Kahoot vs Poll Everywhere: quiz game or polling tool?

• Game show vs polling tool

  Kahoot is built around a competitive quiz: music, a countdown, more points for faster answers, a leaderboard after every question and a podium at the end. Poll Everywhere is built for collecting responses — word clouds, open-ended answers, upvoted Q&A, clickable images, rankings and surveys — and its Competitions activity adds speed-scored trivia worth up to 2,000 points per question when you want a game.

• Inside your slides vs a separate screen

  Poll Everywhere runs inside PowerPoint, Keynote and Google Slides, so questions sit between your own slides. Kahoot games run on Kahoot's own screen, and importing or syncing PowerPoint and Google Slides decks starts on the Silver plan ($84/year).

• Free plans count differently

  Poll Everywhere's free plan counts responses, not people: each poll takes 40, so 20 people answering twice hit the cap, but every activity type, Competitions included, is free. Kahoot! Go counts players per game — 40 for K-12 teacher accounts, 10 for personal and higher-ed — and limits you to quiz and true/false questions.

• Room size

  Poll Everywhere's paid plans accept 700 responses per poll, and Educator+ ($27/month billed annually) raises that to 2,000. Kahoot's teacher tiers stop at 50, 100 or 200 players, and 800 requires Kahoot! One at $228/year, so big lecture halls are cheaper to cover on Poll Everywhere.

• Joining and answering

  Poll Everywhere audiences open a personal address — PollEv.com/yourname, or pe.app/yourname on Poll Everywhere 2.0, rebuilt in August 2025 — scan a QR code, or text answers to 22333 for multiple-choice and open-ended polls; the active question appears on their screen. Kahoot players enter a fresh game PIN at kahoot.it, scan a QR code or use the app, and see only colored answer shapes unless the host switches on questions on devices.

As of October 2026, Poll Everywhere's education plans are Lecture ($9/month), Educator ($16/month) and Educator+ ($27/month), billed annually at $108, $192 and $324 a year for 700, 700 and 2,000 responses per poll. Business plans start with Present at $10/month (annual only, $120/year); Engage costs $49/month billed annually or $99 month to month, and Teams $84/month billed annually ($999/year) or $249 month to month. Kahoot's teacher tiers run from Bronze ($36/year, 50 players) through Silver ($84, 100) and Gold ($144, 200) to Kahoot! One ($228, 800), billed annually, and its Kahoot! 360 work plans cost $19–$79 per presenter per month, also annual. Kahoot is cheaper for groups of up to 100; above that, Poll Everywhere's $108 Lecture plan undercuts both Kahoot Gold and Kahoot! One.

• you want a game-show atmosphere with music, a countdown and a leaderboard after every question
• your groups stay under 100 players, where Bronze ($36/year) or Silver ($84/year) costs less
• you want AI to build a quiz from a PDF, a web page or a Wikipedia article
• you want team mode and a huge library of ready-made kahoots

• you present from PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides and want polls inside your deck
• you need word clouds, upvoted Q&A, rankings and surveys more than a game
• you teach large lectures: Lecture covers 700 responses per poll for $108 a year
• some of your audience should be able to answer by text message
• you want attendance tracking and, on campus-wide plans, Canvas grading

• you run live, game-show style quizzes and want one simple price: $9/month, billed monthly
• your groups are big — up to 500 players per game
• players should be able to read every question on their own phone (large rooms, hybrid and video calls)
• you don't need homework, self-paced or presentation features

Choose Kahoot when the goal is energy: a timed, scored game that students compete in. Choose Poll Everywhere when the goal is feedback inside a lecture or meeting — word clouds, Q&A and surveys in your own slides, with Competitions for the occasional trivia round — especially in halls of several hundred, where its $108 Lecture plan costs less than Kahoot! One at $228. If all you need is a live multiple-choice game for up to 500 people, billed month to month, Quizzo ($9/month) is a third option.