How to Get Free Jetbrains IDE Educational Pack
In my college years, the best free heavyweight IDE for JVM language I knew was either Eclipse or Netbeans. But they’re either slowing down the system or complicating things. So I preferred Notepad++ and/or terminal for their simplicity, until I met JetBrains IDE, Intellij IDEA.
JetBrains’ IDEs are fantastic if I must say. Refactoring just works. Searching anything is blazing fast. I rarely look at my project directory anymore. I can focus to code. Although their heavyweight Intellij IDEA has many plugins to support all kind of your programming needs, their specific, lightweight IDEs offer better workflow and UI. PyCharm for Python, PhpStorm for PHP, Web Storm for JavaScript, Rider for C#/.NET, GoLand for Go. Right and better tools saves us so much time, which in turn could lead to more productivity and happiness. So much that I’m thinking to buy their all product packs individual license for my personal project, although the price is almost 4 month food cost here.
Fortunately, since 2014 JetBrains has been offering free individual licenses for students and faculty members from educational institutions: high schools, colleges, universities. Sadly, not many schools, colleges, universities have this information, including my alma mater.
Before applying, make sure to read the License Terms carefully. Basically, there’re 4 methods to apply:
- University Email Address If you get student or staff email from your university then you can choose this method. This is the easiest and fastest way as you will get the free license immediately after applying.
- ISIC/ITIC Membership This is recommended only if you don’t have university email address and you already have ISIC/ITIC card. If you don’t have the card, getting a new one will cost you money and I don’t recommend doing it only for this education pack.
- Github Student Developer Pack If you have Github Student Developer Pack already, you can apply for a free educational license with your GitHub account. If you don’t, you better applying because it provides you free access to real world professional tools.
- Official Document Your application and official documents will be reviewed by a real person. I don’t recommend this because this may take up to a week to process, and it will be harder to renew the license later.
For this guide, I will use the most recommended way that is by using your university email address. Apply via the Registration Form.
Enter your information using your university email address. If your email is not found, you will see an error message which contains a link to add your school to JetBrain’s list. Follow the instructions.
If you’re familiar with git tool or GitHub user interface, you could also add your school, college or university which is not on this list, by making a pull request to their swot repository.
When you’re done, apply then you will be greeted with a thank you page.
Follow the link given in the verification email to confirm your request.
Create JetBrains’ account using your university email address, if you haven’t. Then go to your Account Licenses to see your new license for the free educational pack.
After downloading and installing the software, simply run it and follow the on-screen prompts to sign in with your JetBrains Account.
Just like a regular personal subscription, a free educational license can be used on several computers. The educational license is valid only for one year. But if you’re still studying/teaching at a full-time educational program, you can renew your free license for another year. To do so, use the dedicated link in your JetBrains account, or use the link from the automatic email reminder sent out one week before the subscription expires.
FAQ
This summarized FAQ may be obsolete in the future. Refer to the original FAQ if you don’t find the answer here.
I’m a student and I work part-time. Can I use my free educational license for my work projects? No, free educational licenses can be used strictly for educational, non-commercial purposes (including academic research). If you’re doing freelance work, you can purchase a separate personal subscription for commercial projects (monthly or annual).
I am a student in an online course/bootcamp/training class, etc. Do I qualify to get a free license No, only students of accredited educational institutions offering long-term courses (longer than 1 year) can qualify for a free student license.
I work at an accredited educational institution, and we would like to get licenses for development of internal projects/services. Are free educational licenses the right option for this? No, according to the EULA, free educational licenses can be used only for studying, teaching classes, or conducting academic research. If you need licenses for other purposes, e.g., for the development of internal products or services at your educational institution, contact their sales team, they can offer you a discount.
