Honest comparison · Updated 2026
Quizzy.earth
vsPlickers
Plickers and Quizzy’s Classroom Mode do the same job: students hold up printed cards, and the teacher’s phone reads the room. Plickers is the established tool, with native apps and years of classroom use. Quizzy’s Classroom Mode is newer and still in beta, but it’s free with no question limit, runs in a browser with no app, needs no account to run a lesson, and shows explanations with pictures and video after each answer.
At a glance
Side-by-side
| Feature | Quizzy.earth | Plickers |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free plan · Pro $8.99/mo or $5.99/mo yearly |
| Questions per quiz, free | No limit | 5 per Set |
| Students per class | 60 | 63 |
| Results, free | Every student’s answers emailed as a CSV | 30 days in the Scoresheet |
| Account to run a lesson | No | Yes |
| Student accounts | No | No |
| App to install | None — browser on the phone and the projector | Plickers app on the phone |
| Pictures in the question | Yes — from Unsplash or your own upload | Yes (image search on Pro) |
| Question types for cards | Multiple choice, one answer, up to 4 options | Multiple choice and true/false, up to 4 options |
| Maturity | New, in beta | Established, years of classroom use |
The actual difference
The same cards, without the paywall
Plickers was free for years. In September 2018 it introduced Plickers Pro, limited free Sets to five questions and moved the Scoresheet’s longer date ranges to Pro. Teachers who had built lessons around longer sets either paid or split every quiz into fives. Quizzy’s Classroom Mode has no question limit, keeps no results behind a plan, and needs no account to run a lesson.
Quizzy also adds a step after each answer. Attach a few lines, a picture or a short YouTube clip to a question, and once you reveal the answer it fills the projector while your phone shows the text for you to read aloud. That turns a check for understanding into a moment to teach the thing the class got wrong.
Privacy is built in, too. Your phone reads the cards itself and sends only which answer each card showed; no camera frame is uploaded. Student names appear on your phone and never on the projector, so the class sees how the room answered, not who got it wrong.
Honest credit
Where Plickers still wins
- Maturity — years of classroom use, while Classroom Mode is new and still in beta
- Native iOS and Android apps for the scanner
- Slightly bigger classes — 63 cards against Quizzy’s 60
- True/false questions as their own type
- A Scoresheet that tracks results across lessons on the website, rather than a CSV per lesson
Choose Quizzy.earth
- You want more than five questions without paying for a plan
- You want to run a lesson without making an account
- You’d rather not install an app on your phone
- You want free Unsplash pictures in questions, and a picture, video or explanation after each answer
- You want camera reading kept on your phone and names kept off the projector
- Some of your classes have phones, and you want one tool for card lessons and live games
Choose Plickers
- You want a tool that has been used in classrooms for years, not one in beta
- You teach classes of 61 to 63 students
- You want results across many lessons in one Scoresheet
- You already have printed Plickers cards and a library of Sets
FAQ
Common questions
Is there a free Plickers alternative?
Yes. Quizzy’s Classroom Mode works the same way: students hold up printed cards and the teacher’s phone reads the room. It’s free with no question limit, needs no app and no account to run a lesson, and is currently in beta.
Is Plickers free?
Plickers has a free plan, but it limits a Set to five questions and shows 30 days of results at a time. Plickers Pro costs $8.99 a month, or $5.99 a month billed yearly.
Can I use my Plickers cards with Quizzy?
No. Quizzy prints its own cards from your class list, so each student has a card with their name on the back. Printing is free.
Do students need devices or accounts?
No, in either tool. Each student only needs a printed card, and only the teacher uses a phone.
How many students can each tool scan?
Quizzy’s Classroom Mode holds up to 60 students in a class. Plickers allows 63 cards per class.
Does Quizzy upload pictures of my class?
No. The phone reads the cards itself and sends only which answer each card showed. No camera frame leaves the phone.
Is Quizzy’s Classroom Mode ready to use?
Yes, and teachers are using it, but it’s in beta, so some things may not work as expected yet. If something goes wrong, the Report a problem link in Classroom Mode tells us.
One click. No signup. Just play.
413,499
games played. Free for hosts and players. Works in any browser.Try Classroom Mode