Hot Potatoes review
A free desktop suite for creating varied, scored HTML and SCORM exercises.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Hot Potatoes is a free desktop suite from Half-Baked Software, Inc. for creating interactive exercises and quizzes. Its six authoring applications suit teachers, trainers and small teams that want to build web-published activities without a subscription. The suite runs on Windows and can run on Linux under Wine, with authoring completed on the desktop and exercises delivered as web pages or SCORM packages.
The freeware offering includes a broad set of exercise formats. JQuiz handles multiple-choice, short-answer, hybrid and multi-select questions, while other tools create jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching or ordering, gap-fill and flashcard activities. Authors can add per-answer feedback, percentage scoring, weighted questions and partially correct answers. Exercises export to HTML/XHTML and can include media, navigation and customized HTML, CSS and JavaScript source files. The Masher tool compiles exercise sequences, and SCORM 1.2 support provides a route into compatible learning-management environments.
Hot Potatoes is most suitable when free authoring, varied question types and control over exported web files matter more than cloud collaboration. Its desktop deployment means content creation is tied to Windows or a Linux Wine setup rather than a browser workspace. The published support channel is documentation, so organizations seeking broader service options should account for that operating model. Teams requiring newer SCORM versions, built-in analytics, AI assistance or a wider integration ecosystem should consider another quiz platform. For solo educators and small groups comfortable managing exported files, Hot Potatoes offers a focused way to produce scored interactive exercises without a paid plan.
Hot Potatoes pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Six tools cover quizzes, crosswords, matching, gaps and more
- Exports interactive exercises as HTML/XHTML web pages
- Supports feedback, weighted scoring, CSS, JavaScript and SCORM 1.2
- Where it doesn't
- Desktop deployment limits browser-based authoring workflows
- Linux use depends on running the Windows version under Wine
- SCORM support is limited to version 1.2
Hot Potatoes fact sheet, pricing and score →
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