ClassPulse

Free plan Self-hostedWeb

What ClassPulse is

ClassPulse is a free, open-source audience response tool for lectures, workshops, classroom checks, feedback, and interactive quizzes. Presenters can create nine question formats: multiple choice, select-all, ranking, numeric, rating, short answer, word cloud, image choice, and poll-with-other. Responses arrive in real time over WebSockets and appear as charts, word clouds, rating breakdowns, ranking displays, and image tallies. Participants join from a phone or laptop through a QR code or session link, without an account or app installation. Cohort mode lets them anonymously suggest and upvote questions; keyword-flagged proposals wait for presenter approval. Presenters can reuse questions, archive sessions without losing data, and export raw responses to CSV. Each participant can submit one response per question, with a later answer replacing the earlier one. ClassPulse runs on the web or can be self-hosted wherever Docker runs, and its repository uses the MIT License. Optional AI drafting uses a provider configured by the operator and can remain disabled. The project is intended for formative classroom use, not high-stakes assessment.

Who it suits

It suits presenters running live classroom checks, workshop feedback, and interactive quizzes. Self-hosting supports operators who can deploy Docker-based web software.

What it does well

Nine built-in question types
Live response charts and displays
QR or link joining without accounts
CSV export and session archiving
Free MIT-licensed open source

What to know first

Not intended for high-stakes assessment
Audience identity is unauthenticated
Response counts are not trustworthy for grading
Email setup requires a provider

Verdict

ClassPulse offers broad live-question formats and quick, account-free audience access. Its self-hosted, open-source design is useful for formative sessions, but unauthenticated responses make it unsuitable for graded tallies.

Facts from ClassPulse's own pages

AI drafting: Optional AI-assisted question drafting uses an AI provider configured by the operator and can be left switched off. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Audience access: Participants join by QR code or session link from a phone or laptop without an account or app install. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Audience proposals: In cohort mode, participants can anonymously propose questions and upvote proposals; keyword-flagged proposals wait for presenter approval. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Cohort mode: Audience members can anonymously propose and upvote questions; flagged proposals wait for presenter approval. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Email integrations: For verification and password-reset email, the deployment guide lists Resend, SMTP, and Gmail providers. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Email setup: Email verification and password reset require an email provider; without one, codes are written to the server log. · michael-borck.github.io, 11 Oct 2026
Export and archive: Presenters can export raw responses to CSV and archive sessions without losing their data. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Image handling: Uploaded images are re-encoded and resized server-side before participants see them. · michael-borck.github.io, 11 Oct 2026
Intended users: The maker describes the tool for presenters running classroom checks for understanding, workshop feedback, and interactive quizzes. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Joining: Participants can join from a phone or laptop using a session QR code or link, without an account or app installation. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Known limit: Audience identity is unauthenticated, and participants can clear their respondent cookie to submit again, so response counts are not trustworthy for graded tallies. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
License: The project repository says ClassPulse is licensed under the MIT License. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Live responses: Responses appear in real time over WebSockets as participants submit them. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Live results: Responses stream over WebSockets and appear in live charts, word clouds, rating breakdowns, ranking order, and image tallies. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Purpose: ClassPulse is a real-time audience response tool for lectures, workshops, and interactive quizzes. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Question types: It offers nine question types: multiple choice, select-all, ranking, numeric, rating, short answer, word cloud, image choice, and poll-with-other. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Response limit: Each participant can submit one response per question, and a later submission replaces their previous answer. · michael-borck.github.io, 11 Oct 2026
Results and export: Live results include charts, word clouds, rating breakdowns, rankings, and image tallies; raw responses can be exported to CSV. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026
Security controls: The security policy describes required secret-key configuration, CSRF tokens, rate limits, password hashing, and upload validation and re-encoding. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Security scope: The security policy describes ClassPulse as intended for formative classroom use, not high-stakes assessment. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Self-hosting: The user guide describes ClassPulse as open source and deployable anywhere Docker runs. · michael-borck.github.io, 11 Oct 2026
Sessions: Presenters can reuse questions in sessions and archive sessions without losing their data. · classpulse.borck.education, 11 Oct 2026

Where ClassPulse stands on Freedom251

Student Response Systems#19 of 45