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Reach for HeyHi when the work needs marking. Reach for Pencil Spaces when the class is live.
Both started as teaching whiteboards and grew in opposite directions. HeyHi became an AI assessment and adaptive-learning system, with live video and whiteboard now a paid add-on. Pencil Spaces became the live classroom itself: persistent rooms, built-in teaching tools, student focus alerts, lesson recordings, white-label branding, and live support, on infrastructure it owns end to end.
10M+ sessions taught
200M+ minutes of learning
One-click join, no installs
Last updated June 2026
for the live lesson
A virtual classroom built for synchronous teaching, with persistent rooms, teaching tools, and student work in one place.
For assessment & practice
An AI assessment and adaptive-learning platform: auto-marking, a large question bank, and self-directed practice.
The short answer
Pencil Spaces is a virtual classroom built for live teaching and tutoring. HeyHi is an AI-powered assessment and adaptive-learning platform, with live video offered as a paid add-on. For real-time lessons, Pencil Spaces gives teachers persistent rooms, saved whiteboards, built-in teaching tools, student focus alerts, recordings, and live support. Reach for HeyHi when the work needs marking. Reach for Pencil Spaces when the class is live.
Built for the live lesson. The synchronous room is the product, not a $4.90 add-on.
Work that persists. Whiteboards and student work stay in the room between lessons.
50+ teaching tools. Built into the room, including Quizlet and IXL.
Owns its infrastructure. Real-time video runs end to end on Pencil's own stack.
Built for US K-12. Support for COPPA, FERPA, HIPAA, SOC 2, and GDPR.
HeyHi's strength is assessment. AI marking, a 200,000+ question bank, and adaptive practice.
Buyer education
HeyHi is a genuinely strong assessment platform. Its AI marking, 200,000+ question bank, and adaptive practice are deep, award-winning, and a real fit for many learning centres.
But a live lesson is not an assessment.
A class that happens in real time needs a persistent room, shared work, teaching tools, focus signals, recordings, branding, and support when something breaks mid-session. That is what Pencil Spaces is built around.
HeyHi optimizes the work around the lesson. Pencil Spaces is the lesson.
Scale & velocity
Pencil Spaces is a live classroom Pencil builds and runs end to end, hardened across more than 10 million sessions and shipped to continuously.
sessions taught on Pencil Spaces
minutes of live learning
uptime, so class is not interrupted
live support inside the Space
Owning the real-time stack is what sets the pace. When the classroom and the infrastructure beneath it are one product, an improvement to the lesson ships directly — there is no third-party video layer to wait on, and no roadmap set by a vendor.
When the live lesson is your product, you can’t rent the room it happens in.
It is a difference in where each company puts its effort, and that is fair. HeyHi’s own recent product news concentrates on AI assessment and adaptive learning — its PALS adaptive system, auto-marking, and a 24/7 AI Learning Buddy. Pencil Spaces’ goes into the live room. Choose the one investing in what you actually do.
Side by side
Both began at the whiteboard. The difference is where each one put its weight. HeyHi leans into assessment and adaptive content; Pencil Spaces leans into the live room. Where HeyHi leads, it is marked clearly, because it does.
Your question
For teaching
For assessment
The live classroom
Is the live video classroom included?
Yes. It's the core product.
An add-on. $4.90 per license / month.
Do rooms persist between lessons?
Yes. Boards, documents, and student work stay in the room.
Session-oriented.
How many teaching tools are built into the lesson?
50+ tools, including Quizlet and IXL, open on the board.
Core set: whiteboard, PDF import, content lock.
Is there co-browsing or a shared web viewer?
Yes.
Not stated.
Can I see engagement live during class?
Yes, focus and tab-switch signals in real time.
attendance and time-on-page logging.
Who runs the real-time video infrastructure?
Pencil's own stack, owned and operated end to end.
a third-party communications platform.
Can students join with no download?
Yes, one click, any device.
Yes, plus native mobile apps.
Assessment & content · HeyHi’s home turf
AI auto-marking for essays and open-ended work?
Sparky assists with grading.
Yes, composition and open-ended. A core strength.
Is there a ready-made question bank?
Bring your own content.
200,000+ questions, curriculum-aligned.
Can AI generate worksheets and questions?
Sparky helps with prep.
Yes.
Adaptive self-study with an AI learning buddy?
Built around the live lesson.
Yes, a 24/7 AI Learning Buddy.
Is there speech or oral evaluation?
Not offered.
Yes.
Performance analytics and gap analysis?
Session and engagement insights.
Advanced, with personalised gap analysis.
AI in the teaching workflow
Is there AI help with planning and prep?
Yes: Sparky.
Worksheet and question generation.
Is there an AI assistant inside the live lesson?
Yes: Sparky, in the room.
Assessment-oriented.
Brand, scale & operations
Can students join under my brand and domain?
Full white-label, every tier.
dedicated URL and logo at Enterprise.
Is there multi-branch or HQ management?
Yes.
Yes, at Enterprise.
Can I sell courses with built-in commerce?
Via integrations.
Yes, at Enterprise.
Is there a developer API or embedding?
Yes.
Not publicly stated.
Compliance & security
Built for US K-12 (COPPA / FERPA / SOC 2 / HIPAA)?
Yes, the full stack.
Not publicly stated.
GDPR?
Yes.
Privacy Policy.
Singapore PDPA?
Covered via global frameworks.
Yes, home jurisdiction.
Pricing model
How is it priced?
Free to start. Plans scale from individual tutors to institutions, and the live room is included.
Per student: $0 / $10 / $15 / Enterprise. The live video room is a +$4.90 / license add-on.
HeyHi product, pricing, and add-on details from public documentation at heyhi.sg (accessed June 2026), including per-student plan tiers and the live video and whiteboard add-on. Comparison reflects publicly available information and is subject to change.
See how a purpose-built teaching room compares to running live lessons on an assessment platform's add-on, and what it looks like for a team your size.
Built for the live lesson, and trusted by tutoring teams, schools, and districts.
An honest recommendation
No platform wins everything. These two have drifted to opposite centres of gravity, so the right answer depends on the job in front of you.
Assessment is your core need — AI marking for composition and open-ended work is its award-winning strength.
You want content out of the box, with a 200,000+ curriculum-aligned question bank.
You’re a Singapore or SEA tuition centre running competitions, exam prep, or selling courses with built-in commerce.
Adaptive self-study matters — PALS, a 24/7 AI Learning Buddy, and speech or oral evaluation.
You mostly need async practice, with the live room only occasionally.
The live, synchronous lesson is the product — not a $4.90 add-on.
You need 50+ in-lesson teaching tools and persistent rooms that carry the relationship between sessions.
You want full white-label branding at every tier — your room, your domain.
You need the US K-12 compliance stack: COPPA, FERPA, HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR.
You teach live at scale and want infrastructure you control, proven across 10M+ sessions.
Who it’s for
If teaching happens in real time, the room is where your business lives. Pencil Spaces is built for the people who teach in it.
For operators
Run live 1:1 and group lessons at scale with unlimited hosts, persistent rooms, and your own brand — without a per-seat bill that grows with every tutor.
For institutions
A compliant, brandable classroom with the COPPA, FERPA, HIPAA, SOC 2, and GDPR stack a procurement or security review expects to see by name.
For educators
One room per student, saved between sessions, with teaching tools built in — and the live class included, never billed as an extra.
Compliance & security
For schools and districts, this often decides procurement before a single feature is compared. Here is the public posture of each, stated without spin.
Pencil Spaces · US-focused stack
The frameworks a US district security review expects by name — children’s privacy, education records, health data, and audited security controls.
HeyHi · Singapore
Well-suited to its home market. US K-12 certifications such as COPPA, FERPA, and SOC 2 are not publicly surfaced.
Compliance postures change. Both vendors can provide current documentation on request; treat this as a snapshot for evaluation, not legal advice.
The verdict
If the lesson is live, Pencil Spaces. If the work is the assessment, HeyHi. The honest answer depends on what you teach with.
The short version
Pencil Spaces wins the live room, in-lesson tools, brand ownership, owned infrastructure, and US K-12 compliance. HeyHi wins assessment depth, its question bank, adaptive practice, and Singapore-market fit. Choose the column you live in.
Common questions
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