Kahoot! or Thinking Cap?
Kahoot! is the best-known game-show quiz, built mainly for classrooms and workplace training: questions on a big screen, players racing on their phones, a leaderboard after every question. Thinking Cap is a free pub-style quiz night for adults, where tables type their answers and the host keeps the pace.
Side by side
| Kahoot! | Thinking Cap | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free (Kahoot! Go) for up to 10 players; Kahoot!+ Gold US$12.99 a month per host billed yearly; work plans (Kahoot! 360) from US$19 a month per presenter, billed yearly. | Free for the host and the room. Optional monthly hosting plans and AI rounds for hosts. |
| Players | 10 on the free plan; 200 on Gold; 50 to 5,000 on the work plans. Free business accounts: 3 players on games made from scratch. | Up to 150 phones in a room, as many tables as you like. |
| How players join | A PIN at kahoot.it, a link or a QR. No app or account needed. | A browser on any phone, with the room code or the QR on the TV. No app, no account. |
| Typed answers | On some paid plans: up to 20 characters, matched against up to 4 accepted answers (ignoring case and most punctuation); the host can accept others. | Typed answers marked for spelling: near misses are forgiven, real doubts go to the host in one tap. |
| Teams | Team mode: one shared device per team (not on business accounts), or everyone on their own phone with an averaged team score. | One answer sheet per table, live on every phone at it; the captain locks in. |
| The big screen | Questions are on the host screen by default; a setting also shows them on phones. | Optional: every phone shows the question. |
| Pace | Timed, with points for speed; an Accuracy mode scores correctness only. | The host reads; the clock is a suggestion. An optional speed bonus round. |
| Questions | Public ready-to-play kahoots free; premium ones on paid plans. | A free, checked question bank and ready-made nights, or your own. |
Pick Kahoot! if
- You want the fast, loud game-show format everyone already knows.
- You run training or classes and want quizzes with learning reports.
- Your workplace already pays for Kahoot! 360.
Pick Thinking Cap if
- You want a pub quiz pace: the host reads, tables argue, the captain locks in.
- Your group is bigger than 10 and you would rather not buy a plan.
- You want typed answers on every question, with spelling forgiven, at no cost.
What we say about Kahoot! comes from its own pages, read on 23 October 2026: prices and limits change, so check theirs before you decide. Sources: personal plans, Kahoot! 360 pricing, player limits, question types, how points work, team mode. Spot something out of date? Tell us at [email protected].