NameWheels vs. Wheel of Names vs. Picker Wheel: Which Is Best?

Introduction

If you've searched for a random name picker tool, you've probably found dozens of options. Wheel of Names, Picker Wheel, Spin The Wheel, and yes, NameWheels—they all promise to help you pick random names, make decisions, or choose winners fairly.

We're NameWheels, so we obviously think our tool is the best choice for most people. But we also believe in transparency and honest comparisons. In this article, we'll compare three popular name picker tools—including ours—across the metrics that actually matter: speed, privacy, mobile experience, offline support, ads, and features.

We won't bash our competitors or make unfair claims. Instead, we'll present the data, acknowledge where others excel, and explain why we built NameWheels the way we did. By the end, you'll know which tool is right for your specific needs.

The Tools We're Comparing

For this comparison, we've chosen three widely-used random picker tools:

• NameWheels (that's us) - A fast, privacy-focused name picker built with vanilla JavaScript
• Wheel of Names - One of the most established and feature-rich wheel spinners
• Picker Wheel - A popular alternative with customization options

All three tools serve the same basic purpose: randomly selecting names or options from a list. But they differ significantly in implementation, philosophy, and user experience. Let's dive into the specifics.

Feature Comparison Matrix

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the key features and characteristics of each tool. We've tested these features as of February 2026:

As you can see, each tool has its strengths. NameWheels excels in speed, privacy, and offline functionality. Wheel of Names offers more customization options. Picker Wheel sits somewhere in between but requires sign-ups for certain features.

Speed & Performance: Why Milliseconds Matter

When we built NameWheels, speed was our top priority. We chose vanilla JavaScript over frameworks like React or Vue specifically to eliminate overhead and deliver instant load times. The result? Our PageSpeed score consistently sits above 95 on mobile, with initial load times under 500 milliseconds on most connections.

Why does this matter? If you're a teacher using a name picker during class transitions, every second counts. If you're on unreliable school Wi-Fi, lightweight tools load faster. If you're presenting to a group, you don't want to wait for a spinner to load while your audience watches.

Wheel of Names and Picker Wheel are both functional tools, but they use heavier JavaScript libraries and more complex codebases. This results in longer initial load times—typically 1.5 to 2 seconds—and lower PageSpeed scores. For occasional use, this difference might not matter. But for daily classroom use or frequent decision-making, those extra seconds add up.

We've measured these metrics using Google's PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse audits. NameWheels consistently scores 95-100 on performance, while competitors typically score in the 60-75 range. These aren't just vanity metrics—they translate to real-world responsiveness and user experience.

Our commitment to performance also means we avoid bloat. No heavy animation libraries, no unnecessary dependencies, no framework overhead. Just pure, optimized JavaScript that does exactly what you need and nothing more.

Privacy & Data Collection: What Happens to Your Data?

Privacy was the other cornerstone of NameWheels' design philosophy. We don't use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any third-party tracking scripts. We don't collect user data. We don't store your lists on our servers. Everything stays on your device, in your browser's local storage.

When we say "zero tracking," we mean it. You can verify this yourself by opening your browser's developer tools and checking the network tab—you'll see no analytics requests, no tracking cookies, no data being sent to third-party servers.

Why does privacy matter for a simple name picker? For many users—especially educators—it's a legal and ethical requirement. FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) impose strict requirements on tools used with student data. Even if you're just using names, not personally identifiable information, many schools prefer tools that don't collect any data.

Wheel of Names uses some analytics tracking, though they're relatively transparent about it. Picker Wheel includes more extensive tracking and advertising scripts. Neither is necessarily malicious, but they do collect usage data and serve targeted ads.

If privacy isn't a concern for your use case, these differences might not matter. But if you're using a name picker in a classroom, healthcare setting, or any environment where data privacy is important, NameWheels' zero-tracking approach offers peace of mind.

Transparency is key here. We're not claiming competitors are doing anything wrong—they're running businesses and using standard monetization practices. We simply chose a different path: minimal ads, zero tracking, and full user privacy.

Mobile & Offline Experience: When Wi-Fi Fails

NameWheels is a Progressive Web App (PWA), which means you can install it to your phone's home screen and use it completely offline. Once you've visited the site once, it's cached on your device and works without an internet connection.

This is a huge advantage in environments with unreliable connectivity. School Wi-Fi can be spotty. Conference centers often have overloaded networks. If you're facilitating a workshop and the internet drops, NameWheels keeps working.

Both Wheel of Names and Picker Wheel require an active internet connection. They work fine on mobile browsers, but they can't be installed as apps and won't function offline. This makes them less reliable in connectivity-challenged environments.

Our PWA implementation also means faster subsequent loads. After your first visit, NameWheels loads almost instantly because everything is cached locally. You're not downloading the same resources repeatedly—you're running a cached version of the app.

For mobile users, we've also optimized touch interactions, button sizes, and layout responsiveness. The wheel is easy to spin with a finger swipe, buttons are thumb-friendly, and the interface adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes.

Ad Experience: Distractions vs. Sustainability

Let's be honest: free tools need to make money somehow. We chose to include a single, non-intrusive ad on NameWheels. It's positioned below the fold, doesn't interrupt the experience, and never pops up or redirects.

We believe this strikes the right balance between sustainability and user experience. The ad helps cover hosting costs without disrupting classroom use or creating distractions.

Wheel of Names includes moderate advertising—more visible than ours, but still generally reasonable. Picker Wheel has heavier ad integration, including interstitials and multiple ad placements that can be distracting during use.

If you're using a name picker during a presentation or classroom activity, ad intrusiveness matters. Students (or colleagues) can be distracted by flashing banners or auto-playing video ads. Our single, static ad minimizes this risk.

We're exploring alternative monetization options—like optional pro features or donations—but for now, our single ad approach seems to work well for most users.

What NameWheels Doesn't Have (Yet)

In the spirit of honesty, let's talk about where NameWheels falls short compared to competitors:

Custom themes and colors: Right now, NameWheels uses a single, clean theme. Wheel of Names and Picker Wheel both offer extensive color customization, custom backgrounds, and theme options. We're working on this feature and plan to add theme customization soon, but if you need it today, competitors have us beat.

Sound customization: You can mute NameWheels, but you can't choose different sound effects like you can with Wheel of Names. This is on our roadmap, but it's not available yet.

Advanced team splitting: Some users want to split names into multiple teams or groups with specific constraints. We support basic team splitting, but Wheel of Names has more sophisticated team generation features.

Saved presets and templates: While you can save lists in NameWheels, we don't yet offer pre-built templates for common use cases (classroom activities, team sports, etc.). This is something we're considering for future updates.

We built NameWheels to excel at speed and privacy, and we've accomplished that goal. But we recognize there are features competitors offer that we don't—yet. We're a small team, and we're prioritizing carefully. If these missing features are dealbreakers for you, we completely understand choosing an alternative.

Which Should You Choose?

The best tool depends on your specific needs and priorities:

Choose NameWheels if:

• Speed and performance are critical (classroom use, frequent use, slow connections)
• Privacy is a priority (educators, healthcare, data-sensitive environments)
• You need offline functionality (unreliable Wi-Fi, travel, presentations)
• You want minimal ads and distractions
• You value simplicity and a clean, focused interface

Choose Wheel of Names if:

• You need extensive customization options right now
• Custom colors, themes, and sounds are important to you
• You want advanced team-splitting features
• You don't mind moderate advertising or tracking
• You prefer a more established tool with a longer track record

Choose Picker Wheel if:

• You don't mind creating an account for premium features
• You want customization options and templates
• Ad intrusiveness isn't a concern for your use case
• You're not using it in privacy-sensitive environments

Our honest recommendation: try all three and see which fits your workflow best. They're all free (with ads or optional upgrades), so there's no risk in testing them yourself.

Conclusion

We built NameWheels to be the fastest, most private name picker on the web. We chose vanilla JavaScript over frameworks for speed. We chose zero tracking over analytics for privacy. We chose PWA functionality over server-dependence for reliability.

Are we perfect? No. We're missing some customization features that competitors offer. But for users who value speed, privacy, and offline functionality—especially educators, facilitators, and privacy-conscious users—we believe NameWheels is the best choice.

We're continuously improving, and we're committed to maintaining our core values: fast, private, and user-focused. If that resonates with you, we'd love for you to try NameWheels.