LessonUp

LessonUp helps educators find, create, and teach interactive lessons in person or online, with reports and insights into student learning. Teachers can build activities using polls, multiple-choice questions, drag-and-drop tasks, word clouds, hotspots, spinners, fill-in-the-blanks, and sorting. They can import PowerPoint presentations and add quizzes, polls, mind maps, or open questions. A lesson library includes work from other educators and content partners.

AI tools can assist with lessons, quizzes, rubrics, assignments, images, summaries, glossaries, and translations. LessonUp lists integrations with Canvas, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams for Education, and itslearning; school plans also include SURFconext SSO. The service says it complies with GDPR and keeps personal data on servers in Europe. For student learning data and results, the school or teacher is the controller, and LessonUp processes data under their instructions. School subscriptions include a dedicated contact person, onboarding, and tailored webinars and CPD sessions. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, LessonUp is available on the web, Android, and iOS. Plans include a free option; paid teacher plans start at $7 a month based on an annual subscription.

LessonUp combines lesson creation, interactive activities, and student-learning insights across web and mobile platforms. Its free account offers some interactive features, while paid plans set limits or offer expanded allowances depending on the tier.

LessonUp suits individual teachers as well as teams, schools, colleges, multi-academy trusts, and content partners. It is useful for educators who want interactive lesson activities and learning insights.

LessonUp is a teaching platform for preparing and delivering interactive lessons, with tools to check student understanding. It is best for educators who want lesson materials and classroom participation to work together. The main decision is how much lesson capacity, AI use and school administration you need.

Overview

Teachers can build lessons, draw on material created by other educators and content partners, or bring in PowerPoint presentations and add interactive activities. That makes LessonUp useful beyond presenting slides: it connects lesson preparation with student responses and learning reports. The platform was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands.

LessonUp says it complies with GDPR, stores personal data on servers in Europe and uses technical and organisational safeguards, including 256-bit SSL for its website connection. For student learning data and results, the school or teacher is the controller; LessonUp processes that data under their instructions.

Key features

Interactive lessons and feedback

Teachers can add multiple-choice questions, polls, drag-and-drop tasks, word clouds, hotspots, spinners, fill-in-the-blanks and sorting. Live quizzes and audience reactions support participation during teaching, while reports and insights help teachers review student learning. Results are saved on the free account, making it a meaningful starting point for teachers who want to retain responses rather than only run activities live.

Flexible lesson creation

AI tools can help produce lessons, quizzes, rubrics, assignments, images, summaries, glossaries and translations. PowerPoint import and editing lets teachers add quizzes, polls, mind maps and open questions to existing presentations. The lesson library offers material from educators and content partners, which can reduce the need to start from a blank page; however, AI allowances vary by plan and can be a constraint for frequent use.

School connections and support

LessonUp lists Canvas, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams for Education and itslearning integrations. School plans add school administration and collaboration, plus SURFconext SSO and Canvas and itslearning integrations. School subscriptions also include a dedicated contact, onboarding online or in person, and tailored webinars and CPD sessions, making those tiers more relevant to organisations rolling out the platform across a staff.

Pricing

LessonUp is freemium, with a 30-day trial and paid plans starting at $7/mo on an annual basis. The published per-teacher monthly prices below include VAT and are based on a yearly subscription; school plans require a quote and at least 10 teachers.

Start is cheaper than Pro but limits both lesson count and AI uses; Pro removes the lesson cap, not the AI cap. The school tiers require a larger commitment and quote, but raise or remove the per-teacher AI allowance and add administration and collaboration features. The listed prices are tied to yearly subscriptions, so they are not month-to-month rates.

Platforms

LessonUp is available on the web, Android and iOS. Its terms name the web application and mobile apps Sidekick for LessonUp, LessonUp and Step-by-Step. The presentation platform is web-based, with mobile apps providing additional access.

Who it's for

LessonUp fits individual teachers seeking a single place to prepare interactive lessons, teach them in person or online, and review responses. Schools, colleges and multi-academy trusts can consider the school tiers for administration, collaboration, SSO, integrations and staff support. Content partners are also among its intended audiences. It is less compelling for an individual teacher who needs unlimited AI use or for a school with fewer than 10 teachers seeking a school subscription.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Preparation and participation connect: PowerPoint editing, a shared lesson library and varied interactive activities support a lesson from planning through student response.
• Free results are retained: Teachers can start with some interactive features and saved lesson results without paying.
• School-level rollout support: School subscriptions include onboarding, a dedicated contact and tailored professional-development sessions.
• Clear privacy roles: The school or teacher controls student learning data, while LessonUp processes it under their instructions.

Cons

• Lower individual tiers impose quotas: Start caps lessons at 10 per month and AI uses at 20; Pro allows unlimited lessons but only 50 AI uses monthly.
• School subscriptions have a high entry threshold: They require a quote and at least 10 teachers, so they are not a straightforward option for a small team.
• Annual commitment underlies the monthly prices: The per-teacher rates are based on a yearly subscription, limiting flexibility for short-term use.

Alternatives

Interactive Presentation Software is a useful category to compare if presentation tools are the priority; Interactive Lesson Makers focuses the comparison on lesson-building, while Interactive Classroom Software broadens it to classroom workflows.

• Poll Everywhere is worth considering when audience polling is the focus; its free plan has a 40-person maximum audience, or 700 for 30 days.
• EngageSlide suits a small live audience: its free plan supports up to 10 participants, unlimited audiences per month, all slide types, and live chat and email support.
• Nearpod offers a free Silver plan with 300 MB storage and 40 student joins per lesson, making those caps useful to compare against LessonUp's lesson and AI quotas.
• Socrative has a free plan capped at five quizzes, one room, 50 students per activity and 30-day report history.
• Top Hat is a paid alternative with student access plans for one four-month term, 12 months or four years.
• VoxVote is another freemium option for readers comparing classroom-response tools.
• Maglr is a paid alternative without a free plan.
• Crowdpurr offers a free Basic plan limited to 20 participants, 15 questions and three simultaneous experiences.

Verdict

Choose LessonUp if you want lesson creation, interactive teaching and student-learning reports in one platform, especially if a school can use its administration and onboarding support. Individual teachers can start free or choose Pro for uncapped lessons, but should look elsewhere if they need unlimited AI use without a school subscription or cannot commit to annual billing.