# Free GPT Pro and Claude via Open Source – How to Qualify? **URL:** \ **Category:** Discussion & Solutions\ **Tags:** solved\ **Created:** [March 19, 2026, 6:02am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/free-gpt-pro-and-claude-via-open-source-how-to-qualify/319854 "2026-03-19T06:02:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lavon\_McDermott](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/lavon_mcdermott/32/177051_2.png) [@Lavon\_McDermott](https://onehack.st/u/Lavon_McDermott)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 6:02am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/free-gpt-pro-and-claude-via-open-source-how-to-qualify/319854/1 "2026-03-19T06:02:51Z")
I recently came across two programs offering free access to premium AI tools for around 6 months through open source contributions. From what I understand, both require: - An active GitHub project - Some level of community impact (stars, downloads, etc.) - Recent and meaningful contributions The issue is that these requirements seem quite high, especially for smaller or newer developers. Has anyone here found a practical workaround or strategy to qualify? [Link 1](https://claude.com/contact-sales/claude-for-oss) Claude Max | [Link 2](https://developers.openai.com/codex/community/codex-for-oss) ChatGPT Pro ---
**Author:** ![sameeyyr](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/sameeyyr/32/154917_2.png) [@sameeyyr](https://onehack.st/u/sameeyyr)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 9:53am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/free-gpt-pro-and-claude-via-open-source-how-to-qualify/319854/2 "2026-03-19T09:53:03Z")
seems interestinggg .. ---
**Author:** ![Mezbah\_Uddin](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/mezbah_uddin/32/161402_2.png) [@Mezbah\_Uddin](https://onehack.st/u/Mezbah_Uddin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 6:54pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/free-gpt-pro-and-claude-via-open-source-how-to-qualify/319854/3 "2026-03-20T18:54:28Z")
![image](https://onehack.st/uploads/default/original/3X/e/8/e813f00ac0027e2b146d7051432aae3093b2d41e.jpeg) Already cracked it ---
**Author:** ![welearn](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/welearn/32/163179_2.png) [@welearn](https://onehack.st/u/welearn)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 6:57pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/free-gpt-pro-and-claude-via-open-source-how-to-qualify/319854/4 "2026-03-20T18:57:06Z")
how u cracked? ---
**Author:** ![Devon](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/devon/32/157373_2.png) [@Devon](https://onehack.st/u/Devon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 7:05pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/free-gpt-pro-and-claude-via-open-source-how-to-qualify/319854/5 "2026-03-20T19:05:25Z")
how did you do that ---
**Author:** ![tali](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/tali/32/166696_2.png) [@tali](https://onehack.st/u/tali)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 8:21pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/free-gpt-pro-and-claude-via-open-source-how-to-qualify/319854/6 "2026-03-20T20:21:13Z")
How do I get this? ---
**Author:** ![Benny66](https://onehack.st/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@Benny66](https://onehack.st/u/Benny66)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 9:06pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/free-gpt-pro-and-claude-via-open-source-how-to-qualify/319854/7 "2026-03-20T21:06:50Z")
Amazing bro! ---
**Author:** ![youthober\_Vid](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/youthober_vid/32/155526_2.png) [@youthober\_Vid](https://onehack.st/u/youthober_Vid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 9:10pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/free-gpt-pro-and-claude-via-open-source-how-to-qualify/319854/8 "2026-03-20T21:10:36Z")
Which country bin do you used? ---
**Author:** ![Jenna](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/jenna/32/166322_2.png) [@Jenna](https://onehack.st/u/Jenna)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 1:05am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/free-gpt-pro-and-claude-via-open-source-how-to-qualify/319854/9 "2026-03-21T01:05:32Z")
So here’s the thing nobody tells you — **you can get ChatGPT Pro ($200/mo) and Claude Max ($200/mo) completely free for 6 months** if you contribute to open source. And the bar is way lower than it looks 🔓 OpenAI only needs **1,000 GitHub stars** ([apply here](https://developers.openai.com/community/codex-for-oss)) — that’s 5x easier than Claude’s 5,000 ([apply here](https://claude.com/contact-sales/claude-for-oss)). But here’s the real trick: **both programs let you skip the star requirement entirely** with an “ecosystem impact” essay. [EdgarTools got into Claude with just 1,861 stars](https://www.edgartools.io/edgartools-joins-the-claude-for-open-source-program/) by showing 485K monthly downloads + 218 projects that depend on it. The formula = how many people break if your project dies \> how many people starred it ⚡ Don’t even have your own project? You don’t need one. Both programs accept **team members with write access** — not just creators. [These repos with 5K-27K stars are literally begging for new maintainers right now](https://github.com/pickhardt/maintainers-wanted). Step in, contribute for a few months, get write access, apply. And before you do anything — check your NPM/PyPI downloads at [pepy.tech](https://pepy.tech/) or [npmjs.com](https://www.npmjs.com/). CI pipelines and transitive dependencies inflate numbers like crazy (a one-line package called `is-number` gets **59M downloads/week** just from being buried 5 levels under tailwindcss). You might already qualify and not even know it 💡