UNiDAYS alternative for verifying students in your own product
Need a UNiDAYS alternative that verifies students inside your product instead of a consumer network? Studid is a free API for academic verification via university SSO.
Last updated September 13, 2026
Short answer: UNiDAYS is a consumer student-discount network; Studid is a verification API. If you want to verify student or faculty affiliation inside your own product rather than send users to a marketplace, Studid is the developer-friendly alternative.
Why teams look for a UNiDAYS alternative
UNiDAYS is excellent at what it is: a large student audience and a marketplace of brand offers. But if your goal is in-product verification, the network model gets in the way:
- It is a destination. Users join and verify through UNiDAYS, not through your product, so you do not own the flow or the relationship.
- It is student-centric. Faculty, staff, researchers and alumni are not the core audience.
- It is a commercial partnership, not a self-serve API.
- Verification happens on its terms — email loop, document upload, SSO or third-party checks — with account data held by the network.
If you just need a reliable answer to "is this person affiliated with a university?", you do not need a discount network to get it.
What changes with Studid
- You own the experience. Studid returns a link; the login happens at the user's own institution and then inside your product.
- You get an API, not a campaign. Two endpoints, no account, no API key, no contract. See the integration guide.
- It is broader academically. Students, faculty, staff, researchers and alumni — anyone with an institutional login.
- It is private by design. No documents, no passwords, and no identity data stored by Studid.
- It costs nothing. The free plan has no per-verification fees.
What you give up
- No consumer audience. Studid does not bring you students; it verifies the ones you already have.
- No discount marketplace. If you want a catalog of offers and a Gen Z marketing channel, UNiDAYS is the right tool.
- No document fallback. Studid is SSO-only. When an institution issues only a transient identifier,
authIdentifierisnulland you rely onentityIdfor eligibility plus a per-session token for continuity. - No non-academic segments. Military, first responders and similar groups are out of scope.
Verify these claims yourself
- Compare coverage on the live network page.
- Check the exact free terms on pricing.
- Read the source on GitHub.
- Run a real login in the live demo.
Methodology: Facts about UNiDAYS here come from its public website as of September 2026. Verify current details before deciding.
Frequently asked questions
Can Studid replace UNiDAYS for student discounts?
For verification, yes; for distribution, no. Studid confirms that a user is affiliated with an academic institution, which is what you need to gate an offer. It does not bring you an audience or a marketplace of discounts — you build the offer and keep the user relationship.
Do users need a separate account?
No. There is no Studid account for you or your users. The user simply signs in at their own institution; Studid returns the result to your app.
Does it work for faculty and staff, not just students?
Yes. Any institutional login — student, faculty, staff, researcher or alumni — can be verified. Whether roles are returned depends on what the institution releases, but entityId always identifies the institution.
How is this different from an .edu email check?
An email domain proves nothing about enrollment and is easy to game. University SSO is signed by the institution itself, so the result is authoritative.
What does it cost?
Nothing. No account, no API key, no credit card, no per-verification fee.
Ready to try it?
Authenticate with your university or research institute — no account needed, takes under a minute.