$500 in free credits.
Because you are building the future.
Every dollar matters when you are a student. We want you focused on building your app, not worrying about fake signups eating your runway. Sign up with your .edu email and get a full Pro account for an entire year. No credit card. No catch.
Already have an account? Sign in with your .edu email to activate.
Full Pro. Not a watered-down student tier.
You get the exact same plan that companies pay $99/month for. Same rate limits, same signals, same API. We do not believe in giving students a lesser product.
See everything included on the pricing page. Students get the Pro column, for free.
Three steps. Thirty seconds.
No application form. No approval wait. No hoops.
Sign up with your .edu email
Use the same magic link flow as everyone else. Just sign up with your university email address.
Get Pro instantly
Your account is automatically upgraded to Pro the moment we see your .edu address. No application, no waiting, no approval process.
Build for a full year
You get 12 months of Pro. That is 50,000 validations per month, every signal tier, webhooks, and priority support. After the year, you keep your account on the free tier.
Why we give this away
Some of the best products ever built started as student projects. Facebook was a dorm room experiment. Dropbox was a Y Combinator application from an MIT student. Stripe was two brothers who had not graduated yet.
If you are a student building a SaaS app, an AI tool, a marketplace, or anything with a signup flow, you are going to hit the fake signup problem eventually. Bots and burner emails will find your forms, burn through your free tier credits, and inflate your metrics with garbage data. Dealing with that costs money you do not have.
We would rather you spend your runway on building your product than on fighting signup fraud. So we are giving you the same tools that funded startups use, for free, for a full year. Keep more of your money in your pocket while you grow.
When you graduate and your side project becomes a real company, we hope you will stick with BigShield. But if you do not, that is fine too. We would rather help a thousand students build something real than optimize for conversion.
Integrate in five minutes
Install the SDK, add one API call before your account creation logic, and you are done. We have SDKs for TypeScript, Python, PHP, Ruby, and Go. Most students have it running before their coffee gets cold.
Quick start
npm install bigshieldimport { BigShield } from 'bigshield';
const shield = new BigShield('ev_live_...');
const result = await shield.validate(email);
if (result.recommendation === 'reject') {
// Fake email — block signup
}Already have users? Clean your list for free.
Upload a CSV of your existing email list from the dashboard and we will score every address. Find out how many fakes you are already paying for, and stop wasting your compute budget on them.
Questions
What counts as a .edu email?
Any email address ending in .edu. This covers most accredited universities and colleges in the United States. If your school uses a different TLD (like .ac.uk), reach out to us at students@bigshield.app and we will set you up manually.
Do I need a credit card?
No. You never enter payment information. Sign up with your .edu email and you are on Pro immediately. If you want to stay on Pro after the year ends, you can upgrade then.
What happens after the year is up?
Your account moves to the free tier (1,500 validations/month). Your API keys, validation history, and dashboard data all stay. Nothing is deleted. You can upgrade to a paid plan anytime.
Can I use this for a startup or side project?
Absolutely. Class projects, hackathon entries, side businesses, indie apps. If you are a student building something, this is for you. There are no restrictions on commercial use.
I already signed up with a non-.edu email. Can I switch?
Send us a note at students@bigshield.app with both email addresses and proof of enrollment. We will migrate your account and apply the student upgrade.
Can I renew after the first year?
Yes. If you are still a student after your first year, email us and we will extend it. We want you to have this for as long as you are in school.
Start building. We have got you covered.
$500 in credits. 50,000 validations a month. Every signal tier. One year. Zero dollars.
Just use your .edu email. That is it.