Top Hat review
A broad classroom platform for teaching, assessment, attendance, and engagement.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Top Hat is an interactive learning platform for college and university educators who want more than slide presentation software. Instructors can present interactive slides, run live polls and quizzes, host discussions, collect anonymous responses, generate word clouds, and use live emoji reactions. The platform also covers automated attendance, interactive readings and digital textbooks, assignments, tests, grade management, and post-lecture engagement and performance insights. Students participate through internet-connected devices across web, iOS, and Android.
Pricing is organized around student access. The 1 Term plan costs $35 per 4 months, the 1 Year plan costs $58 per 12 months, and the 4 Years plan costs $96 per 48 months. Department or Institution-Wide access has custom pricing. A 5-day trial is available. These options make Top Hat relevant for individual term-based adoption as well as longer student-access periods, while larger academic deployments need a separate pricing discussion. There is no separately priced presenter plan in the listed options.
Its strongest fit is higher-education teaching that needs presentation, participation, assessment, and course-management functions in one environment. LMS integrations with Canvas, Blackboard, D2L Brightspace, Moodle, and Sakai support common academic workflows, while AI-powered question and study support tools add another layer for teaching and learning. Top Hat is less suitable for teams seeking a narrowly focused presentation tool or a simple audience-polling product. Choose it when classroom interaction and assessment breadth matter; consider a more focused option when the additional learning features would add unnecessary scope.
Top Hat pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Combines presentations, polls, quizzes, discussions, and attendance
- Supports assignments, tests, gradebook, readings, and performance insights
- Integrates with Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, Moodle, and Sakai
- Where it doesn't
- Paid access starts at $35 per 4-month term
- Department and institution-wide plans use custom pricing
- Student participation depends on internet-connected devices
Top Hat fact sheet, pricing and score →
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