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I recently attended a co-teaching conferentce and learned about Padlet. Our district pays for Kyte Learning, so I spent time/energy learning this product. Then I put this learning to use only to discover that within an hour, I have reached my free limit. Like so many teachers, I spend hundreds of dollars every month on classroom supplies and food for my students. I simply can't take money away from supplies and food for an online resource no matter how great it is. I teach in a very poor rural district; our budget could never allow for such extravagances. I feel that because teaching is so demanding, and we are always looking for ways to make our job more efficient, companies like yours preys on us. What other professions do employees use their own money for supplies and food for those they serve? I am very willing to deal with advertisements so that you can support your site by other means.

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Our district has no money due to budget cuts from the state.  This means that teachers are having to pay for this if they want it (and we all know teachers are not paid enough to pay for any more extras in the classroom).  $100 is definitely too much.  3 Free walls may be okay for elementary, but it does nothing for secondary teachers with 8 or 9 classes and 200+ students.  

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Our district has no money due to budget cuts from the state.  This means that teachers are having to pay for this if they want it (and we all know teachers are not paid enough to pay for any more extras in the classroom).  $100 is definitely too much.  3 Free walls may be okay for elementary, but it does nothing for secondary teachers with 8 or 9 classes and 200+ students.  

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A lot of teachers might have use for 1 or 2 more Padlets, but don't want to pay $100 to open and keep them. How about an option to buy access to individual boards? Charge a couple of dollars for a new board at a time, and teachers won't feel the gut punch of handing over $100.

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Maybe have access to all Padlets, but only 3 active and the others be in archived? If it's a "space" issues then that doesn't really solve anything, I suppose. But if I had 2 blogs I wanted to keep up year round, and then a 3rd Padlet be my "rotating" between new and archived...

$50 might be more doable...how do other companies do it for so much less?!

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I am telling you, I don't know anyone who would pay. They just can't. I would pay less for it, but $99 is asking too much. If there really are 10 million users, the numbers are boggling to me if it's such a small company.  Unfortunately, I don't have a solution. I have seen others on Twitter making alternatives, which are probably not as great! Referrals are never good, imo.

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One of the greatest uses of technology is to empower students to create their own work. How will Padlet accommodate students who want to create their own boards for classroom and personal learning? Will they also pay $100 a year? Has padlet thought of a way to get students more free boards?

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Alternative and progress on from Padlet. 

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Alternative and progress on from Padlet. 

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Pay for Padlet?! What are the alternatives?

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With the recent news that Padlet is to start changing for some of its services (announcing a cap on the number of padlets allowed under the free basic plan, which will now only allow the user to make three more) many have took to social media to vent their frustration and disappointment.

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Padlet Discusses Price Structure on the TeacherCast Podcast

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Padlet Discusses Price Structure on the TeacherCast Podcast

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Hi everyone.  Tonight I had Padlet on the podcast and I brought up many of the questions that were placed on this wall.  Please check out the show and share with your teachers.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This week witnessed a major tremor in the Twittersphere when 10 Million monthly users woke up to learn that Padlet, a popular digital bulletin board, has adjusted their pricing model. What happened after that was the coming together of passionate educators about a much-loved technology product to help each other understand why decisions such as this have to happen and also to provide support and alternative ways of providing outstanding lessons in the classroom.

In this episode of the TeacherCast Podcast, we sit down with CEO Nitesh Goel to discuss the recent price restructuring of Padlet and what it means to educators moving forward.

I wish to thank Nitesh for a very open and personable conversation. For the last few months, I have been touting Padlet not only to teachers in my own district but at several regional professional conferences. I hope when listening to the interview you will take the time to hear the beginning, middle, and end of the conversation to get a full understanding of why certain decisions were made and why other decisions were not made.

In this episode, we discuss:

The history of Padlet and how it has grown over 5 years

How does an EdTech company get started?

What are teachers first impressions of Padlet?

Understanding the new Padlet Pricing Plans

Legacy Boards for current users

How does Grandfathering work

How did Padlet come to the number 3 for their current structure

Feedback/Pushback from Teachers about changes to price structure.
Social Media Support / Feedback from Educators

Padlet's Reaction to Teacher Feedback

Is Padlet considering additional pricing plans?

Can Padlet cut features to support a smaller price plan?

Would teachers accept a Padlet without a full feature set?

How long has this decision been under consideration?
Using Data to make difficult decisions

Padlet has more than 10 Million users monthly

Average Padlets per user?

Who has the most Padlet boards in their account?

What happens if you delete your Padlet?

How much Data can you upload on a single Padlet wall?

When should teachers expect additional information/action from Padlet?

How many employees work at Padlet to support 10 Million educators?

Future plans and new features on the horizon for Padlet

How does a teacher purchase/upgrade their Twitter account?

What are features available in an upgraded plan?

Purchasing Padlet for Teachers

Community Reaction to Padlet

This week, there have been several videos and posts produced to support and discuss Padlet. Check these out and please use the comments section below to leave your own thoughts or article links.

Here's The Long and Short

With 10 Million monthly users, it's not acceptable for anyone to think that free will last forever. Padlet is one of the most versatile tools that you can have in your edtech toolbox. As a good example, in this video, we walk you through just a few ways that Padlet can be used with New Google Sites.

Want to Learn More?

For more information, please visit:

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The TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network | @TeacherCast

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Our favorite part of recording a live podcast each week is participating in the great conversations that happen on our live chat, on social media, and in our comments section.

This weeks question is:
If you are a user of Padlet, what types of projects have you done with your students? Please feel free to share examples below in our comment section.
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Are you enjoying the TeacherCast Network, please share your thoughts with the world by commenting on iTunes today? I enjoy reading and sharing your comments on the podcast each week.

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About the author, Jeffrey

Jeff Bradbury, creator of TeacherCast, and father of the famous @EduTriplets is the Coordinator of Instructional Technology at Westwood Regional School District. Thanks for checking out TeacherCast today. Please take a moment to find me on all of my Social Media channels!

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Padlet Announces New Pricing Model and Discusses it with TeacherCast

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download This week witnessed a major tremor in the Twittersphere when 10 Million monthly users woke up to learn that Padlet, a popular digital bulletin board, has adjusted their pricing model.

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I've used padlet since the wallwisher days. And for the last few years I've paid for the least expensive tier pricing, $29.

Technically, I really didn't need the $29 plan, since there aren't any additional features that I desperately needed. But, it's such a great tool and I believe in supporting the tools that I love the most and get the most use out of. So $29 was perfect. But, there's no way I'll be able to justify a $100 fee.

I use padlet mainly in PD settings, I teach teachers. I try to use tools that they will be able to use in their classrooms. At this point, I don't even feel right about using my paid account in workshops, not fair to show them such a great tool that they'll only be able to make very limited use of.

Please come up with some pricing tiers that classroom teachers can afford.

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The idea of a referral program is going to create a nasty fight amongst teachers trying to get each other to sign up overlapping friends, colleagues, and followers. By default, this will mean that popular teachers will get advantages that people just starting, or that haven't built a base of like-minded teachers (the kind that use tools like padlet) won't.
This creates a gross inequity that technology should strive to defeat, not encourage.

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Padlet has been one of the go to tools in education for several years now.  It's a great way to curate sources for students, quickly post a response, build off learning, etc.  We know the tremendous benefits.

As many have stated on here and on Twitter, one of the biggest downsides to this new decision is loss of access.  Individual teachers simply cannot afford to pay $100 for this tool, on top of other tools and supplies we're constantly shelling out for.  A school/district option would be a great idea, as would a lesser price point for educators.  $25/year would be a no brainer for more teachers, and Padlet could still make a profit to continue to offer a wonderful product and pay its employees what they deserve for creating and maintaining it.

We've spent many hours this year training staff in tech tools, and Padlet remains far and away the most popular and useful.  At least, it was.  We can no longer in good faith promote this to teachers in our district.  The problem is that there is no other tool that does exactly what Padlet does.

This decision, in essence, cuts teachers and students off from a useful, important tool.

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Suggestions from a long time user and promoter

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Suggestions from a long time user and promoter

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1. Most webtools that I have used maintain good will with early users by guaranteeing the free features that have always been available (unlimited packets with limited customization options). Those tool developers are up front about what users can expect in the long run wrt future costs and paid plans. Packets been in the game too long to suddenly strip users of free features. We’ll walk away and find something else that is free and that’s what we’ll start promoting to our colleagues. You’ll lose most of your market and you’ll lose the free promotion system that your users create and run. In fact, we’ll be steering teachers away from pallet simply because it will no longer meet the heuristics for webtool recommendations. When I present to staff at school or conferences, my first guideline is ALWAYS that a tool is sufficiently functional in the free form.

2. Why only have two plans? Give users and yourselves flexibility with a mid-range plan. Don’t make it all or nothing (which is what I’ve gleaned from this padlet collection of ideas). Free, basic, premium. Basic can be cheap: $12 for the year. Most teachers would probably pay that. I see that price tag and I just buy because it’s the same as one week of coffee. Basic = unlimited pad lets, some additional customization options, commenting and feedback on posts. Maybe this means your free account can actually restrict user packets to 1-2 per month...

3. Most importantly, do more of this. Talk to your user base. Have them brainstorm packages and cost.?

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$99 is a steep price for any tech tool that is not mandated by the district - Padlet is one that teacher will fund out of their own pockets. Teachers might consider $20-30/annually as a reasonable cost, however $99 is way too high. Most teachers that I know are using Padlet for students to post to an authentic audience, to crowdsource information, or for a collaborative classroom space. The new features like data and statistics in a premium package or removal of ads will not matter to most, however uploads (pictures, links, etc) and feedback (thumbs up, hearts) might. Restricting new users to 3 boards will eliminate new users. Teachers are creative problem solvers, capable of finding/creating more cost-efficient alternatives. If Padlet's primary user base is educators, it should be careful not to price itself out of its own market.

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Padlet is a business and they need to make money. We all get that, but the price jump is ridiculous. Most teachers cannot afford to pay for the Premium version out of pocket, and let's face it. . .teachers, not districts, pay for many of the tech tools they use. I think it would be reasonable to have more plans available. A free basic plan with only 3 Padlets won't keep anyone using it. We will all move on to Flipgrid and GSuite templates if that's the case.  I think $20-$30/annually for unlimited padlets with some limitations on features is fair.  Padlet is only ONE tech tool that I use, so it cannot eat up my entire budget!

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I have used Padlet often in class, but even worse - I have often recommended it to other teachers! Unfortunately, the new pricing policy means that I can no longer recommend Padlet:

Padlet with advertising is not desired in school (you can't control the advertising either)

$100 is far too much and would have to be paid by the teachers privately

Too bad when this exciting tool lands in the service cemetery.

It needs different price plans, but it's hard to tell where the critical mark lies (1$-5$/month?) or maybe plans for schools

PS: Did you get an e-mail from Padlet? I'm not and that's bad communication

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Some teachers will not be able to afford to subscribe to Padlet. In Australia, teachers pay for school resources out of their own pockets just like the USA. A permanently free basic account with 15-20 padlets would be workable and might mean that teachers are still using the tool in their classrooms for supervised, purposeful collaboration which is free advertising for Padlet.

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This Is heartbreaking. Make a premium package , but give at least 20 free padlets. Don’t be such a #Trump entity. 

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This Is heartbreaking. Make a premium package , but give at least 20 free padlets. Don’t be such a #Trump entity. 

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This Is heartbreaking. Make a premium package , but give at least 20 free padlets. Don’t be such a #Trump entity.

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$4.95/mo month-to-month, $39 annual, $10/referral. 4x number of customers, revenue increases proportionally with satisfied customers.

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Many services support education by charging a premium to for-profit companies and using that to provide a dramatically lower cost to verified educators.
Padlet's current plan is to charge the same price to an educator as it does to each of their business-level users.
Perhaps Padlet can use the funds from business ventures to offset the cost for teachers?

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Focus on getting MORE users to use the platform instead of upping the costs for on a small numbers teachers and schools who can afford it. Be careful of having the community move on and this tool become irrelevant

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Maybe there is an educational foundation that can take on the expenses of Padlet in order to provide it for free?

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Many teachers do not have use for uploading files to Padlet, a need to brand their pages, nor do they care about getting "hand written love letters" from their companies. Perhaps removing these unnecessary add-ons can create a cheaper price for baseline educators (suggested, $1 a month?).