Best Chrome extensions for students
The best Chrome extensions for students are LanguageTool or Grammarly for writing, RYS and LeechBlock NG for focus, Google Keep for notes, Kami for marking up class PDFs and Google Translate for quick lookups. Each one does a single job well, and most have a free way to start. Install the two or three that fix your biggest problem first.
Studying in a browser means essays in one tab, lectures in another and YouTube one click away. This list sticks to that reality. We grouped the picks by what students actually need help with. Every pick is an extension we have already reviewed, and every fact below comes from its Xplorekit page.
Writing essays and assignments
LanguageTool
Checks grammar and style in 25+ languages, including variants of English, which helps if you write in more than one language or for a course that wants a set spelling. Its browser extension now needs a paid plan. Free use is on its website, with usage limits.
Grammarly
Gives grammar, spelling, punctuation and tone suggestions as you write. It has a free plan and a paid Pro plan, and you sign in to use it. Try the free plan before you pay for anything.
Staying focused while you study
RYS: Remove YouTube Suggestions
Hides YouTube's recommendations, Shorts and comments, so you can watch the lecture and leave. Our page names students who need YouTube for learning as the people it suits best. The core features are free, need no account and are open source.
LeechBlock NG
Blocks the sites you list during set hours, or after a time limit runs out. You can make up to 30 block sets, such as one for social media during study time. Lockdown mode makes it hard to switch off before an exam. It is open source.
Marinara
An open-source Pomodoro timer that runs from the toolbar. You set your own focus and break lengths, and it sends desktop and sound alerts when each one ends. A session history shows how much focus time you logged.
Taking notes
Google Keep
Right-click a selection or image to save it to a Keep note, or click the toolbar button to save the page. You need a Google account, and Google says Keep syncs across phone, computer and smartwatch. Notes written inside the extension do not autosave, so finish them on keep.google.com.
Reading and marking up PDFs
Kami
Built for classrooms. The free plan’s basic toolbar covers annotating, highlighting, drawing, text boxes, text comments and read aloud, and Kami has Google Classroom features such as Class View. It names Canvas and Schoology integrations too. Some tools and integrations are paid.
Enhanced PDF Viewer
A PDF reader for long readings, built on PDF.js. It adds keyboard shortcuts, a presentation mode, text-to-speech and smart printing. It is a reader, not an editor. Our page notes that most evidence for it comes from the listing and its maker, so treat our notes as light.
Hypothesis
Highlight, annotate and tag web pages and PDFs, with your annotations in a sidebar beside the page. Our page names students, researchers and teachers as the people it suits. You need a Hypothesis account, and your annotations are stored with it, so plan to be online. It is open source.
Learning from lectures and talks
Video Speed Controller
Changes playback speed from 0.07x to 16x on any HTML5 video or audio, with shortcuts and a default speed for each site. Our page names people who learn from lectures, watch talks or follow podcasts as the ones it suits. It does not edit or save video, and a player without a standard HTML5 element will not respond. It is open source under the MIT license.
Listening instead of reading
Read Aloud
Reads the page you are on out loud, with speed and pitch settings and highlighted text. It also reads PDF files. Our page says it suits people with dyslexia, early readers and anyone who would rather listen, so you can hear a long reading while you do something else. It is open source.
Translation and language learning
Google Translate
Highlight or right-click any text and click the Translate icon for a popup translation. It is free and comes from the Google Translate team. Chrome translates whole pages on its own, so use this for words and short passages. Your text goes to Google, so skip sensitive text.
How to choose
Start with your biggest time sink. If you lose hours to YouTube, install RYS. If any site pulls you away, use LeechBlock NG. If your grades suffer from typos, add LanguageTool or Grammarly, but not both, since they do the same job. If your school uses Google Classroom or Canvas, Kami fits into what you already use. Check what each tool needs: Google Keep needs a Google account, and some tools keep extra features behind paid plans.
What is the best free Chrome extension for students?
For most students, Grammarly's free plan is the easiest place to start for writing, and better writing helps in almost every course. LanguageTool is free on its website, but its browser extension needs a paid plan. If distraction is your bigger problem, start with RYS instead: its core features are free, need no account and remove YouTube's endless suggestions.
Which Chrome extension helps students stop procrastinating?
LeechBlock NG, if you want sites blocked. You pick the sites and the hours, or give yourself a time limit, and it blocks them once the limit runs out. Lockdown mode stops you from undoing it in a weak moment. If YouTube is the only problem, RYS is lighter: it removes the suggestions but keeps search and lectures working.
Are these extensions free for students?
Most have a free way to start. Marinara, Enhanced PDF Viewer and Google Translate are listed as free. Grammarly has a free plan with a paid Pro plan. Kami's free plan covers basic annotation, with some tools on a paid plan. Google Keep needs a Google account. Our LeechBlock NG page doesn't state a price.
LanguageTool's browser extension needs a paid plan, though its website editor has a free version with limits.
Good to know
Install only what you need. Each extension you add is one more thing with access to your browser, and a school laptop may have its own rules about extensions. Before you click "Add to Chrome", check the permissions and the publisher on the store listing. Our how we choose page shows the two-minute checks we use.
Browse the categories
All picks are third-party extensions, not built by Xplorekit. We link to the official Chrome Web Store listings. We don't show ratings or user counts because we can't verify them.