AhaSlides vs Nearpod (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Nearpod grades higher than AhaSlides: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Nearpod grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
AhaSlides
Interactive presentations with live quizzes, polls and word clouds
Nearpod
Interactive K-12 lessons with built-in questions and activities
Which one is for you
Pick AhaSlides if
- Fits if you train, teach or run meetings and want people answering on their phones
- Works for dropping polls into a PowerPoint or Google Slides deck you already have
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free and running a proper quiz, with 5 quiz questions and 3 poll questions a presentation
- Pricey if you pay monthly, at $23.95 for Essential against $7.95 on the yearly plan
- Skip it if your crowd is over 100 and you're on Essential, because that plan is capped at 100 participants
- Watch out: AI, custom branding and Q&A moderation need Pro at $15.95, and SSO needs Enterprise
- Not for you if you want a refund after trying it live, as the 14-day refund only applies before any live event
Pick Nearpod if
- Fits if you teach a class of up to 40 and want to see every student's answer live
- Works for schools that buy a district licence and want LMS rostering
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 300 MB and 40 students a lesson, and Gold lifts that only to 75
- Pricey if you want AI Create, the Google Slides add-on or sub plans, as that is Gold at $159 a year
- Skip it if you need co-teaching, student accounts or LMS links, as those are school and district licences with no public price
- Watch out: Nearpod Math and Social Studies are listed as school and district programs
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAhaSlidesFair | 2.4GPANearpodFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CEssential is $7.95 a month billed yearly, which lands between the $5.83 lower quarter and the $12.99 upper quarter for presentation tools. Ordinary, in other words. AI features and custom branding wait for Pro at $15.95, and monthly billing is $23.95. | CGold is $159 a year, about $13 a month, and Platinum is $397 a year. Schools get a quote. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree holds 50 participants, every slide type and unlimited presentations, but you will hit the cap: 5 quiz questions and 3 poll questions in a single presentation. Analytics and exports start on Essential. | BSilver is free for good, with 20+ formative question types, 40 students a lesson and 300 MB of storage. One teacher can live on that, until a class goes over 40. |
| Features | CIt does audience participation fully: quizzes, polls, word clouds, live Q&A, ranking, pin-on-image and a spinner wheel, with add-ins that drop the lot into PowerPoint. That's a smaller job than building decks, and its own listing puts AI, custom branding and Q&A moderation on Pro. | CInteractive lessons, a library, file import and real-time results. Co-teaching, live annotation, student accounts and LMS links are on school licences. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record, and the work is writing the slides and the questions yourself before anyone joins. On the day it's easier: everything runs in a browser and the audience needs no app and no account. | CNo store rating on record. Teachers build or adapt lessons from slides, and rosters need school set-up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web app with no phone or desktop app of its own. What lifts it is the list it plugs into: PowerPoint, Google Slides, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, RingCentral, Slack, Google Drive and ChatGPT, and AhaSlides says every integration is on every plan, Free included. | BWeb, iOS and Android, with Google Slides, PowerPoint, YouTube and LMS links. No desktop app is listed. |
| Best for | getting the room to join in with quizzes and polls | interactive lessons for a classroom |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: AhaSlides and Nearpod. How we grade
Price against what you get
AhaSlides starts at $7.95 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Nearpod starts at $13.25 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and AhaSlides starts $5.30 a month lower. Of the other presentation tools on the chart, 5 score higher than AhaSlides for less, and 9 score higher than Nearpod for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- AhaSlides also covers templates and surveys.
At a glance
| AhaSlides | Nearpod | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $7.95 per month, billed yearly ($95.40) | $159 per year (Gold, individual educators) |
| Free plan | Up to 50 participants, all slide types, unlimited presentations, and up to 5 quiz questions and 3 poll questions in a single presentation. | Silver is free: 300 MB of storage and up to 40 students joining each lesson, with the core features. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | AhaSlides Pte Ltd | Nearpod (part of Renaissance Learning) |
| Price read from | ahaslides.com | nearpod.com |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
AhaSlides
- The Free plan allows 50 participants and at most 5 quiz questions and 3 poll questions per presentation.
- Essential is capped at 100 participants; AI features, custom branding and Q&A moderation start at Pro.
- SSO and SCIM user management are available only on the Enterprise plan.
- A full refund within 14 days is offered only if the subscription has not been used at a live event.
Nearpod
- Individual plans cap how many students can join: 40 on Silver, 75 on Gold and 90 on Platinum.
- Silver's 300 MB of storage also limits how much of the library a teacher can save.
- Co-teaching, live annotation, student accounts, LMS and LTI integrations are on school and district licenses, which are quoted.
- Nearpod Math and Nearpod Social Studies programs are listed as school and district features.
Key features
AhaSlides
- Interactive slide types
- Presentations mix content slides with quizzes, polls, word clouds, live Q&A, ranking, pin-on-image questions and a spinner wheel. Every slide type is available on the Free plan.
- Join by QR code or link
- The presenter works in a web browser and the audience joins on their own devices through a QR code or link, with nothing to download and no account to create.
- AI tools
- An AI slides generator drafts a presentation from a prompt, a generator turns a PDF or PowerPoint file into quiz questions, and smart grouping clusters audience responses.
- PowerPoint and Google Slides add-ins
- Add-ins place polls, quizzes and Q&A inside existing PowerPoint or Google Slides decks, and PPT, PPTX and PDF files can be imported into AhaSlides instead.
- Video-call integrations
- Zoom, Microsoft Teams and RingCentral integrations run activities inside a call. The vendor says all integrations are included on every plan, including Free.
- Reports and analytics
- After a session, event analytics and participant reports show how people responded, with exports to PDF, JPG and Excel. Analytics and exports start at the Essential plan.
Nearpod
- Interactive lessons
- Lessons, videos and activities combine slides with 20+ formative assessment types and can be run live or student-paced.
- Nearpod Library
- A library of standards-aligned lessons, activities and interactive videos, said to be made with 70+ publishers. Free and individual plans can save items up to the storage limit.
- Import your own files
- Existing PowerPoint, PDF and Google Slides files can be uploaded and turned into interactive lessons.
- AI Create
- Generates multiple-choice questions on Gold and above, and activities and lessons on school and district licenses.
- Real-time insight
- Teachers see live responses and get post-session reports. Schools get admin reporting dashboards.
- District tools
- School and district licenses add co-teaching, shared libraries, student accounts and LMS, LTI and rostering integrations.
Plans
AhaSlides
Free$0
Up to 50 participants, all slide types and unlimited events, limited to 5 quiz questions and 3 poll questions per presentation.
Essential$7.95
per month, billed yearly ($95.40); $23.95 billed monthly
Up to 100 participants, unlimited interactive slides, analytics and exports, and folder management.
Pro$15.95
per month, billed yearly ($191.40)
Up to 2,500 participants, AI features, custom branding, Q&A moderation and priority support.
EnterpriseCustom
Up to 100,000 participants, with SSO, SCIM user management, custom features and a dedicated account manager.
Nearpod
Silver$0
300 MB storage and 40 student joins per lesson, with 20+ formative assessment types and access to the Nearpod Library up to the storage limit.
Gold$159
per year, for individual educators
Adds the AI Create question generator, Google Slides add-on, drag and drop, sub plans, 1 GB storage and 75 student joins per lesson.
Platinum$397
per year, for individual educators
Everything in Gold plus student notes, 5 GB storage and 90 student joins per lesson.
Schools & districtsCustom
Unlimited storage, 250 student joins per lesson, co-teaching, LMS and rostering integrations, admin dashboards and a customer success manager. Request a quote.
Ways to pay less
AhaSlides
- Annual discount
Save 67% with yearly billing
The pricing page toggle advertises a 67% saving for yearly billing. Essential is $95.40 a year, or $7.95 a month, against $23.95 a month on monthly billing.
- Other savings
Team plans save up to 20%
Buying several yearly licences lowers the bill by up to 20%. The page's example prices 3 Pro Yearly licences at $516.78 instead of $574.20, a 10% saving.
- Education
Edu plans for teachers and nonprofits
Separate Edu plans carry special rates for teachers, students and nonprofit organisations. AhaSlides' comparison page lists Edu Small for educators at $35.40 a year.
Nearpod
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AhaSlides or Nearpod?
As of Nov 12, 2026, AhaSlides is cheaper to start with: $7.95 a month, against $13.25 a month when paid by the year for Nearpod. AhaSlides starts at $7.95 per month, billed yearly ($95.40), and Nearpod starts at $159 per year (Gold, individual educators).
Which has a free plan, AhaSlides or Nearpod?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both AhaSlides and Nearpod have a free plan.
Which platforms do AhaSlides and Nearpod run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Nearpod lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.