Planboard vs Equity Maps
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Planboard
This app helps educators create, edit, and organize lesson plans with curriculum standards and attachments. It features a beautiful timetable view and syncs across devices, allowing teachers to plan on the go and reduce prep time.
- Create, edit, and share lesson plans
- Organize timetable, subjects, and semesters
- Manage curriculum standards
- Add attachments to lesson plans
- Syncs with web version
- Easy setup
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Plan lessons on the go in an easy-to-use editor with curriculum standards and attachments. Planboard organizes your lessons, subjects, and semesters in a beautiful timetable that is with you everywhere. Join over 250,000 teachers around the world who are already using Planboard to cut down their classroom prep time and spend more time with students! —————————————————————————————— FEATURES • 100% free for teachers! • Create, edit, and share lesson plans • Organize your timetable, subjects, and semesters • Manage curriculum standards • Take photos and add files to lesson plans • Syncs with Planboard on the web • Fast and easy to get set up WHAT TEACHERS ARE SAYING “A fantastic app that has transformed my lesson planning...I have dumped my old paper planner for good. This is an excellent app.” - benjro “I love this program! I can create my lessons in a jiffy- dare I say lesson planning is almost *fun* now?! I can even do lesson planning while on the go because the program now syncs with the app- SCORE! I love being able to be out and about and not have to be tied to my computer, but if I think of something for a lesson, I can just plug it right in!...And all of this awesomeness is on the FREE version. I love this software!!!” - Tater and her tots “I have been looking for a planning and attendance app for so long! This app is absolutely perfect, whether you’re using it on your iPad, iPhone or using the online site on your computer it works flawlessly! Thank you so much!” - Ethie56 “This app is exactly what I was looking for! I have tried many digital planning options and this is by far the best. Being able to change my planner easily on my iPad or computer makes it so easy to change plans and have them there ready to go...Great app!” - J.Lee.17 “So much better than planning in a paper based planner. I like being able to check my lessons or add to them as ideas occur to me using my phone on the go.” - KT28363838 “Will render you pencil & paper daybook obsolete. It is fantastic for your day to day planning and makes printing off a paper copy for a supply teacher super easy” - Mr.Esss “I have been using it for three years now and love the planning/assessment tools. My principal asked me to inform the rest of the staff about this program. It has helped me make my teaching more organized.” - Stolenfeather “I feel as though I would not be as organized without Chalk! And the fact that it’s free makes it even more amazing! As we know as teachers we spend a lot of our own money on supplies for our students and having a program this amazing for free means I can spend more on my students so thank you!” - btpuggy “I wish I had found Planboard years ago! It has changed my entire approach to planning lessons! I cannot recommend this app enough” - BryarsMom SUPPORT The Chalk Team can be reached anytime by email at support@chalk.com, or during the day by live chat to assist you with getting the most out of Planboard.
Equity Maps
This app helps educators visualize and analyze student participation in classroom discussions. It allows teachers to track who speaks, how often, and the nature of their contributions, fostering reflection and equity.
- Visualize student participation
- Instant feedback and analytics
- Animated playback of discussions
- Track contribution types
- Create custom identity markers
- Export audio and analytics (Premium)
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• Elevate the voices in the room -- help students to reflect & grow! • Provide Instant Feedback – Nurture Reflection – Ignite Collaboration – Promote Equity • Created by teachers, for teachers & their students. Ideal for Socratic seminars, Spider Web™ & Harkness® (*) discussions, Literature Circles, Dialogic lesson designs, or anytime students interact. Effortlessly chart & record students’ interactions to graphically illustrate levels & types of participation. Spur deeper reflection with the discussion maps, instant analytics & animated playback at multiple speeds. NEW IN PREMIUM! – Export audio & class analytics – Post in your LMS or email directly to your students along with their talk time, Checknotes of types of contributions, the discussion map, & your personal feedback (beta). STANDARD FEATURES: • Up to 20 participants in any class w/open seating options • Quick edit features to create groups and classes. • Playback the discussion maps in real time or fast forward • Select & listen to any speaker & view notes linked to their participation • Individual/Group analytics – Include/Exclude participants from the data to see how the dynamics change PREMIUM FEATURES available with in-app upgrade or by downloading Premium today: • Up to 40 participants • Add Identity Markers to track data by groups of students • Export Audio or analytics via email to students or post in LMS or export to CSV (beta) • Track student contributions w/ enhanced Checknotes & access the 17 templates ------- CONFERENCE WITH YOUR STUDENTS OR TEACHERS: • Debrief w/students individually! Review contributions of any one student in the improved participant analytics: see each time the student spoke & playback what they said, or play from the person who spoke before/after, review notations for that student, participation data, or Checknotes… all on one screen! • Give better feedback! Take notes or write comments during or after the discussion that link directly to the student speaking and share with them immediately after. • Identify Markers: customize the groups w/n your class that you’d like to measure such as grade level, language level, race, seating area, or anything you’d like to see. ------- REFLECTIVE DATA AT YOUR FINGERTIPS: • Simply tap on the participants’ icons when they speak & Equity Maps will do the rest by visually charting the interactions & calculating levels of participation. • Track the nature of each participant's contributions with Checknotes, choose among the 17 templates or create your own, or take notes during the discussion that attach to the speaker for review afterward. • The “Feedback Frames” provide key statistics for teachers, students or group members: time spoken, times spoken, gender equity, or customize anything you’d like to measure. TEACHERS: • Enhance your Socratic Seminars, Literature Circles, Harkness®(*) discussions, or full classroom discussions • Monitor & assess Common Core Speaking & Listening Standards, ATL, Dialogic lessons, or seminar criteria • Promote student involvement & self-reflection • Perfect for schools with VPP for 50% discount FACILITATORS & GROUP LEADERS: • Encourage deeper reflection of your group’s goals, norms & processes • Give your boss an Equity Check & share how equitable your last meeting was • Critical Friends Group® coaches & facilitators (CFG work) or in PLCs ADMINISTRATORS & INSTRUCTIONAL COACHES: • Provide teachers an “image” of their classroom instruction like they’ve never seen before! • Revitalize reflective practices for teachers, while reducing anxiety of post-observation meetings • Make your classroom observations more meaningful & reflective ------ Equity Maps® is a registered trademark at the USPTO / U.S. Pat. No 10,553,129 *Equity Maps has been developed completely independent of Phillips Exeter Academy & is not affiliated in any way with the academy. Critical Friends Group® is a registered trademark of the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF®)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Planboard at Free against Equity Maps's $1.99. Planboard also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (1.9K vs 72). Equity Maps's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 62%). On rating, update cadence, ads and monetization model 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
Planboard is free to download; Equity Maps costs $1.99 up front. Equity Maps sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Planboard asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Planboard against 4.8 for Equity Maps. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Planboard has 1.9K ratings behind it against 72, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 62% of Planboard's written reviews are positive against 100% of Equity Maps's.
Planboard ships an update every 6 weeks, Equity Maps every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Planboard | Equity Maps |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (1.9K ratings) | 4.8 (72 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.9K — better | 72 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 12.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 56 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PowerSchool Group LLC | David Nelson |
Customer experience
Planboard
Equity Maps
Bugs and requests
Planboard
Reported bugs
5 issues- Crashes when adding classes
- Scheduling issues with non-standard time slots
- Inability to log in or create account
- Syncing problems between devices
- Lesson plan data loss
Requested features
7 requests- Month view option
- Unit planning view
- Ability to add events/meetings
- Google Calendar integration
- Behavior tracking/logging
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- More curriculum standard options
- Offline access
Equity Maps
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Planboard
No in-app purchases
Equity Maps
- Equity Maps Premium v5.3$7.99
Questions
Is Planboard free?
Is Equity Maps free?
Which has better reviews, Planboard or Equity Maps?
Do Planboard or Equity Maps have ads?
Which is updated more often, Planboard or Equity Maps?
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