The simplest way to draw a name
It’s the good old hat full of slips of paper, minus the slips of paper. You type the names, one per line, and the site picks one at random. The names stay in your browser for next time: nothing is sent anywhere else.
One winner, several, or one by one
For an end-of-year raffle with three prizes, enter “3”: three different names come out at once, in the order they were drawn. For a draw that goes on for a while (who picks tonight’s movie, who answers the next question in class), tick one by one: each tap pulls a new name, and names already drawn don’t go back into the hat until everyone has had a turn.
Real randomness that everyone can trust
Every name has exactly the same chance of being picked. The site doesn’t use the everyday randomness of web pages: it uses the browser’s secure random generator, the same one used to create passwords. If you’re drawing in front of your group, put the screen on the TV or hold up your phone: the short roll of names before the result gives everyone time to follow along.
For a giveaway on social media
If your entrants commented on an Instagram or Facebook post, use the giveaway picker instead: it finds the @usernames in the comments you paste, removes duplicates and can create a result page that nobody can change.
When you need teams
To split a whole group rather than pick a few names, go to the random team generator, which makes teams of the same size. To decide the full order, from first to last, there’s the random order generator. And for tips on running a fair draw in class, with family or among friends, our guide to fair random draws explains how to avoid arguments about the result.
A few everyday uses
Teachers use it to call on a student without playing favorites, offices to pick who brings the donuts on Friday, friends to settle who drives, who pays for the pizza or who chooses the next game. Whatever the question, the answer comes from the same fair hat.