Wordwall Alternatives for ESL Teachers: An Honest Guide

By David Satler | August 2026

The short answer: most people looking for a Wordwall alternative have hit one of two walls. Either the free plan’s three-activity cap, in which case Baamboozle or Blooket give you more for nothing, or the realisation that you are still writing all the content yourself, in which case you want ready-made material rather than another template tool. Wordwall is genuinely good software. The question is whether you need a tool for building activities or a source of activities already built.

What Wordwall Actually Costs

This trips people up, so it is worth being precise. Checked on wordwall.net on 22 August 2026:

The detail that matters is that the free cap is on activities you own, not activities per month. Three is your lifetime allowance on Basic. That makes the free plan an extended trial rather than something you can teach from, which is why so many teachers reach for the search bar after a fortnight.

What Wordwall Does Better Than the Alternatives

I want to be fair here, because Wordwall is the tool most often recommended in its category and largely deserves it.

One content set, many game formats. This is the real selling point. Type your vocabulary once and Wordwall regenerates it as a match-up, an anagram, a word search, a quiz, a maze chase. No other tool in this space does that as cleanly.

It tracks results. Unlike Baamboozle, which has no student accounts at all, Wordwall lets you set assignments and see how students performed. If you moved to Wordwall specifically to escape Baamboozle’s amnesia, it solved your problem.

Any subject, any language. Wordwall is not an English tool. It works for geography, biology or German, which matters if you teach more than one thing.

Printables. Activities export to PDF, so the same content works on paper when the wifi fails. Genuinely underrated.

The Limitation Nobody Mentions

Wordwall is a tool for making activities. It is not a source of content.

Every activity starts empty. You supply the words, the questions, the correct answers, the distractors. The templates are excellent, but they are containers. If your bottleneck is that you do not have enough hours in the week, a better container does not give you hours back. It gives you a nicer way to spend them.

There are also three things the format simply cannot do, because matching and sorting and quizzing are the wrong shape for them:

Which Alternative Fits Which Problem

If you hit the three-activity cap and do not want to pay

Baamboozle or Blooket. Both have genuinely usable free tiers. Baamboozle’s free plan is unlimited on game creation, with ads and a four-team limit; Blooket’s free tier includes most game modes. Neither matches Wordwall’s template variety, but neither caps you at three.

If you want more game formats and will pay for them

Blooket and Gimkit both put quiz content inside proper game mechanics rather than presentation formats. Older students in particular respond to Gimkit’s in-game economy in a way they do not to a matching exercise.

If vocabulary is the whole job

Quizlet is still the strongest option, and Quizlet Live turns a set into a collaborative team game.

If you are tired of building the content yourself

This is where The Kingdom of English is a genuinely different answer rather than another template tool, so I should be upfront that it is mine.

You do not build anything. There are 60 grammar topics, 60 reading comprehension exercises and 60 listening exercises already written, plus vocabulary training and four language games. Students submit writing and get AI feedback on grammar, structure and content, which no template-based tool can offer. Everything is recorded per student and can be set as homework with a deadline.

The honest trade: our content is English only, roughly B1 to C1, and it is fixed. You cannot type in your own vocabulary list and generate a maze chase from it. If designing your own material is the part of teaching you enjoy, Wordwall is the better fit and you should keep it.

Side by Side

 WordwallThe Kingdom of English
What you getTemplates you fill inContent already written
Setup per activityYou type the content each timeNothing to build
SubjectsAny subject, any languageEnglish only, roughly B1 to C1
Custom contentYes, that is the pointNo, the curriculum is fixed
Reading comprehensionNo60 exercises, AI evaluated
Listening comprehensionNo60 exercises, AI evaluated
Writing feedbackNoYes, on grammar, structure and content
Tracks student resultsYesYes, per student across all skills
PrintablesYes, PDF exportNo
Free tier3 activities, 12 templatesGrammar and Games, unlimited, forever
Free trial of paidNone advertised7 days, no card
Price€5–€7.50/mo, one teacher€9.90/mo, teacher plus 60 students

Wordwall figures checked on wordwall.net, 22 August 2026.

On Price

Wordwall is cheaper for a single teacher, and there is no way to spin that otherwise. Standard at €3.75 a month billed annually is less than half our €9.90.

The comparison only turns if you count students. Our price includes up to 60 student accounts with individual tracking and no per-student fee, which works out around 16 cents per student per month. Wordwall's pricing is per teacher. Whether that matters depends entirely on whether you need per-student records or just better activities.

Most Teachers Do Not Need to Choose

Wordwall and a practice platform solve different problems, and there is no rule against running both. Wordwall for the activity you want to build around this week's vocabulary, something like ours for the grammar, reading, listening and writing that has to happen every week regardless.

If Wordwall is working for you, keep it. Look elsewhere only for the parts it structurally cannot reach.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Wordwall free?

There is a free Basic plan, but it lets you create only 3 activities in total and gives you 12 standard templates. The cap is on activities you own rather than a monthly allowance, so it works as an extended trial rather than a tier you can teach from. Searching and playing the community library is unlimited and free.

How much does Wordwall cost?

Standard is €5 per month, or €3.75 per month billed annually (€45 a year). Pro is €7.50 per month, or €5.62 billed annually (€67.50 a year). Standard gives unlimited activities on 12 templates; Pro adds 22 more for 34 in total.

Does Wordwall track student results?

Yes. You can set activities as assignments and see how students performed, which is a real advantage over tools like Baamboozle that have no student accounts. The tracking covers the activities you build in Wordwall rather than progress across a full language curriculum.

What is the main limitation of Wordwall for ESL teachers?

It is a tool for making activities, not a source of content. You supply the words, questions and answers every time. It also has no reading or listening comprehension assessment and no writing feedback, because its templates are matching, sorting and quiz formats.

What is the best Wordwall alternative for ESL teachers?

It depends which job you need doing. For more formats, Baamboozle and Blooket cover similar ground. For ready-made English content rather than templates you fill in yourself, The Kingdom of English provides 60 grammar topics, 60 reading exercises and 60 listening exercises plus AI writing feedback, so there is nothing to build. For vocabulary specifically, Quizlet remains strong.

Do students need their own devices for Wordwall?

Not necessarily. Activities can be run teacher-led on a projector or interactive whiteboard, and can also be assigned to students on their own devices when you want results recorded.

Tired of building every activity from scratch? Get 60 grammar topics, 60 reading and 60 listening exercises already written, with AI feedback on writing and per-student tracking. Seven days free, no card required.

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