By Josh Hutcheson — Founder & Editor, OnlineCourseing. Last updated July 2026. Pricing below was read directly off LeetCode’s live subscription page this month.
THE 60-SECOND ANSWER
Yes, LeetCode is genuinely free for the part that matters most. The core problem library, submissions, contests, and community discussion cost nothing, and plenty of people pass FAANG interviews on the free tier alone. LeetCode Premium — currently $35/month or $159/year — adds company-tagged question lists, premium problems and solutions, and interview tools. Premium is a convenience multiplier, not a requirement; whether it’s worth it depends on how targeted your interview prep is.
“Is LeetCode free?” is really three questions: what does the free tier include, what does Premium actually add, and do you need Premium to get hired. Here are the straight answers, with current prices verified this month — plus the honest note about when a structured course beats grinding either tier.
What the free tier includes
Before you spend money on the wrong online course, read this.
Get the free 2026 Platform Comparison Guide — 12 platforms compared on price, certificates, and refund policies. Instant PDF, plus my honest Tuesday picks.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
A free LeetCode account gets you the overwhelming majority of the platform: the main problem library across easy/medium/hard, unlimited submissions with the real judge, weekly and biweekly contests, discussion threads where the community posts solutions and complexity analysis, and your progress tracking. For the classic preparation strategy — work through a curated list like the well-known 75/150-problem sets, understand the patterns, redo what you missed — the free tier is fully sufficient. Nothing about the free account expires or throttles in a way that blocks serious preparation.
What free visibly withholds: a minority of problems carry the Premium lock icon, official editorial solutions on some problems sit behind the paywall (community solutions fill that gap well), and the company-tag filters are Premium-only. Annoying occasionally; blocking, no.
What Premium adds — and current prices
| Plan | Verified price | Effective monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | — |
| Premium Monthly | $35/month | $35 |
| Premium Yearly | $159/year | ~$13.25 |
Premium’s pitch is targeting and convenience: company-tagged questions (the problems reportedly asked at specific employers — the single feature most subscribers buy it for), access to premium-only problems and official solutions, and interview-simulation tooling. The yearly plan at $159 is the only Premium price that makes sense for a normal 2–4 month prep cycle… unless you know your prep window is a single month, in which case one $35 month timed around your interviews is the efficient buy.
Do you actually need Premium?
Honest answer: most candidates don’t. The interview patterns — two pointers, sliding windows, graphs, dynamic programming — are fully learnable on free problems, and community discussion replaces official solutions well. Premium earns its price in two specific situations: you’re targeting one or two named companies and want their tagged question lists, or you’re time-poor and paying to skip curation. If you’re early in preparation — still shaky on the underlying data structures — neither tier fixes that, which is the real decision point below.
If you do buy Premium: the one-month strategy
The efficient Premium purchase is timed, not ambient. Prepare on the free tier until your fundamentals are solid and interviews are actually scheduled; then buy one $35 month and spend it on the tagged lists for your specific target companies, converting Premium’s only unique asset into the last-mile edge it actually is. Buying the yearly plan “to get serious” before you can solve mediums is the most common $159 regret in this hobby — the subscription doesn’t transfer the discipline.
The real question: LeetCode or a structured course first?
LeetCode is a practice gym, not a teacher. If you open a medium-difficulty problem and don’t know which data structure is even in play, grinding more problems mostly teaches frustration — the efficient move is a structured course first, then LeetCode to build speed. Our data structures & algorithms course rankings compare the serious options; the standing favorite for interview-focused learners is Master the Coding Interview: Data Structures + Algorithms, which teaches the exact pattern vocabulary LeetCode assumes. For the pattern-drilling middle ground, our Grokking the Coding Interview review covers the best-known alternative, and the wider field lives in our coding interview courses guide.
Free alternatives worth knowing
If the free tier’s limits ever chafe, the honest alternatives are also free: NeetCode’s curated lists and video explanations organize LeetCode’s own free problems into a curriculum; HackerRank and Codeforces cover practice and competitive programming respectively; and for the fundamentals themselves, free university lectures beat any subscription. The scarce resource in interview prep is structured hours, not paid problems.
LeetCode pricing FAQ
Is LeetCode free to use?
Yes. The core problem library, submissions, contests, and community discussions are free with a basic account, and the free tier is sufficient for serious interview preparation. Premium is optional.
How much is LeetCode Premium in 2026?
$35 per month, or $159 per year (about $13.25/month) — read directly from LeetCode’s subscription page this month. The yearly plan is the only sensible buy for prep cycles longer than a month or two.
Is LeetCode Premium worth it?
It’s worth it in two cases: you’re targeting specific companies and want their tagged question lists, or you’re paying to skip curation on a tight timeline. Most candidates pass interviews prepared on the free tier plus a curated list.
Can I pass FAANG interviews with free LeetCode?
Yes — the interview patterns are fully learnable on free problems, and community solutions substitute for the official ones. What free LeetCode can’t do is teach you data structures you don’t know yet; that’s a course’s job, done before the grind.
Related guides
- Best DSA Courses — learn the patterns before the grind
- Best Coding Interview Courses — the structured field
- Grokking the Coding Interview Review — the pattern-course alternative
- Best Coding Websites — the wider free/paid map