Wheel of Names — the site at wheelofnames.com — is the tool most people reach for when they need to draw a random name in front of an audience. It works well, but it is not the only option. Depending on what you need — no account, no ads, offline use, class rosters, a giveaway you can defend later — another spinner may fit better.
Here are seven free alternatives, what each one does best, and where it falls short.
What actually differs between spinner wheels
Every tool on this list spins a wheel and picks a name at random. The parts that vary:
- Sign-up. Most let you spin without an account. A few ask you to log in before you can save a wheel for reuse.
- Ads. Free tools are usually ad-supported. What matters is whether an ad can appear between your click and the result.
- Where your list goes. Some wheels run entirely in your browser. Others save your entries to a server, which matters when the names are students, employees, or customers.
- Reuse. If you run the same draw every week, you want the list saved or encoded somewhere you can reopen.
1. ToolNotch Wheel of Names
This is our own tool, so read it as disclosure rather than a neutral review. It runs fully in the browser, needs no account, and shows no ads during a spin. The name list is encoded into the page URL, so "saving" a wheel is just bookmarking or copying a link — nothing is stored on our servers. You can remove the winner after each spin to cycle through everyone once before anyone repeats.
It is best for quick, repeatable draws where you would rather not sign in or upload a roster. It is weaker if you want a dashboard of named wheels behind a login, because there is no account layer at all.
Open the ToolNotch Wheel of Names
2. Wheelofnames.com
The incumbent. Large, readable wheel, sound effects, and a URL most people already know. You can spin without an account; signing in with Google lets you save named wheels to their service. The page carries ads. It is open source, which is unusual for a tool this widely used. Pick it if you want the most familiar option and do not mind ads or a sign-in for saved wheels.
3. Picker Wheel (pickerwheel.com)
A flexible spinner with modes beyond names: numbers, yes/no, team split, and image entries. No account is needed for basic spins; a free account unlocks saving. Ads on the page. Useful when you want one site that also handles number picks and team division without switching tools.
4. Wheel Decide (wheeldecide.com)
One of the older decision wheels. Type options, spin, and build a shareable wheel with a custom URL. The interface looks dated and the page is ad-supported, but it is fast and asks for nothing. Best for a one-off "let the wheel decide" moment rather than a recurring class or team routine.
5. Flippity Random Name Picker
Flippity turns a Google Sheet into simple web apps, one of which is a random name picker. You copy a template sheet, paste your names, and it generates a picker page. Setup takes a few minutes, but afterwards your roster lives in your own Google Drive and is trivial to edit. Best for teachers already working inside Google Workspace who want the list in a sheet they control.
6. Classtools.net Random Name Picker (and Fruit Machine)
Built for classrooms. The Fruit Machine and Typewriter animations are familiar to a generation of students. You can paste a list and save it with a code for the next lesson. Ads on the free version. Best for primary and secondary teachers who want a playful animation and a saved class list without a full account.
7. Google's built-in spinner
Search Google for "spinner" and it shows a small widget that flips between a number generator and a colour-segmented wheel. It has no name entry — it just picks a number up to a maximum you set — so you use it by numbering your list. There is no site to visit, no ads in the widget, and nothing saved. Best as a fallback when you cannot open anything else and only need a fair number.
A quick way to choose
- No account, no ads, nothing stored: ToolNotch Wheel of Names.
- Most familiar, ads are fine: Wheelofnames.com.
- One tool for names, numbers and teams: Picker Wheel.
- Roster stays in your own Google Drive: Flippity.
- Classroom animation with a saved list: Classtools.
- No website at all: Google's spinner, with a numbered list.
If you need the plain draw without the wheel animation, a random name picker is faster, and for splitting a group into sides there is a dedicated random team generator. For a giveaway winner you may have to justify later, keep the entry list and the result together by loading names into the wheel of names tool and screenshotting the URL after the spin.
Whichever you choose, the maths is identical: a fair spinner gives every name on the wheel an equal chance on every spin. The differences that matter sit around the draw — sign-up, ads, privacy, and whether you can reopen the same wheel next week. For another look at how small everyday tools compare, see our guide to what counts as a good typing speed.