Kahoot Pricing in 2026: Is It Worth $600/Year?
Kahoot changed the way people think about live quizzes. But somewhere along the way, the pricing got out of hand.
If you've recently looked at Kahoot's plans, you might have felt a little sticker shock. Let's break down what Kahoot actually costs in 2026, who it makes sense for, and what alternatives exist if you're not getting your money's worth.
Kahoot's current pricing tiers
Kahoot uses a tiered subscription model:
- Free — limited to 10 participants per session. Basic question types only. Kahoot branding on everything.
- Presenter — $600/year ($50/month billed annually). Removes the player cap, unlocks polls, slides, and advanced question types.
- Enterprise — custom pricing with per-seat licensing, SSO, and admin controls.
Most individuals and small teams land on the Presenter plan, because the free tier's 10-player cap makes it unusable for any real event.
What $600/year actually looks like
Let's put that in context:
- Weekly quiz night: $600 ÷ 52 = $11.54 per session
- Monthly team event: $600 ÷ 12 = $50 per session
- Quarterly classroom use: $600 ÷ 4 = $150 per session
If you're running quizzes weekly, the per-session cost is manageable. But if you're a pub quiz host doing it once a month, or a teacher using it a few times a semester, you're paying a premium for a tool that mostly sits idle.
And here's the thing: you're paying whether you use it or not. Miss a month? That's $50 gone. Go on holiday for summer? Three months of subscription burned.
The features behind the paywall
What frustrates many users is what Kahoot locks behind the paid plans:
- More than 10 players
- Polls and surveys
- Slide presentations within quizzes
- Advanced question types
- Removing Kahoot branding
- Detailed reports
- Team mode
The core experience — asking questions and getting answers in a browser — is the same across all plans. You're paying $600/year mostly to remove artificial limitations.
And notably, Kahoot still doesn't offer AI quiz generation. You're paying $600/year and spending 15–30 minutes writing every quiz by hand.
When Kahoot is worth the money
To be fair, Kahoot does make sense for some use cases:
- Large organizations with dedicated training teams who run quizzes daily
- Schools with district-wide licenses where the per-teacher cost is low
- Companies that need SSO and admin controls for compliance
If you're in one of these categories, Kahoot's enterprise tier delivers value.
When it's not worth it
For most people — pub quiz hosts, small team leads, individual teachers, event organizers — $600/year is overkill. You need a tool that:
- Lets players join without downloading an app
- Shows questions, collects answers, displays a leaderboard
- Doesn't require player accounts
- Doesn't charge you when you're not using it
- Ideally, doesn't make you write every question by hand
That's it. And you shouldn't need to pay $50/month for it.
The alternative: free for small groups, pay-per-quiz for larger ones — with AI
12quiz is a live quiz platform that works exactly like Kahoot — real-time gameplay, browser-based answers, leaderboards, confetti, podium — but it's completely free for up to 10 players. For bigger groups, you pay $2 to $10 per session based on group size. No subscription, no annual commitment.
The key difference beyond price? AI quiz generation. Type any topic, paste a URL, or upload a PDF/Word document, and 12quiz creates a complete quiz in about 30 seconds. No more spending 20 minutes writing questions before every session.
| Players | 12quiz | Kahoot equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 10 | Free | Free (limited features) |
| Up to 20 | $2 | $11.54/session |
| Up to 50 | $3 | $11.54/session |
| Up to 100 | $7 | $11.54/session |
| Up to 500 | $10 | $11.54/session |
Free to sign up, free to create quizzes, free to run sessions with 10 or fewer players. A weekly quiz host with 20 players spending $2/session pays $104/year instead of $600. That's an 83% saving — plus AI does the quiz creation for you.
What else do you get with 12quiz?
It's not just about pricing. 12quiz also offers features that Kahoot locks behind expensive plans or doesn't offer at all:
- AI quiz generation — type a topic, paste a URL, or upload a document. Quiz ready in 30 seconds.
- Surprise Mode — let AI generate a quiz and launch it blind. The host plays along with everyone else.
- Public quiz library — browse and import community-created quizzes instantly.
- Team mode — split players into teams with a combined team leaderboard. Available on all tiers.
- Custom branding — add your logo and brand colors to the live game view. No enterprise plan needed.
- 12 languages — auto-detected from each player's browser. English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish.
- Session history and analytics — review past sessions with detailed question-by-question breakdowns.
- REST API — integrate quiz creation into your own tools and workflows.
- No app download — players join via any browser with just a nickname.
- Email invites — send join links directly to players before the session starts.
Surprise Mode: something Kahoot doesn't have
12quiz also offers Surprise Mode — let the AI generate a quiz and launch it blind. You don't see the answers until they're revealed to everyone. The host gets to play along with their guests instead of just reading questions.
It's perfect for spontaneous quiz nights, house parties, and team events where you want everyone on equal footing.
The bottom line
Kahoot built a great product. But their pricing model is designed for enterprises and institutions, not for individuals and small groups who just want to run fun quizzes.
If you're paying $600/year and feeling the pinch — or if you're on the free tier hitting the 10-player wall — there are now alternatives that give you the full experience, plus AI-powered quiz creation, team mode, custom branding, and 12 languages, without the subscription. And for groups of 10 or fewer, it's completely free.