Polls come in three flavours, and the best tool depends on which one you need. Live-audience polls (Slido, Mentimeter) surface real-time results during presentations. Remote-team polls (Slack polls, Microsoft Forms) live inside a chat tool for async decisions. Online polls (Google Forms, Formester, StrawPoll) are shareable via link, no live event required.
This guide ranks 8 poll makers across those three modes.
How we verified this: ratings, review counts, and prices sourced directly from each tool's own pricing / product pages and their public G2 review profile on 2026-07-09. We rechecked every price and free-tier cap the morning of publish. Live listings may vary if a tool updates pricing after this date.
The quick pick
- Best for live presentations: Mentimeter. Real-time results, word clouds, Q&A.
- Best for corporate live events: Slido. Q&A + polls, tight Teams and Webex integration.
- Best for high-volume audience engagement: Poll Everywhere. Enterprise-scale live polling.
- Best for online polls with a link: Formester. Free plan supports unlimited polls, unlimited responses, and multi-question flows if you need them.
- Best for quick anonymous polls: StrawPoll. Free, no signup required.
- Best inside Google Workspace: Google Forms. Simple free poll shareable via link.
- Best inside Microsoft 365 / Teams: Microsoft Forms + Polls in Teams.
- Best if you need survey depth beyond a poll: Typeform.
At a glance: 8 poll tools compared
| Tool | Free plan | Cheapest paid | Live-audience mode | Multi-question polls | G2 rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mentimeter | Free (2 questions/presentation) | Basic $14/mo | Yes (native) | Yes | 4.6/5 |
| Slido | Basic Free (unlimited polls/mo) | Engage tier paid | Yes (native + Teams/Webex) | Yes | 4.7/5 |
| Poll Everywhere | Free (25 responses/poll) | Present $120/yr | Yes (enterprise-grade) | Yes | 4.4/5 |
| Formester | Unlimited polls + responses on free | Personal $13/mo | No (async link) | Yes | 4.7/5 |
| StrawPoll | Free, no signup | Basic paid tier | No (async link) | Yes | 4.3/5 |
| Google Forms | Free with Google | N/A | No (async link) | Yes | 4.6/5 |
| Microsoft Forms | Free with M365 | N/A | Polls in Teams native | Yes | 4.4/5 |
| Typeform | Free (10 responses/mo) | Basic $28/mo | No (async link) | Yes | 4.5/5 |
1. Mentimeter, best for live presentations
Mentimeter is the category leader for live-audience polling, with 300M+ presentations delivered to date.
13 interactive question types (word cloud, ranking, scales, MCQ, quiz, open-ended) render on a shared screen in real time.
The free plan supports unlimited participants and unlimited presentations, unusual generosity in the category.
The catch is 2 questions and 5 quizzes per presentation on free, so real conferences and lectures move to Basic ($11.99/month).
Best for: Presenters, teachers, and event organizers who want the most polished live-audience polling experience for in-room engagement.
Strengths
- The category leader for live presentation polls, with 300M+ presentations delivered
- 13 interactive question types: word cloud, ranking, scales, quiz, open-ended, MCQ
- Real-time visualization on a shared screen, audiences see the results form live
- Free plan is unusually generous: unlimited participants and unlimited presentations
- Native integrations with PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom
Weaknesses
- Free tier caps questions per presentation (2 questions and 5 quizzes)
- Advanced question types and unlimited slides sit behind the Pro plan
- Not designed for async or public link polls, the sweet spot is live rooms
- Presenter-heavy UX; not ideal if you want a poll that lives on a webpage
Pricing
- Free plan: Unlimited participants, unlimited presentations, 2 questions and 5 quizzes per presentation
- Starting paid tier: Basic at $11.99/month (annual), unlimited questions and full question library
- Most popular: Pro at $24.99/month (annual), team collaboration and advanced analytics
- Enterprise: Custom pricing with SSO, custom branding, and dedicated support
- Free trial: Free plan is permanent, no trial needed
G2 rating: 4.7/5 (533 reviews on G2)
2. Slido, best for corporate live events
Slido was acquired by Cisco in 2021, and enterprise procurement teams find the Cisco name easier to approve than a standalone SaaS.
The Q&A moderation feature paired with live polls is the killer combo for corporate town halls, all-hands, and internal conferences.
Native embeds inside Webex, Microsoft Teams, and PowerPoint mean the poll runs inside the meeting your team already has open.
Free plan participants cap at 200, which trips up any event past mid-size.
Best for: Enterprises running all-hands, town halls, or corporate conferences who need polls plus moderated Q&A inside Webex or Teams.
Strengths
- Owned by Cisco, so the enterprise trust story is bulletproof
- Deep native integration with Webex, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, PowerPoint, and Google Slides
- Live polls plus Q&A moderation in one product, the killer combo for corporate town halls
- Free plan supports unlimited polls with up to 200 participants per event
- Presenter analytics show real-time engagement rates
Weaknesses
- Free plan caps at 200 participants, trips up any event past mid-size
- Word cloud, ranking, and quiz question types require the Engage plan or above
- Not built for async or public online polls
- Priced per host, which adds up for organizations with many presenters
Pricing
- Free plan: Unlimited events, 200 participants per event, basic poll types
- Starting paid tier: Engage at $12.50/host/month (annual), 1,000 participants and full poll library
- Most popular: Professional at $50/host/month (annual), 5,000 participants and advanced analytics
- Enterprise: Custom pricing with SSO, dedicated support, and larger event caps
- Free trial: Free plan is permanent, no trial needed
G2 rating: 4.8/5 (780 reviews on G2)
3. Poll Everywhere, best for high-volume audience engagement
Poll Everywhere handles the largest audiences of any tool on this list, 250,000+ respondents on higher tiers.
It's the incumbent in higher education: Canvas, Blackboard, and Moodle integrations make it viable for lecture halls of thousands.
The activity library is broader than Mentimeter's, including clickable images, competitions, and open-ended prompts.
The trade-off is a dated UI and per-presenter pricing that scales quickly for larger teams.
Best for: Universities, large corporate training teams, and event organizers running polls for very large in-person audiences.
Strengths
- Handles the largest audiences of any tool in this list, 250,000+ respondents on higher tiers
- Deep PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides integration
- Multiple activity types beyond polls: Q&A, competitions, open-ended, ranking, clickable image
- Enterprise plans include SSO, LMS integration (Canvas, Blackboard), and SCIM provisioning
- Strong for higher-ed use cases, universities are a core segment
Weaknesses
- Free plan caps at 40 respondents per session, which is small even for a classroom
- Interface is dense and dated compared to Slido or Mentimeter
- Priced per presenter, so cost scales with team size not participant volume
- Not the right pick for consumer polls or embedded website polls
Pricing
- Free plan: 40 respondents per session, unlimited polls, basic activity types
- Starting paid tier: Present at $120/year ($10/month), 700 respondents and remove branding
- Team: $49/user/month for multi-presenter workspaces
- Higher tiers: $99/user/month for enterprise features, custom pricing above
- Free trial: Free plan is permanent, no trial needed
G2 rating: 4.5/5 (63 reviews on G2)
4. Formester, best for online polls with a link
Formester is the pick when the poll needs to live on a public URL, email links, social media, embedded on a landing page.
The free plan ships unlimited polls, unlimited responses, and all field types (including matrix and ranking).
Custom email notifications and drop-off analysis are unusual features to see on a free tier.
For live in-room audience polling, Mentimeter or Slido have purpose-built UX advantages; for async public polls, Formester is the value pick.
Best for: Marketing, product, and creator teams running async or public online polls with no participant cap.
Strengths
- Unlimited forms and unlimited responses on the free plan (no submission cap)
- AI form generation from three inputs: prompt, question list, or PDF upload
- Native offline mode across every plan, including free, so field teams keep collecting when signal drops
- Payment collection on the free plan via Stripe, PayPal, and Razorpay (most competitors gate this)
- Drop-off analysis surfaces the exact question respondents abandon on, on the free plan
- GDPR, UK GDPR, and CCPA compliance; DPA available on request
- REST API and MCP server for programmatic form and response management
Weaknesses
- No HIPAA certification, so it is not the right pick for patient-identifiable health data
- Template library sits at roughly 350 templates, well under Jotform's 20,000
- G2 review count is 11, small compared to Typeform's 1,000+ or Jotform's 5,300+; the product ships fast but the review corpus has not caught up
- No SOC 2 or ISO 27001 attestation yet (roadmap item, not currently certified)
Pricing
- Free plan: Unlimited forms, unlimited responses, AI form creator, drop-off analysis, payment collection, offline mode. No credit card.
- Starting paid tier: Personal at $13/month (annual), adds conditional logic, custom domain, and file uploads to 100 MB
- Most popular: Business at $49/month, adds white-label, team seats, and priority support
- Enterprise: Custom pricing with SSO, dedicated CSM, and DPA
- Free trial: Not applicable; the free plan is permanent, not a trial
G2 rating: 4.7/5 (11 reviews on G2)
5. StrawPoll, best for quick anonymous polls
StrawPoll is the fastest way on the internet to spin up a public poll, no signup required for a basic one.
It's the default in Discord servers, Slack channels, and Twitter/X community polls for a reason: zero friction, plain URL, done.
Paid plans add custom domain, vote verification, and remove ads, which matter if the poll is public-facing at scale.
It's a consumer-facing tool, not built for enterprise, CRM sync, or serious analytics.
Best for: Community managers, streamers, and casual pollsters who want a public poll link in under a minute with zero setup.
Strengths
- Fastest way on the web to spin up a public poll, zero signup for a basic poll
- Custom domain, poll passwords, and vote verification on paid plans
- Free plan supports unlimited polls (with ads on the results page)
- Simple enough that non-technical users ship a poll in under a minute
- Great for Slack, Discord, or Twitter/X community polls
Weaknesses
- No G2 profile, so trust signals come from Trustpilot and product usage rather than reviews
- Consumer-oriented; not built for enterprise workflows or CRM integrations
- Analytics are basic, good for total counts, thin on demographics or drop-off
- Design customization is limited to a few themes
Pricing
- Free plan: Unlimited polls, results shown with ads
- Starting paid tier: Basic at $4/month (annual), remove ads and get poll password protection
- Most popular: Pro at $14/month (annual), custom domain and vote verification
- Business: $26/month (annual), API access and team seats
- Free trial: Not offered; the free plan is permanent
G2 rating: Not listed on G2 (consumer-facing tool)
6. Google Forms, best inside Google Workspace
Google Forms is fine for a quick internal team poll on lunch preferences or vacation blocks.
The multiple-choice question type covers standard poll use cases, and Sheets auto-collects the results.
Ceiling is that it isn't optimized for polls, no live participant visualization, no live count, no shared screen mode.
For anything customer-facing or presentation-facing, use one of the tools above.
Best for: Internal Google Workspace teams running lightweight polls where speed and free beat polish.
Strengths
- Free with any Google account, no submission cap, no form-count cap
- Auto-syncs to Google Sheets for one-click analysis
- Real-time collaboration on form editing, native to Google Workspace
- Response validation, section logic, and question shuffling built in
- Familiar interface: anyone who has used Docs can build a form in five minutes
Weaknesses
- Very limited design control, you cannot match brand fonts, spacing, or button styles
- No native payment collection, offline mode, or webhooks
- Logic is basic: 'skip to section' works but no calculations or true multi-condition branching
- File uploads only work for respondents signed into a Google account
- No native CRM sync; you need Zapier or a script for anything past a spreadsheet
Pricing
- Free plan: Unlimited forms, unlimited responses, unlimited questions with any personal Google account
- Starting paid tier: Not applicable for Forms itself; Google Workspace Business Starter is $7/user/month if you want business email and admin controls
- Most popular: Google Workspace Business Standard at $14/user/month for shared drives and larger meeting caps (Forms is bundled at no extra cost)
- Enterprise: Workspace Enterprise, custom pricing, adds Vault and advanced admin
- Free trial: 14-day free trial on Google Workspace plans
G2 rating: 4.6/5 (48,097 reviews on G2)
7. Microsoft Forms + Polls in Teams, best for Microsoft 365 / Teams
Microsoft Forms Polls integrate directly into Microsoft Teams meetings and channels.
For any team already on Microsoft 365, running a poll during a Teams meeting takes 30 seconds and zero admin work.
The security posture inherits from Microsoft 365 (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA when configured), which matters for regulated orgs.
For polls outside of Teams meetings, purpose-built polling tools (Mentimeter, Slido) have better presenter UX.
Best for: Microsoft 365 organizations running polls inside Teams meetings or channels with no external audience.
Strengths
- Bundled with any Microsoft 365 subscription at no extra cost
- Native integration with Excel, SharePoint, and Teams for downstream analysis
- Branching logic and quiz mode with auto-grading built in
- Enterprise-grade security posture inherits from Microsoft 365 (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA when configured)
- No response cap on paid Microsoft 365 plans
Weaknesses
- Almost useless outside the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, no external respondent tracking, no CRM connectors
- Very limited design customization; forms look like Microsoft forms
- No payment collection, no webhooks, no offline mode
- Free personal-account version has a 200-response cap per form and hides key features
- Anonymous responses are gated: on many enterprise tenants, external submissions require admin unlock
Pricing
- Free plan: Any personal Microsoft account, 200 responses per form, basic features
- Starting paid tier: Microsoft 365 Business Basic at $6/user/month (annual), unlocks the full Forms feature set
- Most popular: Microsoft 365 Business Standard at $12.50/user/month, adds desktop Office apps and larger mailboxes
- Enterprise: Microsoft 365 E3 at $36/user/month or E5 at $57/user/month, for compliance and advanced security
- Free trial: 30-day trial on Microsoft 365 Business
G2 rating: 4.4/5 (473 reviews on G2)
8. Typeform, best if you need survey depth beyond a poll
Typeform isn't optimized for polls, it's optimized for conversational surveys where each question deserves its own screen.
That said, if you're already running Typeform and want a lightweight poll variation of a survey, it fits.
For a real poll (fast, single-question, real-time visualization), Mentimeter, Slido, or Formester are more suitable.
Consider Typeform when a 'poll' is really a short structured mini-survey with branching logic.
Best for: Teams already on Typeform who want to add a poll-like mini-survey with conditional logic and cleaner UX.
Strengths
- Best-in-class conversational form UX, one question at a time, feels like a chat
- AI Growth Flow (2026 launch) generates full forms and follow-up sequences from a prompt
- Deep logic branching and calculations on Plus and above
- 1,200+ native and Zapier-mediated integrations
- Strong analytics on drop-off, completion time, and device split
Weaknesses
- Free plan is punishing: only 10 questions per form and 10 responses per month
- Prices jump hard between tiers, especially at the Business ($83/mo) step for higher response caps
- One question per screen slows down high-volume data entry (better for polish than throughput)
- No offline mode
- Payment collection is gated behind Plus ($50/mo) and above
Pricing
- Free plan: 1 workspace, 10 questions per form, 10 responses/month
- Starting paid tier: Basic at $25/month, 100 responses/month, 1 user
- Most popular: Plus at $50/month, 1,000 responses/month, remove Typeform branding
- Business: $83/month, 10,000 responses, priority support
- Enterprise: Custom pricing with SSO, dedicated CSM, and higher response ceilings
- Free trial: 14-day trial on Business plan
G2 rating: 4.5/5 (1,003 reviews on G2)
Share a poll link, collect unlimited responses
Formester's free plan ships unlimited polls, unlimited responses, all field types (including matrix and ranking), and custom email notifications.
Free forever plan • No credit card • Setup in 2 minutes
How to pick
- Live presentation with a crowd: Mentimeter (individuals + small teams) or Slido (corporate)
- 500+ live audience or university event: Poll Everywhere
- Slack / Discord community poll: StrawPoll (no signup) or a Slack native poll app
- Async online poll shared via link: Formester (no response cap) or Google Forms (free with Google)
- Corporate Teams poll: Microsoft Forms + Polls in Teams
- Multi-question poll that acts like a mini-survey: Formester (unlimited on free) or Typeform (better UX, worse response cap)
