The Top Hat Alternative That Doesn't Bill Your Students
Top Hat's model puts the subscription on the student's tuition bill. InsightQuiz puts one flat price on the department — and adds the lesson, the course and the certificate that follow the lecture.
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Top Hat is the incumbent for the active-learning lecture in North America: polling, attendance, an interactive textbook, all tied to a student subscription that the student pays each semester. For a large lecture course that model works — the institution pays nothing, and the software is mature.
It also creates the two objections instructors raise most: students resent another fee on top of tuition, and the tool stops at the lecture. Once class ends there is no self-paced lesson, no course that strings sessions together, and no certificate a student can take away.
InsightQuiz inverts both. The department pays one flat price, students never see a charge, and the live quiz is the front door to a lesson, a course and a certificate — with grades posting to Canvas or Brightspace through LTI 1.3. What it does not do is attendance tracking or a textbook; if those are the reason you use Top Hat, stay.
InsightQuiz vs. Top Hat, feature by feature
Competitor prices are public list prices researched in September 2026 and can change — check the vendor's page before you decide. Feature cells reflect the products as documented by the vendors at that time.
Who pays, and what happens after class
The pricing model shapes the product. Top Hat sells to the student, so the product is built around what a student sees in the lecture hall: the poll, the attendance check, the textbook chapter. InsightQuiz sells to the department, so it is built around what the instructor needs across a term: the live check, the self-paced lesson afterwards, the course that ties them together, the record at the end.
That also changes procurement. A flat monthly price with no student fee is a departmental purchase, not a bookstore listing — no opt-out forms, no financial-aid questions, no students who cannot afford the subscription and quietly stop participating.
Choose InsightQuiz when
- You do not want students to pay for a classroom tool
- Learning should continue after the lecture — lessons, courses, certificates
- Grades should post to Canvas or Brightspace without manual export
- You want open-text questions graded, not just multiple choice
- Monthly billing and the option to cancel matter more than a campus contract
Stay with Top Hat when
- Attendance tracking with geolocation is a course requirement
- You assign an interactive textbook through the same tool
- The student-pays model is already accepted at your institution
- You need a US or Canadian data region
Common questions
Also worth a look
vs. iClicker
Polling without the clicker fee — and the learning that follows it
vs. Wooclap
Same live format, plus courses, certificates and AI grading at a flat price
vs. Poll Everywhere
No price cliff between tiers — and learning after the poll
All comparisons
Every tool we have compared against, in one place.
Privacy tools & checklists
Free assessment tools and checklists for privacy-compliant quizzes and surveys.
One price for the department. Nothing for the student.
Free plan, no credit card. Run a scored session, then open the lesson builder.