If you’ve ever watched half your audience fumble with a QR code while the other half gives up entirely, you know why I started hunting for Mentimeter alternatives.

Don’t get me wrong – Mentimeter is a solid tool. It’s been the go-to for live polls and word clouds for years. But after running hundreds of virtual training sessions, webinars, and team meetings, I’ve realized something uncomfortable: most audience engagement tools create more friction than they solve.

Here’s the pattern I kept seeing: You display a QR code. Half your participants scan it. Some get redirected to an app store. Others land on a slow-loading page. By the time everyone’s “connected,” the energy in the room has completely flatlined. You’ve lost three minutes and the attention you worked so hard to build.

According to recent meeting research, 52% of attendees lose attention within the first 30 minutes of a meeting. And 73% of professionals multitask during meetings. When your engagement tool adds steps instead of removing them, you’re working against yourself.

So I spent the last year testing every major Mentimeter competitor I could find. I was looking for tools that made participation effortless, not just possible. In this guide, I’ll share the 8 best Mentimeter alternatives I discovered, what makes each one worth considering, and which one became my daily driver.

Why I Started Looking for Mentimeter Alternatives

Before diving into the alternatives, let me explain why you might want to look beyond Mentimeter in the first place. Because if your current setup works perfectly, there’s no reason to switch.

The pricing structure doesn’t work for everyone. Mentimeter’s free plan caps you at 50 participants per month. Once you hit that limit, you’re locked out for 30 days unless you upgrade. For anyone running regular sessions with decent attendance, that’s a dealbreaker. The paid plans start at $11.99/month for individuals, but you’re committing to annual billing – there’s no monthly option.

The QR code and second-screen requirement creates friction. This is my biggest issue with most traditional polling tools. When you ask participants to pull out their phones, scan a code, navigate to a website, and then respond – you’ve already lost half the room. Research on virtual meetings shows that 76% of employees get more distracted on video calls compared to in-person meetings. Adding another screen just compounds that problem.

Feature limitations in the free tier. You get unlimited presentations but only 2 question types. Things like Q&A moderation, data exports, and branding are locked behind paid plans. For occasional use, that’s manageable. For regular presenters, it’s limiting.

The learning curve for participants. Even though Mentimeter itself is intuitive, there’s still a learning curve for first-time users who need to navigate the interface while following your presentation.

None of these are fatal flaws. Mentimeter works well for millions of users. But if any of these pain points resonate with your experience, the alternatives below offer different approaches worth considering.

1. StreamAlive – Best for Zero-Friction Chat-Powered Engagement

I’ll be upfront: StreamAlive has become my go-to tool, and there’s a specific reason why. It fundamentally rethinks how audience participation works.

Instead of sending people to a separate website or app, StreamAlive pulls responses directly from the chat in your existing meeting platform. When you run a poll, your audience just types in the Zoom chat, Teams chat, or whatever platform you’re using. StreamAlive visualizes those responses in real-time on your screen.

Why this matters: There’s no QR code. No second screen. No “can everyone see my poll?” moment. Your audience is already in the chat – they just type their answer and keep watching. According to StreamAlive’s own approach, this keeps attention on your presentation rather than splitting it across devices.

What I actually use it for:

• Word clouds that build in real-time as people type responses
• Interactive maps where participants say where they’re from (fantastic icebreaker)
• Polls that visualize results without asking anyone to leave the meeting window
• Q&A sessions where questions automatically populate without manual copying
• Spinner wheels for random selection (sounds gimmicky but participants love it)

The friction difference in practice: In a typical Mentimeter session, I’d say “scan the QR code on screen.” Then wait. Then say “is everyone connected?” Then troubleshoot two people who can’t find it. Then finally run my poll. With StreamAlive, I say “type your answer in the chat” and results start appearing immediately. It’s night and day.

Pricing: Free plan available with limited features. Engager plan at $25/month with no annual commitment required ($20/mo on the annual plan) – you can cancel anytime. It includes branding and the powerful PowerPoint add-in to turn your slides into polls and word clouds.

Integrations: Works with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, YouTube Live, Twitch, LinkedIn Live, and has a PowerPoint add-in for in-person presentations.

Best for: Anyone running virtual or hybrid sessions who’s tired of losing participants to QR code friction. Particularly strong for trainers, educators, webinar hosts, and anyone presenting to large groups on video platforms.

The honest downside: If you’re presenting in-person without any chat functionality, StreamAlive requires you to set up their browser-based chat app for participants. It works, but it’s an extra step compared to QR-based tools in purely offline scenarios.

2. Slido – Best for Q&A-Heavy Sessions

Slido is what I recommend when your primary need is managing audience questions rather than running polls. It’s owned by Cisco now and integrates beautifully with Webex, but also works well with Zoom, Teams, and presentation tools.

What Slido does really well: The Q&A functionality is excellent. Participants can submit questions and upvote others’ questions, so the best questions rise to the top. You can moderate before questions appear publicly, which is essential for larger corporate events. According to verified user reviews, the Q&A feature is consistently rated as Slido’s strongest capability.

The polling is solid too. You get word clouds, multiple choice, rating polls, and quizzes. The interface is clean and professional, which makes it appropriate for enterprise settings where “fun” tools might feel out of place.

Pricing: Free plan includes unlimited Q&A with up to 100 participants per event, but limits you to 3 polls per event. Paid plans start at €7/month for education and €30/month for business, which unlocks unlimited polls and larger participant counts.

Integrations: PowerPoint, Google Slides, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Zoom. The PowerPoint integration is particularly polished.

Best for: Conference speakers, town halls, all-hands meetings, and any scenario where collecting and prioritizing audience questions is the primary goal.

The honest downside: Like Mentimeter, Slido requires participants to go to a separate website or scan a QR code. You’re still dealing with the second-screen friction. And the free plan’s 3-poll limit makes it impractical for interactive presentations that need frequent check-ins.

3. Kahoot – Best for Gamified Learning and Training

If you want to turn your presentation into a competition with leaderboards and points, Kahoot is the obvious choice. It’s been the dominant player in game-based learning for over a decade, with more than 9 billion participant sessions played across 200+ countries.

The gamification is genuinely engaging. Participants compete against each other with timed questions, watch their names climb the leaderboard, and the energy level in the room visibly increases. For knowledge checks, onboarding quizzes, and training assessments, that competitive element drives attention.

But here’s what I’ve noticed: Kahoot works best when competition makes sense. For icebreakers, team building, or content review, it’s fantastic. For nuanced discussions, opinion gathering, or sessions where you want thoughtful responses rather than fast ones, the game format can actually work against you.

Pricing: This is where Kahoot gets complicated. They have separate pricing for children, students, teachers, personal users, small teams, and enterprises. Business plans range from $10/month for basic features up to $49/month for advanced tools. Enterprise pricing requires annual commitment and can exceed $5/employee/month for large organizations.

Integrations: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint, Google Classroom, and various LMS platforms through LTI.

Best for: Training sessions, classroom review, onboarding quizzes, and any scenario where you want high-energy competition.

The honest downside: The setup requires participants to go to kahoot.it, enter a game PIN, and create a nickname. It’s more friction than typing in a chat, and the gamified interface isn’t appropriate for every professional context. Some user reviews note that the pricing structure can be confusing with frequent upsells and features locked behind higher tiers.

4. AhaSlides – Best Budget-Friendly Mentimeter Clone

AhaSlides positions itself directly as a Mentimeter alternative with a more generous free plan and lower paid pricing. If you like how Mentimeter works but want to spend less money, AhaSlides delivers a similar experience.

The feature set is comprehensive. You get polls, quizzes, word clouds, Q&A, spinner wheels, and even a leaderboard for competitive quizzes. The interface will feel immediately familiar if you’ve used Mentimeter before.

What stands out: The free plan allows up to 50 live participants with unlimited presentations, 5 quiz slides, and 3 question slides. That’s more generous than Mentimeter’s free tier. Paid plans start at around $7.95/month when billed annually, which undercuts Mentimeter significantly.

They also offer one-time event pricing. If you only need AhaSlides for a single event, you can pay per-event rather than committing to a subscription. User reviews frequently cite this flexibility as a major benefit.

Pricing: Free plan with 50 participant limit. Essential plan at $7.95/month (annual) or $23.95/month. Pro plan at $15.95/month (annual) with more features and larger audiences.

Integrations: PowerPoint add-in, Google Slides extension.

Best for: Budget-conscious presenters who want Mentimeter-style functionality at a lower price point, and anyone who only needs polling software for occasional events.

The honest downside: It still uses the QR code/join code approach, so you’re dealing with the same friction as Mentimeter. The platform is less established, so enterprise features like SSO and advanced security may be less mature.

5. Poll Everywhere – Best for Enterprise Deployments

Poll Everywhere has been in the audience response space since 2007 and has built strong credibility with large organizations. It’s trusted by over 75% of the Fortune 500 and 78% of R1 universities, which tells you something about its enterprise readiness.

What makes it enterprise-friendly: Robust reporting and analytics, SSO integration, team management features, and the ability to allow participants to respond via SMS text message in addition to web responses. That SMS option is useful when you can’t count on everyone having reliable internet or smartphones.

The PowerPoint integration is mature. You can embed polls directly into your slides and see results without leaving your presentation. For presenters who live in PowerPoint, this workflow is valuable.

Pricing: Free plan with 40-participant limit per activity. Paid plans start at $10/month (annual) for the Present plan with 700 max audience. The Engage plan at $42/month adds reporting capabilities. Enterprise pricing is custom.

Integrations: PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex.

Best for: Large enterprises, universities, and organizations that need robust administrative controls, reporting, and the reliability of an established vendor.

The honest downside: The pricing scales up quickly for larger audiences, and the free tier is quite limited. The interface feels more dated compared to newer competitors. And you’re still routing participants to a second screen.

6. Wooclap – Best for European Education Market

Wooclap started in Belgium and has built a strong presence in European educational institutions. If you’re teaching at a university or running corporate training in Europe, it’s worth serious consideration.

The free plan is uniquely structured. You can have up to 1,000 participants per event, but you’re limited to just 2 questions per event. That’s essentially the opposite of most competitors who limit participants but allow unlimited questions. For lecturers who want one or two engagement moments in a large class, this works well.

The question variety is impressive. They offer 21 question types compared to Mentimeter’s 13, including specialized formats for education like fill-in-the-blank, matching, and labeling questions. There’s also an “I am confused” button that students can click anonymously, which is a clever way to gauge understanding without requiring questions.

Pricing: Free plan with 1,000 participants but only 2 questions per event. Basic plan at €6.99/month (annual) for unlimited questions. Pro at €14.99/month adds collaboration and custom branding. Education pricing is significantly discounted.

Integrations: PowerPoint, Moodle, Google Slides, Microsoft Teams.

Best for: European educators, universities, and anyone who needs one or two high-participation engagement moments with very large groups.

The honest downside: Outside education, the product feels less polished for business use cases. The 2-question limit on the free plan makes it impractical for most corporate scenarios. And the interface, while functional, isn’t as visually engaging as competitors.

7. Vevox – Best for Anonymous Feedback in Sensitive Contexts

Vevox emphasizes anonymous participation more than most alternatives. If you’re gathering sensitive feedback – think employee surveys, student evaluations, or discussions where psychological safety matters – Vevox takes anonymity seriously.

The anonymity features are robust. Responses are truly anonymous by default, with no way to trace responses back to individuals even for administrators. This matters for town halls, whistleblower surveys, or any context where honest feedback requires genuine privacy.

The moderation tools are strong. You can filter inappropriate content before it appears publicly, which is essential for large public-facing events.

Pricing: Vevox is primarily sales-led with enterprise pricing. They offer a limited free plan, but most serious use requires contacting their sales team for custom pricing.

Integrations: Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint, Webex, Zoom.

Best for: Organizations prioritizing anonymous feedback, higher education institutions, and HR teams running sensitive surveys.

The honest downside: The sales-led pricing model means less transparency about costs. It’s harder to evaluate without a sales conversation. And the platform is less intuitive than consumer-focused alternatives.

8. Pigeonhole Live – Best for Large Conferences

Pigeonhole Live specializes in multi-session events where you need to manage Q&A and polls across many speakers, rooms, and time slots. If you’re running a conference rather than a single presentation, this specialization matters.

The event management features are deep. You can set up multiple sessions, assign different moderators, and participants can access a single event page that updates as sessions change. For conferences with dozens of speakers over multiple days, this structure prevents chaos.

The Q&A workflow handles scale. Questions can be pre-submitted, moderated by a team, and organized by session – which is essential when you have thousands of attendees trying to ask questions simultaneously.

Pricing: Pricing starts around $16/month for smaller events and scales based on participant count and event complexity.

Integrations: Various livestreaming platforms and video conferencing tools.

Best for: Event organizers managing multi-day conferences, virtual summits, or large-scale corporate events with multiple sessions.

The honest downside: Overkill for single presentations or small meetings. The interface is optimized for complex events, which makes it feel heavy for simple use cases.

How to Choose: Matching Tools to Your Actual Needs

After testing all these tools, here’s my decision framework for selecting the right one:

If you’re presenting virtually and want zero audience friction: StreamAlive. The chat-powered approach eliminates the QR code problem entirely. Your audience never leaves the meeting window.

If Q&A management is your primary need: Slido. The question upvoting and moderation features are best-in-class for managing audience questions.

If you want competitive gamification: Kahoot. The leaderboard and points system creates energy that no other tool matches.

If you want Mentimeter features at a lower price: AhaSlides. It’s the most direct alternative with better free-tier limits.

If you need enterprise features and administrative controls: Poll Everywhere. It’s established, trusted by large organizations, and offers robust reporting.

If you’re in European education: Wooclap. The education-specific features and pricing make it a strong fit for academic contexts.

If anonymous feedback is critical: Vevox. The anonymity guarantees are stronger than competitors.

If you’re running multi-session conferences: Pigeonhole Live. The event management features handle complexity that would break simpler tools.

My Take: QR Codes Are Becoming Obsolete for Meeting Engagement

Here’s my controversial opinion after a year of testing: QR codes are a relic of a pre-chat world.

When meeting platforms didn’t have reliable chat features, sending people to external sites made sense. But now, everyone in a Zoom or Teams call has a chat window open. They’re already typing there. Adding a QR code asks them to switch devices, split attention, and navigate away from your presentation.

Research on attention shows the average screen-based attention has dropped from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to just 47 seconds in 2024. Every friction point you add – every QR code scan, every new tab, every “is everyone connected?” moment – burns attention you can’t afford to lose.

This is why StreamAlive became my default. Not because it has the fanciest features, but because it removed the friction that was killing my sessions. When participation becomes as simple as typing in chat, participation rates go up dramatically.

But I recognize this isn’t the right choice for everyone. If you’re running in-person events without video platforms, the QR code approach still works. If you need robust Q&A moderation, Slido excels. If gamification drives your training goals, Kahoot delivers.

The best Mentimeter alternative is the one that fits how your audience actually participates. For virtual and hybrid sessions, I’ve found nothing beats chat-powered engagement.

Key Takeaways

• Mentimeter works but has limitations – the 50-participant monthly cap on free plans, annual billing requirement, and QR code friction are valid reasons to explore alternatives
• StreamAlive eliminates second-screen friction by using native meeting chat for participation, making it ideal for virtual and hybrid sessions
• Slido excels at Q&A with upvoting and moderation features that work well for large corporate events
• Kahoot dominates gamified learning but requires more setup friction and isn’t suited for every professional context
• AhaSlides offers the best budget alternative with Mentimeter-like features at lower prices
• Poll Everywhere and Vevox serve enterprise needs with robust administrative and security features
• Most tools still rely on QR codes – evaluate whether that friction is acceptable for your audience

The audience engagement tool space has matured significantly. You’re no longer limited to Mentimeter’s approach. Choose the tool that matches how your participants actually behave, and you’ll see engagement metrics improve across the board.

Try StreamAlive for Yourself

Want to see how chat-powered engagement actually works? The interactive demo below lets you experience StreamAlive’s tools firsthand – no sign-up required. Play around with the polls, word clouds, and maps to see how your audience would participate.