ARSnova review
A self-hosted audience response system with unusually broad quiz and peer-instruction tools.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
ARSnova is a browser-based audience response system for schools, universities, trainers, workshops, events, and organizations. It supports live quizzes with several question types, including single-choice, multiple-choice, short-answer, free-text, survey, rating-scale, and numeric-estimation questions. Participants can join sessions with a code or QR code, while hosts can run sessions without an account. The platform is open source, available for self-hosted deployment, and supports groups of up to 500 people. Its free plan makes it a practical fit for educators and event organizers who want control over deployment and audience interaction.
Peer Instruction is one of ARSnova's clearest differentiators. Hosts can run first and second voting rounds, optionally collect confidence ratings for scored questions, and show results through presenter or projector views with countdowns and result reveals. The live Q&A wall adds moderation, pinning, archiving, removal, voting, and sorting. Pulse Checks cover mood, pace, comprehension, and quick polls, while team mode, leaderboards, nicknames, bonus codes, and gamification settings support more competitive sessions. These tools give instructors and facilitators several ways to move beyond simple polling without switching products during an event.
ARSnova also fits workflows that value portable data and self-hosting. Results can be exported as PDF or CSV, quizzes can be imported or exported as JSON, and quiz libraries can synchronize through links. The trade-off is a narrow integration ecosystem: the listed connections center on JSON and quiz-library synchronization rather than broad platform integrations. Organizations already invested in learning, event, or collaboration platforms may need additional workflow work around ARSnova. Choose it for open-source live instruction, moderated Q&A, and peer learning; consider an alternative if deep third-party integrations are central to the rollout.
ARSnova pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Supports quizzes, surveys, Pulse Checks, Q&A, and Peer Instruction
- Self-hosted open-source deployment with anonymous responses
- Exports results as PDF or CSV and synchronizes quizzes by link
- Where it doesn't
- Platform integrations are limited to JSON and synchronization links
- Self-hosted deployment requires technical ownership
- Its broad feature set is focused on live sessions, not general surveys
ARSnova fact sheet, pricing and score →
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