What's New in Clever Groups
Latest features, improvements and policy updates — most recent first.
30 July 2026
Group sizes now open to the full team
This is one of the most-requested changes since Clever Groups launched. Previously, the maximum group size was capped at half the team population — so a class of 30 students could not have groups larger than 15. That limit has now been completely removed.
You can now generate groups of any size, right up to the entire team if you need to. This makes Clever Groups far more flexible for team structures that don’t fit neatly into the old constraint — whether that’s a single large working group, a handful of very large groups, or anything in between.
Progress bar for large group generation
For teams of 200 or more students, generating optimal groups can take a minute or two — Clever Groups is doing a lot of work behind the scenes. Previously there was no feedback during that time, which could feel like the page had frozen.
We’ve added a progress bar that shows you exactly where the algorithm is up to, across three phases: initial analysis, secondary analysis, and final optimisation. You can watch it work in real time. Teams of up to 1,000 students are supported.
Groups now always reflect the correct students
Some teachers reported seeing duplicate students or unexpected names in generated groups — particularly with larger teams. This was caused by a timing issue: if a student joined the team in the moment between clicking Generate and Clever Groups completing the group generation, the page could pick up that change mid-run and produce inconsistent results.
This has been fixed. Clever Groups now locks the student team at the moment you click Generate and Clever Groups generates groups against that snapshot. Any student who joins while generation is in progress will appear in your team list afterwards, ready for your next generation — but they won’t interfere with the current run.
The Team Status setting (Open / Closed for Guests / Closed) remains the right tool when you want to actively control who can join your team — for example, locking the team before a session starts so no late additions appear at all. The fix above means generation is now reliable regardless of status, but closing your team is still good practice when you want a definitive, stable team.
28 July 2026
Educator Monthly plan
A monthly subscription option is now available. Educator Monthly gives you unlimited group generations, billed month to month with no lock-in. If you decide Clever Groups is saving you time in the classroom, you can switch to an annual plan at any time from your account page and pay less overall. Visit the pricing page to compare plans and subscribe.
10 July 2026
See at a glance who has submitted preferences
The Edit Preferences button for each student now turns green as soon as they submit at least one preference. Blue means no preferences yet. You can see the whole class at a glance without opening any individual student’s record — useful for chasing up students before the preference deadline.
See how well the grouping worked for each student
Group results now show a small symbol next to each student name so you can see at a glance whether their preferences were matched:
- Green tick — at least one preference was matched.
- Red cross — no preferences were matched.
- ! Exclamation mark — no preferences submitted by the team member.
The satisfaction percentage shown above the groups now counts only students who submitted preferences — so students who missed the deadline do not drag the score down unfairly. The glyphs update in real time as you drag students between groups.
Display / Print Groups & Export
The Display / Print Groups button opens a clean, full-screen view of your groups designed for projecting in class. There are no editing controls — just the names and satisfaction results, clearly laid out so every student can read them from the back of the room.
Inside, two print options let you choose what to share:
- Print Groups — includes the satisfaction percentage, preference glyphs, and the Clever Groups watermark.
- Print Groups (Names only) — names and watermark only. Use this when posting results publicly and you don’t want students to see each other’s preference data.
You can also Export Groups to CSV from within this view.
Random group generator
Not every activity needs preferences. The random group generator gives every student an equal, unbiased chance of ending up in any group — ideal for icebreakers, sport rotations, seating changes and low-stakes activities where you want variety without the preference-collection step. Supports up to 200 students. Completely free — no sign-up required.
Try 13 example generators before you sign up
New example generator pages are available at clevergroups.com/try. Each page arrives pre-loaded with sample students so you can generate groups immediately and see real results — no sign-up required.
Preference-based scenarios:
- Fair groups — balanced groups by ability level
- Camp cabins — mixed-gender cabin allocations with staff
- Bus groups — seating with supervised student support
- Classroom groups — mixed ability with learning support
- Jigsaw groups — expert and home group roles
- Project teams — multi-role team composition
- Lab groups — paired lab partners
- Reading rotations — guided reading level groups
- Student pairs — preference-based buddy pairs
- Keep apart — separating students who shouldn’t be grouped
- Preference groups — pure preference-based grouping with no categories
- Peer marking — assigning students to mark each other’s work
29 June 2026
Subscription plans
Clever Groups has moved to a subscription model. If you registered before this date, thank you for being an early user — your account has the option of moving to a Foundation Free plan, which includes 3 free group generations per month.
Foundation Free gives you enough generations to try Clever Groups with your own class lists. If Clever Groups is saving you time in the classroom, a Foundation Annual subscription is available to current registered users at a special founding-member rate. This is the lowest rate the plan will ever be offered at, and it locks in that price for as long as you keep your subscription active.
All your data is retained regardless of which option you choose. New teachers registering now start on a free trial. Visit your account page to see your current plan and available options, or view the pricing page for a full plan comparison.
Updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy have been updated to cover subscription billing and payment processing. Key changes include:
- Subscription plan terms, renewal, cancellation and refund conditions.
- Payment processing via LemonSqueezy as our Merchant of Record.
- Updated service provider table reflecting billing, transactional email and analytics providers now in use.
By continuing to use Clever Groups, you agree to the updated terms. If you have questions, contact us via our contact page.