# Padlet review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Boards and sandboxes for sharing ideas in classrooms and teams Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. Padlet is a visual collaboration tool built around boards, where people post text, files and media, and sandboxes, which are open canvases for whiteboards, lessons and activities. It is aimed at education and creative work, and the vendor says it has 40 million users. Plans are priced for individuals, teams, classrooms and whole schools. - **Category:** Whiteboards & Mind Maps - **Made by:** Wallwisher, Inc. - **Website:** https://padlet.com - **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android, macOS - **Who should skip it:** Tight if you stay free, since 3 padlets and 1 user is the limit. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, Padlet has a free plan, and paid plans start at $300 per year for 10 teachers (School & District plan). - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** 3 padlets, 1 user, 20 MB uploads, 2-minute video and 5-minute audio recordings. - **Free trial:** Free trial offered on the Team and Classroom plans (length not stated). | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | 3 padlets, 20 MB file uploads, 2-minute video and 5-minute audio recordings, no credit card needed. | | School & District | $300 per year, starting at, for 10 teachers | Unlimited padlets and students, 1 GB uploads, role-based permissions, analytics, content safety features, LMS integrations, SSO and invoice billing. Sold through a quote. | Read from https://padlet.com/site/subscriptions on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Padlet before buying. ## Key features - **Boards:** Boards collect posts of text, files, video and audio, and can be shared with a group. - **Sandboxes:** Digital canvases for whiteboards, lessons and activities, offered alongside boards. - **Paid-tier limits lifted:** Paid plans remove the 3-padlet cap and raise upload size to 500 MB on Platinum and 1 GB on Team, with longer video and audio recordings. - **Team controls:** The Team plan adds role-based permissions, user management and an analytics dashboard, with API access from Platinum up. - **Classroom and school tiers:** Classroom includes 100 free student accounts and content safety features. School & District adds unlimited students, LMS integrations and SSO. - **Apps:** The App Store listing covers iPhone, iPad and Mac, and the vendor's homepage cites a Google Play rating. ## Good for - Teachers who want students to post to a shared board - Light workshop and brainstorm boards on the free plan - Schools and districts that need LMS integration and SSO ## Worth knowing - The Free plan allows only 3 padlets and one user account. - Read from India, the pricing page showed Philippine pesos, so the individual, team and classroom prices are not recorded; check the page for your region. - SSO, LMS integrations and invoice billing are limited to the School & District plan. - The pages read name no integrations by product, so none are listed. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Padlet makes boards where people post text, files, video and audio, and it is sold mostly to schools. The free plan allows 3 boards and one user, the listing records only the School and District price, and the regional pricing page shows a different currency. - **Value for money: C.** The listing records only School and District, from $300 a year for 10 teachers, and the pricing page in this region shows ringgit, so one person's price is not on record. - **Free plan and trial: C.** The free plan is 3 padlets, 1 user, 20 MB uploads and short recordings, with no card needed. A trial of Team and Classroom is listed, length unstated. - **Features: C.** Boards, sandboxes, uploads and classroom safety tools. Gaps the listing shows: the free tier's 3-board cap, with LMS links, SSO and analytics on paid plans. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. You set up each board and its permissions yourself. - **Platforms and integrations: A.** Web, iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android, an API from Platinum up, and LMS integrations on the school plan. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Padlet's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among whiteboard and mind map tools - Padlet's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 25 of the 61 other whiteboard and mind map tools we grade, and level with 9. - It stands best on platforms and integrations (A, above 54 of 61) and worst on features (C, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $25 a month when paid by the year, against a middle price of $7.49 for the category: 42 of the 44 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 12 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/whiteboards ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** The plain part of Padlet you could make: templates. What surrounds it you could not. The 5 things listed below take a company, not a weekend. It costs $300 a year. - You could make: Templates: an app builder makes this well. - You could not: An endless canvas that stays smooth with hundreds of things on it. - You could not: Apps for macOS, iOS and Android that stay in step with each other. - You could not: Several people working in it at the same moment. - You could not: An API that other software can build on. - You could not: What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: single sign-on and roles and permissions. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. **Tags:** Whiteboard, Real-time collaboration, Templates, Public API ## Alternatives - [Miro](https://toolgpa.com/tools/miro): Online whiteboard for team brainstorming, diagrams and planning. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/miro-vs-padlet) - [Mural](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mural): Online whiteboard with built-in facilitation tools for workshops. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mural-vs-padlet) - [Milanote](https://toolgpa.com/tools/milanote): Visual boards for organizing creative projects. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/milanote-vs-padlet) - [Stormboard](https://toolgpa.com/tools/stormboard): Sticky-note digital whiteboard with built-in reports. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/padlet-vs-stormboard) - [Microsoft Whiteboard](https://toolgpa.com/tools/microsoft-whiteboard): Free collaborative canvas built into Microsoft 365 and Teams. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/microsoft-whiteboard-vs-padlet) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://padlet.com/site/subscriptions - https://padlet.com - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/padlet/id834618886 Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/padlet Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).