |
Screen Recording (Week 12 — Demo Video)
| Tool | Cost | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| OBS Studio | FREE (open source) | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Loom | Free tier (25 videos/5min each) | Browser, desktop |
| Built-in OS recorder | FREE | QuickTime (Mac), Game Bar (Windows) |
Budget Tiers
Tier 1: $0/month (100% Free)
- Editor: VS Code + GitHub Copilot Free
- AI Assistant: Gemini CLI (free tier)
- Prototyping: Bolt.new free tier
- Deploy: Vercel Hobby (free)
- Database: Supabase free or SQLite
- Testing: Jest/pytest (open source)
- CI/CD: GitHub Actions (free)
- Monitoring: UptimeRobot free
Tier 2: $0/month (Student Discounts Applied)
Everything in Tier 1, PLUS:
- Editor: Cursor Pro (free 1 year via student discount)
- AI Assistant: GitHub Copilot Pro (free via Student Pack)
- Monitoring: Sentry (free via Student Pack)
- Extras: 1Password, Azure credits, JetBrains IDEs
Tier 3: ~$20/month (If You Have Budget)
Everything in Tier 2, PLUS:
- AI Assistant: Claude Code or Claude Pro subscription
- Deploy: Railway Pro ($5/month) for always-on backend
- Prototyping: Bolt.new or Lovable paid tier for more generations
Tool Decision Flowchart
What's your budget?
│
├── $0/month
│ ├── Want an IDE? → VS Code + Copilot Free
│ ├── Want terminal? → Gemini CLI (free tier)
│ ├── Want to prototype fast? → Bolt.new free tier
│ └── Want to deploy? → Vercel Hobby (free)
│
├── $0/month (with Student Pack)
│ ├── Want best IDE? → Cursor Pro (1 year free)
│ ├── Want best autocomplete? → Copilot Pro (free via Pack)
│ └── Want monitoring? → Sentry (free via Pack)
│
└── $20/month
├── Want premium AI? → Claude Pro subscription
├── Want always-on backend? → Railway Pro ($5/mo)
└── Want more prototyping? → Bolt.new paid tierAPI Keys You'll Need (All Free)
| Service | How to Get API Key | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Google (Gemini) | aistudio.google.com | Free |
| GitHub | Settings → Developer Settings → Personal Access Tokens | Free |
| Vercel | Account Settings → Tokens | Free |
| Supabase | Project Settings → API | Free |
Important Notes
- Never pay for something with a free tier until you've outgrown the free tier
- Apply for the GitHub Student Pack first — it unlocks the most value
- Gemini CLI is a strong option for $0 budget — free tier available (verify current limits)
- Tools change constantly — by the time you graduate, half of these will have new pricing. The skills you learn are permanent.
- Ask in class if you're unsure about costs — we'll always find a free path
Last Updated: February 2026Prices verified as of course start date. Check individual websites for current pricing.