Seesaw review

Seesaw is a learning platform built for young children, centred on a digital journal for each student. Pupils take a photo of their work, draw on it, record themselves explaining it and post it to their journal. Teachers can set activities, give feedback and track progress, and families see their own child’s posts on their phone. It is aimed at primary schools, roughly from reception or kindergarten up to about age 11.

Who it’s for

Seesaw suits primary classrooms, especially the early years, where many children cannot yet type or read instructions. A five-year-old can tap their name on the class list, take a photo of a block tower and record a sentence about it without adult help. It also suits schools that want families to see learning in progress rather than only at parents’ evening.

It is a poor fit for secondary schools. The tools and the look are designed for young children, and older students doing extended writing or exam practice are better served by Google Classroom or a full LMS.

What it does well

Children can use it on their own. Students sign in with a class QR code or a class code on shared iPads or Chromebooks, then use the drawing, photo, video and voice tools to show what they did. A teacher running a phonics carousel can have one group record themselves reading a word list while working with another group, then listen to every recording later.

Voice and video matter here. A child who cannot yet write a full sentence can still explain how they solved a sum, and the teacher hears their reasoning. Teachers can add voice instructions to activities too, so pre-readers know what to do without asking.

The journal builds a portfolio over the year. By summer, each child has a record of work with dates, comments and recordings. That makes reports, transition meetings and conversations with families easier, because you can show actual work.

Family access is the other big strength. Families connect through an invitation from the teacher and see only their own child’s posts. Teachers can require approval before anything appears, so a blurry photo or an accidental recording never reaches home. Seesaw also lets teachers send announcements and messages to families, with translation for families who read another language. For schools that use Seesaw this way, it can replace a separate messaging app such as ClassDojo. Agree how and when staff reply before you switch it on, using something like our parent communication policy guide.

The Seesaw library has ready-made activities that teachers can assign as they are or edit, which saves planning time for common topics.

Where it falls short

The free plan has become tighter. From June 30, 2026, Seesaw Starter allows one active class per teacher account, one teacher per class, up to 35 students per class, 35 saved activities and five multimedia items per post. Seesaw says existing classes and work are not deleted. A teacher who takes two classes, or works with a teaching assistant who needs their own login, will hit these limits quickly.

There is no individual paid upgrade. Seesaw only sells licences to schools and districts, so a teacher who wants premium tools has to persuade the school to buy.

Seesaw is not a gradebook-first tool. Paid plans add progress monitoring and a gradebook, but schools that want detailed assessment data usually keep a separate system.

Families can get too many notifications when a class posts a lot, while other families never open the app. Set expectations early about how often you post.

Pricing

Seesaw Starter is free for teachers, within the limits above, and Seesaw offers a 60-day trial of premium features. Seesaw sells paid plans to schools and districts in tiers it calls Seesaw LMS, Instruction & Insights and Seesaw AI, with higher tiers adding more library content, instructional tools and AI features. Seesaw does not publish prices, so pricing is quoted per school or district.

Privacy and data

Seesaw says it does not advertise third-party products in the app and that it will never sell or rent data or build profiles of users to sell. It says students and their schools own the work added to Seesaw. When an account is deleted, Seesaw says data is permanently removed within 60 days unless the law requires it to be kept. Seesaw states that it complies with FERPA, COPPA, GDPR and the Australian Privacy Act, among others. Its privacy page shows a Student Privacy Pledge signatory badge and says it is SOC 2 Type II compliant. The privacy page does not say where data is hosted, so ask Seesaw directly if data location matters to you.

Verdict

Seesaw is the strongest tool in our rankings for getting young children to record and share their own learning, and for showing families that learning as it happens. Primary schools willing to buy a school licence get the most from it, because the free plan now covers only one class. Secondary schools, and teachers who want a free tool for several classes, should look at Google Classroom instead.

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