Anchor vs Piazza
Anchor
plinklabs.orgPiazza
piazza.comSide by side
| Figure | Anchor | Piazza |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | €24/mo | $379/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 12 |
| Spec score · Classroom Management Software | 9.5 (#1) | 8.6 (#5) |
| Purpose | Anchor lets a teacher run a classroom focus session where student Windows laptops enforce an allowlist of apps and websites, with off-list activity shown live on a dashboard. | Piazza is a Q&A platform that connects students, TAs, and professors so students can get help with coursework. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.7 out of 5 from 30 reviews, but the opened G2 profile is for Anchor FM podcast hosting rather than Plink Labs classroom Anchor. | 4.2 out of 5 from 27 reviews |
| Security and privacy | Anchor observes only during an active teacher-started session and does not record on-allowlist work, keystrokes, page contents, screenshots, passwords, or browsing outside sessions. | Piazza says class posts are limited to enrolled users, access codes can add protection, and FERPA controls are provided. |
| Self-hosting | Each school runs its own backend in its own Azure subscription, and Plink Labs says it operates no backend and receives no student data. | The reviewed official materials describe Piazza as a hosted service and provide no self-hosting package. |
| Support | The maker directs users to GitHub issues for product questions and says there is no support ticket queue. | Piazza lists [email protected] and 800-818-4124 as support contact options. |
| What it does | Anchor lets a teacher run a timed classroom focus session whose app and website allowlist is enforced on student devices while off-list activity appears live on a dashboard. | Piazza is a cloud social-learning platform for class questions, answers, announcements, files, videos and discussions. |
Plans
Anchor
- AnchorFree
- Anchor softwareFree
- Azure hosting estimate€24 a month
- Azure hosting estimate with larger database€43 a month
Piazza
- Contribution-supportedFree
- Contribution-supported modelFree
- Instructor license — 400-student maximum$379 a month
- Instructor license (up to 400 students)$379, paid once
- Instructor license — 700-student maximum$429 a month
- Instructor license (up to 700 students)$429, paid once
- Instructor license (unlimited)$479, paid once
- Instructor license — unlimited class size$479 a month
- Department license (up to 2,000 students)$9,000 a year
- Department license$12,000 a year
In their own words
Anchor
Anchor is classroom software for schools using managed or bring-your-own-device Windows laptops. A teacher starts a focus session for a class, selects allowed app and website bundles, and watches student states and off-list events on a dashboard. Microsoft 365, Smartschool, and GeoGebra are named selectable bundles, and teachers sign in with existing school Microsoft accounts. Off-list apps are set aside rather than closed; off-list Microsoft Edge pages show a block page with an access-request option. Anchor provides activity monitoring, web filtering, and device controls, but no live screen view or behavior tracking. It observes activity only during an active teacher-started session. During that session, the extension sends off-allowlist visits, unblock requests, integrity signals, and liveness heartbeats to the school backend. Each school runs a single-tenant backend in its own Azure subscription. Anchor is GPL-3.0 licensed, self-hostable, and publicly auditable. It is free, with no licence fee or per-seat charge, though Azure hosting costs may apply.
Piazza
Piazza is a course Q&A platform connecting students, teaching assistants, and professors around coursework. Its wiki-style format lets participants edit shared responses, with one student answer and one instructor answer for each question. Students can post anonymously to classmates, or anonymously to the instructor if the instructor permits it; instructors can endorse questions and answers. Course pages can hold announcements, course information, syllabi, assignments, lecture notes, and links. Participation reports show instructors who asks, answers, edits, or reads, as well as when questions arise during the term. Piazza lists integrations with Blackboard, Moodle, Sakai, Desire2Learn, Canvas, Jenzabar, and Angel. Integrated rosters can enroll users with appropriate roles, and users can sign in through the LMS. Piazza is available on web, iOS, and Android, with class alerts in its mobile apps. It says student email addresses and course enrollment details are accessible only to class instructors, and describes technical, administrative, and physical safeguards. Founded in 2009, it is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. A contribution-supported plan is free; paid instructor licenses start at $379 a month, billed per term.