Is Overleaf Free? Free vs. Paid Plans and Student Access
Yes, Overleaf is free to use. The Free plan lets you create, edit, and compile LaTeX projects, with unlimited projects and one invited collaborator per project. Students can use that plan too, but the Student plan is a paid subscription. A university's institutional subscription is a separate way to access premium features.
Before paying, check what actually limits your work: collaborators, compilation time, document history, or a particular AI feature. A thesis does not automatically require a paid plan.
Checked on October 30, 2026. This guide is published by the EasyLaTeX editorial team. Overleaf information comes from its official pages. Prices below are in US dollars (USD), before any applicable tax; region, currency, billing period, and later changes can affect the amount at checkout.
What does the Overleaf Free plan include?
According to the official free and premium plans guide, you can create, edit, and share LaTeX projects in your browser without installing a local TeX environment.
The main boundaries are:
- Unlimited projects: keep assignments, reports, and papers in separate projects.
- One invited collaborator per project: this is someone you invite in addition to the project owner, not a one-time collaboration allowance for your account.
- Basic compile timeout: complex projects can reach the limit. The current pricing table labels this Basic; this guide does not reuse fixed second counts from older articles.
- The previous 24 hours of document history: this is not the same as full history and restoration.
- Basic AI allowance: currently five uses per day shared across available AI tools. The Free plan does not include the AI Assistant.
It is therefore inaccurate to say that Overleaf has no free AI features. Basic AI tools, the conversational AI Assistant, and usage allowances are different parts of the offer.
If you write alone or with one supervisor, your project compiles successfully, and you do not need premium features, the Free plan may already be sufficient.
How much does Overleaf cost? Free vs. Student, Standard, and Pro
The table below follows the official USD pricing page. Annual prices are the listed yearly charges, not monthly payments. They are shown as annual totals rather than rounded monthly equivalents.
| Feature | Free | Student | Standard | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly billing, USD | $0 | $13/month | $25/month | $45/month |
| Annual billing, USD | $0 | $98/year | $199/year | $399/year |
| Invited collaborators per project | 1 | 10 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Compile timeout | Basic | 24 × Basic | 24 × Basic | 24 × Basic |
| Document history | Previous 24 hours | Full history | Full history | Full history |
| Track changes | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| AI allowance | Basic: 5 uses/day | Basic: 5 uses/day | Standard: 10 uses/day | Max, subject to fair usage |
| AI Assistant | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
The daily AI allowance is shared across the available tools, rather than a separate allowance for each tool. Pro's Max allowance should not be read as having no usage conditions.
An individual subscription upgrades the subscriber's account. Collaborators can use certain premium collaboration features within that subscriber's projects; their own projects are not automatically upgraded.
Is Overleaf premium free for students?
There are three separate cases:
- The ordinary Free plan: available to students and other users.
- The Student subscription: a paid plan for eligible students at educational institutions, including graduate students. Student status alone does not make it free.
- An institutional Overleaf Commons subscription: if your university provides one and you qualify, you may receive the included premium access through the institution instead of purchasing equivalent access yourself.
To check institutional access:
- Look at your library or IT service's instructions, or find your institution through Overleaf's universities page.
- Add your institutional email in Account Settings on your existing Overleaf account. A separate account is not required.
- Confirm the email, or complete the institution's SSO linking and verification where required.
- Check Account Subscription and confirm which features are available in your projects.
Institutional access does not mean every AI feature is included. The current Commons documentation specifies Basic AI access without the AI Assistant. Institutions can also disable AI features.
Joining Commons does not automatically cancel an existing personal subscription. Check which benefits you still need before managing any overlapping subscription yourself.
When is a paid Overleaf plan worth it?
Choose by the workflow rather than the label on the document:
| Your situation | What to check first |
|---|---|
| Individual assignment or short report that compiles normally | Start with Free and observe actual limits |
| One supervisor, without a need for full history or tracked changes | Free may be enough |
| Several co-authors need editing or reviewing access | Check institutional access, then paid collaborator limits |
| A large thesis reaches the compile timeout | Separate actual errors from timeouts; inspect large images and repeated processing before paying for more time |
| You need to review and restore older versions | Compare full history and tracked changes |
| You mainly want conversational AI source edits | Compare Assistant access, usage allowance, and how you inspect and undo edits |
A longer timeout does not fix missing packages, incorrect references, or syntax errors. Use a compilation troubleshooting guide to distinguish a broken build from a build that genuinely needs more time.
Comparing free LaTeX editors: how to try EasyLaTeX
If you want natural-language edits, compilation troubleshooting, and a paper project in one workflow, EasyLaTeX is another option to evaluate with your own document.
At the check date, the EasyLaTeX Free plan lists these benefits: 150 introductory credits for new users, 100 MB of global storage, up to five projects, a five-minute compile time limit, and a global real-time collaboration limit of up to five users. That collaboration limit is global, so it is not directly equivalent to Overleaf's per-project collaborator count.
The 150 credits are an introductory grant, not a daily reset. They cannot be converted directly into Overleaf AI uses, and credit consumption varies with the task.
Start with a small project and make three checks:
- Follow the EasyLaTeX getting-started guide, select the main file and compiler, and generate a PDF first.
- Give the AI a narrow, checkable request: “Make this sentence in the abstract more concise; do not change numbers, equations, or citations.” Review the edit scope and compile again.
- Check figures, references, fonts, and template requirements before moving a main project. Keep a backup of the original source.
Try EasyLaTeX: sign in, create a project, compile it once, then try a focused AI edit.
Frequently asked questions
Can I write a complete thesis on Overleaf for free?
Yes. Whether Free is sufficient depends on project complexity, collaborators, and required features, not whether the document is called a thesis. Test your target template within the free compilation limit.
Does a university email automatically unlock premium?
No. Your institution must provide a subscription you are eligible to join, and you must complete the required email or SSO verification. An academic email alone does not guarantee premium access.
Is the Overleaf free trial the same as the Free plan?
No. Free is the $0 plan. The currently advertised seven-day paid-plan trial charges your card when the trial ends unless you cancel first. Review checkout terms and manage cancellation under Account > Subscription.
Will canceling a paid plan delete my projects?
The official pricing FAQ says cancellation does not delete your projects. The subscription continues to the end of the billing period; afterward, available features depend on any remaining subscription or the Free plan. Download backups of important source files regularly.
Bottom line: check university access before paying for a real limitation
Start with Overleaf Free for individual writing or light collaboration when your project compiles normally. Check institutional access and paid plans when you need more collaborators, full history, longer compilation, or the AI Assistant. To compare an AI-assisted LaTeX workflow, try the same small project in EasyLaTeX and assess edit quality, compilation results, and credit use.