How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- MagicSchool AI is the broadest toolkit, with more than 80 teacher tools on a free tier that teachers genuinely use.
- Khanmigo is free for US teachers and ties planning help to Khan Academy material instead of generic templates.
- Diffit earns its money on one job: turning the same reading into versions at several reading levels.
- Every draft these tools produce needs a teacher's review before it reaches a classroom; none of them knows your students.
- Keep identifiable student work out of any tool until you have checked your district's approved list and privacy terms.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 MagicSchool AI | One toolkit for plans, rubrics and feedback | $8.33 per month billed annually | Yes |
 Khanmigo | Free planning help tied to Khan Academy content | Free | Yes |
 Brisk Teaching | Planning and feedback inside Google Docs | $99.99 per year | Yes |
 Diffit | Leveled readings for mixed ability classes | $14.99 per month | Yes |
 Curipod | Live interactive lessons | See website | Yes |
 Eduaide.AI | Pedagogy first lesson design | $49.99 per year | Yes |
 Education Copilot | Fast standards aligned drafts | See website | Yes |
 Gemini in Classroom | Schools already on Google Workspace | Free | Yes |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
#1MagicSchool AI
Best for: One toolkit for plans, rubrics and feedback4.7/5 on
G2 (7 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit magicschool.ai
Starting price$8.33 per month billed annually
Free planYes
MagicSchool is the default starting point because it covers the most planning jobs in one account. A teacher can draft a lesson plan, build the rubric, generate the quiz and write feedback language without opening four tabs. The free tier carries the full tool list with usage limits, which is why it spread through staffrooms so fast.
The planning tools are structured around real teacher inputs: standard, grade, topic, length. That structure produces more classroom ready drafts than a blank chatbot prompt, and the rubric and assessment generators keep the plan and its checks in step.
The limit is depth in any single area. For leveled readings, Diffit below is better; for feedback inside Google Docs, Brisk is faster. MagicSchool is the hub most teachers build around, then add a specialist where their week actually hurts.
What we like- More than 80 purpose built teacher tools under one login, lesson plans, rubrics, quizzes, IEP support and feedback tools in one place, free tier is generous enough for real weekly use, student facing tools sit behind teacher controls
Watch out for- Breadth means some individual tools are shallower than a specialist, paid Plus tier needed for heavier use and extra features, district rollouts still depend on your school signing the privacy paperwork, output quality varies by tool, so review habits matter
#2Khanmigo
Best for: Free planning help tied to Khan Academy content4.5/5 on
G2 (178 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit khanacademy.org
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Khanmigo is Khan Academy's AI assistant, and its teacher side is free for US teachers. It helps draft lesson plans, hooks, exit tickets and rubrics, and it can work from what your students are actually doing inside Khan Academy, which template libraries cannot do.
That connection is the reason to choose it. If your maths or science course already runs on Khan Academy content, Khanmigo plans against real student progress rather than a generic class profile. If you teach outside Khan's library, the advantage shrinks and MagicSchool's broader toolkit matters more.
Khanmigo's student side is deliberately Socratic: it asks questions and gives hints instead of answers. That design choice, plus the nonprofit behind it, is why many districts approved it early. Check your own district list all the same; approval is local, not national.
What we like- Free for US teachers, with no per teacher charge, planning help connects to Khan Academy lessons, exercises and progress data, built by a nonprofit with a strong student privacy posture, the student side tutors with questions rather than handing over answers
Watch out for- US teacher access is the free route
- Arrangements differ elsewhere, narrower tool range than MagicSchool, works best when your course already uses Khan Academy material, district features depend on a Khan Academy district partnership
Starting price$99.99 per year
Free planYes
Brisk Teaching starts from a simple observation: teachers plan and mark inside Google Docs, so the AI should live there too. Its extension turns an article on your screen into a lesson resource, builds a quiz from a Slides deck, or drafts feedback on a student document without a copy and paste round trip.
For lesson planning specifically, Brisk is a drafting accelerator rather than a planning system. It is at its best generating the materials around a plan: the reading, the questions, the differentiated version for the student who needs shorter sentences.
The free tier, with more than 20 tools, covers most of that. Pro at 99.99 dollars a year is an individual teacher price, which makes it one of the easier tools to buy yourself when a district decision is months away.
What we like- Works as a Chrome extension inside Google Docs, Slides and Classroom, creates plans, quizzes and resources from material already on your screen, feedback and differentiation tools act on real student documents, free tier covers more than 20 tools
Watch out for- Built for the Google ecosystem, so Microsoft based schools get less from it, the planning tools are quick drafts rather than full plan builders, school and district features sit behind institutional plans, heavy users will want the paid Pro tier
#4
Diffit
Best for: Leveled readings for mixed ability classes
Visit diffit.me
Starting price$14.99 per month
Free planYes
Diffit does the job every teacher describes as their Sunday evening sinkhole: the same content at three reading levels. Paste a text or link, choose the levels, and Diffit returns adapted readings with questions and vocabulary support for each.
That focus is its strength and its boundary. Diffit is not a lesson planner, and it does not pretend to be. It is the specialist you add when differentiation is where your planning time goes, which in mixed ability classrooms is most of the time.
Pricing moved in 2026, to 14.99 dollars a month or 149.99 a year, higher than older reviews still quote. At that price it has to earn its place weekly, and for teachers levelling readings every week, comparisons suggest it does.
What we like- Turns one text, article or video into readings at several reading levels, generates questions and vocabulary support matched to each level, saves hours on the differentiation work teachers do most often, free tier lets you test the core job properly
Watch out for- Does one job, so it sits beside a planner rather than replacing one, 14.99 dollars a month is a real cost for a single purpose tool, levelled text still needs a teacher check for accuracy and tone, full features need the paid plan
#5Curipod
Best for: Live interactive lessons4.5/5 on
G2 (2 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit curipod.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
Curipod plans the lesson as an event rather than a document. Give it a topic and it builds a session with questions, polls, word clouds and drawing tasks woven through, then collects student responses live. For teachers whose planning question is how to keep thirty students participating, that is the right shape.
Its planning tools cover objectives and structure well enough, but the product's centre of gravity is delivery. Pair it with a document planner if your district wants formal written plans in a set format.
Individual pricing is not clearly published, with schools and districts on quoted plans, so the price here is See website. The free tier is the practical way to judge whether the live format fits your classroom.
What we like- Turns a topic or standard into a live lesson with polls, drawing and exit tickets, student responses come back inside the same session, AI feedback features help review open responses, free tier available for individual teachers
Watch out for- School and district pricing is quoted rather than published, engagement features outshine its long form planning tools, live lessons depend on every student having a working device, free tier limits how much you can run
Starting price$49.99 per year
Free planYes
Eduaide.AI takes pedagogy seriously. Its generators are organised around instructional design choices, so the output reads like a plan a mentor would approve: objectives, sequencing, checks for understanding, differentiation. Teachers who find chatbot output glib tend to prefer this structure.
It covers planning, assessment and resource creation, and its differentiation tools hold their own against Diffit for many uses, though Diffit stays ahead on pure reading levelling.
Pro at 49.99 dollars a year is the bargain of this list, cheap enough to buy without a budget meeting. The free tier, at roughly 15 generations a month, is a trial in practice; plan on the paid tier if it fits.
What we like- Built around teaching frameworks rather than raw generation, strong lesson design, assessment and differentiation tools, Pro costs 49.99 dollars a year, among the cheapest paid options here, free tier allows around 15 generations a month for testing
Watch out for- Smaller user base and fewer integrations than MagicSchool, free tier limits run out quickly in a planning heavy week, less suited to live lesson delivery, interface rewards teachers who think in frameworks
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
Education Copilot is the quick draft option. Enter a topic and a standard and it returns a structured lesson plan, handouts and prompts in moments. For a teacher covering an unfamiliar topic or building a plan from a blank page at 9pm, that speed is the whole appeal.
The trade is polish. Its drafts are serviceable starting points that need a teacher's judgement on sequence, difficulty and fit, more so than the output of MagicSchool or Eduaide. Think of it as beating the blank page, not finishing the job.
We could not confirm a current price from a published page; third party sources report around 9 dollars a month, so the price is marked See website. Check the live figure and the privacy terms before putting any student related material through it.
What we like- Generates lesson plans, handouts and writing prompts quickly from a topic and standard, simple interface with almost no learning curve, free tier available to test the workflow, aimed at individual teachers rather than district IT
Watch out for- Price could not be confirmed from a published pricing page, with third parties reporting around 9 dollars a month, output is a draft that needs more shaping than Eduaide or MagicSchool, smaller feature range than the broad toolkits, fewer published details on privacy and district agreements
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Gemini in Classroom reset the baseline for this whole category: Google made its education AI features free in every Workspace for Education edition, so for a Google district the first question is why pay for anything else. It drafts lesson content, builds rubrics and summarises material inside Classroom and Docs.
The honest answer is depth. Dedicated tools organise dozens of teacher specific generators, remember your classes, and structure output around planning formats. Gemini is a strong general assistant sitting in the right place, which for many teachers is enough.
If your school is a Microsoft or mixed environment, Gemini is not available to you in this form, and the paid tools above are your list. If you are Google based, start here and add Diffit or MagicSchool only where you feel a real gap.
What we like- Included free in Google Workspace for Education editions, drafts lessons, rubrics and materials inside the tools teachers already open, Gemini in Classroom respects the school account's admin and data settings, no separate procurement or login for Google based districts
Watch out for- Only helps schools committed to Google Workspace, depth trails dedicated tools like MagicSchool on teacher specific workflows, features and availability shift as Google updates editions, planning output quality varies by subject
How we chose
We shortlisted AI tools that a US teacher can sign up for in October 2026 and that generate or materially help with lesson plans, not general chatbots. We favoured tools with published pricing and recorded prices from vendor pages and current comparison reporting; Curipod and Education Copilot are marked See website where a price could not be confirmed from a published page. Privacy posture mattered, because district approval decides whether a tool can be used at all. We did not test any tool hands on; this guide rests on vendor material and published comparisons.
Check your district list first. The best tool in this guide is useless if your district has not approved it for student adjacent work. Most districts publish an approved software list, and getting a tool added takes a privacy review, so start there rather than with features.
Second, be honest about where your time goes. If planning pain is drafting from blank pages, buy breadth: MagicSchool, Eduaide or Education Copilot. If it is differentiation, buy Diffit. If it is marking and materials inside Google Docs, buy Brisk. A specialist that removes your worst hour beats a toolkit you half use.
Third, test the free tier with a real week of planning. Every tool here except a proper trial limit lets you start free. Generate one real unit, teach from it, and note what you had to fix. That fix list is the truest review you will get.
Finally, keep the review habit permanent. AI plans contain wrong facts, mismatched levels and occasionally invented standards references. A two minute skim by the teacher who knows the class is the step that makes the time saving safe.
Frequently asked questions
Are AI lesson plans good enough to teach from directly?
Not without review. They are strong first drafts, but they can contain factual errors, wrong reading levels and activities that do not fit your class or timetable. A teacher should read and adjust every plan before teaching from it.
Which AI lesson planning tool is free?
Khanmigo is free for US teachers, and Gemini in Classroom is free with Google Workspace for Education. MagicSchool, Brisk Teaching, Diffit, Curipod, Eduaide.AI and Education Copilot all have free tiers with usage limits.
Can I put student work into these tools?
Only into tools your district has approved, under its data privacy agreement. Never paste identifiable student work, names or records into a personal account on an unapproved tool. When in doubt, anonymise the work or ask your district first.
What is the difference between MagicSchool and Diffit?
MagicSchool is a broad toolkit covering plans, rubrics, quizzes and feedback. Diffit is a specialist that turns one reading into several reading levels with matched questions. Many teachers use a broad toolkit for planning and Diffit for differentiation.
Do these tools follow my state standards?
Most let you select a standard or paste one in, and several generate to common frameworks. Coverage and accuracy vary, and tools can cite a standard loosely, so check the alignment yourself before the plan goes in front of students or an observer.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.