Best offer on record: 1 year free Instatus Pro for verified startups (via StartGround). 3 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Offers
1 year free Instatus Pro for verified startups (via StartGround) medium confidence
Instatus's own startups page (instatus.com/startups) headlines '1 year free pro plan' for members of Secret, FounderPass, RocketHub or StartGround. The StartGround deal page (last updated January 4, 2026) describes it as '1 Year Free on Instatus Pro Plan': 'Free for 12 Months', unlocked for 12 months from activation, with 'Up to $240 in savings' (equal to 12 x $20). The page says explicitly that this is not a trial and needs no promo code. It lists the Pro plan as 'Unlimited team members, subscribers, custom domain'.
Eligibility
'Verified startups via StartGround.' StartGround membership is described as free (create a free startup account). The only verification step is an application (contact name, business email, company website, a few lines about the business). No criteria are defined for 'verified' (no revenue, funding, company-age, region or team-size limits). Early-stage businesses building a digital product are 'likely eligible'. Students are not named. Instatus also names Secret, FounderPass and RocketHub as qualifying programs, but none of them confirmed the deal (see gotchas).
How to claim
1) Create a free StartGround startup account, or sign in. 2) Submit the 'Verify Your Startup' application. 3) Wait for approval; no review timeline is given. 4) Approved applicants receive an activation link; the deal page's link is https://go.startground.com/instatus. 5) Sign up at Instatus with a business email, Google or GitHub. No credit card is required, and Pro activates automatically on first login. The 'Apply now' button on instatus.com/startups has no URL.
Expiry
No claim deadline is stated. Access runs 12 months from activation. The page says the account can then continue on Pro at the regular $20/month rate or move to the Free plan. It does not say what happens if the user takes no action.
Gotchas
(a) Pro limits conflict: StartGround says Pro is unlimited for team members, subscribers and custom domains, but the official pricing summary lists Pro at 5,000 subscribers, 50 team members and 1+ custom domains. Check the live pricing page before relying on either. (b) Approval is not guaranteed, and no cap on awards or seats is stated. (c) Partner check: Secret's homepage, FounderPass's homepage and StartGround's homepage do not mention Instatus; RocketHub returned HTTP 403; Secret's deal catalog loaded only 36 of 613 results and says full access needs Premium. Only StartGround was confirmed to list the deal. (d) StartGround earns affiliate commissions on its links, which the page discloses. (e) The page does not say whether billing starts automatically at the end of the 12 months, so check the account before then.
Instatus Starter free-forever plan (open to anyone) high confidence
The official pricing page and homepage show a free plan: '$0/month', 'Free forever plan', 'No credit card required'. Starter limits from the pricing table: 200 subscribers (capped), 5 team members, 15 monitors, 2-minute check interval, email alerts only, public status pages only, no custom domain, no SAML. Pro starts at $20/mo.
Eligibility
Anyone. Not limited to students or startups, and no verification is described.
How to claim
Click 'Start free' or sign up at https://dashboard.instatus.com/onboarding. No credit card is needed.
Expiry
None stated.
Gotchas
The 200-subscriber cap contradicts the computed task's 'unlimited subscribers' premise. StartGround's deal page also says the free plan has unlimited teammates and subscribers, which conflicts with the official table. The limits came from a summarised page extraction, so confirm them on the live pricing page. This is the general free tier, not a student or startup program.
Instatus free Pro account for non-profits and open-source projects (on request) medium confidence
Pricing page: 'Also if you're a non-profit organization or an open-source project, you can email us to get a free Pro account.' The grant is for Pro, the paid tier (from $20/mo). StartGround's deal page says Instatus 'occasionally runs extended offers' for nonprofit, open-source and education groups and tells them to contact support. Those extended offers are not published.
Eligibility
Non-profit organisations or open-source projects only. This is not a student or startup offer. A student or startup qualifies only if it is also a non-profit or open-source project.
How to claim
Email Instatus. The pricing page gives no request address for this offer. The only address on the page is support@instatus.com in the footer, and it is not tied to this offer.
Expiry
Not stated.
Gotchas
No verification process, duration or renewal rule is described. Confirm the address and terms with Instatus before relying on this.
Verdict: genuine free offers exist, but none is student-specific. (1) Startups: a 1-year free Pro plan through StartGround's application, advertised by Instatus (finding 1). (2) Anyone: the Starter free-forever plan (finding 2). (3) Non-profits and open-source projects: free Pro on request (finding 3). No student or education offer was found. instatus.com/students returned 404, and StartGround mentions only unpublished 'extended offers' for education groups.Not counted as free offers: the annual billing discount ('25% off', and 'three months free' when paying a year up front, both on paid plans), and 'Start trial' on Pro and Business (length and terms not stated).Closures or changes in 2025-2026: none found on the pages fetched. The StartGround deal was last updated January 4, 2026. WebSearch was unavailable because the session search budget was used up, so no 2025-2026 news search was run and the July 2026 free-for-dev tracker claim is unchecked.Pages that failed: instatus.com/students, /open-source, /terms and /terms-of-service returned 404. RocketHub returned 403, so its catalog was not checked. Secret's catalog loaded only partly (36 of 613 results).Premise correction: the computed task describes the free plan as having unlimited subscribers. The official pricing summary caps Starter at 200 subscribers. Verify on the live pricing page before the index relies on either figure.