SpinKitLooking for a Wheel of Names alternative? How SpinKit compares
An honest look at what the classic name wheel does well — and where a full randomiser studio goes further.
Wheel of Names deserves its popularity: it made "put the names on a wheel and spin it" effortless, and for a quick one-off draw it's genuinely good. But if you spin wheels regularly — in a classroom, on a stream, at work, or for giveaways — you eventually run into the things a single-purpose wheel can't do. That's the gap SpinKit was built for.
This page is a plain comparison so you can decide what fits. No tricks: if all you ever need is one quick wheel, either tool will serve you well. The differences show up the moment your draws get more ambitious.
What both do well
- Free spin wheel — paste names, spin, get a winner, no sign-up needed.
- Fullscreen spinning for classrooms, projectors and streams.
- Customisable look — colours and appearance you can make your own.
- Winner handling — remove a name after it wins so nobody is drawn twice.
Where SpinKit goes further
| Capability | SpinKit |
|---|---|
| Spin wheel | Free, unlimited entries, weighted slices, flick-to-spin physics, raffle mode with multiple winners |
| Slot reels | Multi-reel spinner for random combinations — one pick from each list at once |
| Spreadsheet draws | Spin Sheet pulls random rows from CSV or Excel (XLSX), including files exported from Google Sheets |
| Team generator | Split any list into balanced, editable random teams |
| Live rooms | Host a wheel others watch spin in real time, with chat and shared control |
| Offline & desktop | Installable web app that works offline, plus a free ad-free Windows app |
| Sharing | Short share links, embeddable wheels for your own site, and shareable result cards |
| Templates | Built-in and community templates you can open and remix in one tap |
| Cloud sync | Optional free account backs up wheels, slots and sheets across devices |
Moving your lists over takes seconds
There's no lock-in either way. Copy your list of names from any wheel site, open the SpinKit wheel, and paste — one entry per line. Weighted entries, colours and spin settings are all adjustable afterwards, and you can import from TXT or CSV files too. If your names live in a spreadsheet, skip the wheel entirely and draw random rows with a Spin Sheet.
Is the randomness actually fair?
Yes — and this matters more than any feature list. Every SpinKit spin uses your device's cryptographic random number generator, each enabled entry gets odds proportional to its slice, and the spin happens visibly in front of your group. Exactly how that works is written up in Are online random wheels actually fair?
What it costs
Nothing. Every SpinKit tool is free with no account, and the Windows desktop app is completely ad-free. A free account is only needed if you want cloud sync, publishing templates or live rooms with your name on them.
Local-first, so the classroom wheel is not an account
The comparison that actually matters in a school or a village hall is not feature count. It is whether you can run the draw on the machine in the room without creating a login for a class, a PTA, or a stream moderator. SpinKit’s core pickers run in the browser, save on the device, and work after the first load without an account. Cloud is optional. That is a different product shape from a wheel that is fine until you want the list to follow you — and then the list lives in someone else’s account.
If all you need is one public wheel for a one-off party, a dedicated name wheel is still a fair choice. If you already keep rosters in Sheets, run giveaways from CSVs, split teams, or host a live room, you are no longer shopping for “a wheel”; you are shopping for a randomiser that will not make you paste the same list four times. That is the gap this page is honest about. It is not a claim that every other wheel is unfair.
Common questions
Is SpinKit a free alternative to Wheel of Names? Yes — the wheel is completely free with no sign-up, and the extra tools (slots, Spin Sheets, teams, live rooms, templates) are free too.
Can I import my existing lists? Yes. Paste entries one per line, or import TXT/CSV files. Spreadsheet users can draw random rows from CSV or Excel (XLSX), including files exported from Google Sheets.
Does it work offline? Yes. SpinKit installs as a web app that runs offline once loaded, and the free Windows desktop app works fully offline.