Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is a live audience response tool for people who present: university and school instructors, corporate trainers and team leads, and event hosts. The audience answers on their own devices while results update on the presenter's screen in real time. The home page sums up its pitch as "Poll Everywhere works everywhere" and says the product embeds "live, interactive polls directly into PowerPoint, Google Slides, Canva, PDFs, and more."

The company has been doing this for a long time. Its About page says it was "Founded in 2008" by Jeff Vyduna and Brad Gessler, two consultants at Deloitte who noticed how often meeting audiences zoned out. Their first version was a text-based voting app where people answered by SMS and saw results appear on the presentation. Poll Everywhere began in San Francisco and now describes itself as "a remote-first team."

What a presenter gets

Building an activity takes three steps in the company's own description: choose a poll type, enter the prompt and answers, and present. The audience joins at a short address made of the presenter's username, PollEv.com/ for the classic version or pe.app/ for Poll Everywhere 2.0, and responses appear live as they arrive. Afterward the presenter can "Track participation, summarize results, and review questions asked."

The poll types listed on the home page are bar charts, word clouds, donut charts, competitions, Likert scales, Q&A, radar charts, attendance, content slides, media and clickable images. Each covers a different classroom or meeting need:

• Bar charts and donut charts for multiple-choice questions, used to "compare group opinions, check understanding, or tally preferences at a glance."
• Word clouds for one-word or short open responses.
• Competitions turn questions into a scored game with a leaderboard, points and a speed bonus, played over several rounds.
• Likert scales and radar charts for rating statements or a session across several dimensions.
• Q&A lets the audience submit questions and upvote them, so the queue reorders itself live.
• Clickable images ask people to click a spot on a picture, and the presenter sees how many got it right.
• Attendance uses a check-in code the audience enters or scans.

Content and media slides sit between the questions, so a whole lesson or session can run as one sequence inside Poll Everywhere rather than as polls dropped into separate slides.

In the classroom

For teachers, the home page promises to "Deliver engaging lessons, collect real-time feedback, automate attendance, and ensure every student has a voice." The site has separate sections for Higher Education and K-12, and the about page claims Poll Everywhere "is deployed campus-wide at more Top-50 U.S. universities than all competing solutions combined." The home page adds that it is trusted by "82% of the Fortune 500 and 91% of R1 universities."

The free instructor guide walks a teacher through registering students, bringing their voices into the discussion and reading the results "through detailed reporting," in virtual, hybrid or in-person classes. Attendance management and archived results start on the Engage plan (see below). A Pace University testimonial on the home page says the tool's "professional presentation and versatility surpass other alternatives" and that its "user-friendly nature is crucial. It aligns with the digital comfort of today's students, enhancing their engagement with lecture content."

Apps and integrations

Poll Everywhere runs in two versions. The classic experience, now called 1.0, has apps for PowerPoint on Windows and Mac, Apple Keynote, Google Slides in Chrome and Edge, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Webex and Zoom. Poll Everywhere 2.0, described as "a refreshed experience," offers a PowerPoint add-in and Poll Everywhere Live "for all other slideware." The join menu asks participants to "Choose the version that looks most familiar," so a presenter can stay on 1.0 while trying 2.0.

Plans and prices

The pricing page shows business and non-profit plans in USD, with a separate Education tab, and says "You can upgrade or downgrade at any time." Annual billing saves "up to 50%."

• Intro (free). 40 max audience size ("700 for 30 days"), 10 AI prompts per month, unlimited questions, support center and FAQ, and a "30-day free trial of Teams included." Sign-up needs no credit card.
• Present. $10 a month, shown as "$120 billed annually" and offered on annual billing only. 700 max audience size, 100 AI prompts per month, reporting and full email support, with 1 seat.
• Engage. $49 a month billed annually ($588 a year) or $99 month to month. Adds unlimited AI prompts, attendance management, access to archived results and "2 users included."
• Teams. $84 a month billed annually ($999 a year) or $249 month to month. Adds removal of the Poll Everywhere logo, custom branding, a custom username and URL, and phone and email support.
• Enterprise. Custom pricing, with a custom audience size, team management and shared polls, single sign-on (SAML) and a dedicated success manager.

Extra seats on annual billing cost $120 on Present, $294 on Engage and $499 on Teams; on monthly billing they cost $49 on Engage and $125 on Teams. Every plan includes the PowerPoint integration, every question type, folders, data export and worldwide coverage, while importing and grouping participants starts on Engage. The FAQ adds the billing details. Presenters added mid-subscription are charged at the plan's rate, and removing one gives a pro-rated credit that is "not refundable." Upgrades from a free plan take effect at once, while other changes apply at the end of the billing cycle. Some US states require sales tax, and purchase orders are accepted "for plans that are $499 or more." For a one-off event, the company suggests a monthly plan that is downgraded later, or contacting it to find the right plan.

Security and accessibility

Under the heading "Enterprise-grade data protection," the home page states: "Over 4 million customers have trusted Poll Everywhere to keep their data safe." It lists three badges: "WCAG 2.2 AA compliant," "Gold-standard encryption" and "PCI DSS compliant." The site also has dedicated Security and Accessibility pages, and the team on the About page includes staff for security and business compliance.

On scale, the company reports "10m+" presenters, "200m+" participants and "40m+" polls and activities created.

Support

Help comes as a support center and FAQ on every plan, email support from Present upward, phone support on Teams and Enterprise, and a dedicated success manager on Enterprise. There are also webinars (live trainings and recordings), separate student, instructor and admin guides, a product roadmap and a status page.

Who it suits

Poll Everywhere suits instructors who teach from slides and want answers from the whole room, especially in large lecture halls where hands do not go up. The 700-person audience on the cheapest paid plan is enough for a large lecture hall, and the attendance and reporting features on Engage give a teacher records to keep after class. Corporate trainers and all-hands hosts get the same tools plus branding and SSO on the higher tiers, and event organizers get Q&A with upvoting.

The free Intro plan is fine for a small seminar or a trial run, but its 40-person cap is low for a full class. Poll Everywhere is a live presentation tool, so a teacher looking for self-paced homework or a full gradebook will use it alongside another system rather than instead of one.