Plickers
Plickers is a cloud-based formative assessment platform for K-12 teachers that uses physical QR-like cards and a mobile device scanner to collect real-time student responses without requiring student devices. It operates on a freemium, self-serve model targeting individual educators.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Plickers does
Plickers is a San Francisco-based educational technology company founded in 2013 by Nolan Amy that provides a cloud-based formative assessment platform for K-12 educators. Its core product enables teachers to create polls, quizzes, and quick assessments that students respond to using physical cards printed with QR-like symbols; the teacher scans the room with a mobile device to collect real-time responses without requiring each student to have their own device. This device-free polling mechanism is the platform's primary technical differentiator, addressing equity and infrastructure gaps common in K-12 classrooms.
The platform is delivered as a web application accessible from any browser, with no dedicated mobile app available. It supports YouTube video embedding for instructional content via YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode and offers Apple Sign-In alongside email-based authentication to streamline self-serve account creation. Cookie consent is managed through OneTrust with categorized consent for necessary, YouTube, and analytics cookies.
Plickers operates a product-led growth motion with a free signup model targeting individual teachers as the primary customer segment. The company follows a freemium approach, though specific paid tier pricing or revenue mechanics are not publicly disclosed. Distribution is largely organic, driven by inclusion in curated educational technology recommendation lists such as NWEA's compilation of 75 digital learning tools. The company has 11-50 employees, has not raised institutional capital beyond its 2013 Imagine K12 seed, and remains privately held.
Plickers firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Plickers
- Website
- https://plickers.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Plickers is a cloud-based formative assessment platform for K-12 teachers that uses physical QR-like cards and a mobile device scanner to collect real-time student responses without requiring student devices. It operates on a freemium, self-serve model targeting individual educators.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Plickers industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Educational Assessment Software
- NAICS
- Educational Support Services (61171)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Live Polling, Quizzing & Formative Assessment Engagement Tools (EDAFAGAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Student Response Systems (Clickers & Device-Based Response) (EDAFAGAC), Survey, Formative Assessment & Classroom Response (Quizzes/Polls) Tools (EDAFADAN), Assessment, Testing & Analytics Platforms (Formative/Summative) (EDAJAMAC)
Keywords
Where Plickers is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Plickers business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- Freemium Platform Access: The platform offers free account creation with basic functionality. Revenue generation model is not explicitly disclosed in available sources, but the free sign-up suggests a freemium approach with potential premium features or school/district-level paid tiers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier available |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels1 record
Plickers product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Plickers is a digital formative assessment tool that enables teachers to create polls, quizzes, and quick assessments. Students respond using printed cards with unique QR-like symbols, which the teacher scans with a mobile device to capture real-time results. The platform supports classroom instruction, student engagement, and immediate instructional decision-making without requiring each student to own a device.
Product overview
Plickers is a single unified product offering—a digital formative assessment tool for educators. It enables teachers to create polls, quizzes, and quick assessments that students answer using their mobile devices or the Plickers app, with real-time results displayed to support immediate instructional decisions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Plickers A digital formative assessment tool for classroom use that enables teachers to create polls, quizzes, and quick assessments. Students answer using printed cards marked with unique QR-like symbols, which the teacher scans with a mobile device to capture and display real-time responses for instructional decision-making.
Companies that use Plickers
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Plickers technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
Feature2 records
Plickers partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators1 record
Recent moves4 records
Expansion highlights1 record
Plickers competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Kahoot!: Kahoot offers live polling, quizzes, and formative assessment for classrooms with a freemium PLG model directly comparable to Plickers, though it relies on student devices rather than physical cards.
- Quizizz: Quizizz delivers gamified formative assessments and quizzes to K-12 teachers via a self-serve platform, overlapping with Plickers in live polling and engagement use cases for educators.
- Pear Deck: Pear Deck provides interactive formative assessment tools for teachers with real-time student responses, directly competing with Plickers in the K-12 classroom engagement category.
- Nearpod: Nearpod enables teachers to create interactive lessons with embedded formative assessments and real-time feedback, addressing the same classroom use cases as Plickers at a similar audience.
- Socrative: Socrative is a classroom response and formative assessment app for teachers, with a comparable freemium model and target user base to Plickers.
- Mentimeter: Mentimeter provides live polling, quizzes, and word clouds for presentations and classrooms, sharing Plickers' live-polling mechanics though with stronger enterprise/presenter positioning.
- Poll Everywhere: Poll Everywhere offers live audience response and polling for educators and presenters, mirroring Plickers' live response-collection model with a broader higher-ed and enterprise footprint.
Emerging players
- Blooket: Blooket is an emerging gamified formative assessment platform for K-12 teachers with a self-serve PLG motion, intersecting with Plickers' use cases but leaning toward game-based engagement.
- Edpuzzle: Edpuzzle embeds formative assessment into video lessons for teachers, an adjacent workflow to Plickers' YouTube-integrated assessments and overlapping K-12 teacher audience.
Broad incumbents
- ClassDojo: ClassDojo is a much larger, broadly adopted K-12 classroom engagement and communication platform with formative tools layered in, serving the same teacher base as Plickers from a broader incumbent position.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Plickers social profiles
Digital presencePlickers financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Plickers leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Plickers funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Plickers M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Plickers
What does Plickers do?
Plickers is a digital formative assessment tool that enables teachers to create polls, quizzes, and quick assessments. Students respond using printed cards with unique QR-like symbols, which the teacher scans with a mobile device to capture real-time results. The platform supports classroom instruction, student engagement, and immediate instructional decision-making without requiring each student to own a device.
Is Plickers a public or private company?
Plickers is a private company. It is classified as unknown and is currently operating.
When was Plickers founded?
Plickers was founded in 2013. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Plickers based?
Plickers is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Plickers make money?
One revenue line is on record: freemium Platform Access.
Who are Plickers's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Kahoot!, Quizizz, Pear Deck, Nearpod, Socrative, Mentimeter and Poll Everywhere. Emerging players are Blooket and Edpuzzle. ClassDojo is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Plickers have an API?
No public API is recorded for Plickers.
What industry is Plickers in?
Plickers's product category is Educational Assessment Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAFAGAB, Live Polling, Quizzing & Formative Assessment Engagement Tools, with a secondary code of EDAFAGAC, Student Response Systems (Clickers & Device-Based Response). Its NAICS code is 61171 and its SIC code is 7372.