Acadly

Acadly combines automated class attendance with tools for in-class participation, including polls, quizzes, word clouds, discussions, and a class backchannel. Instructors can configure a roster, schedule, and attendance rules for sessions to run automatically. Acadly says its mesh-network technology checks physical presence without GPS or QR codes and flags suspicious patterns for instructor review; it says this verification does not track geolocation. A PowerPoint add-in can launch attendance and polls from slides and is described as working on Mac and PC. Institutional deployments support LTI connections to Moodle, Brightspace, Blackboard, and Canvas, as well as Zoom and PowerPoint integrations. Acadly is aimed at higher-education instructors and institutions; Acadly Here is presented for other groups, including teams, bands, K-12 programs, and congregations. Android, iOS, macOS, and web access are listed. Basic is shown at $3 a month, and Pro at $5 a month; a First Course Free option is available for up to five months.

Acadly brings attendance automation and engagement activities together, with a PowerPoint add-in and institutional integrations. Buyers should note that some capabilities, including fraud alerts and LMS/SSO integration, are limited to institutional deployments.

Acadly suits higher-education instructors and institutions seeking attendance tools alongside classroom activities. Acadly Here is presented for teams, bands, K-12 programs, and congregations.

Acadly is a classroom platform that pairs attendance tools with live participation activities. It is best suited to higher-education instructors who want both in one course workflow. Its appeal depends on whether course-level tools are enough: fraud alerts and campus integrations sit behind institutional plans.

Overview

Acadly combines attendance automation with polls, quizzes, word clouds, discussions, Q&A and a monitored class backchannel. The course plans let instructors choose between in-person attendance and broader scheduled or online workflows, while institutional deployments add administration and campus integrations. Acadly Here is a separate attendance option for groups such as teams, bands, K-12 programs and congregations.

Key features

Instructors can set a roster, schedule and attendance rules once, then let sessions run automatically. Acadly says its mesh-network verification confirms physical presence without GPS or QR codes and does not track geolocation. That is a useful privacy distinction for classes that need attendance without location tracking. Suspicious-pattern alerts, however, are an institutional feature, so individual buyers should not expect that review aid.

Participation tools cover live polls, quizzes, word clouds, discussions, Q&A and a backchannel monitored by instructors and teaching assistants. Anonymous responses and slide integration give instructors more ways to solicit input. The native PowerPoint add-in launches attendance and polls from slides on Mac and PC, reducing the need to switch tools mid-class. Zoom integration is included in Pro and supported for institutional deployments.

Institutional customers can use LTI compatibility with Moodle, Brightspace, Blackboard and Canvas, as well as Zoom and PowerPoint integrations. They also receive options such as roster syncing and automatic course provisioning. Acadly says HECVAT and VPAT documentation is available and describes FERPA and GDPR compliance under an enterprise agreement; institutional data can be exported in standard formats and is not retained beyond that agreement. These are relevant procurement considerations, but the agreement-based compliance terms and institutional-only features make Acadly a less straightforward fit for a single instructor seeking campus-wide connections.

Pricing

Acadly’s pricing spans free access, per-course purchases, monthly models and custom institutional arrangements. The buying model matters as much as the headline amount: some course prices differ according to whether students or the instructor pay.

• First Course Free: free for the first course, up to five months. It includes PowerPoint integration, scheduled attendance, and web and app access, but excludes fraud alerts. It is a low-risk way to try the workflow in one course, not an ongoing multi-course free tier.
• Basic: $3 a month (billed). The student-pays model is $5 per course; the teacher-pays model is $3 per course. It includes in-person attendance automation, polls and word clouds, multiple-choice and true/false quizzes, backchannels, basic data exports and Q&A. This suits instructors focused on in-person participation who do not need scheduled automatic attendance or Zoom integration.
• Pro: $5 a month (billed). The student-pays model is $10 per course; the teacher-pays model is $5 per course. It adds scheduled automatic attendance, anonymous Q&A, sorting-type quizzes, Zoom integration and online attendance automation. Choose it when those additions justify the higher course cost; it still does not include institutional fraud alerts or LMS/SSO.
• Acadly Basic Course: $3, paid once, billed per course; students pay $3 or the instructor pays $1.5/student. It offers app-only, instructor-initiated attendance and CSV exports with names only, without PowerPoint polling, Zoom, LMS or SSO. It is the narrower choice for a single course that needs basic attendance rather than scheduled automation or slide-based engagement.
• Acadly Pro Course: $5, paid once, billed per course; students pay $5 or the instructor pays $2/student. It includes scheduled attendance, attendance through PowerPoint, web and app, PowerPoint polling and Zoom integration. CSV exports include student emails, but fraud alerts and LMS/SSO remain excluded. It fits a course needing the richer workflow without campus-level deployment.
• Enterprise: custom pricing. It includes LMS plugins for instructors and administrators, automatic course provisioning, roster syncing, contact tracing and premium support.
• Acadly Here: custom pricing, with in-app subscriptions between $15 and $75 per month depending on group size and duration. It provides standalone, app-initiated attendance and CSV exports for groups outside higher education.
• Institutional: custom pricing on an annual or multi-year contract, quoted based on active student users, integrations, services and custom requirements. It includes unlimited courses and instructors, no hardware cost, fraud alerts, LMS and SSO integration, and done-for-you course setup. This is the relevant tier for campuses that need centralized setup and those integrations, rather than an individual instructor.

Platforms

Acadly is available on Android, iOS, macOS and the web. Its PowerPoint add-in works on Mac and PC, and the platform also supports Zoom integration in applicable plans.

Who it's for

Acadly is strongest for higher-education instructors who want attendance and participation tools together, and for institutions prepared to manage an enterprise agreement for integrations and administration. The Basic and Pro course options provide a choice between simpler in-person workflows and scheduled, online or Zoom-supported classes. It is less suitable for instructors who need LMS/SSO or fraud alerts but cannot buy institutionally. Groups outside higher education may find Acadly Here more relevant than the course plans.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Attendance rules can be configured once and automated, reducing repetitive session setup.
• Pro: Mesh-network verification is described as avoiding GPS and QR codes, while not tracking geolocation.
• Pro: Polls, quizzes, Q&A, discussions and backchannels give instructors varied participation formats within one platform.
• Pro: PowerPoint-based attendance and polling, plus Zoom in applicable plans, connect classroom activities to common teaching workflows.
• Con: Fraud alerts, LMS/SSO and bulk course setup are institutional features, limiting what individual course buyers can do.
• Con: Course pricing uses different student-pays and teacher-pays amounts, so buyers need to select the payment arrangement that fits their course.
• Con: The free course offer lasts only up to five months and excludes fraud alerts, making it a trial of a limited course workflow rather than a permanent campus solution.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison of classroom response tools, see Student Response Systems and Audience Response Systems.

• Poll Everywhere is a better fit when its free Intro plan’s 40-person audience limit, or 700-person capacity for 30 days, suits the class size and duration.
• iClicker is worth considering when attendance tracking, auto-run class sessions and late-arrival tracking are the priorities; its six-month Pulse plan is $4.99 a month.
• ARSnova is the alternative for a free response system supporting up to 500 participants without sign-up.
• Kahoot! is a fit for quiz-led sessions: its free Go plan supports up to 40 participants with classic live quizzes and true/false questions.
• Plickers offers a free option capped at five questions per set and 63 students per class, making it an alternative when those limits suit the class.
• Presentria is another freemium classroom response option.
• Quick Key is a fit for teachers who want paper grading: its free plan allows up to 100 quizzes per month, 200 students per teacher and 30-question bubble sheets.
• Quizalize is an alternative freemium quiz platform.

Verdict

Acadly is a sound choice for higher-education instructors who want attendance automation and varied in-class engagement in one course workflow, especially when PowerPoint or Zoom support matters. Its main limitation is the sharp line between course plans and institutional capabilities: campuses needing fraud alerts, LMS/SSO or bulk setup should pursue an institutional quote, while instructors seeking those features without campus procurement should look elsewhere.