Free is the word every AI tool for teachers leads with, and it rarely means the same thing twice. Every free tier on this page was checked on the vendor’s own site on , and each entry lists what the free plan actually gives you, what is paywalled, and whether students need accounts. For the paid side too, our guide to the best AI tools for teachers covers 26 tools across seven jobs, paid tiers included.
One sourcing note: we build Sheelon, so its entry is written from the inside and says so, and we tried Chalkie on its free plan on September 20, 2026, so its entry reports what we saw. Everything else is described from public product, pricing and help pages, read on September 19, 2026. Where a vendor publishes no number, the entry says “Not published”.
Quick answer
- Best free all-rounder: MagicSchool AI. 80-plus teacher tools and a chatbot on the free plan, under a usage limit the vendor does not put a number on.
- Best free for lesson plans: Khanmigo’s teacher tools. Lesson plans, rubrics and exit tickets, free in more than 180 countries, with no paid teacher tier at all.
- Best free for live quizzes: Sheelon, which is ours, for 50 players a game with PIN join and free homework mode. Wayground if you need 100 participants and can live with a 20-activity library.
Free tier comparison table
What each free plan includes, as published on the vendor’s own pages on September 19, 2026. “Not published” means the vendor does not state it.
| Tool | What is free | The cap | Students need an account? | Privacy the vendor publishes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MagicSchool AI | 80+ teacher tools, Raina chatbot, quizzes, writing feedback | Generation and history limits apply, numbers not published | Not stated; student tools are on Plus | FERPA, COPPA, SOC 2, GDPR, Ed Law 2-D; no training on your data |
| Eduaide.Ai | Lesson plans, worksheets, graphic organizers, classroom games, assessments | Generation limit on the core workflows, number not published | Not stated | Not published on the pricing page |
| Chalkie | Slide lessons up to 12 slides, worksheets, series up to 3 lessons; exports to Google Slides, PowerPoint and PDF with a Chalkie badge | 5 resources and 10 AI edits per 7 days | No; live follow-along by 6-digit code | FERPA school-official language and GDPR in the policy; no COPPA mention |
| Brisk Teaching | 20+ tools in a Chrome or Edge extension, 50+ languages | Batch feedback upload limit; daily usage limits, numbers not published | Not stated | FERPA and COPPA compliant, GDPR aligned |
| NotebookLM | 100 notebooks, 50 sources each, 50 chats a day | 3 Audio Overviews and 3 Video Overviews a day | Google account needed to use it at all | Not published on the pages we checked |
| ChatGPT | Free plan at $0 with unlimited text chats; Teachers workspace free for verified U.S. K-12 educators through June 2028 | Limited uploads, image generation, voice and deep research on Free; Teachers plan is U.S. K-12 only | Teachers plan is closed to students | Teachers plan: no training by default, supports FERPA requirements |
| Gemini | Free consumer plan; included in every Workspace for Education edition | Consumer plan is 18+; school use needs an admin to switch it on | Yes, a Workspace for Education licence | Not human-reviewed or used to train; COPPA and FERPA support |
| Diffit | Leveled reading materials, PDF and print output | Only the last 90 days of your resources | No, teacher-only tool | FERPA and COPPA; no student data collected; data never sold |
| Immersive Reader | Everything, inside Microsoft 365 apps | None published; some features are web-only in Word | Whatever the host app already requires | Not published on the product page |
| Canva for Education | The full education offering for verified K-12 teachers and students | K-12 only; verification required | Yes, by teacher invitation | FERPA, COPPA, GDPR commitment; no training on student data |
| Curipod | Weekly writing practice with AI feedback, unlimited writers | 1,000-character responses; subject practice marked Limited usage | No, class code | FERPA, COPPA, SOPPA, GDPR; never used for AI training |
| Sheelon (ours) | 50 players a game, 3 question types, homework mode, 5 AI quizzes | 5 AI-generated quizzes, lifetime | No, PIN in the browser | Designed for FERPA and COPPA; student data never sold or shared |
| Wayground | 100 participants, 5 question types, 10 AI credits a month | 20 activities in your library | No, join code | FERPA, COPPA, GDPR commitment, ISO 27001, SOC 2 |
| Khanmigo | Teacher tools in 180+ countries | Teachers only; student access is a school or parent purchase | Yes, Khan Academy accounts | SOC-audited, FERPA and COPPA compliant |
The four kinds of “free”
A free plan. A permanent $0 tier under paid ones. Most of this list: MagicSchool AI, Eduaide.Ai, Chalkie, Brisk Teaching, NotebookLM, Diffit, Curipod, Wayground, Sheelon, and consumer ChatGPT and Gemini. The cap is the whole story: Wayground, NotebookLM, Diffit and Sheelon publish theirs to the number, and Chalkie shows its counter in the app; MagicSchool, Eduaide and Brisk say limits exist and stop there.
Free for verified educators. The full product once you prove you teach. Canva for Education is free for verified K-12 teachers and their students; ChatGPT for Teachers is free for verified U.S. K-12 educators. Neither covers higher ed.
A free trial. Paid features for a fixed window, then a bill. Wayground’s Individual plan has a 7-day trial, and MagicSchool’s Plus tier shows a “Start a free trial” button with no duration stated. A trial is not a free plan and this page never counts one as such. Sheelon has no trial at all.
A free product. Nothing to buy on the teacher side. Microsoft Immersive Reader is a feature of Microsoft 365 apps, Khanmigo’s teacher tools have no paid teacher plan, and Gemini for Education is included in every Google Workspace for Education edition.
Free AI for lesson plans
1. MagicSchool AI
MagicSchool AI is the broadest free teacher assistant here: 80-plus single-purpose tools for lesson drafts, rubrics, report comments and IEP paperwork, plus the Raina chatbot, all on the free plan. Its pricing page lists FERPA, COPPA, SOC 2, GDPR and Ed Law 2-D compliance.
Best for: everyday planning admin. What is free: 80+ teacher tools, Raina, Quizzes, Class Writing Feedback; generation and history limits apply, numbers not published. What costs money: Plus at $8.33 per user per month billed annually or $12.99 monthly, which lifts the limits and adds student tools and Google and Microsoft exports. Students need an account: not stated; student tools sit on Plus. Verified September 19, 2026.
2. Eduaide.Ai
Eduaide.Ai builds lesson plans, worksheets, graphic organizers, classroom games and assessments through guided workflows instead of a blank prompt box. The pricing page calls Free “always free with generation limits” and gives Pro unlimited AI generations, which tells you Free has a cap without saying what it is.
Best for: guided lesson planning. What is free: lesson plans, worksheets, graphic organizers, classroom games and assessments, under a generation limit the vendor does not put a number on, with limited input context for topics, standards and uploaded documents. What costs money: Pro at $5.99 a month, with unlimited AI generations, document chat for revisions, image generation, YouTube transcripts as a source, 3x longer prompts, 5 standards and 3 uploaded documents; schools and districts request pricing. Students need an account: not stated. Verified September 19, 2026.
3. Chalkie
Chalkie makes the lesson itself, not a plan for it: a topic, a grade and a slide count go into a three-step wizard and a designed slide deck comes out. When we tried it on the free plan, a 10-slide grade 7 photosynthesis lesson with 9 images, three objectives, a key-words slide and one knowledge-check question arrived in 50 seconds, and a plain-English request to simplify one slide came back as 4 itemised, undoable edits. The same wizard builds worksheets from 10 templates and short lesson series. The catch is the meter: 5 resources and 10 AI edits per 7-day window, shown as a counter in the account menu, and a Chalkie badge on every export until you pay.
Best for: a full slide lesson from one topic in under a minute. What is free: 5 resources and 10 AI edits per 7 days, lessons up to 12 slides, series up to 3 lessons, exports to Google Slides, PowerPoint and PDF with a Chalkie badge. What costs money: PRO at $6.65 a month billed yearly ($79.80) for 200 resources a month, standards alignment and badge removal. Students need an account: no; the live follow-along mode uses a 6-digit code at chalkie.live. Tried on the free plan on September 20, 2026; caps and prices read from the app and its upgrade modal that day.
4. Brisk Teaching
Brisk Teaching is a Chrome and Edge extension that drafts materials and writes feedback inside Google Docs, Slides, Forms and Classroom, Word, PowerPoint, Canvas, Schoology, PDFs and web pages. The vendor’s own pages disagree on the free limit: the plans page says unlimited usage with a batch-feedback upload cap, the Educator Pro page says daily usage limits. Neither gives a number.
Best for: feedback inside files you already have open. What is free: 20+ tools, 50+ languages, feedback tools with a batch upload limit, Brisk Boost. What costs money: Educator Pro for individuals (no price on the live page); Premium and Intelligence for schools and districts, custom priced. Students need an account: not stated. Verified September 19, 2026.
5. NotebookLM (Gemini Notebook)
NotebookLM, which Google’s help pages now call Gemini Notebook, answers with citations from the files you upload and turns them into audio and video overviews, quizzes, flashcards and mind maps. The answers come from your materials, not the open web, and the free tier is documented down to the daily count for every output type.
Best for: summaries and quizzes grounded in your own materials. What is free: 100 notebooks, 50 sources each, 50 chats a day, 3 Audio Overviews and 3 Video Overviews a day, 10 a day each of reports, flashcards, quizzes and mind maps, 10 Deep Research runs a month. What costs money: higher limits through Google AI Pro and Ultra; no separate price on the support page. Students need an account: a Google account is needed to use it at all; no student join flow. Verified September 19, 2026.
6. ChatGPT and ChatGPT for Teachers
ChatGPT has a free plan at $0 a month with unlimited text chats and limited uploads, image generation, voice and deep research, and a ChatGPT for Teachers workspace free for verified U.S. K-12 educators through June 2028. The Teachers workspace is not used to train models by default, is built to help schools meet FERPA requirements, and connects to Canva, Google Drive and Microsoft 365.
Best for: a general assistant for planning and rewriting. What is free: the consumer plan, with unlimited text chats; the Teachers workspace for verified U.S. K-12 educators through June 2028, with unlimited messages, search, file uploads and image generation. What costs money: Go at $8 a month, Plus at $20, Pro from $100. Students need an account: the Teachers plan is closed to students; consumer ChatGPT is a personal account. Verified September 19, 2026.
7. Gemini and Gemini for Education
Gemini is free in the consumer app and included at no charge in every Google Workspace for Education edition, where Gemini in Classroom outlines lesson plans, generates quizzes and rubrics, re-levels text and translates. Google states the data is not human-reviewed or used to train models. The condition is an admin who switches it on.
Best for: schools already on Google Workspace for Education. What is free: the consumer plan (18+, personal Google Account) and Gemini for Education in all Workspace for Education editions. What costs money: Google AI Plus at $4.99 a month, Google AI Pro at $19.99; Google AI Pro for Education at $20 per user per month on a one-year commitment. Students need an account: yes for school use, a Workspace for Education licence with Gemini enabled. Verified September 19, 2026.
Free AI for differentiation and reading
8. Diffit
Diffit rewrites a topic, a text or a source you already use into leveled reading materials with scaffolds attached, and the free plan generates the real thing. The limit is afterwards: free output is PDF, print or share, editable Google and Microsoft exports are paid, and free accounts only see the last 90 days. Diffit states it collects no student data.
Best for: the same text at several reading levels. What is free: full generation, PDF and print output, editing, the last 90 days of your resources. What costs money: $14.99 a month or $149.99 a year; school plans by quote. Students need an account: no, teacher-only tool. Verified September 19, 2026.
9. Microsoft Immersive Reader
Immersive Reader is a reading-support layer built into Word, OneNote, Outlook, Teams, Forms, Edge, Minecraft Education Edition and more: read aloud with word highlighting, line focus, syllables, and in Word for the web a picture dictionary and translation. If your school runs Microsoft 365, students already have it. It does not exist outside a host app.
Best for: read-aloud supports in a Microsoft 365 school. What is free: everything; Microsoft calls it a free tool built into Microsoft 365 apps. What costs money: nothing; no separate price. Students need an account: not stated; it runs inside whichever host app the student already uses. Verified September 19, 2026.
Free AI for slides and design
10. Canva for Education
Canva for Education is the design platform made free for verified K-12 teachers, their students and qualified districts, with Magic Write and Magic Studio for lesson plans, activities and a quiz generator that turns slides into quizzes. Canva’s education page calls it 100% free with no paywalls or nasty surprises, commits to keeping it free for K-12 educators, their students and qualified school districts and institutions, and lists Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, Moodle, Blackboard, D2L and Microsoft Teams as integrations. Verification means signing up with an education email or uploading proof of employment, checked within a few days. Canva says it never uses student data to train AI.
Best for: student-facing design. What is free: the full education offering for verified K-12 educators, students and districts. What costs money: nothing for eligible K-12 users. Students need an account: yes, by teacher invitation. Verified September 19, 2026.
11. Curipod
Curipod runs live lessons where the whole class writes at once and gets AI “Glow & Grow” feedback during the lesson. Students join with a class code and, in the vendor’s words, do not have accounts. The pricing page labels ELA and Science/Social Studies practice as “Limited usage”, and there is no individual paid plan, only school and district contracts.
Best for: live whole-class writing with instant feedback. What is free: weekly writing practice, unlimited student writers, responses up to 1,000 characters. What costs money: school and district plans, custom pricing only. Students need an account: no, a class code. Verified September 19, 2026.
Free AI for quizzes and live games
A disclosure first: Sheelon is our product, and Wayground, which beats us on free participants, is right below it. For the wider set, see free quiz tools for the classroom and our ranking of the best free quiz platform for teachers. In September 2026 we also ran one prompt through six AI quiz generators, Sheelon and Wayground among them, and graded the output blind; the results and method live in the main guide’s quiz section.
12. Sheelon
Sheelon is ours, so weigh this entry accordingly. The free plan hosts live games for up to 50 players, who join with a PIN in any browser with no accounts, and it includes homework mode, so any quiz can be assigned as self-paced work with a deadline at no cost. The AI in the quiz maker drafts a complete quiz from a topic; on the free plan that is a lifetime allowance of 5 generated quizzes, while hand-written quizzes are unlimited. The honest limitation: free includes 3 of the 10 question types.
Best for: live quiz games and free self-paced homework. What is free: 50 players a game, 3 question types, unlimited hand-written quizzes, homework mode, 5 AI-generated quizzes for life, no credit card, no time limit. What costs money: Pro at $3.99 a month or $39 a year for 150 players, all 10 question types, unlimited AI and PDF import; Ultimate at $9.99 a month for 500 players and classes. No free trial. Students need an account: no, a PIN in the browser. Verified September 19, 2026.
13. Wayground (formerly Quizizz)
Wayground, formerly Quizizz, runs live and self-paced quizzes, lessons, flashcards and interactive video, with AI generation on every plan including free. Basic is described as free for every teacher, forever, and it publishes its caps to the number, which few on this list do. Students join with a code; saving progress needs an account.
Best for: a free live quiz plan with a 100-participant ceiling. What is free: up to 100 participants, 5 question types, 10 AI credits a month, a 20-activity library, Google Classroom with limits. What costs money: Individual at $18 a month billed annually at $216, after a 7-day trial; school plans by contact. Students need an account: no, a join code. Verified September 19, 2026.
Free AI tools students can use
Most tools above stop at the teacher’s desk. Three do not, and each handles the student side differently.
14. Khanmigo
Khanmigo is Khan Academy’s AI assistant. The teacher toolkit (lesson plans, rubrics, quiz questions, exit tickets) is free in more than 180 countries. The student tutor is the paid half, and a teacher cannot grant students access alone: it comes through a school or district implementation, or a parent on a U.S. learner plan.
Best for: free standards-aligned prep, and a monitored tutor if your school buys in. What is free: all teacher tools, in more than 180 countries. What costs money: learners at $4 a month or $44 a year (U.S. billing address); districts from $10 per student per year for 1,000 or fewer licences. Students need an account: yes, a Khan Academy account, with Google Classroom roster import for the teacher. Verified September 19, 2026.
NotebookLM works for a student exactly as it does for you: a Google account, their own sources, the same 50 chats a day, and no class join. Sheelon is the opposite: students never sign up. They type the PIN and play, live or as homework, from any browser.
What to check before you trust a free plan
- The cap, in numbers. A vendor that publishes the limit (Wayground, NotebookLM, Sheelon, Diffit, Chalkie) lets you plan. One that says “limits apply” (MagicSchool, Eduaide, Brisk) lets you find the ceiling mid-lesson.
- Trial or plan. Wayground’s 7-day trial is a trial; its Basic plan is a plan. A page that leads with the trial is telling you which one it wants you on.
- Student accounts. No-account join (PIN, class code) keeps you clear of consent paperwork. Account-based tools shift that work to you or your admin.
- The data policy. Look for the training statement, not just the logos. MagicSchool, Curipod, Canva, Google and OpenAI’s Teachers plan all state your data is not used to train models. Several tools here publish nothing.
- Export. What leaves with you when you stop paying. Diffit keeps 90 days on free and makes editable exports paid.
A free plan that clears all five is a real plan. One that clears two is a demo with a signup form. For the paid side of these tools, and twelve more, go back to the best AI tools for teachers guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free AI tool for teachers?
For breadth, MagicSchool AI: 80-plus teacher tools and the Raina chatbot on the free plan, with usage limits the vendor does not publish. For a general assistant, the free plans of ChatGPT and Gemini have no education paywall. For live quizzes, Sheelon (our product) gives 50 players a game with PIN join and no student accounts, and Wayground gives 100 participants with a 20-activity library. Each free plan is generous in a different place.
Is there a free AI lesson plan generator?
Yes, several. Khanmigo's teacher tools, including lesson plans, rubrics and exit tickets, are free in more than 180 countries with no paid teacher tier. MagicSchool AI, Eduaide.Ai and Brisk Teaching each have a free plan with lesson planning, under usage limits the vendors describe but do not put numbers on. Chalkie makes the slide lesson itself rather than a plan, 5 resources and 10 AI edits per 7 days on free. ChatGPT and Gemini draft lesson plans on their free plans too.
Which free AI tools have no paid tier waiting?
Microsoft Immersive Reader is a free feature inside Microsoft 365 apps with nothing to buy. Khanmigo's teacher toolkit has no paid teacher plan. Canva for Education is free for verified K-12 teachers and their students. Gemini for Education is included in every Google Workspace for Education edition. Everything else here has a free plan with a paid tier above it.
Is Sheelon on this list because you make it?
Yes. Sheelon is our product and its entry says so in the first sentence. We held it to the same standard as the others: the exact free cap (50 players, 3 question types, 5 AI quizzes for life), what costs money, and a plain limitation. Wayground, which beats us on free participants, sits in the same section.
Do students need accounts to use free AI tools?
It depends on the tool, so check it first. Sheelon players join with a PIN, Wayground with a join code, Curipod with a class code, none with an account. Canva for Education students join by teacher invitation. Khanmigo students use Khan Academy accounts, and Gemini in Classroom needs a Workspace for Education licence. ChatGPT for Teachers is closed to students. Diffit, NotebookLM and Immersive Reader have no student join flow at all.
Which free AI tools work with Google Classroom?
Gemini in Classroom is built into Google Classroom for every Workspace for Education edition. Khanmigo imports and syncs Classroom rosters. Brisk Teaching works inside Google Classroom as an extension. Wayground offers Google Classroom on its free plan with limits. MagicSchool lists Google Classroom on its homepage, but Google exports sit on the paid Plus plan. Sheelon's Google Classroom import is on the paid Ultimate plan, not the free one.
Changelog
- : first published. All thirteen free tiers checked on the vendors’ own sites the same day.
- : retitled to 14 tools; added Chalkie after trying it on its free plan the same day (one lesson, one worksheet, one AI edit, one PDF export and the live follow-along mode). The other free tiers were not re-checked.
Report a changed limit: if a vendor has moved a cap or a price since the date above, email [email protected] with the page link and we will re-check the entry.