Choosing between Q&A apps? The short answer: AhaSlides for Q&A inside an interactive session, Slido for large corporate events, Mentimeter for classroom sessions, Vevox for higher education and Pigeonhole Live for multi-session events.
We make AhaSlides, one of the 5 tools in this comparison, so we've set out where it falls short as well as where it fits. Every other tool is described from its own website, checked on 7 November 2026.
Why questions go unasked
Some people hold back a question in a presentation rather than raise a hand in front of everyone.
Digital Q&A tools change the conditions. Anonymous submission lets them ask without giving a name. Upvoting shows what most people want to know rather than what one person happens to ask. Moderation keeps things on track. The result is a clearer picture of what your audience is thinking. The 5 tools below approach this problem from different angles.
What to look for before you choose
A few questions to answer before comparing options: How many people will you be presenting to, and does the free plan cover that? Do you need anonymous submission, and is that the default or an option you have to turn on? How much control do you need over which questions appear on screen? Do you need the tool to sit inside your slides, or can it run standalone? And how much time do you have to set it up before your next presentation?
5 Q&A apps worth knowing
Here's how they compare at a glance, with limits and prices read on each vendor's own page on 7 November 2026. The Source column links to each page, because these figures change.
| Tool | Best for | Moderation | Free plan | Lowest paid plan | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AhaSlides | Q&A inside an interactive session | Questions can wait for approval before they appear (Pro and above); pin and mark answered | Up to 50 live participants at a time on plans that include Q&A, unlimited presentations | Essential: $7.95 a month, billed yearly | AhaSlides pricing |
| Slido | Large corporate events | Question moderation on Professional | Up to 100 participants, 3 polls per slido | Engage: $12.50 a month, billed annually ($150 a year), excluding VAT | Slido pricing |
| Mentimeter | Classroom sessions | Moderating Q&A on Pro | 50 participants a month, and once a month one session can go over that limit | Basic: $11.99 per presenter a month, billed yearly, excluding tax | Mentimeter plans |
| Vevox | Higher education | Q&A moderation on Pro | Up to 100 participants | Education Starter: $7.75 a month, billed annually ($93 a year) | Vevox education pricing |
| Pigeonhole Live | Multi-session events | Presenter plan and above | Up to 100 participants, including event agendas with tracks | Presenter: $13 a month, billed yearly ($156 a year) | Pigeonhole pricing |
1. AhaSlides: best for Q&A inside an interactive session
This is our tool, so take this entry with the same scepticism you'd apply to any self-assessment. AhaSlides is an all-in-one engagement platform for teams and classrooms, and it is built around the idea that Q&A works better as part of a broader interactive session than as a bolt-on at the end.
When you allow it, audience members can ask anonymously, and everyone can upvote the questions they want answered. As the host, you can sort questions by Top, Newest or Oldest, pin the ones to discuss first and mark questions as answered as you go, which keeps the open list short. Questions can also wait for your approval before they appear on screen: each one is held as pending until you approve or dismiss it. Approval is on Pro and above, and some other Q&A options, such as running Q&A across all slides, are not on every plan, so check the pricing page for what each plan includes.
In AhaSlides, Q&A sits alongside Poll, Word Cloud, quizzes and your own content slides in one deck, which suits an interactive session rather than a standalone Q&A.
Where we're weaker: Q&A is one of many slide types in AhaSlides, not the whole product. If question management is your main need and you're presenting to large audiences, Slido is the better tool for high-volume moderation.
If you run town halls, the town hall template pairs a Q&A slide with quick reaction polls.
On free plans that include Q&A, AhaSlides supports up to 50 live participants at a time, with unlimited presentations. Essential, the lowest paid plan, is $7.95 a month, billed yearly (AhaSlides pricing, checked 7 November 2026).
Best for: teachers, corporate trainers and anyone running sessions where Q&A is one of several interactive elements.
2. Slido: best for large corporate events
Slido is an audience Q&A and polling app for meetings and events. For large audiences where dozens or hundreds of questions arrive at once, its moderation controls make a difference.
Anonymous questions and upvoting are part of its live Q&A, so the most popular questions rise to the top. On the Professional plan, moderators can review questions before they appear publicly (Slido pricing, checked 7 November 2026).
If you want polls, word clouds and quizzes woven through a whole session, compare how the other tools here handle that. The free Basic plan covers up to 100 participants, with Q&A, 3 polls per slido (Slido's name for an event) and 1 quiz per slido. Engage, the lowest paid plan, is $12.50 a month, billed annually ($150 a year), excluding VAT, and question moderation starts one plan higher.
Best for: conferences, all-hands meetings and any large corporate presentation where managing a high volume of questions is the main challenge.
3. Mentimeter: best for classroom sessions
Mentimeter is a live polling and presentation app that suits classroom sessions.
Questions show live on screen, people can ask anonymously and upvote, and moderating Q&A is on the Pro plan (Mentimeter plans, checked 7 November 2026). Quick comprehension checks, opinion polls and open questions all sit in a single Mentimeter session.
The free plan allows 50 participants a month, and once a month one session can go over that limit, with 8 hours to finish it. For regular classroom use, a paid plan is likely necessary. Basic, the lowest paid plan, is $11.99 per presenter a month, billed yearly, excluding tax (US price, checked 7 November 2026). Mentimeter sells Basic and Pro yearly only, and the currency shown can change with your location.
Best for: teachers, trainers and educators at any level who want Q&A as part of a broader classroom session.
4. Vevox: best for higher education
Vevox is built for educational settings where reviewing questions before students see them matters. Universities and large lectures are where it fits best.
Anonymous submission matters in settings where students are unlikely to ask questions if their name is attached, and Vevox lists complete anonymity as an option. Q&A moderation is on Vevox's Pro plan, where instructors can review, manage and sort questions before sharing them (Vevox education pricing, checked 7 November 2026).
The free plan supports up to 100 participants and includes the PowerPoint and Microsoft Teams integrations. The lowest paid plan for education is Starter at $7.75 a month, billed annually ($93 a year). Business Starter is $11.95 a month, billed annually ($143.40 a year).
Best for: university lecturers and educators in higher education where anonymous submission and moderation are the main requirements.
5. Pigeonhole Live: best for multi-session events
If you're running a conference with many sessions happening at once, each with different speakers, rooms and timing, Pigeonhole is designed to manage that structure.
Its Event Pigeonholes add structure for agendas, speakers, tracks and multi-session formats. Every plan includes audience questions and votes. Pigeonhole also has an option to enforce anonymity.
Pigeonhole sells two formats: Presentation Pigeonholes for a single talk, and Event Pigeonholes for an agenda with tracks. The free Starter plan covers up to 100 participants and includes both, without question moderation. Presenter, the lowest paid plan, is $13 a month, billed yearly ($156 a year), and adds moderation but not the event format. Standard has both, at $150 a month, billed yearly ($1,800 a year) (Pigeonhole pricing, checked 7 November 2026).
Best for: conference organisers running multi-session events with agendas, speakers and tracks.
How the tools compare
Check how each tool handles anonymous questions and upvoting on the plan you choose. Moderation varies more. In AhaSlides, questions can wait for approval before they appear, on Pro and above (see pricing); pinning and marking answered are separate. Vevox suits settings where moderation is a main requirement, and the table shows which plan lists it for each tool.
Slide integration differs too. AhaSlides runs Q&A inside your AhaSlides deck and adds slides to PowerPoint through its add-in and to Google Slides through its add-on. Slido lists PowerPoint, Google Slides, Microsoft Teams and Webex integrations, and Vevox offers PowerPoint and Microsoft Teams. Mentimeter lists embedding slides from PowerPoint Web and Google Slides, and Pigeonhole lists Google Slides and PowerPoint.
On free plans, Slido, Vevox and Pigeonhole allow up to 100 participants, AhaSlides allows up to 50 live participants at a time on plans that include Q&A, and Mentimeter allows 50 a month plus one over-limit session a month (checked 7 November 2026).
The lowest paid plan isn't always the one with moderation: on AhaSlides, Slido, Mentimeter and Vevox it sits on a higher plan, so price the plan you need.
Getting the most out of Q&A tools
A few practices make a consistent difference whichever tool you choose.
Test before you present. Run a quick session with a colleague to confirm the setup works, check your internet connection and get comfortable with the interface.
Tell your audience how it works before they need it. Explain where questions go, how to submit them and whether submissions are anonymous. If questions are anonymous, tell people their name won't show, though you may still see how many people joined.
Show questions on screen so people can see what others are asking.
Read questions aloud even when they're on screen. It keeps the conversation flowing and makes sure everyone present, including people who can't see the screen clearly, heard the question.
Discuss what you see before moving on. Acknowledging a question, even briefly, signals that the input mattered.
Review the results afterwards. The questions your audience asked, and the ones they upvoted most, tell you what they cared about.
A few patterns to avoid. Launching without explaining the tool means much of your audience won't use it. Collecting questions and then not addressing them is worse than not collecting them at all: it signals that the participation was for show. Running over your time is how Q&A usually gets cut, so protect its slot.
Which Q&A app to start with
For classroom and small meeting settings, AhaSlides or Mentimeter suit. For large corporate events where managing high volumes of questions is the main challenge, Slido's moderation tools are worth a close look. For multi-day conferences with several sessions at once, look at Pigeonhole's event tracks. For university lectures where anonymous submission and moderation are the main requirements, look at Vevox.
Start with the free plan of whichever tool fits your context, but check it covers what you are choosing the tool for: Slido's moderation is not on its free plan, and Pigeonhole's free plan includes event tracks but not moderation. Run one real session through it before committing.
For more options, see our guides to the free Slido alternative and free online polling tools.
