Shuffle Buddy, Class Charts, Mega Seating Plan, Canva and Chalkbox compared on rules, rosters and what each one stores.
The right classroom seating chart maker depends on one question: do you need the tool to enforce seating rules. When we review tools here, the pattern that keeps repeating is that teachers choose on features and then abandon the tool over the account it wanted. Two more questions settle the rest. Do you need the chart connected to school data, and are you willing to upload your class list at all.
Five options cover the field for a classroom: Shuffle Buddy, Class Charts, Mega Seating Plan, Canva, and the Chalkbox seating chart generator. The table sets them against the three questions above.
| Criterion | Shuffle Buddy | Class Charts | Mega Seating Plan | Canva | Chalkbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes, includes rules | School purchase | Yes, limited | Yes, templates only | Yes, everything |
| Account needed | Yes for sync | Yes, school-provisioned | Yes | Yes | No |
| Seating rules and constraints | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Roster or platform import | Paste or upload | School information system | Spreadsheet or Google Classroom | Manual only | Paste |
| Behaviour and assessment data on the chart | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Stores your class list | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Best for | Rule-based reshuffling | Whole-school behaviour | Data-rich plans | Wall display charts | A fast printed chart |
Shuffle Buddy generates random seating charts that obey rules you set, and it puts that behind no paywall. You tell it which learners must stay apart, which need a particular area, and any accommodation that has to hold. Every reshuffle then respects those constraints, instead of handing you a chart you fix by hand. Rule-based generation, roster import and downloading the chart are all in the free tier. At the time of writing, the Shuffle Buddy pricing page lists Pro at $3.99 a month or $29.99 a year. Pro adds multi-device sync, manual moves after a shuffle, and colour-coded desks.
Who it is not for: a teacher who wants nothing stored anywhere. Syncing across devices means an account and a saved roster, and there is no way to get the rules feature without one. It is also more than you need if you build one chart a term and never reshuffle it.
Class Charts is a whole-school system that happens to include a seating planner, and it is bought by schools rather than by teachers. Its value comes from the link between the seating plan and everything else the school records. A plan can show prior attainment, special educational needs flags and live behaviour points on the same grid. It pulls that learner data from school information systems such as PowerSchool rather than from a pasted list. For a head of department deciding where to seat a class they have never taught, that context is the whole product.
Who it is not for: an individual teacher. Pricing is quoted per school rather than published, the account is provisioned by your school, and none of the integration works without the school system behind it. If your school already runs Class Charts, use the seating planner you have already paid for. If it does not, this is not a tool you can adopt on your own.
Mega Seating Plan, now published under the name Seating Plan, builds data-rich charts from an imported roster and lets you drag learners between seats afterwards. It imports a spreadsheet or a Google Classroom roster, which puts it between the paste-a-list tools and the full school systems. That suits a teacher who wants attainment or target data on the plan without a school-wide rollout.
The cost is the awkward part. Its pricing page advertises plans for teachers and plans for schools. At the time of writing it points you to a call or a chat rather than listing tier prices. That means you cannot compare it against the free options without contacting them first. Who it is not for: anyone who needs the annual cost before investing an evening in setup.
Canva is a design tool with seating chart templates, and it does no seating logic at all. Every name is placed by hand, there is no randomization, no rules and no roster import, so a reshuffle means dragging thirty text boxes. Canva produces the best-looking chart of the five, which matters for a wall display or an open evening.
Who it is not for: the working chart you reprint every unit. Use Canva for the version parents see and something faster for the one you actually teach from.
The Chalkbox seating chart generator takes a pasted class list and returns a printable numbered grid, with no account and nothing sent to a server. Paste the list, pick random, alphabetical or as-typed order, set the column count, and print. There is also a band seating chart generator for ensembles, which seats players in curved section arcs rather than a grid.
Who it is not for: anyone who needs rules or history. Chalkbox cannot keep two learners apart automatically. It does not remember last term's chart, and closing the tab loses the list. If you reshuffle weekly and want the same constraints applied every time, Shuffle Buddy does that job and Chalkbox does not.
Free covers four different things across these tools, and the differences decide more than the feature lists do. Shuffle Buddy's free tier includes the rules engine and holds back sync and manual editing. Mega Seating Plan's free tier exists but its limits are not published alongside a price you can compare. Canva is free for the templates and charges for some assets. Chalkbox is free because a browser-only tool has no server cost to recover, which is also why it stores nothing.
Every paid feature here is a storage feature. Nobody charges for placing names in a grid. They charge for remembering the placement, syncing it across devices, and attaching school data to it. Weigh those three against an account you may not want.
Every tool that saves your chart between sessions holds a list of learner names on a server. In most districts that is a data protection question rather than a preference. Shuffle Buddy, Class Charts and Mega Seating Plan all store learner data by design, which is what makes their history, sync and reporting possible. Chalkbox holds the list in your browser only.
Two practical consequences follow. First, if your school keeps a list of approved processors, check the tool against that list before you upload a roster rather than after. Second, first names or initials are usually enough for a seating chart, and using them cuts the sensitivity of what you upload without costing you anything. A chart that says Maria R. works exactly as well in the room as one carrying a full legal name.
Chalkbox builds a printable numbered chart from a pasted class list and stores nothing on a server. It has no rules engine, so pick it when speed and privacy matter more than constraints.
Pick by the three questions in order. If you need constraints respected on every reshuffle, choose Shuffle Buddy and expect an account. If your school runs a system that holds behaviour and attainment data, use its planner, which for many schools means Class Charts. If you want data on the plan and can accept an unpublished price, look at Mega Seating Plan. If the chart is decoration, use Canva. And if you want a printed grid with nothing stored anywhere, Chalkbox is the shortest path.
Two changes would reorder this list. If Mega Seating Plan published its tier prices, it would become directly comparable with Shuffle Buddy for teachers. Its roster import is the stronger of the two. And if Chalkbox added rule-based generation while keeping the list in the browser, that would remove the main reason to accept an account at all.
Until then, start from what you need rather than what looks fullest. Try the free classroom seating chart maker alternatives that match your answer to the rules question. If you only need a printed grid today, paste your class list into the free seating chart generator and print it before your next period.
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It depends on whether you need rules. Shuffle Buddy is the strongest free option if you want to say “keep these two apart” and have every reshuffle respect it, since rule-based generation is in its free tier. If you only need a printed grid from a class list with no account at all, Chalkbox stores nothing and is faster. Neither is better in general, and the rules question separates them cleanly.
Most do, because saving charts between sessions requires an account and a stored roster. Shuffle Buddy, Mega Seating Plan and Class Charts all keep learner data server-side, which is the trade for syncing and history. Chalkbox runs in the browser only, so the list stays on your machine and is gone when you close the tab. Check your school’s data policy before uploading a full roster anywhere.
Usually not. Class Charts is bought at school level, and its value comes from linking seating plans to behaviour records and to the school information system. A single teacher cannot set that up alone. If your school already runs it, use it. If you are one teacher looking for a seating chart, it is more system than the job needs.
You can, and it suits a display chart rather than a working one. Canva has no roster logic, no randomization and no rules, so every name is placed by hand and every reshuffle is manual. It is a good choice for a decorated chart on the wall and a slow choice for the chart you reprint every unit.
Mega Seating Plan imports a Google Classroom roster or a spreadsheet, and Class Charts pulls from school information systems such as PowerSchool. Shuffle Buddy imports a pasted or uploaded roster rather than syncing with a class platform. If a live sync matters to you, that requirement narrows the field to two options immediately.