Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. The largest vendors in audience response software
cannot hold places 1 to 3. Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category,
wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. How it works: placement disclosure ·
editorial process.
The 13 tools, reviewed
#1 Wooclap
Interactive questions built around learning, from a Brussels company · Belgium · wooclap.com
learning training LMS
Wooclap is the entry here that treats the session as a lesson rather than a show. Its catalog runs past twenty question types, including image-based questions, matching and open prompts that make people argue a position, and answers can be reviewed afterwards in a report.
- Pricing: Per presenter / month. Free Starter plan capped at five questions a month. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Trainers and lecturers in Europe
- Strengths: 20+ question types; Live quiz and competition mode; Brainstorming and word clouds.
Where it falls short
The free Starter allowance is stingy: five questions a month will not carry a full workshop, so a pilot needs a paid seat almost at once.
Wrong for
Anyone who wants a purely casual, game-show style quiz for a party or a team social.
Visit Wooclap →
#2 Vevox
Anonymous polling and Q&A that sits inside Teams and PowerPoint · United Kingdom · vevox.com
anonymous Q&A Microsoft Teams
Vevox earns a high place on one idea: people answer honestly when their name is not attached, and the product is built around that. Anonymity is a headline setting for questions and polls, and the Teams and PowerPoint integrations suit offices that already live in Microsoft 365. A year-long all-hands or a university seminar both fit.
- Pricing: Tiered plans. Free sign-up with paid Business and Education plans. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Meetings where staff stay silent
- Strengths: Live polling; Q&A with anonymity; Word cloud.
Where it falls short
The pricing page names the tiers but not the amounts, so you cannot budget before a conversation. Question types are fewer than Wooclap offers, and the design of slides is plain. Heavy brand customization sits behind higher plans.
Wrong for
A teacher running a classroom game with leaderboards every lesson.
Visit Vevox →
#3 Beekast
Workshop and training activities run by a facilitator, billed in euros · France · beekast.com
workshops facilitation euro pricing
Beekast treats a meeting as a sequence of activities that a facilitator runs, and the structure shows. Boards, word clouds, multiple-choice rounds and a metaphor-card exercise sit in one session, and a master session can be cloned for a second cohort, which trainers who repeat a programme will use weekly.
- Pricing: Per license / month. Free plan with 30 monthly participants. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Facilitators running workshops and trainings
- Strengths: 9 activity types on the free tier; Word cloud; Board for brainstorming.
Where it falls short
The participant cap per session is small: 50 on Plus and 100 on Pro, which rules out conference rooms without Enterprise. The free plan allows three sessions a month.
Wrong for
Organisers of large conferences with several hundred attendees.
Visit Beekast →
#4 Mentimeter
Slide-based polls and word clouds from a Swedish company · Sweden · mentimeter.com
polling word cloud presentations
Mentimeter built the category's look: a full-screen slide that fills with answers as people type on their phones. It handles word clouds, rankings, scales and open text well, and presenters can import a slide deck and add questions between slides. Pro adds team workspaces and co-editing, Enterprise adds SSO and SCIM.
- Pricing: Per presenter / month. Free plan with 50 participants a month. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Presenters who want polished slides
- Strengths: 23 slide types; Live polls and word clouds; Quizzes.
Where it falls short
The free plan covers only 50 participants a month, and exports of results require a paid plan. Pricing is per presenter, so a team of ten who all present pay ten times.
Wrong for
A teacher or trainer who needs unlimited participants for free, or one who runs competitive classroom games.
Visit Mentimeter →
#5 Slido
Q&A and polls for meetings and events, now part of Webex · Slovakia · slido.com
Q&A events Cisco
Slido is the tool most event teams think of for audience questions: attendees send questions, others upvote them, and the moderator picks from the ranking. The one-time plan suits a single conference or a quarterly town hall, so there is no yearly commitment to carry. Integrations with PowerPoint, Teams, Zoom and Webex cover most meeting stacks.
- Pricing: One-time or annual plan. Pricing is shown as one-time event plans, annual plans, education plans and Enterprise. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Meetings and events inside Webex or Teams
- Strengths: Live Q&A with upvoting; Polls; Word cloud.
Where it falls short
Ownership by Cisco means roadmap and data decisions sit outside Slovakia. The pricing page does not show amounts without scripts, so budgeting needs a quote or an account. Quiz and learning features are lighter than in Wooclap.
Wrong for
A small team that wants a permanent free plan with generous limits, or a buyer who wants an independent European vendor.
Visit Slido →
#6 Kahoot!
Game-style quizzes with a leaderboard, from Oslo · Norway · kahoot.com
quizzes gamification education
Kahoot! is the product most students and many employees have used, and that familiarity is its strongest argument: nobody needs an explanation of the join screen, the countdown music or the podium. It handles quizzes, a presentation mode with live Q&A and polling, and a large library of ready-made content.
- Pricing: Per user / month. Individual Pro plans run from $9 per month billed annually (Start) $25 (Standard) and $39 (Plus), up to $79 (Ultra, Max) on the monthly-equivalent annual rate, with a request-a-quote route for organizations. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Classrooms and team-building quiz rounds
- Strengths: Live quiz with leaderboard; Ready-made kahoots; Templates.
Where it falls short
The numbers of participants depend on the plan, and the price table has many tiers that are hard to compare at a glance. The mood is competitive and loud, which does not suit a serious executive session.
Wrong for
A manager running a sober all-hands with anonymous questions.
Visit Kahoot! →
#7 Sendsteps
Dutch audience interaction with unlimited free participants · Netherlands · sendsteps.com
Dutch unlimited participants AI creation
Sendsteps is registered in Amsterdam under a Dutch Chamber of Commerce number, and its free plan lets any number of people join a live session. That is a big difference from tools that stop at fifty. The free tier carries twenty question types and live results, while paid steps remove branding, add exports and allow team folders and a moderator view.
- Pricing: Per user / month. Free forever with unlimited participants. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Dutch and Benelux trainers on a budget
- Strengths: 20+ question types; Unlimited participants; AI creation.
Where it falls short
On the free plan, AI creations and PowerPoint imports are limited to two every thirty days. The paid price points are not shown in plain text.
Wrong for
A global company needing 24-hour multilingual support and a large set of event integrations.
Visit Sendsteps →
#8 AhaSlides
Low-cost polls, quizzes and spinner wheels · Singapore · ahaslides.com
low cost quizzes spinner wheel
AhaSlides aims at the presenter who finds the big names expensive and wants a plausible alternative. It does polls, quizzes, word clouds, Q&A and a spinner wheel in one editor, imports PowerPoint slides, and offers a free plan for fifty people with unlimited presentations. Monthly billing means a trainer can pay for the month of a course and stop.
- Pricing: Per user / month. Free plan for up to 50 live participants with unlimited presentations. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Small teams and tutors watching cost
- Strengths: Live polls; Quizzes; Word cloud.
Where it falls short
Plan amounts and participant limits for paid tiers are not stated in the page text, so comparisons need a trial. The company is based in Singapore, which matters for GDPR transfers. Branding is less refined than Mentimeter.
Wrong for
A public-sector body that requires an EU-hosted vendor with a signed data processing addendum.
Visit AhaSlides →
#9 Poll Everywhere
Veteran polling tool with every price on one page · United States · polleverywhere.com
polling higher education transparent pricing
Poll Everywhere was founded in 2008 by two former Deloitte consultants, and it is still run as an independent American company according to its terms. Its page lists every plan with monthly and annual prices and a table of limits, which saves the sales call.
- Pricing: Per seat / month. Intro is free for 40 people. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Lecturers and trainers needing clear pricing
- Strengths: Every poll and question type; PowerPoint integration; Attendance management.
Where it falls short
Two interfaces, classic and 2.0, exist side by side, which confuses new users. The free plan is limited to 40 audience members and 10 AI prompts a month. Reporting is withheld until Engage.
Wrong for
A conference organizer who needs thousands of simultaneous participants or event app integration.
Visit Poll Everywhere →
#10 Klaxoon
Visual collaboration and audience tools from Rennes · France · klaxoon.com
workshops boards France
Klaxoon grew out of a hardware buzzer and now sells a wider collaboration suite, where polling is one tool beside boards and brainstorms. For a team that wants to vote on ideas it just collected on a board, one login covers both.
- Pricing: Per host / month. Free tier with limited access. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Workshops combining boards and voting
- Strengths: Visual boards; Quizzes and questions; Brainstorming.
Where it falls short
Per-host price of $24.90 is high when only quick polls are needed. Starter allows only four Pro users. The polling is not as deep as dedicated tools, and large lecture halls are not the target.
Wrong for
A lecturer who only needs a quick poll and an anonymous question box.
Visit Klaxoon →
#11 Nearpod
Interactive K-12 lessons with built-in questions · United States · nearpod.com
K-12 lessons education
Nearpod wraps questions inside a full lesson: slides, videos, quizzes and drawing tasks run on student devices at the teacher's pace. It is a Renaissance company, and school districts buy through a quote route with LMS rostering and reports. For a classroom it is strong because the lesson library is deep and the AI generator drafts questions.
- Pricing: Per teacher / year. Silver is free with 40 students per session. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: School teachers building full lessons
- Strengths: Interactive lessons; Polls and open-ended questions; Drag and drop.
Where it falls short
Student joins per session are capped at 40, 75 or 90 on teacher plans, and more only on a school license. Pricing for schools is hidden.
Wrong for
A business trainer or event organizer.
Visit Nearpod →
#12 Pear Deck
Classroom questions added to Google Slides decks · United States · peardeck.com
K-12 Google Slides formative assessment
Pear Deck is built for the teacher who already writes lessons in Google Slides and wants to see every student's answer while the slide is on screen. The free version covers core presenting, while Premium adds the teacher dashboard, drawing and drag responses and feedback. Google Classroom, Drive and Forms connections are listed, as are Canvas and Schoology for districts.
- Pricing: Per teacher / year. Teacher Free costs $0; Teacher Premium is $149 a year; Pear Assessment Teacher Premium is $125 a year; schools and districts are quoted. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Teachers using Google Classroom
- Strengths: Google Slides add-on; Draggable and drawing responses; Teacher dashboard.
Where it falls short
Several features, including the dashboard, are premium only. Some district features work only with Google Slides, so PowerPoint-first schools are second class. The product line is split into Pear Deck, Practice and Assessment, each with its own price.
Wrong for
An adult learning or corporate team.
Visit Pear Deck →
#13 Socrative
Room-based quizzes and exit tickets for teachers · Canada · socrative.com
quizzes formative assessment K-12
Socrative has a single mental model: a teacher opens a room, students join with a code, and the quiz marks itself. Free gives one room, five quizzes and fifty students, and students never pay. Essentials adds rooms, Pro raises limits to 300 students per activity, and an Organization seat is cheaper than Pro for schools.
- Pricing: Per seat / month. Free covers 1 room and 50 students per activity. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Teachers needing quick formative checks
- Strengths: Quizzes with automatic grading; Exit tickets; Space race.
Where it falls short
Only one room on the free plan and five saved quizzes. Reports are kept for thirty days there. The design looks older than newer rivals, and there is no word cloud or Q&A moderation to speak of.
Wrong for
A trainer who runs open sessions and wants word clouds or moderated Q&A.
Visit Socrative →
Questions and answers
What is the best audience response software in 2026?
Wooclap ranks first of 13, best for trainers and lecturers in Europe. Vevox is second (meetings where staff stay silent) and Beekast third (facilitators running workshops and trainings). Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands, wherever the category has them.
What is the difference between a live poll and a survey?
A live poll is answered in the room, at the moment the question is on screen, and its result is shown immediately. A survey is sent to people to fill in later, at their own pace.
How much does audience response software cost?
It ranges from free to a few hundred dollars per presenter a year.
Is there a free audience response tool without a participant cap?
Sendsteps states unlimited participants on its free plan, with two AI creations and two PowerPoint imports every thirty days.
Can participants answer anonymously?
Usually, but the default differs and you should verify it. Vevox centers its product on anonymous answers and questions. Slido and Mentimeter both run Q&A from participants' own phones. Enterprise plans may require login through SSO, which removes anonymity.
Which tools work inside PowerPoint, Teams or Zoom?
Mentimeter, Slido, Vevox, Poll Everywhere and Wooclap list PowerPoint, Teams or Zoom connections, and AhaSlides and Sendsteps import PowerPoint files. Pear Deck and Nearpod lean on Google Slides.
Is Slido still independent after the Cisco deal?
Its own pages now say Slido is part of Webex and carry a Cisco copyright, so it is owned by a large US company. The terms still name the Bratislava entity, sli.do s. r. o., as the contracting party.
Which products are best for schools and universities?
For primary and secondary classrooms, Nearpod, Pear Deck and Socrative are built around teacher seats, student joins and LMS rostering. For universities, Wooclap, Poll Everywhere, Vevox and Sendsteps offer LMS connections, attendance and campus licenses. Kahoot! suits gamified revision.
How do I run a poll if the room has poor reception?
Ask IT whether the guest network allows the join page, share the code as a link and a QR code, and let people answer in pairs if devices are scarce.
Can I reuse questions between tools?
Not cleanly. No vendor offers a common export format for questions, so moving means copying text, images and answer keys by hand or with a spreadsheet import where supported.
Does AI question generation work well enough to use?
Mentimeter, Wooclap, Vevox, AhaSlides, Sendsteps, Slido, Nearpod and Pear Deck all advertise AI help. It drafts questions from a topic or a document quickly, but the first version tends to be generic and sometimes wrong on facts.
