Best Free Poll Makers in 2026
Short answer: Slido is the best free poll maker in 2026 for one live session, with up to 100 participants per event on a plan that stays free. AhaSlides suits teams that run many short sessions, with 50 participants and unlimited presentations a month, and its paid plans start at $7.95 a month. Mentimeter caps free use at 50 participants per month across every presentation, so one busy session can use up the whole allowance. Google Forms is the free choice when answers can arrive over days, with up to 500,000 responses per form.
Nine poll, quiz and form tools compared on how many people, questions and exports their free plan allows, with prices checked on vendor pages in October 2026.
A free poll maker has one job: put a question in front of a room and collect every answer without paying. The catch is the cap. A free plan that allows 40 people is no use for a 60-person workshop, and a plan that counts participants per month can run out in the middle of a term. Toolradar data: of the 90 survey tools we track, 63% offer a free or freemium plan, and 33 (37%) are paid only, so a free tier is common in this category but rarely generous.
This guide compares nine tools on the four numbers that decide a free poll: how many people can join, how many questions the free plan allows, whether results can be exported, and whether the tool's own branding stays on your slides. Live polling and quiz tools come first, then the web-poll and form builders that collect answers over time. Slido, AhaSlides and Mentimeter lead the live group, and Google Forms leads the forms.
How we chose: these nine were picked from the 90 tools in survey tools for whether the free plan does real polling work, not only whether a trial exists. Every cap and price was read on the vendor's own pricing or help page in October 2026.
Top Picks
Picked by editorial review, informed by G2 and Capterra review volume and rating and by media mentions, the signals behind our category rankings. How we rate
| Tool | Starting price | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slido | Free forever; paid prices not quoted | 4.7 1,018 reviews | Presenters running one live session at a time who need a free room of up to 100 people |
| AhaSlides | Free; paid from $7.95/month | 4.7 385 reviews | Trainers and small teams running many short sessions for the same group |
| Mentimeter | Free; Basic $11.99/mo billed yearly | 4.6 889 reviews | Presenters with one or two audiences a month who do not need to export results |
| Wayground (formerly Quizizz) | Free for teachers; school by quote | 4.9 801 reviews | Teachers running quiz games for a class who want a free plan that stays free |
| Kahoot | Free account; Pro Start $19/mo | 4.7 3,298 reviews | Teachers and trainers who want a game-style quiz and a free account to test the format first |
| Crowdsignal | Free; Premium $15/mo billed annually | n/a | Anyone who needs a poll on a website or in email and expects fewer than 2,500 signals |
| Poll Everywhere | Free Intro; Present $10/mo annual | 4.5 161 reviews | Small meetings and classes that already run PowerPoint and need results downloaded |
| Google Forms | Free with a Google account | 4.7 11,568 reviews | Asynchronous surveys, quizzes and feedback where people answer on their own time |
| Microsoft Forms | Free personal; 200 responses a form | 4.5 799 reviews | Students and staff on a Microsoft account who want a quick quiz or survey at no cost |
Presenters running one live session at a time who need a free room of up to 100 people
- Pro: The Basic plan allows 100 participants per event with no monthly reset to track.
- Pro: Basic includes crowdsourced Q&A alongside polls, so the room can ask as well as answer.
- Pro: The free plan costs nothing and has no end date, so it can serve a regular meeting slot.
- Con: Basic has no data export, so results stay on screen unless you pay for a plan that includes one.
- Con: One quiz per event on Basic rules out a long classroom game without an upgrade.
Slido's public pricing page is a JavaScript shell.
Watch out
€15 is a start, not Engage vs Professional vs Enterprise. Those cards do not print $ in the public HTML.
Trainers and small teams running many short sessions for the same group
- Pro: The free plan allows unlimited presentations a month, with no session cap to plan around.
- Pro: Its paid plans have the lowest quoted entry price in this guide.
- Pro: Five quiz questions and three poll questions per presentation fit a short meeting or a training block.
- Con: The 50-participant cap rules out larger rooms, and participants past it cannot join.
- Con: AhaSlides' pricing page gives no free-plan export or branding terms, so check them before a paid event.
Ahaslides offers a generous Free tier, making it accessible for small presentations.
Presenters with one or two audiences a month who do not need to export results
- Pro: The free plan has 23 slide types, enough for word clouds, polls and quizzes in one presentation.
- Pro: Basic adds unlimited participants and Excel or PDF export of results.
- Pro: Pro adds shared workspaces and co-editing for a team of presenters, at $24.99 per presenter a month billed yearly.
- Con: The 50-participant count is shared across all presentations in a month, so one large session can use it up.
- Con: Basic and Pro are billed yearly, which makes a one-off event a poor fit for a paid plan.
Mentimeter's pricing is fair, offering a generous free tier and a well-structured progression.
Watch out
Basic and Pro prices are annual-only discounts.
Wayground (formerly Quizizz)
- 4.8 on Capterra (545 reviews)
- 4.9 on G2 (255 reviews)
- 5.0 on SourceForge (1 reviews)
Teachers running quiz games for a class who want a free plan that stays free
- Pro: Basic is free forever for teachers, with live and student-paced delivery on the same plan.
- Pro: Basic includes class-level reports, which can be shared with colleagues and parents or guardians.
- Pro: The school and district plans add admin reporting and integrations for a whole campus.
- Con: The free library holds 20 resources, and question types on Basic are limited.
- Con: The free plan is written for teachers, so corporate trainers are pointed to a separate corporate plan.
Teachers and trainers who want a game-style quiz and a free account to test the format first
- Pro: Participants join with a game PIN and need no account or license to play.
- Pro: Quiz mode brings leaderboards and the classic game format that audiences already know.
- Pro: A free account needs no card, so the quiz format can be tested before any paid plan.
- Con: Kahoot's pricing page gives no free participant cap, so check it before a live event.
- Con: Pro Start caps rooms at 50 participants, below the 100 Slido allows on its free plan.
Kahoot's pricing, starting at $19/month for Pro Start, is fair for small teams but quickly becomes expensive for larger organizations.
Anyone who needs a poll on a website or in email and expects fewer than 2,500 signals
- Pro: The free plan allows unlimited questions, surveys, polls and ratings, with no cap on how many you create.
- Pro: Premium adds response export and a Google Sheets connection, and it is cheaper on annual billing.
- Pro: The free plan's 2,500-signal limit is stated plainly, so it is easy to plan a survey within it.
- Con: The free plan shows Crowdsignal branding and only limited data export.
- Con: Each answer to each question is one signal, so a five-question survey uses five of the 2,500.
Crowdsignal's pricing is fair, offering a generous free tier for basic needs.
Watch out
Team plan has a 3-user minimum
Small meetings and classes that already run PowerPoint and need results downloaded
- Pro: The Intro plan includes data export and unlimited questions, which few free tools here match.
- Pro: PowerPoint integration and every question and poll type are included on all plans, the free one too.
- Pro: The Teams plan removes the Poll Everywhere logo and adds custom branding.
- Con: A 40-person audience is the smallest free room in this guide, and a 30-day Teams trial is the only way to go bigger for free.
- Con: The Intro plan keeps the Poll Everywhere logo on what your audience sees.
Poll Everywhere's pricing is generally fair, offering a generous free tier for small audiences.
Asynchronous surveys, quizzes and feedback where people answer on their own time
- Pro: Responses arrive on each person's own time, so there is no room size to run out of during a session.
- Pro: Responses link to Google Sheets for analysis, which makes results easy to share.
- Pro: Each form can receive up to 500,000 responses from September 2026, far above any live tool's free cap here.
- Con: It is not a live poll, so results do not appear on a shared screen during a meeting.
- Con: A form stops taking responses at 500,000 responses or 1 GB of total form storage, whichever comes first.
Google Forms offers an incredibly generous pricing model, as it is entirely free for all users with a Google account.
Watch out
Drive quota: file uploads live in the form owner's Google Drive. A personal account includes 15 GB shared with Gmail and Photos.
Students and staff on a Microsoft account who want a quick quiz or survey at no cost
- Pro: Free with a Microsoft account, with no separate plan to buy for a small survey.
- Pro: Business and education accounts allow up to 5,000,000 responses per form.
- Pro: Forms and quizzes are built in the same editor, so one tool covers both.
- Con: A free personal account stops at 200 responses per form, a small cap for a public poll.
- Con: It is built for answers that arrive over time, not for a live room that shares results on one screen.
Microsoft Forms offers an incredibly generous pricing model as it's primarily included with Microsoft 365 subscriptions, meaning no direct cost for most users.
Other Survey Tools worth considering
More published tools from our Survey Tools category, ordered by our category ranking. They are not part of the editorial picks above.
What a free poll maker actually limits
A poll maker puts one question on a shared screen and collects each person's answer from a phone or laptop. Free plans limit that in three places. The first is the room: how many people can join, at once or across a month. The second is the question count: how many polls or quiz questions a presentation can hold. The third is the output: whether you can download the answers afterwards or only see them on screen during the session.
Live tools and form builders limit different things. A live tool such as Slido or Poll Everywhere caps people, because the live room is the product. A form builder such as Microsoft Forms caps responses, because the form is the product and nobody needs to be in the room at the same time. Knowing which kind of cap you face tells you which tool to open first.
Why the cap, not the price, decides the free pick
A free plan is only useful if its cap sits above the number you will really reach. Mentimeter's free plan allows 50 participants per month, counted across every presentation in that month, so two 30-person sessions use up the allowance before the second one ends. Crowdsignal counts signals, one per answer to each question, and its free plan caps the total at 2,500. Work out your largest session and your question count before you commit, not after the event.
The fine print on these caps is where free plans trip people up. On Crowdsignal, the 2,500-signal limit has no monthly reset, so a survey that runs for months can reach it. Export is the other trap: a tool that lets you download results on its free plan is rarer than one that lets you run a poll on it.
Key Features to Look For
Participants on the free plan (Essential)
Slido caps a free event at 100 participants, AhaSlides at 50 per presentation and Mentimeter at 50 a month across all presentations. Crowdsignal's free plan caps at 2,500 signals, and Google Forms allows 500,000 responses per form.
Questions per free presentation (Essential)
AhaSlides allows 5 quiz and 3 poll questions per presentation on its free plan. Poll Everywhere's Intro plan lists unlimited questions. Slido's Basic plan includes one quiz per event, which rules out a long classroom game without an upgrade.
Exporting results (Important)
Mentimeter reserves Excel and PDF export for Basic. Slido's Basic plan has no data export. Crowdsignal's free plan has limited export, and Poll Everywhere's Intro plan lists export data. Google Forms responses link to Google Sheets.
Branding on the free plan (Important)
Crowdsignal shows Crowdsignal branding on its free plan. Poll Everywhere keeps its logo on Intro until the Teams plan removes it. Slido's Basic plan offers themes but no logo or banner upload, which keeps a free event closer to plain.
Free forever versus a trial (Important)
Slido's Basic and Wayground's Basic are free with no end date. Poll Everywhere's bigger room comes from a 30-day Teams trial bundled with Intro, so a large event in month two needs a paid plan.
Form response caps (Important)
Microsoft Forms allows 200 responses per form on a free personal account and 1,000 on a paid personal plan, rising to 5,000,000 on business and education accounts. Google Forms allows 500,000 responses and 1 GB of total storage per form from September 2026.
Cheapest paid entry (Nice to have)
AhaSlides has the lowest quoted paid entry in this guide, since Slido's paid price is not quoted. Poll Everywhere's Present plan is $10 a month, sold on annual billing only. Mentimeter's Basic is $11.99 per presenter a month, billed yearly. Crowdsignal's Premium plan is cheaper on annual billing.
What to settle before you pick
Count the room first. Use the largest session you expect in the next six months, not the average, and compare it with the free cap on the same line.
Decide whether results must leave the tool. If you need a spreadsheet afterwards, check the export line of the plan you will actually use, not the headline free offer.
Check whether the cap resets. Mentimeter resets its participant count every month, Slido's Basic limit applies per event, and Crowdsignal states a 2,500-signal limit with no monthly reset.
Evaluation Checklist
Write down the largest session you will run in the next six months and compare it with the free cap on the same line.
Decide whether results must be downloaded, and check the export line of the plan you plan to use.
Check whether the cap resets monthly, per event, or never, since Mentimeter resets monthly and Crowdsignal states no reset.
Run a practice session on the free plan with a few colleagues to confirm the room size and the question limits before the real event.
Pricing Overview
Free, capped by room size
Slido (100 participants per event), AhaSlides (50 per presentation), Mentimeter (50 per month across presentations), Wayground (100 students on Basic, for teachers), Poll Everywhere Intro (40 audience size).
$0
Free, capped by responses or questions
Crowdsignal (2,500 signals, unlimited polls), Google Forms (500,000 responses per form), Microsoft Forms (200 responses per form on a personal account).
$0
Entry paid plans
The cheapest step up from each free plan: AhaSlides at the lowest quoted price, Poll Everywhere Present at $10 on annual billing, Mentimeter Basic at $11.99 per presenter billed yearly, and Crowdsignal Premium and Kahoot Pro Start on annual billing.
$7.95 to $19 per month
Pricing Comparison
| Tool | Free plan | Cheapest paid plan | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|
Slido | Free forever: 100 participants per event, one quiz per event, no data export | Paid price not quoted in this guide | Not quoted |
Free: 50 participants, unlimited presentations a month, 5 quiz and 3 poll questions per presentation | From $7.95/month | Monthly or yearly | |
Mentimeter | Free: 50 participants per month across presentations, 23 slide types, no Excel or PDF export | Basic $11.99 per presenter/month | Billed yearly, excl. tax |
Basic: free forever for teachers, 100 students, 20 library resources | School and District: request a quote | Quote only | |
Kahoot | Free account, no card needed; no free participant cap on the pricing page | Pro Start $19/month, up to 50 participants | Billed annually ($228 a year) |
Crowdsignal | Free: unlimited questions and polls, 2,500 signals, Crowdsignal branding, limited export | Premium $15/month | Billed annually ($25 billed monthly) |
Intro: 40 audience size, 10 AI prompts a month, export data, Poll Everywhere branding | Present $10/month | Annual billing only | |
Free with a Google account: 500,000 responses per form and 1 GB storage per form from September 2026 | No paid tier needed | Not applicable | |
Free personal account: 200 responses per form | Personal paid plan: 1,000 responses per form | Not quoted here |
Prices and limits checked in October 2026 on Slido pricing, AhaSlides pricing, Mentimeter pricing and Mentimeter plans, Wayground plans and Wayground Starter plan help, Kahoot pricing, Crowdsignal pricing, Poll Everywhere plans, Google Forms response limits and Microsoft Forms limits.
Mistakes to Avoid
- ×
Counting people per event when the cap is per month. Mentimeter's free plan allows 50 participants per month across all presentations, so a 30-person Monday session leaves 20 for the rest of the month.
- ×
Treating a trial as a free plan. Poll Everywhere's 700-person audience comes from a 30-day Teams trial bundled with Intro, and the free plan falls back to 40 once it ends.
- ×
Assuming results can be downloaded. Slido's Basic plan has no data export, and Mentimeter reserves Excel and PDF export for Basic, so save a copy during the session.
- ×
Counting responses instead of people on Crowdsignal. Each answer to each question is one signal, so a five-question survey from 100 people uses 500 signals out of 2,500 on the free plan.
- ×
Assuming a free teacher plan is free for a company. Wayground's Basic plan is written for teachers, and non-school users are pointed to a separate corporate plan.
Expert Tips
- →
Count the room and the questions together. AhaSlides allows 5 quiz and 3 poll questions per presentation at 50 people, so a meeting with eight questions fits exactly and leaves no spare.
- →
Test the export before you need it. Run a short test session and try the download on the plan you will use, since Mentimeter's free plan has no Excel or PDF export.
- →
Pair a live tool with a form. Ask the questions live in Slido, then send open-ended follow-ups through Google Forms, which allows 500,000 responses per form.
- →
Use the free plan for the biggest session you expect, and check each step up's billing term before paying. Mentimeter bills Basic and Pro yearly, so a one-off event pays for a full year.
Red Flags to Watch For
-
A free cap counted per month, as on Mentimeter, which one large session can exhaust.
-
A free plan that is really a trial for part of the room, which falls back once the trial ends.
-
A live tool with no export on the free plan, as Slido's Basic plan has, when you need a record of the answers.
The Bottom Line
Slido is the best free poll maker in 2026 for a single live room, with 100 participants per event at no cost. AhaSlides covers small groups that meet often, and Mentimeter's 50 people a month only fits light use. Use Google Forms or Microsoft Forms when answers can arrive over days rather than minutes. Check the cap, the export line and the branding before you build the session, because each free plan sets its limit in a different place.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free poll maker in 2026?
Slido, for one live session. Its free Basic plan allows 100 participants per event, with polls and one quiz per event and no data export. AhaSlides fits teams that run many short sessions, with 50 participants and unlimited presentations a month on its free plan.
How many people can join a free poll?
It depends on the tool. Slido allows 100 per event, AhaSlides 50 per presentation, Mentimeter 50 a month across all presentations and Poll Everywhere's Intro plan 40. Google Forms and Microsoft Forms do not run a live room: Google allows 500,000 responses per form, and Microsoft allows 200 per form on a free personal account.
Is there a free quiz maker?
Yes. Wayground (formerly Quizizz) is free for teachers forever, with up to 100 students on its Basic plan. Kahoot offers a free account to try its quiz format, but its pricing page gives no free participant cap, so check it before a live event. AhaSlides' free plan includes 5 quiz questions per presentation.
Can I export poll results for free?
Not on most free plans. Mentimeter reserves Excel and PDF export for Basic, Slido's Basic plan includes no data export, and Crowdsignal's free plan offers limited export. Poll Everywhere's Intro plan lists export data, and Google Forms responses link to Google Sheets.
Which free poll tools show their own branding?
Crowdsignal shows Crowdsignal branding on its free plan. Poll Everywhere keeps its logo on Intro until the Teams plan removes it.
How much does a paid poll maker cost?
The lowest quoted entry is AhaSlides at $7.95 a month. Poll Everywhere's Present plan is $10 a month on annual billing only, Mentimeter's Basic is $11.99 per presenter a month billed yearly, Crowdsignal's Premium is $15 a month billed annually, and Kahoot's Pro Start is $19 a month billed annually. Slido's paid prices are not quoted in this guide.
Should I use Google Forms or a live poll tool?
Use a live tool when people answer together in one room and results should appear on screen. Use Google Forms when answers can come in over days, since it allows up to 500,000 responses per form and has no room size to plan for.
Cite this page: Toolradar, "Best Free Poll Makers in 2026", updated October 2026, https://toolradar.com/guides/best-free-poll-makers
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