Top Hat 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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On this page

Overview
Pricing and Plans
Features
Integrations
User Reviews

Overview

Top Hat

3.8

(41)

Pricing

Starting at $35.00 per year

About Top Hat

Top Hat is a cloud-based learning management solution for educational institutions. Key features include attendance tracking, assignment creation, test review and student performance analysis.

Top Hat Textbook allows instructors to create interactive content such as activities, quizzes, text and videos by using authoring tools. The content can be shared with students in real-time and authors can refresh it through collaboration with their peers. The Classroom module enables instructors to verify if a student is present in the class and automatically assign grades for participation.

Top Hat Assignment enables users to create online homework and deliver on students’ devices. The test can be customized with timed responses and restricted answer attempts. Instructors can also add feedback in the form of comments.

Services are available on a monthly or annual subscription basis with support via phone, live chat and an online ticket.

Top Hat Screenshots

Top Hat Pricing and Plans

Starting price: $35.00 per year

Free Trial

Free Version

Top Hat Pro

$35.00

per year

Plan includes:

All the Lecture Features of Top Hat Basic
Anti-Cheating & Auto-Grading Technology
Authoring
Comprehensive Weekly Insights on Student Performance & Attendance
Create
Easy-to-Create Quizzes With Auto-Grading Capabilities
Edit
Editing & Customization Tools
Email & Live Chat Support for Instructors & Students
Embedded Assessments

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Top Hat Features

Popular features found in Assessment
Customizable Questions
Live Results Sharing
Reporting/Analytics
Scoring
Skills Assessment
Test/Quiz Creation
More features of Top Hat
Academic/Education
Activity Dashboard
Activity Tracking
Assessment Management
Assignment Management
Asynchronous Learning
Attendance Management
Attendance Tracking
Blended Learning
Built-in Course Authoring
Classroom Management
Communication Management
Content Management
Course Authoring
Course Management
Course Tracking
Curriculum Management
Customizable Templates
Data Analysis Tools
Data Import/Export
Data Visualization
Discussions/Forums
Engagement Tracking
Feedback Management
For Higher Education
Gamification
Generative AI
Gradebook
Individualized Assessments
Interactive Content
Interactive Learning
Learner Portal
Learning Management
LMS Integration (LTI)
Mobile Access
Mobile App
Mobile Learning
Monitoring
Multiple Question Types
Online Polling
Online Tests
Polls/Voting
Presentation Tools
Proctoring
Progress Reports
Progress Tracking
Question Library
Quizzes
Real-Time Analytics
Real-Time Data
Real-Time Monitoring
Real-Time Reporting
Real-Time Updates
Reporting & Statistics
Secure Data Storage
Session Recording
Single Sign On
Student Information/Records
Student Management
Student Portal
Support Audio/Images/Video
Survey/Poll Management
Surveys & Feedback
Synchronous Learning
Template Management
Tests/Assessments
Third-Party Integrations
Weighted Questions
Word Clouds

Top Hat Integrations

Canvas

Top Hat User Reviews

Overall Rating

3.8

Ratings Breakdown

44%

24%

12%

10%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

3.9

Value for money

2.9

Customer support

3.8

Functionality

3.8

Jesse Z.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

51-200 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed August 2025

Great App For Any College Course. Can Be Used For Attendance and Engagement.

It is overall a great app for any college course to integrate. Not only can you take attendance, you can also ask questions and post poll questions for students.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

The mobile app is very user friendly and it is easy for your professor to use to take attendance in class without passing a sign in sheet around. Also, the poll questions on this app are very interactive and make class engaging.

Cons:

There are times that Top Hat requires you to reauthenticate through your university. This is frustrating when you just opened the app when class started and can't immediately enter the code.

Verified

Reviewer

Higher Education

501-1000 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed July 2023

Engaging Audience response system (and more)

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Fairly intuitive for users; flexible; offers a lot of functionality in one application; responsive development team that frequently updates (new functionality and fixes)

Cons:

Development has had a pretty narrow view of the use cases; they didn't seem to anticipate all the different scenarios that might occur in a Higher Ed environment.

Reasons for choosing Top Hat

Most versatile functionality for the best price

Reasons for switching to Top Hat

Turning was outdated and the cost to students was too high for the functionality they were receiving.

Verified

Reviewer

Non-Profit Organization Management

2-10 employees

Used weekly for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed August 2019

It works, but isn't the most cost effective solution

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

Students answer questions in real time and the percentages of what answers were chosen can then be displayed.

Cons:

As a student who had to use the software, the cost can be annoying. You have to pay based on how long you think you'll need the software, which you won't always know if you're not sure whether future classes will use the software. For example, you might decide to pay for 1 years use because it's "cheaper" over time, but you only ended up having a class use it for 3 months. So you wasted money paying for the rest of the subscription and the company gets more money from struggling college students. And of course, the opposite could happen where you pay for 1 quarter, then another classes uses it and you'd have to pay for it again. Before Top Hat came along, iClicker was the more commonly used tech and does the same job. With iClicker, you only had to pay one time for the remote and then you could sell the remote to another student, which was much more cost effective for students.

Vaidas L.

Verified reviewer

Education Management

501-1000 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed May 2022

Excellent for its purpose in education

Overall, I have had positive experience with the platform and I would encourage educators to at least take a look and decide if it suits for you. There is no 'one size fits all' approach in higher education.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I have used the platform for years. Started using it to take attendance, but then transitioned to a more inclusive approach. What I like the most is that you can setup your lecture flow with PowerPoints, include quizzes/assessment points throughout, include videos (or other multimedia), and export grades/attendance at the end. There are a lot of small features that can be catered to individual faculty needs, such as types of questions, integration, etc. Their tech support is excellent! They helped me transition my course to tophat in no time.

Cons:

I liked everything about the platform as it suited my needs. My only issue is the pricing model where the students have to pay for access individually. Not all of my students have the means to pay for access (which can really impact their grade if they don' use the platform). However, there is a discount if the platform is used in multiple classes. I also think they have site licenses, too.

Shaylynn W.

Verified reviewer

Education Management

10000+ employees

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed November 2018

Top Hat Student Review

It has helped me so much with this class. It has given me a new way to go about grasping the material and I would highly suggest it to other people.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I used it in my economics class, and we had embedded questions within our chapters. It really makes you slow down to understand and grasp the concepts.

Cons:

We had problems with being able to go back and view which questions were answered correctly or incorrectly. I also wish there were more functions like notes and bookmarks along with the highlighting.

Verified

Reviewer

Telecommunications

51-200 employees

Used daily for less than 6 months

Review source

Reviewed July 2019

Oh the frustration

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

Maybe it's because it was a 12pm physics lecture and no one wanted to be there, including the technology, but Top Hat was a hit-or-miss most of the semester. I cannot speak for the professor in this case, but this was my experience as a student. We used Top Hat for attendance, poll questions, and short quizzes between slides. Attendance tracking utilizes location to some extent, but if you have the code and time, you can check into class without being there. Our professor caught people checking in remotely; but we also found out that there were dead spots where people in the very room could not check in. That led to tons of handwritten attendance sheets. Also quizzes within the slides often glitched out and had to be restarted or they randomly deleted the annotations. The lecture hall was 200~220 people.

Cons:

Glitchy with large amount of people; Attendance not always accurate

Jonathan R.

Verified reviewer

Higher Education

51-200 employees

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed August 2019

Use a different platform if you can

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

Similar in functions and features as other learning platforms once you can figure it out. I personally don’t have any other pros for this product.

Cons:

I wouldn’t recommend Top Hat I feel like there are other learning platforms that are easier to use for both the instructor and student. I had top hat as a learning platform in a few of my university courses and I never got the hang of using it.

Verified

Reviewer

Higher Education

51-200 employees

Used weekly for less than 6 months

Review source

Reviewed August 2019

Easy to Use Learning Tool

Top Hat is a wonderful asset to have, and I'm glad my professors have been utilizing it. It has increased the regularity and clarity of communication between myself and my professors.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

When it comes to student/professor education software, I have found, as a student, that my favorite software programs are ones that professors are able to access and utilize with ease. The reason for this is that when professors utilize the functions available on education software, my life gets easier. Instead of dealing with streams of AOL emails, I get succinct and clean information and communication through a user-friendly platform. My professors who use Top Hat are VERY comfortable with it and seem to maximize its potential. Top Hat is easy for me to use, and it's evidently really easy for my professors to use. It's clean, sleek, and really user-friendly. Also, I like how Top Hat is device-friendly; their mobile app is great.

Cons:

I've been using it for a few months and have not yet run into anything that I have a problem with. Everything's been great so far.

Jim C.

Verified reviewer

Higher Education

5001-10000 employees

Used weekly for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed July 2019

When free options are available on the market, it is a shame that this company swindles instructors

The customer service, in my limited experience, has been great. However, I really hate that I had to pay for something like this when it was in no ways innovative and when so many free competitors exist.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Simplistic design that is easy to navigate

Cons:

The cost is insane for something that is essentially an iClicker. The location-dependent attendance code input has consistently been terrible. This company swindles instructors into forcing their students to buy the product, by making it a required component of the course marks.

Verified

Reviewer

Primary/ Secondary Education

10000+ employees

Used other for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed December 2019

Top Hat is at the Top of its class

Out of all of the educational programs I have used, Top Hat is by far my favorite. It is easy and allows students to text in answers as well as answer on the app.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

It is easy to use and input answers in. It also has phone number that can be texted, which makes answering questions easier.

Cons:

Sometimes the software lagged or delayed. This made answering difficult questions harder because time might expire more quickly.

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