Last updated on 16 September 2026
You are announcing group work. You have not finished writing the names on the table as the protests were already: Why am I still with him?
For the next session, you decide to let it happen. Except that team generators found online are often covered with banners, or require an email address before accepting any list of first names.
In short, it is for this kind of moment that AppErgo deserves a place in your favorites. This site contains just over 200 free online tools without registration: random draw, timer, coded messages, converters, small games. It is aimed at a wide audience, but a good part of the catalog can be of service to teachers who need to troubleshoot a session in just a few clicks.
Table of Contents
What exactly is AppErgo?
AppErgo is a personal and independent project, published in France. At the time of writing, the site offers no less than 201 tools classified into 11 categories: codes, conversion, chance, audio, date, text, time, games, and three more technical sections (web development, security, sport).
Each tool fits on one page. You arrive, you enter, you get the result. Nothing to install, no account to create, and everything runs in the browser, on computer as on tablet or phone. Stunning.
To locate: you are far from an educational platform where you create activities to share with your class. AppErgo looks more like a digital DIY drawer. The tool of the moment is picked up and then closed.
AppErgo tools that can be used in the classroom
Out of 200 tools, not all of them concern you. An Apache log analyzer or kinematic viscosity converter will not help many people in CM1. So I did a little sorting.
Create coded messages for an escape game
This is the most provided category (62 tools) and, in my opinion, the most interesting for a teacher. It includes Caesar’s cipher, Morse, Polybius square, Vigenère, binary code, substitution alphabet, and a host of letter extractors.
The tool I would use first is the Coded Message Generator. I typed a hint sentence in it as if it were slipping into an escape game house, I chose the Morse ‘disguised’, and the coded message appeared with, just below, a solution drafted for the organiser. All this is printed neatly on an A4 sheet. For someone preparing their riddle on Sunday evening, that is exactly what it takes. A small table even indicates which method is suitable for which audience: Caesar for a first riddle, Vigenère when you want to corser things.
In terms of disciplines, it opens a lot of doors. The shifts and frequency of letters in mathematics, binary and ASCII in SNT or NSI, an EMI session on the history of cryptography, or simply an end-of-year track game at the CDI. The frequency decoder It also allows students to manipulate the analysis method itself.
Draw lots, form teams, set an order of passage
The Hasard category has 30 tools, of which a good half are virtual dice (from d2 to d100, which will please fans of role-playing games). For the class, three tools are sufficient:
- the drawing of lots : you paste the list of the class, one first name per line, and you draw one or more names without duplication;
- the random teams : from 2 to 12 groups, balanced in size, to start group work without endless negotiations;
- l’random order of passage, convenient for presentations or orals. No one can accuse you of ‘choosing’.
A detail that counts: the drawing of lots accepts the import of a text file. Keep the list of each class in a .txt file on your post and you will no longer have to retype the first names. However, I did not find a way to save those lists on the site itself.
Timer, hourglass and visual alarm
Projected in the table, these tools help to frame a research time or an activity in autonomy. The countdown displays a progress and visual alert. The hourglass is set minute by minute and rings until it is stopped.
It also displays cooking cues (three minutes away, it is ‘hulled egg’). Not sure that this is the most telling reference in front of a fourth grade class, but it made me smile, and a kindergarten kid might remember ‘the calf egg’ better than ‘five minutes’.
If you're looking for more complete timers, take a look at this selection of timers to manage time in class.
Converters and some nuggets
The 33 converters cover lengths, masses, volumes or temperatures, and also more advanced units that will be used in physics-chemistry in high school. A history teacher will stop at the converter of old lengths: King's feet, perches, cubits. What make concrete a text of the seventeenth century.
A few other tools are worth a look:
- the Braille translator, for a visual disability awareness session (in the same vein, Braille Font also generates text in Braille);
- the blank grid and annual calendar, printable in A4;
- the hidden words, on hanged and one True/false quiz for a fun time (I did not check whether you can enter your own questions);
- the text counter, to check the length of a written submission;
- the Contrast Calculator, which checks that your text and background colors remain legible, a real plus for visually impaired students.
For whom, and at what time of the session?
In primary, the hourglass, the dice and the hanged are taken in hand without explanation. In college, random teams and coded messages quickly find their place, in mathematics as in French (an acrostic to decode, for example). In high school, binary, hexadecimal and frequency analysis tools stick to the NTS and NSI curriculum.
Documentalist professors probably have the most to gain. An escape game at the CDI is largely prepared with the Codes category alone.
A word about allophone students. Since September 2026, the tool interface has been available in 10 languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese. The site acknowledges that these translations were done with the help of AI and then reread, so some awkwardness may linger. For a student who has just arrived, finding the buttons in his or her language remains a help.
Free and without account: and student data?
Everything is free, without subscription or registration. The few retained preferences, like your favorites, are saved in your browser.
The most reassuring point for me is the FAQ and the privacy policy. The tools make their calculations directly in the browser: the first name list pasted into the draw does not need to go to the AppErgo server. The website also states that it does not include a third-party advertising profiling tool. It promises an absence of ‘intrusive advertising’, which is not entirely an absence of advertising (I have not seen any on the pages consulted, however).
To manipulate students, it is a serious asset. However, avoid entering sensitive information, as is the case everywhere.
What I like / What I like less
What I like
- No account, no installation, immediate access.
- Local data processing, clearly explained.
- The richness of the Codes part, with solutions ready to print.
- Light, appreciable pages on a capricious establishment connection.
What I like less
- A catch-all catalogue, which inflates its counter with about fifteen almost identical dice. You have to sort yourself.
- Nothing is thought specifically for the class: no lists of registered pupils, no activity to share with a code. And that, frankly, is a lack.
AppErgo, a favorite to keep under the elbow
No one will build an entire sequence with AppErgo. His interest is nestled in these small tasks which eat away at the session, and which he settles without any additional account or list of pupils entrusted to an unknown department. Such discreet tools are becoming rare.
To be tested if you are preparing an escape game or if you draw lots for your students several times a week: AppErgo.
FAQs about AppErgo
Do I need to create an account for students to use AppErgo?
No, no. All tools are used directly in the browser, without registration. Just share the link of the desired tool, via the ENT or a QR code for example.
Does AppErgo work on a tablet?
Yes, the site is designed for computers, tablets and recent phones. The editor specifies that the display or certain functions may vary depending on the device and browser. Test the tool on the classroom material before the session.
Are the first names entered in the draw sent to a server?
According to the privacy policy of the site, the tools perform their processing in the browser, without transmitting the content entered to the server. Only contact and bug reporting forms send data.
Can we prepare a pedagogical escape game with AppErgo?
Yes, it is even one of its best uses. The coded message generator provides the encrypted message and its solution, ready to print, with a dozen methods to choose from (César, Morse, Polybius, Vigenère …).
Is AppErgo really free?
Yes, yes. The online tools are free, with no subscription or premium version to date. The site also announces Windows software, which it plans to offer free of charge, with any conditions to be specified on their page.
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