Deck.Toys vs Nearpod

Deck.Toys is a classroom engagement platform for teachers building interactive lessons for students. Lessons can combine PowerPoint slides, PDFs, videos and activities arranged on a map with connected paths. Teachers can use Study Set questions in self-paced games or multiplayer Arcade games, and collect student text, drawings, photos and uploads on slides. Teacher Sync keeps students with the teacher’s current slide; Free Mode lets them explore at their own pace. The platform tracks student progress in real time and provides classroom reports. Teachers can share classroom URLs through learning platforms including Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Canvas, Schoology and SLS. Teachers can register with Google or Microsoft; students can join with those accounts, as guests or with a username and password. It works in Chrome, Safari or Firefox on connected devices including Chromebooks, iPads, laptops and smartphones. Student access to a teacher’s classroom may be free. Pro costs $8 a month, billed annually at US$ 96 billed annually.

Nearpod helps educators create and deliver interactive lessons, with options for live participation, student-paced work or front-of-class teaching. Teachers can build lessons from scratch or import PowerPoints, Google Slides, PDFs, videos and YouTube videos, then add formative assessments and media activities such as Draw It, Polls, Drag & Drop, VR Field Trips and PhET simulations. Its library contains more than 22,000 customizable, standards-aligned lessons, videos and activities, including K–12 content. Teachers can review real-time feedback and post-session reports to assess student understanding and work. AI Create can generate interactive lessons, activities and multiple-choice questions; the plan details list the question generator with Gold and AI Create with school and district plans. Nearpod works on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows and the web, and lessons can be embedded in an LMS through a link. Integrations include Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Clever, ClassLink and LTI 1.3 platforms such as Canvas, Schoology and Blackboard. Silver is free; Gold costs $159 a year and Platinum $397 a year. School and district pricing is by quote.