Mentimeter vs Kahoot!: which to choose (and when you need neither)

“Mentimeter or Kahoot!?” is one of the most searched questions by people who want to make a lesson or a meeting interactive. The honest answer is that it's often the wrong question: they're two tools built for different jobs. Let's see where each excels, how much they really cost in euros, and when a third way makes more sense.

The fundamental difference: presenting vs playing

Mentimeter was born for interactive presentations: you build the slides in its editor and insert polls, word clouds and scales that the audience votes on live. The register is professional: meetings, workshops, conferences. The quiz exists, but it's one slide type among many.

Kahoot! was born for the quiz-show: timed questions, a driving jingle, points and a final podium. In the classroom it works brilliantly — kids ask for it by name — and in corporate training it's a great energiser. But everything revolves around competition: if what you need is to gather opinions in a meeting, the game format can feel out of place.

• Choose Mentimeter if…

  you present data and want the audience inside the presentation: opinion polls, word clouds, Q&A. The quiz is secondary.

• Choose Kahoot! if…

  your goal is a playful check on learning: classroom review, gamified onboarding, team building. Competition is the point, not an extra.

Mentimeter pricing (verified July 2026)

Kahoot! pricing (verified July 2026)

Kahoot! clearly separates school and business, with very different price lists. Watch the player-per-session limits: they're the real dividing line between the plans.

The comparison that matters: three real scenarios

• A university lecture with 150 students

  Kahoot!'s free plan stops at 40 players and Mentimeter's at 50 participants a month. You'll need Kahoot!+ Silver (100, not enough) or Gold (200, 18.50 €/month) — or Mentimeter Basic (14 €/month annual, unlimited). Here Mentimeter wins on price, Kahoot! on the game effect.

• A company all-hands with 400 people

  On Kahoot! 360 you need Pro Plus's 1,000 participants: 49 €/month billed annually (588 €). On Mentimeter, Basic at 168 €/year is enough. If it's a single event a year, both still force you into an annual subscription.

• Monthly training with quizzes and polls together

  This is the scenario where neither is enough on its own: Kahoot!'s gamified quiz plus Mentimeter's serious polls means two annual subscriptions. Here a platform that covers both formats makes sense.

The third way: quizzes and polls in the same tool

Votinova covers both use cases in a single product: nine question types that include both the quiz with a leaderboard and scoring, and the presentation formats — word cloud, scale, NPS, open questions, rankings. And it does so starting from PowerPoint: you import your .pptx faithfully to the original slides and insert interactive questions between the slides, without rebuilding anything in a new editor.

Frequently asked questions

Are Mentimeter and Kahoot! the same thing?

No. Mentimeter is designed for interactive presentations with live polls (opinions, word clouds, Q&A), Kahoot! for gamified quizzes with points and a leaderboard. They overlap only partly: the choice depends on whether your goal is to gather answers or to get the audience playing.

Which of the two has the more generous free plan?

It depends on the use: Kahoot!'s free plan allows 40 players per session, Mentimeter's free plan 50 participants a month in total (which a single classroom can use up). For regular use, both quickly lead to a paid plan with annual billing.

Can Kahoot! and Mentimeter be paid month by month?

No: as of July 2026 both bill their plans annually only (Kahoot! states this explicitly in its business FAQ). If you need monthly flexibility, you have to look at alternatives like Votinova (34 €/month) or AhaSlides.

Is there a tool that does both quizzes and polls well?

Yes: Votinova includes a quiz with a leaderboard and eight other question types in the same presentation, with faithful PowerPoint import. Kahoot! is centred on the gamified quiz and Mentimeter on polls with a basic quiz — Votinova is built to cover both in one place.