Sportsup vs Kahoot: which sports quiz tool fits you?

Kahoot is a Norwegian game-based quiz platform (founded December 2012) built mainly for classrooms, training and events, but also widely used for casual quiz nights. A host creates multiple-choice quizzes in the web creator (or uses ready-made templates), and the audience joins a live session on their own devices via a game PIN, QR code or link. Everyone then competes on a real-time leaderboard.

Kahoot's strength is exactly that host-led setup for a big or remote group. Participants need no account: they just go to kahoot.it, enter the PIN, and can join as a guest. Only the person building the quiz needs an account. The interface is available in many languages, and there is a large community of ready-made quizzes. If you want to run a quiz remotely, or with thirty people in a hall who each have a phone, Kahoot is built for precisely that.

Kahoot is freemium: there is a free tier (with a smaller number of participants per game and Quiz plus True/False question types) alongside paid subscription plans. The content is user-generated across all topics, so sports is one of many categories you can build or find, not a curated sports library.

The biggest difference is who does the work. With Kahoot you build or hunt down the questions yourself before the night, and every player needs their own connected phone. With Sportsup there is nothing to prepare and no accounts: you open the app, type in the names and pass one phone around the table. No build, no PIN, no login.

The content is different too. Sportsup is dedicated sports trivia: questions cover football, hockey, MMA, esports, golf and the Olympics, multiple choice on a 1/X/2 slip with three options. Thousands of fact-checked questions sit behind it, and every answer has a written explanation and a source link. It is curated and verified, unlike user-generated quizzes where quality varies. If you want to start broad, there is a pack of mixed sports trivia.

Then there is the game mechanic. In Sportsup, right answers score points, and only wrong answers earn a penalty your group defines (a sip, a push-up, a dare, whatever you like). Kahoot instead rewards speed on a leaderboard and has no built-in penalty mechanic. The Sportsup penalty does not require alcohol, and there is a drink-free option.

To run a Kahoot game, the host needs an account, an internet connection and, in practice, multiple devices, one per player. That is the strength when people are spread out, but an extra step when you are already gathered around the same table. Sportsup has no accounts, no tracking and no ads, and works offline after the first load. One phone is enough.

The pricing models differ as well. Kahoot is freemium, with a free tier and paid subscription plans. Sportsup is free to download: some packs are free, others are one-time in-app purchases, nothing auto-renews and there is no subscription.

Because Sportsup is made in Sweden, its sports culture is native rather than translated, while the English edition is written for an international audience with Premier League and NHL examples. Both Kahoot and Sportsup offer multiple languages, but Kahoot is a broad platform for every topic whereas Sportsup is built specifically around real sports knowledge. If you want more tools, see our roundup of the best pub quiz apps.

AhaSlides (founded 2019, based in Singapore) works much like Kahoot: a host-led presentation tool for live polls, quizzes, word clouds and Q&A for meetings, classrooms and events. The audience joins via a QR code or link on their own devices and needs no account.

Its free plan allows up to 5 quiz questions and 3 poll questions per presentation and up to 50 participants, with paid tiers above that. Like Kahoot, the content is something you build yourself, it is not a curated sports library, and there is no penalty mechanic. So the same takeaway applies: excellent for a host-led live setup, but a different kind of tool than a pass-and-play sports quiz.

Pick Kahoot if: you want to build your own quiz, the group is large or remote and everyone has their own connected phone, and you like a real-time leaderboard where everyone answers at once on their own screen. AhaSlides fits the same need if you also want polls and Q&A in a presentation tool.

Pick Sportsup if: you are sports fans who want zero setup and no accounts, you are in the same room sharing one phone, and you want fact-checked sports questions with an explanation and a source. Sportsup also fits if you like that right answers score and only wrong answers earn a penalty, and you prefer one-time purchases over a subscription.

They are not mutually exclusive. Plenty of people use Kahoot for large or remote events and Sportsup for game nights and pre-parties when the sport takes center stage. If you want to compare more apps, see our guide to the best sports trivia apps.