Comparison for higher education · as of November 5, 2026
LehrPuls or Particify?
Particify, from Germany, is an open-source polling system for universities: free for good in the basic plan with up to 200 participants per room, self-hostable by a university, and already installed at many universities. LehrPuls runs without a server on the instructor's laptop, without an account and without the cloud; participants answer in the browser of their smartphone. Both do without built-in AI that sends data to the vendor and both value accessibility — this comparison shows where they part ways.
The basis is the competitive analysis for LehrPuls 1.22 dated November 9, 2026. The information on Particify comes from its public product, help, and pricing pages, last checked on November 5, 2026; the current state at the vendor is what counts. Every LehrPuls feature named here is included in every license.
At a glance
| Based in | Smallest education plan per year | Free plan | Export in the free plan |
|---|
| Particify | Germany | €144 plus VAT per account (Pro, from 5 accounts) | 200 participants per room | no |
|---|
| LehrPuls | Austria | €79 one-time (up to 500 participants) | trial version, complete, up to 6 participants | yes, in every license |
|---|
Comparison by area
Legend: ✓ available · ◐ limited, partial, or only as a workaround · ✗ not available · € only in paid or higher plans · by design = a deliberate decision by LehrPuls. The rows match the full analysis, where all ten services stand side by side.
Question types
| Question type | Particify | LehrPuls |
|---|
| Multiple choice, one correct | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multiple choice, several correct, with partial credit | ✓ | ✓ or all-or-nothing |
| Poll, including multiple selection | ✓ | ✓ with “Other” |
| Open question | ✓ | ✓ |
| Short answer with automatic matching | ✓ | ✓ as fill-in-the-gaps |
| Number with tolerance | ✓ | ✓ with unit |
| Estimate (median, reference value) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ordering with a solution | ✓ | ✓ |
| Matching / categorizing | ✗ | ✓ also with images |
| Fill-in-the-gaps | ✗ | ✓ |
| Gap with a choice list | ✗ | ✓ |
| Scale, one statement | ✓ | ✓ eleven templates |
| Scale with several statements | ✗ | ✓ up to eight |
| Word cloud | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ranking without a solution | ✗ | ✓ |
| Point budget | ✓ | ✓ |
| Image question: place a point | ✗ | ✓ |
| Image question: correct area | ✗ | ✓ up to ten |
| Labeling an image | ✗ | ✓ |
| Images as answer options | ✗ | ✓ |
| 2×2 grid | ✗ | ✓ |
| Idea wall with grouping and voting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Sketch as an answer | ✗ | ✓ |
| Photo or file as an answer | ✗ | ✓ up to five |
| Audio or video answer | ✗ | ✗ |
| Formula input with equivalence recognition | ✗ | ✓ |
| Formulas (LaTeX) in question and answers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ask for confidence in the answer | ✗ | ✓ |
| Poll as a segment (segmentation) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Question block with a shared scenario | ✗ | ✓ |
| Peer Instruction with two rounds | ◐ | ✓ |
| Notice with link, QR code, and response buttons | ✗ | ✓ |
| Highlighting text passages | ✗ | ✗ |
| Interactive video | ✗ | ✗ |
Projector, presentation, and control
| Feature | Particify | LehrPuls |
|---|
| Projector view with code and QR always visible | ✓ | ✓ and Wi-Fi QR |
| Presenter view (next question, notes, controls) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Operable copy of the wall with zoom | ✗ | ✓ |
| Hide results until the reveal | ✓ | ✓ default |
| Growing chart while collecting | ✓ | ✓ switch per question |
| Comparing two runs (before – after) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Show an earlier question from the archive without leaving the flow | ◐ | ✓ |
| Several questions open at once (block, stations) | ◐ | ✓ |
| Control by clicker and keyboard | ✓ | ✓ |
| Smartphone as a remote | ✗ | ✓ |
| Overlay on another presentation without the cloud | ✓ € | ✓ overlay |
| Add-in for PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides | ✗ | ✗ by design |
| Integration with Teams, Zoom, or Webex | ✗ | ◐ relay and window sharing |
| Random wheel | ✗ | ✓ with fairness memory |
| Leaderboard / podium | ✓ | ◐ podium on demand |
| Emoji reactions | ✗ | ✗ |
| Discussion round without devices (plenary answer) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Boards for scenario, groups, and breaks | ✗ | ✓ |
Live operation, groups, and audience questions
| Feature | Particify | LehrPuls |
|---|
| Questions wall with upvoting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Approval before display | ✓ | ✓ |
| Downvotes, labels, threshold | ✓ | ✓ |
| Word filter against insults | ✗ | ✓ |
| Written reply to the person asking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Messages and files to everyone, groups, individuals | ✗ | ✓ |
| Participant posts with a photo or PDF | ✗ | ✓ |
| Close joining | ✗ | ✓ |
| Remove a single device | ✗ | ✓ |
| Group work with a group answer | ✗ | ✓ three forms |
| Station work, group planning across the semester | ✗ | ✓ |
| Instant question without preparation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Add questions during the session | ◐ | ✓ |
| Suspend and resume over days | ✓ | ✓ |
| Manual grading during the session | ✗ | ✓ |
| Exclude an answer or question from the analysis | ✗ | ✓ |
| Paper mode without participant devices | ✗ | ◐ discussion round |
Analytics and reports
| Feature | Particify | LehrPuls |
|---|
| Report per session with distribution per question | ✓ | ✓ |
| Results per person | ◐ | ✓ |
| Analysis across several sessions and semesters | ✗ | ✓ |
| Analysis by topic (topic tree) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Learning curve per course | ✗ | ✓ |
| Time analysis, planned versus actual | ✗ | ✓ |
| Attendance | ✗ | ✓ without location tracking |
| Manual grading afterward | ✗ | ✓ with comment |
| Report as PDF | ✗ | ✓ |
| Export to Excel or CSV | ✓ € | ✓ every license |
| Long format with codebook, filter by course, topic, time | ✗ | ✓ |
| Anonymized export with minimum size | ✗ | ✓ |
| Recap for learners | ✗ | ✓ without an e-mail address |
| Audience questions archived per session | ✓ | ✓ |
Question analysis and test theory
| Feature | Particify | LehrPuls |
|---|
| Share correct per question | ✓ | ✓ as difficulty index |
| Discrimination per question | ✗ | ✓ |
| Distractor analysis | ✗ | ✓ |
| Quality map across all uses of a question | ✗ | ✓ |
| Longitudinal view of the same question across sessions | ✗ | ✓ without personal reference |
| Error rate per gap, item, position | ✗ | ✓ |
| Peer Instruction learning gain, round 1 → 2 | ◐ | ✓ |
| Check whether the solution can be guessed | ✗ | ✓ |
| Quality hints while writing the question | ✗ | ✓ |
| Flag for difficult questions | ✗ | ✓ |
| Breakdown by a preceding question | ✗ | ✓ |
| Grouping open answers | ✗ | ◐ by hand, AI via MCP |
Interfaces, import, and integration
| Feature | Particify | LehrPuls |
|---|
| Read-only results interface for every instructor | ◐ | ✓ every license |
| Access for AI assistants (MCP) | ✗ | ✓ local, with results data |
| Learning platform integration (LTI) with grade passback | ◐ | ✗ by design |
| Sign-in with the university account (SSO) | ◐ | ✗ no account needed |
| Import questions from a spreadsheet | ✓ | ✓ Excel, ODS, CSV |
| Import from Moodle, GIFT, Aiken | ✗ | ✓ |
| Questions from documents via AI | ✗ | ◐ prompt route, no network traffic |
| Export questions and import them again | ✓ | ✓ |
| Co-editing content in a team | ◐ | ◐ in turns via the baton, no account (since 1.21) |
| Import participant lists | ✗ | ✓ |
| Built-in AI with data sent to the vendor | ✗ | ✗ by design |
| Open source or self-hostable | ✓ | ◐ runs locally without a server |
Participant side
| Feature | Particify | LehrPuls |
|---|
| Join without an account or app | ✓ | ✓ |
| Anonymous, pseudonym, or name selectable per session | ◐ | ✓ four ways |
| Join only via the course list | ◐ | ✓ without an account |
| Switching devices mid-session | ✗ | ✓ via QR code |
| Participation by SMS | ✗ | ✗ |
| Group's status on every device | ✗ | ✓ |
| Recap with one's own answer and the solution | ✗ | ✓ up to 14 days on the device |
| Answering asynchronously over days | ◐ | ✗ by design |
| Accessibility statement (WCAG) | ✓ | ✓ WCAG 2.2 AA, partially conformant |
| Content in several language versions | ◐ | ✓ equal-ranking per question |
When Particify is the better choice
- Costs should be zero: the basic plan is free for good with up to 200 participants per room.
- Your university already runs Particify itself — then hosting, contract, and data protection lie with your own IT, and instructors sign in with their university account.
- You value open source and want to be able to inspect or adapt the software.
When LehrPuls is the better choice
- There is no in-house installation: with hosting by Particify, the data processing agreement is only available from the Pro plan (€144 plus VAT per account, from five accounts); LehrPuls needs neither contract nor server on your own network, and online it runs encrypted via the relay.
- The lecture hall has no reliable internet: LehrPuls also runs on the laptop's hotspot, while Particify needs a reachable server.
- You need image questions, matching, fill-in-the-blank, ranking, an idea wall, estimation questions, or sketches and photos as answers — not available in Particify; two-round Peer Instruction exists there only in part.
- You want group work with a group answer, station work, messages and files to everyone or to individuals, a recap for students, and switching devices in the middle of a session.
- Analytics should reach beyond the session: results per person, analysis across sessions and semesters, PDF report, export in every license, plus discrimination and distractor analysis — in Particify these are missing or reserved for paid plans.
Read on
All ten services side by side, with sources and legend: competitive analysis (also as a PDF). More one-on-one comparisons: overview. What LehrPuls is and how to try it: start page.
Particify is a trademark or product name of its respective owner. This comparison was written by the maker of LehrPuls and is not affiliated with Particify. All information without guarantee; we gladly accept notes on outdated information at office@lehrpuls.com.