Kahoot- Is Upgrading Worth It?

How many times have you played Kahoot in the last year? Ten times? Twenty times? FIFTY TIMES? Unless you have been living under a rock or are relatively new to the educational world, you probably have heard of and played hundreds of Kahoots.

For those who don’t know, Kahoot is a website where people can create a trivia-type game over any topic they want. Creating a Kahoot game is relatively simple. Once the user has an account, they simply hit the “create” button and are redirected to the creator.

The Kahoot creator interface is one of the most intuitive out there. Anybody can create their game with ease. All you have to do is select a question type, write the question, fill in the answer options. It is also very easy to add a picture to each question. When you are ready to play the Kahoot there are numerous options that can make it the perfect learning tool for your class.

Let’s take a more in-depth look at the different Kahoot plans and the different features they offer.

---

1. Basic Plan

The basic plan is free and gives you access to the basic features. When creating a Kahoot you have the option to add multiple choice and true or false questions and upload images saved on your computer. You can add images for answers which is great for very young students who are pre-readers or good for math problems.

Some fun features include a name generator (this has saved many a teacher from students using names like “LilMama” and “BigPoppa69”) which gives the students 3 tries to get a fun animal name like SmartKoala or CleverEagle. The background music can also be changed from the classic Kahoot anthem to versions from almost every genre imaginable!

After the game is played the teacher has access to the game report. This offers huge insight to student understanding and can help shape your next lesson. The overall test accuracy is given as well as accuracy for each question. You can even see each individual student’s answer.

2. Pro Plan

The Pro plan’s current pricing is $3/month and is billed annually so you are looking at $36 for one year of pro features. The Pro plan gives the Kahoot creator a major boost in features. Not only do you have the basic features but you also have more ways to organize your work and engage the students.

The first major upgrade is the access to content. First, you have the option to organize your games into “collections”. You can also import questions from games other people have made. This can save a lot of time in creating the questions.

There is also a greater variety of questions you can use. In addition to multiple choice and true or false questions, students will have access to multi-select questions, puzzle questions (putting the answers in a specific order), polls (great for checks for understanding), and slides which can present information, facts, or pictures throughout the game. The creator has access to an image library so finding and saving pictures onto your computer is not necessary.

3. Premium Plan

The premium plan’s current price is $6/month and billed annually. This means you are paying $72 for a year of the premium features. Premium gives you all of the basic and pro features plus features that can turn Kahoot into a powerful tool for both individualized and school wide learning.

The first thing that sticks out with the premium Kahoot plan is the ability to play the games on challenge mode. The challenge mode is a student-paced game that can allow for more thorough interaction with content. This mode can be used for homework, test-prep, class stations, and more. This option is also good if you want to run a giant game with up to 2,000 players. This could offer a great opportunity for assemblies.

With premium there is an option to edit premium games to you specific need. This can save a the time it would take to create and refine your own (depending on the size and content of your Kahoot game you could be saving 30+ minutes of work). The only new question type offered is the type answer question.

4. Premium+ Plan

There is a Premium+ plan that is currently being offered at a discount rate of $6/month and is billed annually. You’re looking at about $72 for a year of Premium+. This account offers everything in basic, pro, and premium but has minor upgrades such as import slides, open navigation of questions, access to interactive lessons, and access to pre-planned lessons. It looks like they are working on adding even more Premium+ features in the year to come which could make this plan stand out more.

---

After looking at the four plans it's time to address the question: Is upgrading your Kahoot worth it?

After consideration and personal use the answer is YES! Upgrading to the Pro Plan for the $3/month is worth it and here's why:

• The pro plan increases the number of available features more than any other plan.

• The price point is also very reasonable for a teacher to pay out of there own pocket (but definitely ask your school to pay for it first).

• The majority of educators use Kahoot for review and the variety of question-types offered in the Pro Plan will allow for a more in-depth experience for students and a better understanding for the teacher.

• Students play A LOT of Kahoot and most teachers use the basic plan. Having more features re-engages students with your class and your content.