Comparison

Groups vs Planbook Mobile

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Groups

This app helps educators create balanced and effective student teams using an advanced algorithm. It offers features like gender balancing, exclusion of incompatible students, and random student selection to promote participation. Easily import student data and export group compositions for classroom use.

Highlights
  • Advanced team-building algorithm
  • Gender balancing for groups
  • Exclude incompatible student pairs
  • Random student picker
  • Export and print group compositions
  • Bulk import students
  • Cross-device sync via iCloud
Features
Read full description

Effortlessly organize your students into effective teams with Groups, promoting meaningful collaboration and building teamwork skills in the classroom. ADVANCED TEAM BUILDING Have certain students who don’t work well together? Simply list these pairs in the app and Groups will handle the rest, with its advanced team-building algorithm. BALANCE GENDERS Ensure each group has an even distribution of genders with the ”Balance Genders” option, promoting diversity and encouraging collaboration. EDIT GROUPS Need to fine tune the generated groups? Easily rearrange the result to achieve a perfect team composition. RANDOM STUDENT PICKER Encourage equal participation in the classroom with Groups’ random student picker. This makes sure everyone gets a chance to provide input, ensuring all voices are heard. EXPORT AND PRINT Easily create printable handouts, posters, or a PDF to share using five beautiful themes. BULK IMPORT Add students from Microsoft Excel workbooks, CSV files, or plain text lists. UNLIMITED CLASSES Enter all your students once, and then create as many groups as you need. You can even add an icon and color to each class to easily tell them apart. CROSS DEVICE SYNC Add your classes once, and use them across all your Apple devices with iCloud sync. ——————————————— Groups has helped tens of thousands of teachers sort their students into groups, fostering more positive learning environments for students worldwide. Privacy Policy: https://wttech.com.au/docs/groups/privacy-policy Terms & Conditions: https://wttech.com.au/docs/groups/eula

About

Planbook Mobile

This is a comprehensive online lesson planning tool designed for educators. It offers a wide array of features, meticulous student learning standards, and excellent support. A free trial is available to experience its capabilities.

Highlights
  • Comprehensive lesson planning
  • Meticulous student learning standards
  • Extensive features for educators
  • Outstanding support and tutorials
  • Continuous improvement based on feedback
Read full description

Welcome to Planbook! With over one million teachers and one billion lessons, Planbook is the established leader in online lesson planning! Why is Planbook preferred by educators? * We offer the most features for teachers and schools * At $20 per year, we offer the best value on the market * Outstanding support plus knowledge base and tutorials * Our student learning standards are meticulous * Our product is always improving thanks to educator feedback Download and take advantage of our 90 day free trial!

Screenshots

Groups4 screens
Planbook Mobile4 screens

Verdict

The call

Groups and Planbook Mobile both sit at 4.9 stars, but that hides the real split: 90% of Groups's written reviews are positive against 51% of Planbook Mobile's. Groups also leads on monetization model (freemium vs subscription). Planbook Mobile's advantage is ratings volume (7.2K vs 146) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.4). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Groups sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Planbook Mobile sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Groups against 4.8 for Planbook Mobile. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Planbook Mobile has 7.2K ratings behind it against 146, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 90% of Groups's written reviews are positive against 51% of Planbook Mobile's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Groups ships an update every 3 months, Planbook Mobile every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Groups versus Planbook Mobile: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGroupsPlanbook Mobile
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (146 ratings) — better4.8 (7.2K ratings)
Positive reviews90.0% of reviews — better50.6% of reviews
Number of ratings1467.2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.413.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB83 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWilliam TaylorPlanbook Inc.

Customer experience

Groups

All ratings146 ratings
Positive97.3%
Neutral1.4%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%

Planbook Mobile

All ratings6,987 ratings
Positive96.0%
Neutral1.8%
Negative2.2%
Written reviews85 reviews
Positive50.6%
Neutral10.6%
Negative38.8%

Bugs and requests

Groups

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Planbook Mobile

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Unable to add school year dates
  • Login page issues (keyboard blocking screen)
  • Inability to use Gmail account for sign-up
  • Lesson plans deleted without explanation

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add copy and paste feature
  • Improve mobile app experience (e.g., biometric login, portrait mode)
  • Enhance integration with other platforms (e.g., Canvas)

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Groups

Subscriptions2
  • Groups Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Groups Pro Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time2
  • Color Themes$0.99
  • Groups Pro$39.99
3 purchases

Planbook Mobile

One-time3
  • 1-Year Planbook Subscription$20.00
  • 2-Year Planbook Subscription$36.00
  • 3-Year Planbook Subscription$48.00

Questions

Is Groups free?
Groups is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Planbook Mobile free?
Planbook Mobile is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Groups or Planbook Mobile?
Groups is rated higher. Groups averages 4.9 out of 5 from 146 ratings, while Planbook Mobile averages 4.8 from 7.2K ratings.
Do Groups or Planbook Mobile have ads?
Neither Groups nor Planbook Mobile shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Groups or Planbook Mobile?
Groups ships an update every 3 months, and Planbook Mobile every 2 months. Most recently, Groups was updated on October 12, 2026 and Planbook Mobile on October 16, 2026.

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