GroupMixer

Student Group Generator

Enter one person per line in the first column. Optionally, add attribute columns such as gender, role, or skill-level on the right. Those attributes can then be used to balance groups and set additional rules.
Name
Use 1 session for a single round of groups. Increase sessions when you want multiple rounds with new group assignments for the same people.
People
8
Groups
4
Approx size
2
Force specific people into the same group in every session. Write one "clique" per line, with names separated by commas. Example: "Alex, Sam" keeps Alex and Sam together.
Prevent selected people from being placed in the same group. Write one set per line; everyone on a line is kept mutually apart. Example: "Alex, Sam, Jordan" keeps all three separated.
Pin specific people to a specific group across all sessions. Enter one name and one group number per row. This is useful for leaders, presenters, or anyone who must stay in a known group.
Name
Group
Set target counts for each attribute value inside each group. Keep auto distribute enabled for fair automatic targets, or edit the counts manually when you need exact control.
Add an attribute in the participants list to use this section.
Need even more control?
  • Partial attendanceSet which participants attend which sessions instead of assuming everyone is present every round.
  • Custom group capacitiesGive each group its own capacity and override those capacities for specific sessions when room sizes or staffing change.
  • Session-specific constraintsApply scoped rules only where they matter, then use global objectives such as Avoid Repeats for whole-schedule quality.
  • Weighted preferencesAdd preferences that can be violated when needed, then tune their weights relative to other goals.
  • Encounter targetsTarget how often selected people should all meet across the schedule, including exact, minimum, or maximum encounter counts.
  • Group visit targetsControl how often selected people visit selected groups across sessions for station rotations, task exposure, or visit caps.
  • Advanced constraint tuningFine-tune repeat limits, attribute-balance modes, penalties, and other constraint details beyond the landing-page controls.
  • Solver settingsAdjust runtime limits, deterministic seeds, solver family, and other optimization settings.
  • Result analysisInspect score breakdowns, constraint compliance, penalties, and saved results in more detail.
Quick Setup and the scenario editor use the same saved scenario. Settings hidden here remain intact.
Loading your saved setup.

Independent ranking

Ranked #1 out of 500+ reviewed group and team generators.

GroupMixer leads the public Awesome Group Generators review list for random groups, teams, classrooms, workshops, and repeat-minimizing schedules.

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tools reviewed
500+

Use cases for a student group generator

Create student groups from a class list for activities, projects, peer work, and balanced classroom collaboration.

Student project groups

Split a class roster into project teams and optionally balance students by skill, level, role, or interest.

Classroom activities

Create quick groups for discussions, stations, exercises, worksheets, or collaborative tasks.

Lab groups

Assign students to lab groups or small working teams without spending class time sorting names manually.

Peer review groups

Generate groups for feedback, reading circles, critique rounds, or peer-learning activities.

Seating and table groups

Create table groups while using keep-together or keep-apart rules when classroom dynamics require them.

Repeated rotations

Use multiple sessions to rotate students through different collaborators and reduce repeated pairings.

Guides

Better groups start with a better plan.

Focused playbooks for the grouping problems this tool page helps solve.

Browse all 11 guides
01

How to make balanced student groups

Balance is useful only when it serves the activity. Choose one defensible, task-specific attribute, keep private judgments out of the published roster, and check the resulting distribution instead of trusting the word “balanced.”

02

How to split a class into fair groups

“Fair” can mean equal chance, access to support, room to participate, or a reasonable workload. Define it for the lesson first. Only then decide whether a transparent random split or a small number of private adjustments is justified.

03

How to run station rotations for groups

Treat stations as destinations rather than interchangeable groups. Plan the full rotation, choose exact, minimum, or maximum visit counts, and inspect any missed target before running the activity.

04

How to make random pairs from a list of names

Pairing is simple until the list is odd, the activity has several rounds, or two people should not be matched. Make those decisions explicitly before generating the first roster.

05

Random groups vs balanced groups vs constrained groups

Use the least complicated method that can produce an acceptable result. Random grouping needs the least data; balance adds a composition preference; constraints add rules whose violation would make the assignment unusable.

Journal

Research behind better group generation.

Technical explainers, practical comparisons, and notes from studying how grouping tools work.

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Public API

GroupMixer has a free public API.

Send a scenario to the hosted solver and get back a solution immediately and for free.

View API docsOpenAPI JSON

Frequently asked questions

Using GroupMixer

Privacy, access, and limits

Controls and advanced setup

Randomness and reproducibility

Auto algorithm

Search and repeat reduction

Constraints and optimality

Benchmarks and better results