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While quizzes might not be the most inventive way to learn, they're still useful for memorizing and recalling facts, assessing knowledge, or getting quick info at the end of a lecture or presentation. Because of their utility, there are tons of different apps, websites, and games out there for swiftly creating and delivering everything from quizzes and flash cards to polls and exit tickets. Some lean more into play, allowing teachers to host classroom game shows, while others shift more toward learning, facilitating formative assessments. No matter the focus, we've looked at all the tools out there for quizzing and selected our favorites below.
Please note: Common Sense Education is a nonprofit with a strong commitment to an unbiased, in-depth editorial process. Our ratings and reviews of learning media aren't influenced by developers or funders, and we never receive payments or other compensation for our reviews.
Our selections
Best overall
More than a quiz tool: With Quizizz you can create interactive learning experiences, but you'll need a school subscription.
Quizizz has grown thoughtfully over time to be our definitive top choice, whether you're running quick quiz games or looking to craft and launch deeper slide-based lessons with embedded assessments. Notably, it's got a decent-enough free version (with ads) that lets you run basic quizzes with exceptional question variety. However, the paid version (no ads) takes things to the next level with video and audio embeds, asynchronous learning, and answer explanations. This turns Quizizz into a lesson-delivery tool edging closely to platforms like Nearpod.
Other recommendations
Best for flashcards and test prep
This is a quality study tool that helps students learn and memorize facts, especially with a paid subscription.
Quizlet is a polished tool that pretty much does it all. The standout feature is its flash-card-based study tools. If you want to help students prep for tests, there's really nothing better. Students can use study sets that teachers assign, create their own, or use one from the content library powered by providers like Kaplan. These study sets have a mastery option that reinforces concepts as well as other neat customization options.
Best choice for game shows
This is an effortlessly fun tool, but it shines best with creative implementation that tests its boundaries.
Easily one of the more popular tools on this list, Kahoot! defined the quiz game genre. While Kahoot's suite of products has gotten increasingly bloated and confusing, the slick presentation of the quiz experience remains unmatched for K-12 classrooms. For now, it remains for us the go-to option for quick, fun quiz games. They've also added a post-quiz exit ticket that gets students reflecting on their learning and feelings.
Best for formative assessment
This smart tool helps teachers gather a variety of student response types and then offer targeted feedback.
If your focus is on substantive dialogue about learning, then Formative is worth a look. Compared to other tools on this list, it has less flash and dash, but a better feedback loop between students and teachers. We're particularly fond of Formative's live feedback feature, and the creative question types. It's also got the best privacy score of any tool on this list.
Great for simple polls during presentations
This tool's dynamic presentations strike a nice balance between information and interaction.
Mentimeter is a favorite among the staff at Common Sense. We use it regularly to run live polls during our presentations and lectures. It's super simple for both you and your audience to use, and can generate great visual aids like word clouds that can be used during, or even after, presentations. Best of all: You can probably get away with the free version.
Good option for device-free classrooms
This can be a useful tool for getting quick feedback or snapshots of learning in tech-limited classrooms.
A lot of classrooms don't have enough devices to use other tools on this list effectively. Plickers solves this, using printed QR codes that students can raise in the air to answer questions. Teachers then use a device to capture student responses. Unfortunately, this low-tech solution means fewer customization options.
Compare the tools
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| Grades | 3–12 | 7–12 | 1–12 | 3–12 | K–12 | 3–12 |
| Price | Free, Paid | Free to try | Free, Paid | Free, Paid | Free, Paid | Free |
| Privacy | ||||||
| Platforms | Web, Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac | Web | Web, Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, Windows, Mac | Web | Web | Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Web |
| Pros | Answer explainers, audio/video responses, and asynchronous assignments. Useful reports. | Works well for personal study sessions or game show-style competition. | Oh-so-easy way to make assessment engaging. Ever evolving with new stuff. | Create simple or detailed assessments in a snap. Real-time monitoring and feedback. | Huge range of options: generate questions, assign polls, get image feedback, create matrices, and more. | Paper response cards open up access to mostly screen-free classrooms. |
| Cons | The special stuff is limited to school/district plans. Challenging to sift through the content library. | User-generated content isn't always reliable or appropriate. Not as fun or flashy as competitors. | Tracking individual progress is tedious. User-created quizzes can be poor quality or inappropriate. | Could use more collaboration. No family access. | You can't import content, so it could take time crafting presentations. | One-at-a-time question entry; questions limited to multiple choice and true or false. |
| Bottom Line | More than a quiz tool: With Quizizz you can create interactive learning experiences, but you'll need a school subscription. | This is a quality study tool that helps students learn and memorize facts, especially with a paid subscription. | This is an effortlessly fun tool, but it shines best with creative implementation that tests its boundaries. | This smart tool helps teachers gather a variety of student response types and then offer targeted feedback. | This tool's dynamic presentations strike a nice balance between information and interaction. | This can be a useful tool for getting quick feedback or snapshots of learning in tech-limited classrooms. |
| Read our review | Read our review | Read our review | Read our review | Read our review | Read our review |
How We Rate
Our recommendations are based on a research-backed rubric we use to rate apps and websites. Here are just a few sample criteria from this rubric:
About Our Review Process
Common Sense Education is editorially independent, nonprofit, and research-backed. Our team of editors and reviewers—all current or former educators and/or researchers—look at dozens of products before choosing a select few for deeper evaluation and consideration. Each product goes through a rigorous evaluative process by both a reviewer and an editor. This involves hands-on testing (including in some cases in classrooms or other real scenarios), rating according to our research-backed rubric, communication with developers and other educators, and finally a written review. We also consult our vast library of from-the-field reviews submitted by practicing educators. Learn more or request a product review.
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