# Nearpod Reviews **Vendor:** Renaissance Learning **Category:** [Digital Learning Platforms](https://www.g2.com/categories/digital-learning-platforms) **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 121 ## About Nearpod Nearpod offers an interactive instructional platform that merges real-time formative assessment and dynamic media for live and self-paced learning experiences inside and outside of the classroom. Nearpod works with any classroom technology, from tablets and smartphones to laptops and Chromebooks. The platform helps engage students with more than 15,000 ready-to-run interactive lessons, videos, and activities created in partnership with leading organizations like Common Sense Education and Smithsonian. In 2019, Nearpod acquired Flocabulary, a learning platform that engages students in academically rigorous K–12 concepts while promoting literacy through hip-hop videos. Together, Nearpod and Flocabulary reach educators in 100 of the largest school districts in the US. In 2018, Nearpod was named EdTech Digest’s Company of the Year. ## Nearpod Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **access control options** in Nearpod, enhancing student engagement and personalized learning experiences. (1 reviews) - Users appreciate the **easy app integration** with platforms like Google Classroom, enhancing sharing and accessibility for students. (1 reviews) - Users value the **real-time assessments** in Nearpod, enhancing engagement and enabling effective tracking of student progress. (1 reviews) - Users love the **cloud storage** feature of Nearpod, enhancing accessibility and collaboration in the classroom. (1 reviews) - Users value the **real-time communication** capabilities of Nearpod, enhancing engagement and interaction in classrooms. (1 reviews) - Content Quality (1 reviews) - Users highlight the **ease of course creation** in Nearpod, thanks to customizable and pre-made lesson plans. (1 reviews) - Course Management (1 reviews) - Easy Integrations (1 reviews) - Education Improvement (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users face **complexity issues** with Nearpod, especially regarding learning the software and managing diverse student needs. (1 reviews) - Users find the **cost of Nearpod** to be a concern, as it may not be budget-friendly for schools. (1 reviews) - Users experience a **steep learning curve** with Nearpod, making initial use and lesson management challenging. (1 reviews) - Users find the **limited functionality** of Nearpod challenging, particularly with the free version and report analysis. (1 reviews) - Users note the **limited features** of Nearpod's free version, leading to challenges in functionality and costs for upgrades. (1 reviews) - Limited Functionality (1 reviews) - Limited Topics (1 reviews) - Navigation Issues (1 reviews) - Outdated Documentation (1 reviews) - Poor Reporting (1 reviews) ## Nearpod Reviews ### 1. Nearpod - Get closer to your audience **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** sheetal j. | Science & Technology Faculty, ICT Coordinator (Förstelärare), Middle Leaders Development Program, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 17, 2025 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod is a cloud based interactive tool that allows real time interactions with the audience like between teacher and students in a classroom. It can be used to create engaging presntations,polls, quizzes, open end questions, collaborative boards, drawing activities, worksheets etc. It is particularly convinient for teachers as it has a library of pre-made lesson plans on various topics. It makes the classroom instantly active and alive with increased focus and student engagement. It is easy to implement on devices like laptops, smartphone, tablets etc. In my classroom I have used it mostly with i-pads, probably twice a month but it can used more frequently specially for younger age groups. I have it integrated with google classroom, which makes it very quick and easy to share the content with students. The accessibility to students is far greater as would have been otherwise. One can also choose options like self paced learning or live participation depending on teaching style. It also helps teachers to track real time progress of students and provide feedback. The software can otherwise be used in meetings, seminars etc, to interact with a larger group of audience, collect data and instant polls. I haven't tried VR experiences but it is possible to virtually visit museums, mars surface using nearpod. In this digital era of learning, it is a very useful classroom tool. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** While there is a free version of nearpod, it has limited facilities and daily usage limits. For wider functionalities and greater storage one needs to pay a suitable amount for the software which may not be budget friendly for schools. The user would need a digital device and stable internet connection to use this app and for some activities involving written work, the students use a suitable pen for devices like ipad, which further adds to the cost unless the digital infrastructure is already available. New users may take sometime to learn the software and explore all its functionalities. Sometimes managing lessons in real time can also be challenging as all learners might not be a same familiar level in using the platform. While it can be used for interactive lessons and provide real time reports, there is a limited funtionality when it comes to report analysis. Despite the downsides, it is a very useful, interactive and fun tool! **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod solves a lot of practical issues, it changes passive learning into active interactive learning, particularly useful for flipped classroom or remote learning models. It makes the students more engaging and provides a platform for students to collaborate in group work. It make the classroom inclusive by providing visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning. It is easy to track student progress and provide feedback in real time which is a challenge in traditional classrooms. It overally improves the engagement and save the time for educators with pre- made lesson plans. ### 2. A tool that every teacher should have **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mario S. | Teacher, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 05, 2024 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I have been using Nearpod since the pandemic. I like how they have lessons ready for your disposal. You can narrow it down to a subject and grade level. There are full blown lessons or guides that help you with the lesson you already creating. Most lessons are customizable so you don't have to use everything the provided lesson has. You have the option for it to be student paced or for them to follow allong with you. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Not all lessons are customizable specially the full blown lessons that Nearpod provides. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Sometimes it is difficult to make a lesson engaging for all students. This is where Nearpod shines. They have many toold and lessons available for you that are current and engaging. All lessons are interactive and their videos are really great with questions given to the students along the way. ### 3. Save Planning Time using Nearpod **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Allison P. | teacher, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 09, 2024 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod allows me to save prep time and lesson creation time. Standard aligned lessons pre-made lessons are available and able to be edited and changed based on my student's learning needs. Adding Virtual Field Trips, Surveys, collaborative boads or quizzes keep students engaged and learning. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** The free Silver level only has 100 MB Storage and 40 student are able to join per lesson. All other levels cost money. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am able to save time planning lessons and creating them for individual student learning. When I am unable to think of a creative lessson idea, I go to Nearpod to find an engaging lesson. Many times this gets my creativity flowing again and I can change or add to a lesson based on a student's strengths and needs. Budget money is tight and few field trips are allowed per year. The number of virtual field trips available is large and I am able to connect a virtual trip to a lesson. ### 4. Nice interactive format. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Marybeth M. | Teacher, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 14, 2024 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Allows students to work individually and work with the class. It is also a great way to collect data on students, the number of tools available to individualize lessons to meet the needs of one's students is vast. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** The teacher/educator format is not easy to use. It is very difficult to figure out and I still do not fully grasp how to use some of the tools and how they interact with Google Slides. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** It allows one to teach and require students to practice writing, reading, speaking and listening. All of which we teach our learners. ### 5. Nearpod is nearly perfect **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ms. G. | Elementary School Teacher, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 14, 2024 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I like the interactive near pods that have virtual reality! **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** That if you are not a member it is hard to store many lessons on your account. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** It supports many different areas of the curriculum and assists in learning. ### 6. Great for interactive lessons **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Gil G. | Using google analytics to drive viewers to yuur site, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 18, 2024 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod is easy to uase and access from any platform. My studnets can use it on their phones, ipad, or chromebooks. You can also use the nearpod over and over and share it with other teachers! It is easy to use and intergrate with students and adults alike. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Nearpod is a bit clunky sometimes and has a limited amount of templates that can be used. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpood is allowing me to have the students engage in the lesson and collaborate during discussions. ### 7. Good tool for school! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Crystal K. | Volunteer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 08, 2024 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** The ability to add more tha one type of activity. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** It is hard to draw on and type on for kids. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Classroom control, learning goals, cognitive developement. ### 8. a secondary application for my videos **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pamela W. | vocational teacher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 04, 2023 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod works well with another product (NGPF) that I use a lot. I often find that NGPF offers lessons with nearpod. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I feel that another ap that I have (edpuzzle) is a lot more flexible and has more ways to edit my videos **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** none that I can think of at the moment. I use this platform as a secondary backup ### 9. Nearpod's integration with Google Slides is a great feature **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dallas T. | Educational Technologies Innovation Instructor for Secondary Schools, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 29, 2023 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod makes it so easy to make presentations interactive for students or viewers. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Nearpod's organization of its libraries can be a bit confusing. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod is a great tool for allowing students (viewers) to be interactive with the materials of a Slide deck and make it clear to teachers (presenters) how well the deck is engaging the students. ### 10. Nearpod review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 08, 2023 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Integration of tools to help drive my lessons and bring them to life. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I do not have any dislikes at this time. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod allows for my students to stay on task complete assignments and assess their learning one lesson at a time ### 11. great for student engagement **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ryan P. | Teacher, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 17, 2022 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I like that there are so many great lessons and activities already created that are available for teachers to choose from. It is also user-friendly and easy to add to any lesson plan! **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** There's not much I dislike about this learning resource. The only thing I can say is that I have found that Nearpod is not always easy for every student to interact with the lesson. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod helps me plan exciting lessons and takes a lot of work and time out of my lesson planning and preparation time. It is also great to use when there is a substitute in class. ### 12. Full teaching and learning Experience **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stiven O. | Director Integral de Servicios PYME, Insurance, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 20, 2023 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** All integrations and tools you can use to perform a full-class experience. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Anything at all. I love every piece of Nearpod. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** I love Nearpod Camp. At this event, they show you new development, tools, techs, etc. ### 13. Useful for Interactive Presentations **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nikki C. | F, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 20, 2022 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod is easy to use. It helps take a simple presentation and makes it more interactive. It is great to use for educational presentations. I would recommend Nearpod to other educators, especially for older students. Nearpod works especially well for English language learning students. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** It did take a little while for me to figure out how to use Nearpod. One is definitely able to figure it out, but at the same time, I would not say it is intuitive. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod allows me to create presentations to make them more engaging. It also helps edit existing presentations to make them more interactive for the students. Once you make a presentation, you can add it to the Nearpod library. You also have the option to look at and use other Nearpod presentations from the library they provide. ### 14. Effective and engaging tool for teaching or presenting **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dusty Columbia E. | Associate Professor, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 25, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod keeps adding new engagement tools, the share screen feature is GREAT for the audience (whether student or adults) what you're seeing. This is a GREAT tool for increasing engagement. With the paid version, I love the assign homework feature. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** It's costly for individuals to purchase when district or company won't pay for it. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod allows me to engage all of my students AND not be tied to the front of the room. If I see a student is not engaging (as evidenced by the data on my small screen), I can walk back and check on students without embarrassing them by calling them out. ### 15. Loving Nearpod! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ali L. | 3rd Grade Teacher, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 15, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I love how there is a library with already made nearpods that I can use. I also love how easy it is to use, and my students are very engaged with the lessons-especially the virtual field trips. When students are given an assessment within the lesson, it is graded right then and I have results right at my fingertips. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I'm not too fond of that it often kicks students out of the nearpod lesson, and they have to go and sign in again. This seems to be happening more and more frequently than in past years. I do not like that there is potentially a cost to use this. With Covid, I have been able to use this for free but I'm afraid I will have to have a subscription soon. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** So easy to use! You can play around for just a little bit and quickly figure it out. There are lessons already made you can use right away-they have learning targets and assessment pieces built in. Students are highly engaged as well-the assessments can be made into fun games. This targets students of all abilities-you can record your voice reading questions to them, and students can then record their voices for answers. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can easily engage all students and bring my social studies lessons to life. I can quickly and easily make a nearpod lesson and put links and pictures right in there for students to easily access. I can also check their understanding of the concepts. I can quickly get a gauge on my students' understanding of the lesson presented but in a fun and engaging way that doens't seem like testing to students. ### 16. Nearpod for Learning **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Richard R. | Manager, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 26, 2022 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod is a program that helps the educator and the learner interact. It is set up to help give immediate feedback on the content that is being taught or discussed. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** A dislike that Nearpod has is that if you sign out and sign in again it makes the names double instead of letting one keep the same names. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** A problem that is being solved is that it engages the learner with the content if it is set up the correct way. One benefit that is available is the immediate feedback that the presenter can see when the learner has written a response to a question. ### 17. Nearpod Steps Up Its Game **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lisa B. | Teacher/Instructional Technology Coach, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 16, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod has nearly seamless integration with Google Slides. It has a robust library of quality premade lessons along with numerous resources to build your own. Most recently, they have incorporated Flipgrid and Flocabulary into it. It also allows for stopping points in videos for questions like EdPuzzle, so it eliminates the need for some other programs. Once you build a lesson, it is easy to move components around and add, delete, or change them. It has stepped up its game and now leads the crowd in my opinion. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I do not have any dislikes or suggestions at this time. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Problems - is similar to other programs Benefits - easy to use and change, great resources, a plethora of ready-made resources, excellent reporting tool, students love it! ### 18. Great Resource for Groups Large & Small **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Charlotte W. | Teacher/Department Chairman, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 08, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** The whole class can log in simultaneously and interact with each other while giving me enough control to make sure inappropriate things are not said/posted. The interactives are engaging and meaningful. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I get hung up switching from teacher view to student view occasionally, and it can be time-consuming to set up initially. However, these things are worth the effort. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Engagement is up; I teach a discussion/lecture-based course, and Nearpod helps keep students tuned in to the discussion. Additionally, I can give instant feedback and correct errors quicker. My students enjoy the activities leading to a quicker transition from one part of the lesson to the next. They are quick to log in to the NearPod and work diligently to finish other tasks so we can get to the NearPod. ### 19. Transforming learning experience **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tung H. | Teacher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 25, 2022 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod allows interactive activities in the classroom which teachers can moderate and record for future reference. It's a wonderful way to monitor students' participation and engagement. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Not something I dislike, but the limited question and activity types can make it hard to conduct and moderate certain activities. For example, the Time to Climb activities does not show real-time results. You know who is doing well, but you do not know how exactly they are performing. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Classroom interaction! I used to have problems engaging students when teaching online. Now, with Nearpod, they can collaborate anonymously and contribute to the lesson however they want. ### 20. Great way to make lessons come to life! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nathan P. | Teacher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 04, 2022 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** There are so many different options of what you can put into a Nearpod slides for students, from questions, to videos, to games, to 3D images that they can turn around and look all around at! **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** With all of the options, it can sometimes get a little overwhelming and easy to try to do too much with a single presentation, which can be distracting. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** If students have access to a touch screen, a Nearpod is an excellent way to see students' work when they are remote or not right in front of you. You can see what is on all of the students' screens from your screen which is awesome! ### 21. Nearpod Necessity **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sarah D. | Teacher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod allows all of my students to engage in a lesson. Even if I do not have time to call on every student to respond orally to a question, they have done so online! **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I do not like how I cannot copy and paste a working slide into a new PowerPoint. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** Be sure to link your Google account! **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Student engagement ### 22. Nearpod is a must for any classroom! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** KATHRYN P. | Classroom Teacher, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 27, 2022 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** The thing I like best about Nearpod is that it has my students 100% engaged. I can see all of my student's work from my computer screen, and my students love the lessons. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** There is nothing I dislike about Nearpod. It is user-friendly, and I can easily create my math and social studies lessons. My students look forward to the Nearpod day! **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** The problem I am solving with Nearpod is student engagement. Before Nearpod, some students refused to follow along and complete the assignment. Using Nearpod, all my students willingly participate. ### 23. Great Educational Resource! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Christy S. | Autism Support Teacher, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 04, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I love the reports that Nearpod provides to track data on student work completion. I also love the self-paced, and teacher-led options. Additionally, I love that it shows whether a student is currently working on a given slide and is active in a task. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I dislike the methods of making slides. Slide creation is not always intuitive and can be difficult. Other things I dislike are limitations due to bandwidth, as well as library search functions. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** -Check out the library -Look at pre-made ones first -Use VR!!!! **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod helps to "gamify" education. It helps with student engagement. It was a huge support with virtual learning throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Students enjoy VR experiences and are exposed to world-wide phenomena. ### 24. Nearpod great alternative to Kahoot or other game **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 19, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I like that you can do self paced on a day you need students to work through on their own or you can lead full class discussion and have them participate. Students like it as well. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I wish there were built in games and more people were in their community to share out nearpods that have been created. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** Try it out! You can create from scratch or use an existing Google slideshow and add Nearpod elements by using the add-on in Google. Students like changing it up! **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm solving the problem of having terrible sub plans and loss of learning due to being out. Nearpod allows me to keep up with the content and still get curriculum out to kids. ### 25. Neat program that helps with virtual learning but has some kinks **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Leigh T. | English Teacher, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 17, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I like the collaborate board feature the best. I also like the self-paced vs. teacher-led options and I like that it has a library of lessons already loaded up that are easy to access and use. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I don't like that you cannot share a Nearpod with a colleague and have you both edit and run it. This is especially difficult with co-teachers when one teacher is absent. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Virtual engagement--this product is excellent for getting kids engaged virtually, but it also works for in-class engagement with a lesson. And it's great because it can be used self-paced, as well. ### 26. Decent Cloud / Group Learning **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Zachary F. | Student, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 03, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I like how easy it is to use. There is a lot of built-in features to be able to use and put inside of presentations. It's also super easy for people to join and interact with each presentation. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Sometimes there are some bugs with it being able to sync with all user clients. But, overall there isn't too much to dislike about the entire program and presenting way. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** It allows teachers and students to all learn together, rather than trying to do a lesson by having everyone follow along. Nearpod syncs everyone's presentations, and lets the teacher control what slide everyone is on. ### 27. Forget PowerPoint **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** James T. | English Teacher, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 08, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** NearPod takes PowerPoints and Google Slides to the next level with lots of interactive activities spread throughout the presentation. It's the perfect way to increase student engagement! **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** The information slides on NearPod aren't very easy to customize. You can add your own text, but it's not easy to change the formatting/appearance of the information slides. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** I wish the formatting/appearance was easier to customize, but that's a small price to pay for the significant gains in student engagement I've realized while using NearPod. ### 28. User-friendly and versatile platform **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Celeste S. | High School English teacher, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 19, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod has a variety of topics that help out English teachers. There are numerous lessons on punctuation, literary works, and even games that are really useful when trying to make your class more engaging. Also, students love the climbing game where they answer questions and can see the rest of their classmates advancing in a virtual hike up to the top! **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Sometimes to access certain activities you really need to go through the lesson included in the activities. However, you do have a quickstart option that allows you to just begin sharing different content with your students. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** To get to know the platform I recommend playing around with the features and using it with students. They can even use it themselves to make collaborative group work. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod is interactive. This is a must in virtual class scenarios. Let´s remember our students are not necessarily motivated to keep staring at a screen after such a long time. Plus, we have those quiet students that don´t feel comfortable participating. If you use the open question discussion option, you can have students use a "virtual post-it" to voice their opinions. ### 29. Best Engagement Tool for Classroom **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 23, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** The ability to work within Google Slides and push to student devices for a 1:1 school makes this a win-win for the secondary classroom! I can quickly assess students at points in the lesson, I get to pull in interaction to keep students engaged, and most importantly I can keep students locked on the lesson. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** The cost for premium is a little high. It can also become overused if all teachers are using it for every lesson in every class across campus. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can control what students have on their device and also keep engagement and informal assessments going throughout the lesson. Applying to the virtual learner is also a breeze. ### 30. Collaborative Engagement **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 23, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I like the Collaborative boards in Nearpod. It's easy for students to join the board to communicate without actually talking. Students can ask any question they want. If the instructor chooses, they can screen these before sharing for appropriateness. Then students can vote up the questions that everyone wants the instructor to answer. Also, I like more than just polling the students with multiple-choice Q/A. Nearpod collects any response -- multiple-choice, t/f, short-answer, drawings, pics, and whole sentences. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** That it can't pick up a GPS location, it would be nice to know exactly where the student was/is during "live" class (remote site or in the room). It does pick up the IP address, but that is the same address for all wifi users in the classrooms at our location. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** Give it a try! **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is easier to tell if someone is engaged or just tuning out -- engagement levels. ### 31. Nearpod for the Classroom **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nicola T. | M, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 19, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod is a very useful website for reviewing and holding students accountable. There are a multitude of features that make reviewing and teaching new material easy and hands-on. The feature I use the most is the draw feature. This feature allows me to upload any math problem and then lets students draw and show their work by hand or typing. If it is a graphing problem, they can even graph it on another website, screenshot, and upload within Nearpod. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** The downside is that students do not get a saved copy of their work. I wish it could export their responses so that we can have a PDF of the completed study guide at the end of class. That feature would help students retain the information more. The heavier features like Time to Climb the game are also sometimes too much for the internet to handle. The students sometimes get kicked off and have to rejoin. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** Try uploading PDFs or PPTs of previously made resources to quicken the start time of your use in class. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** For hybrid learning, Nearpod has increased accountability. It is like a class set of whiteboards but some of my students are in person, and some are at home. That way I can track who is participating, and I can see all of their responses at once. It also does give reports about who joined and how many screens they completed, which is helpful when communicating with parents. The students also really enjoy it because it allows them to doodle and share their responses with the class and receive quick feedback from me. Overall, the students and I enjoy it. ### 32. It works but so much extra **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 22, 2020 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Works great with in class and remote learning **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Not enough features like another company I use. Wish there were more options available to get responses from students. Cant switch from teacher controlled to student controlled in one slideshow. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** Test this and Peardeck before making a decision **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Makes teaching remotely easier. I can see student responses to math problems and provide feedback ### 33. Engagement Opportunity **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 15, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod allows me to create content and quickly and easily share it with my students and colleagues. They can be short, fun, and allow me to assess my students' knowledge. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Often times, because Nearpod has become so popular and over utilized, students will not engage with it as much because it has become "the norm". As an educator, we have had to complete a great deal of training on Nearpod and it can be made so that it is essentially a glorified powerpoint. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Engagement and assessment are the primary two currently. I also greatly appreciate that there is a Nearpod library that can be accessed and added to for others. It is a huge benefit. ### 34. Nearpod is great for engaging students **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Maria M. | Teacher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 26, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I like the ability to poll or ask questions during lectures. I also love the bank of pre-made videos with questions. This helps me to give my students a different perspective and make sure that they are paying attention to the important information. I also love using nearpod for reviews. I can quickly make a quiz and video for students to complete to review material before a test or quiz. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Quiz creation can be a little slow and the bank of questions is very geared towards younger students and english more than science. I would love the ability to start adding questions to a bank that other science teachers can use. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Without nearpod I wouldn't know whether my online students were getting it. During a normal school year I can walk around the room and get an idea of where students are. With Covid, I can't walk around the room as much since that breaks social distancing. I also can't know what the students online are doing. With nearpod, there are questions for them to answer during lecture so that I can get an idea after the notes on which students were engaged, which students got it, and which students need some more personal help. ### 35. Nearpod **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 05, 2022 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Very helpful to my interactive classroom **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Internet connection issues that may interfere with virtual class discussion **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod keeps my class active at any time until my class is over. ### 36. I love Nearpod **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 28, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I love how interactive Nearpod is and how you get instant feedback from participants. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** There isn't anything that I dislike about Nearpod. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using Nearpod to help with knowing where my students are during their learning and what misconceptions they have. ### 37. Great Educational Resource **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kayla B. | Teacher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 14, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** There are a great number of lessons already created and available for use. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Not all of the tools are useful on iPads. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod is a great resource for substitute teachers. ### 38. Nearpod For k-12 Education **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Joshua B. | K-12 Science Specialist, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 26, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** As a district leader, I like the ability to curate a library of Nearpods for my teachers to use, broken down by grade level and topic. As a classroom teacher, I like the flexibility of Nearpod in being teacher-led or student-led. Additionally, the real-time data that teachers receive from student work allows for in-the-moment remediation. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I can't think of many downsides to this platform. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod is helping to solve my district's lack of continuity of instruction across buildings. A large benefit is that students are now seeing the same language of instruction and engaging in similar experiences, regardless of zip code. ### 39. Excellent platform to engage meeting audience **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 10, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** This platform is versatile and can be used in both the education and corporate worlds. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Limited free version, however if you have the paid version you have access to all of the features. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Nearpod allows you to make your classes, or meeting engaging. You can add videos that pause in between for questions, you can make matching games for vocabulary and definitions. It's a great tool to be used for a variety of assessments as well. ### 40. Make your lesson plans more fun by adding games **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 29, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I like the way we can make our class more interactive and engaging by creating different games and all **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** It is difficult to use a little bit in starting **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used it in my lesson plans to teach children ### 41. Great LMS that is easy to use for teachers and students of all ages! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kelly G. | Curriculum Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 16, 2020 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Simple interface. Easy to learn and easy to use. Students like that they can access information and activities during class and on their own time. I like the formative assessment tools and the library of great resources that are provided for educators so you don't have to reinvent the wheel! **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Sometimes students can get bored with the same old slideshows and activities. I wish there were some more choices when it comes to interactive activities. Some options to create your own widgets might be fun and allow more flexibility to adapt my lessons to a virtual format for students to engage with. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** If you have tried other platforms for online instruction this school year and have had trouble with Canvas or Blackboard or Google Classroom, this is the one you need! It is so much easier than those others and provides additional tools and interactivity. Even Kindergarteners are able to use this with ease! **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Easy access to instructional content for students to access during class and on their own time. Students can work at their own pace, which is really great! With so many technology tools out there, this one is always reliable and students feel comfortable and confident with the interface. Sometimes sticking to what works, makes all the difference. This takes slideshows and virtual learning to a whole new level. Even if I can't see their faces engaged on the screen, I can monitor their work through Nearpod and make adjustments to my instruction accordingly. ### 42. You can never go wrong with Nearpod! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dash M. | Special Science Teacher II **Reviewed Date:** September 04, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Activities are engaging; reports are comprehensive. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** It is too pricey. It's a bit difficult for me to afford it. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** The activities I give my students online are somewhat boring and redundant. I needed to look for something which can offer me variety, and Nearpod was able to do that. ### 43. My Nearpod Review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 24, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I like that it keeps the students engaged. I also like that it can be used live or at the student's own pace. It is easy to use! It has a lot of really cool features. I think it makes my lectures fun! **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I wish there were a few more Flocabulary for high school students. Also, it would be great if there were more videos to choose from. I usually use Youtube, though. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is nice to use to get through my lectures because I can keep the kids engaged. I like there are different activities the students can do in between slides if I want. ### 44. Nearpod - Great for getting student interaction in the virtual world **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 14, 2020 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Interaction ability. Nearpod offers objective questions, as well as open ended questions and creative answer choices. It also has a gaming ability. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Just like anything, it can be overused. Or if you do not use the interaction part, students will become bored. Don't just throw your powerpoint into it - make it interactive. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Virtual needs. Whether it is a completely virtual classroom or you need to do rotation station type activities with just a couple of devices, you can offer differentiated activities to your students or staff. ### 45. Engaging Tool **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2021 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I love how interactive Nearpod is. It's so easy to embed fun, formative assessment into any lesson. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I do not like that the video feature allows you to ask questions that can be graded but does not allow you to enter reasons why the other answers are incorrect like Edpuzzle does. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am keeping students engaged. Students like that they are able to take notes and download these to their drives for reviewing later. ### 46. Great for Secondary Distance Learners **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 14, 2020 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Ability to track participation and easily convert to grades (or not), integrates with Google Classroom, easy to use for students **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** The extra tab open was a bit much for younger students. Elementary students can be adept at using technology but may need more supervision to complete all slides, get to the end of the presentation, etc. independently. This may work better in a supervised, synchronous environment, which I look forward to trying. The expiration of the link was also troublesome with students who don't "play well" with deadlines. :) **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** Unless you've got older students, make sure they know how to use it and the expectations. I ran into trouble because they wanted to complete assignments late (which I should let them do), but then I had to go in and reactivate the link. I was learning it all, and having it all lined out ahead of time would have made thigns easier. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Distance learning can be a challenge because things are not as interactive as teachers would prefer. We want to be able to deliver instruction in a variety of formats, which is more possible with a platform like Nearpod where one can share videos, slides, websites, etc all on one topic, and intersperse a variety of assessment formats as well. ### 47. Nearpod me to learning **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jamila A. | Digital Learning Specialist, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 04, 2020 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** It allows for student interaction from afar or in a classroom setting. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** The codes are only good for 25 days or less. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** It has great integration with other MS products. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Students/participants are able to create notes about specific slides instead of using paper that can be lost later. ### 48. Interactive and Customizable **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jennifer G. | Teacher, Education Management, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 14, 2020 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I love Nearpod's integration with Google slides, and that you can also make your own presentation within their software. When you send your Nearpod out to your students, the get to work on it on their own pace, and they can do the lesson multiple times. There are also some interactive features and linking to videos and other sites is quite simple. There is also a very extensive lesson library with lots of resources so that you do not need to reinvent the wheel. I also love that I can resume Nearpods later if we run out of time in class, and I do not need to start from the beginning. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** Often times a student cannot save in progress, so if they are working on an assignment and leave it, they must start all over again. The prices in the teacher resource center are quite high. There are some free resources, but many of them seem to be for staff development, and I would like to see more teacher created resources that are available free of charge. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** Make sure that you really go in and use it as much as possible during your free trial. Think of using it outside of the classroom, with staff meetings, and with clubs and teams. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** With Nearpod, I have been able to send lessons out to students that keep them engaged and allow them to work on their own time. When we were face-to-face in the classroom, my students with visual impairments loved having the exact same lesson that was projected available to them on their own device. I was also able to allow students to watch the video only on my projection, or on their devices (I recommend own devices only if they have headphones). I really enjoy the use for my Visually Impaired Students, as well as those who just have to use their device, they have their device, but they are using it for learning. ### 49. Notes with student autonomy and engagement **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Katelyn S. | Advanced Composition Teacher, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 06, 2020 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** Nearpod allows for synchronous and asynchronous note taking. There are different ways for students to participate with one another in the notes and that allows for easy checks for understanding. Students can follow notes at their own pace, which allows for the teacher to check in with struggling students. **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** What I dislike most about Nearpod is that it’s difficult to navigate on a smartphone which could cause an issue for student or teacher users. **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** Problems solved have been student engagement with content and collaboration. Notes become more enjoyable. Presentations are also easily shared with colleagues. ### 50. Great resource for educators!!!! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kristen W. | Special Education Teacher, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 05, 2020 **What do you like best about Nearpod?** I absolutely love you can select from predesigned lessons that educators have shared across the board or even create your own! **What do you dislike about Nearpod?** I find it can be time consuming creating your own lessons. **Recommendations to others considering Nearpod:** Go through the library of already created lessons to save time and definitely check out the virtual field trips!!!! **What problems is Nearpod solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am able to keep my students engaged and give them a plethora of information on a wide range of topics. The virtual field trips are definitely a benefit as it exposes them to so many places they wouldn’t otherwise see. ## Nearpod Discussions - [Who can use Nearpod?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/who-can-use-nearpod) - 1 comment - [What is the purpose of Nearpod?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-purpose-of-nearpod) - 1 comment - [What are the features of Nearpod?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-features-of-nearpod) - 1 comment - [Is there a way to allow students to save in progress during remote learning?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/27057-is-there-a-way-to-allow-students-to-save-in-progress-during-remote-learning) - 3 comments - [View Nearpod pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/nearpod/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-13+09%3A17%3A00+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=26f02106-5104-4ce4-951c-77200d0bf209&secure%5Btoken%5D=81e98df948e47eff465ae3134e2a93e516d197844ca1e87b300563def415e467&format=llm_user) ## Nearpod Features **Assessment delivery** - Question variety - Real-time assessment - Pre-made content **Learning Content** - Pre-made Content - Aligned to Standards - Multimedia Content - Gamification **Grading and reporting** - Automated grading - Gamification - Analytics dashboard - Reporting **Personalization** - Assessments **Administration** - Mobile compatibility **Reporting and Analytics** - Analytics - Integrations **Agentic AI - Digital Learning Platforms** - Cross-system Integration **Platform Features** - Interactive Quizzes - Presentation Building - Student Assignment Distribution - Student Assignment Collection - Progress Reporting - Shared Content Libraries ## Top Nearpod Alternatives - [Lumio](https://www.g2.com/products/smart-technologies-lumio/reviews) - 4.8/5.0 (165 reviews) - [Canvas LMS](https://www.g2.com/products/canvas-lms/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (1,730 reviews) - [Socrative](https://www.g2.com/products/socrative/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (98 reviews)