Free and Discounted AI Tools for Nonprofits, Checked on Each Vendor's Own Page

Several of the most useful AI tools are free for eligible nonprofits, or close to it. As of October 2026 the biggest are the Gemini app and NotebookLM with Google Workspace for Nonprofits, Copilot Chat with Microsoft's free Business Basic grant, and Canva Pro's AI tools through Canva for Nonprofits. Others offer a real discount rather than free access, and a few popular tools have no nonprofit offer at all.

Every line below comes from the vendor's own page, checked on October 24, 2026. We're not paid by any of these vendors. The four main chat assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot) have their own comparison in our AI tools discount guide, so this page covers the rest of the field.

Free for eligible nonprofits

Tool	What's free	AI included	The catch
Google Workspace for Nonprofits	Workspace at $0, up to 2,000 users	Gemini app, NotebookLM	Gemini inside Gmail and Docs isn't in the free edition; it needs nonprofit Business Standard at $3.50 a user a month
Microsoft 365 Business Basic grant	Up to 300 users	Copilot Chat	Web and mobile apps only; the full Copilot add-on is $25.50 a user a month, paid yearly
Canva for Nonprofits	Canva Pro for one team of up to 50	Canva AI assistant, Magic Write, AI image generation	Seats beyond 50 are 50% off, not free; foundations, schools and government are excluded
Make NGO program	A one-year Pro plan with 40,000 operations a month, if selected	Make's AI Agents run on all plans, using extra credits	Selective; excludes organizations with political or religious affiliations

Google. Google's Workspace for Nonprofits page and its edition guide list the Gemini app and NotebookLM at no cost, and list Gemini in Gmail and Docs as not available on the free edition. For most small teams the Gemini app alone covers drafting, summarizing and research.

Microsoft. Microsoft's nonprofit offers page lists the Business Basic grant free for up to 300 users, with Copilot Chat. Microsoft's nonprofit updates confirm the older Business Premium grant has ended; our guide on the end of the Business Premium grant covers what to do instead.

Canva. Canva's nonprofit page gives Canva Pro free to one team of up to 50, and its features page names the AI assistant, Magic Write and AI-generated images. Canva doesn't say on those pages whether the nonprofit tier gets the same AI usage allowance as paid Pro. The eligibility guidelines exclude grant-making and private foundations, schools and government bodies. Our guide on Canva for churches covers how churches qualify.

Make. Make's NGO program offers a free year of Pro to organizations it selects. It excludes organizations "with political or religious affiliations", so churches and ministries can't use it. Its AI Agents run on every plan but use extra credits, and we couldn't confirm how many the NGO license includes.

A real discount, not free

Tool	Nonprofit price	AI included	The catch
Zoom	50% off annual Pro or Business; Pro works out to $7.08 a user a month	Meeting summaries and AI notes on Pro	501(c)(3) only, budget $10 million or less, annual plans only
Descript	$8 an editor a month paid annually, $12 monthly	400 AI credits a month, Studio Sound, the Underlord editor, voice clones	Up to 3 editors
Notion	50% off the Business plan	Notion Agent and AI meeting notes	Business plan only; Notion doesn't say on its pricing page whether the $20 list price is the annual or monthly rate
Fireflies	10% off	AI meeting notes	Requires a custom-domain email on paid Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 (Fireflies help)
Perplexity	25% off Enterprise Pro, which lists at $40 a seat	AI search and research	No free nonprofit plan (Perplexity)

Zoom's discount runs through Zoom Cares and Goodstack, not TechSoup. Zoom's pricing page now calls its AI assistant ZoomMate while the Zoom Cares page still says AI Companion; we couldn't confirm whether the 50% applies to any paid AI add-on.

Popular tools with no nonprofit offer we could find

• Grammarly. Its nonprofit page returned an error when we checked, and its current discount groups don't include nonprofits.
• Otter. Otter's pricing page offers 20% off to students and teachers with .edu addresses. A larger nonprofit discount appears only on third-party sites, which we couldn't confirm.
• Gamma. The only mention we found is a staff reply on Gamma's feature-request board, not an offer.

If you rely on one of these, the free tiers of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini cover much of the same writing and summarizing.

Before you sign up for anything

Start with what you already have. If you're on Google Workspace for Nonprofits or Microsoft 365, you may already have an AI assistant at no extra cost. Use organization accounts, not personal ones: personal tiers of the major AI assistants can use your content for training, and our donor data privacy guide shows which plans do what. And check eligibility first, especially if you're a church; our guide does my church qualify for nonprofit discounts covers the paperwork.

For what these tools can do once you have them, read AI agents for nonprofits. And before adding anything new, the free audit checks what you already pay against verified nonprofit pricing.