AhaSlides vs Pear Deck (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Pear Deck grades higher than AhaSlides: 2.6 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
Pear Deck 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
Pear Deck
Interactive classroom presentations with live student responses
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 Pear Deck if
- Fits if you teach from Google Slides and want students to answer on their own screens
- Works for a teacher who wants unlimited free sessions
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you want the Teacher Dashboard, draggable responses or teacher feedback, all on Premium at $149 a year
- Skip it if you do not use Google Apps for Education, as Flashcard Factory and Add Audio need it
- Watch out: Canvas and Schoology links come with district plans and carry a fee on school plans
- Watch out: Pear Practice and Pear Assessment are separate products with their own plans
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAhaSlidesFair | 2.6GPAPear DeckGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CTeacher Premium is $149 a year with an educator discount, about $12 a month, and the page shows no price without it. 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. | ATeacher Free has unlimited presentations, sessions and participants, with questions, polls and student-paced mode. The limits are on features, not on how much you use it. |
| 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 slides, student-paced mode, a dashboard and a template library. Flashcard Factory and audio are Google-only, and the dashboard is Premium. |
| 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. It sits on top of Google Slides or PowerPoint, so teachers still build the lesson. |
| 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, with Google, Microsoft, Canvas and Schoology connections. No app or desktop version is listed. |
| Best for | getting the room to join in with quizzes and polls | interactive questions inside Google or Microsoft slides |
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 Pear Deck. 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. Pear Deck starts at $12.42 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and AhaSlides starts $4.47 a month lower. Of the other presentation tools on the chart, 5 score higher than AhaSlides for less, and 8 score higher than Pear Deck 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 surveys.
At a glance
| AhaSlides | Pear Deck | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $7.95 per month, billed yearly ($95.40) | $149 per year, with educator discount (Teacher Premium) |
| 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. | Teacher Free: unlimited presentations, interactive questions, sessions and participants, plus student-paced mode and ready-made lessons. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | AhaSlides Pte Ltd | Pear Deck Learning |
| Price read from | ahaslides.com | peardeck.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.
Pear Deck
- Teacher Premium is listed at $149 a year with an educator discount, and the page does not show a price without it.
- Flashcard Factory and Add Audio to Slides are available only on Google Apps for Education.
- The pricing page says LMS integrations with Canvas and Schoology are included with district subscriptions and carry a fee on school subscriptions.
- Pear Practice and Pear Assessment are separate products with their own plans.
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.
Pear Deck
- Interactive slides
- Teachers add questions, polls and quizzes to a presentation and see student responses as the lesson runs.
- Student-paced mode
- Students move through a lesson at their own speed, while teachers control pacing, locks and timers in live mode.
- Teacher Dashboard
- On Premium, teachers review and highlight responses by name, give feedback and share session controls.
- Reflect & Review
- On Premium, slides, individual responses and teacher feedback can be shared with students after a session.
- Content Orchard
- A collection of templates, activities and ready-to-teach lessons made by educators.
- Pear Start
- A separate free AI tool with 40+ functions that generates lesson plans, interactive presentations and practice sets.
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.
Pear Deck
Teacher Free$0
Interactive questions, polls and quizzes, student-paced mode, anonymous joining, locks and timers, and the Content Orchard of templates and lessons.
Teacher Premium$149
per year, with educator discount
Adds the Teacher Dashboard, draggable and drawing responses, Reflect & Review, Quick Prompts, teacher feedback and a shared dashboard.
Schools & DistrictsCustom
Premium for every teacher, a district library, certified math and ELA lessons for grades 3-12, efficacy reports and onboarding support. 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.
Pear Deck
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AhaSlides or Pear Deck?
As of Nov 12, 2026, AhaSlides is cheaper to start with: $7.95 a month, against $12.42 a month when paid by the year for Pear Deck. AhaSlides starts at $7.95 per month, billed yearly ($95.40), and Pear Deck starts at $149 per year, with educator discount (Teacher Premium).
Which has a free plan, AhaSlides or Pear Deck?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both AhaSlides and Pear Deck have a free plan.
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.