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LMS · head to head

Pear Deck vs Thought Industries

Pear Deck logo

Pear Deck

LMS

Interactive presentations that engage every student

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Thought Industries logo

Thought Industries

LMS

External learning platform for companies that sell training to customers and partners as a product

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Pear Deck has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Pear Deck the Teacher Dashboard, draggable and drawing responses and Reflect and Review require Teacher Premium at $149 per year; Thought Industries the annual floor is an enterprise number, so organisations with modest training revenue pay more in platform fees than a revenue share would have cost them.
  • They diverge on capability: Pear Deck covers Interactive slides, Thought Industries covers Commerce engine.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Pear Deck and Thought Industries actually diverge.

Attributes where Pear Deck and Thought Industries differ
AttributePear DeckThought Industries
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Chrome ExtensionWeb, iOS, Android
Founded2014Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (LMS).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Pear Deck

  • Interactive slides
  • Real-time responses
  • Formative assessment
  • Student-paced mode
  • Dashboard
  • Audio responses
  • Drawing
  • Vocabulary

Only in Thought Industries

  • Commerce engine
  • Licence and seat management
  • Multi-tenant panorama delivery
  • Certification programmes
  • Learning path personalisation
  • Analytics on revenue and consumption

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Pear Deck

  • Interactive classroom presentations for teachersnot Thought Industries
  • Student practice and assessment toolsnot Thought Industries
  • Standards-aligned content delivery for schoolsnot Thought Industries

Thought Industries

  • A software company whose customer certification programme has grown past what a creator platform can administernot Pear Deck
  • Professional bodies selling continuing education with certification renewal cyclesnot Pear Deck
  • Manufacturers training distributor and dealer networks who each need their own branded environmentnot Pear Deck
  • Any training business where a percentage of revenue model has become more expensive than a flat platform feenot Pear Deck

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Pear Deck

  • The Teacher Dashboard, draggable and drawing responses and Reflect and Review require Teacher Premium at $149 per year
  • Pear Assessment Premium is a separate $125 per year purchase from Pear Deck Premium
  • Standards aligned content, district library and efficacy reports are only in the Schools and Districts plan
  • SIS and LMS integration is only in the Schools and Districts plan
  • School and district pricing is by quote with no published rate

Thought Industries

  • The annual floor is an enterprise number, so organisations with modest training revenue pay more in platform fees than a revenue share would have cost them.
  • Implementation is measured in months and needs an internal owner, so the platform sits unused and paid for during a slow rollout.
  • It is designed for external audiences, so using it for internal employee compliance training means paying for commerce and multi-tenancy capability that internal training does not need.
  • Configuration depth for commerce and tenancy means the administrator role is a real job, and organisations that assign it as a fraction of someone else's role underuse the system.
  • Content authoring is not the strength, so most customers pair it with a separate authoring tool and manage two vendors and two content workflows.

Pricing, plan by plan

Pear Deck

Free
  • Pear Start FreeFree
    • 40+ AI tools for teachers
    • unlimited usage
  • Pear Deck FreeFree
    • basic interactive presentations
    • anonymous responses
    • student-paced mode
  • Pear Deck Premium$149/year
    • Teacher Dashboard with named responses
    • drawing/draggable features
    • Reflect & Review
  • Pear Assessment FreeFree
    • basic assessment creation
    • autograding

Thought Industries

On request
  • Thought Industries$undefined/year
    • Annual platform fee, quoted
    • No percentage taken of course revenue
    • Implementation and success services quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Pear Deck if

  • You need interactive slides.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Chrome Extension.
  • You also want real-time responses.
Pear Deck review

Choose Thought Industries if

  • You need commerce engine.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want licence and seat management.
Thought Industries review

Questions people ask

Is Pear Deck or Thought Industries better?
Neither clearly leads. Pear Deck starts at Free and Thought Industries at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Pear Deck or Thought Industries?
Pear Deck has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Pear Deck and On request for Thought Industries.
Does Pear Deck or Thought Industries run on more platforms?
Pear Deck runs on Web, Chrome Extension. Thought Industries runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Pear Deck for free?
Yes. Pear Deck has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Thought Industries starts at On request.
What is Pear Deck best used for?
Pear Deck is most often used for interactive classroom presentations for teachers, student practice and assessment tools, standards-aligned content delivery for schools. Of those, interactive classroom presentations for teachers and student practice and assessment tools are not what Thought Industries is typically brought in for.
What can Pear Deck do that Thought Industries cannot?
Pear Deck covers Interactive slides, Real-time responses, Formative assessment, Student-paced mode. Thought Industries covers Commerce engine, Licence and seat management, Multi-tenant panorama delivery, Certification programmes.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Pear Deck: What is the price for individual teacher subscriptions?

Pear Deck Premium: $149/year; Pear Assessment Premium: $125/year. Pear Practice and Start have custom pricing for paid tiers.

Source
Thought Industries: Does Thought Industries take a percentage of course sales?

No. It charges an annual platform fee. That is more expensive than a revenue share at low volume and considerably cheaper once training revenue grows.

Pear Deck: Are there free versions available?

Yes, all Pear Deck products offer free teacher plans: Pear Start, Pear Deck, Pear Practice, and Pear Assessment are free for educators.

Source
Thought Industries: Can one platform serve several corporate customers separately?

Yes. Multi-tenant delivery gives each business customer its own branded environment and administrator while content stays centrally managed.

Pear Deck: What features require payment in Pear Assessment?

Free version includes basic assessment creation and autograding. Premium ($125/year) adds advanced security, accessibility tools, state test interface mimicry, and rubric scoring.

Source
Thought Industries: Is it suitable for internal employee training?

It can do it, but you would be paying for commerce and tenancy features that internal compliance training does not use. A corporate learning platform is usually the better fit.

Pear Deck: Do schools get discounted pricing?

Yes, schools and districts receive custom pricing with additional features like standards-aligned content, shared libraries, and LMS integration.

Source
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