Polly vs Simple Poll (2026): which Slack poll app should you pick?

Polly and Simple Poll are the two apps nearly every Slack workspace ends up choosing between when someone asks for "a poll button". They look similar from the message box: a slash command, options, a live tally. They are different products underneath. Simple Poll is a poll tool that stays a poll tool. Polly is an engagement platform whose front door happens to be a poll. The short answer: pick Simple Poll if you want polls, pick Polly if you want a survey and Q&A program, and check the billing model before either, because they charge in opposite ways.

Full disclosure: we make asyncmate, a standup bot that includes free polls, so we compete with both at the edges. Prices and limits below are from each vendor's own pricing page, checked November 5, 2026.

Polly vs Simple Poll at a glance

The free plans

This is where most teams decide, and the two free plans are limited in opposite ways.

Simple Poll gives 100 responses a month with anonymous polls and multi-vote included. The limits are five options per poll and no surveys, recurrence or scheduling. A team of ten that runs a poll a week uses about 40 responses; it can stay free indefinitely.

Polly has no response limit and no cap on participants, by its pricing page and its help centre's free plan page. The limits are depth: single-question polls and hot takes only, results older than 45 days are hidden, and anonymity, surveys, Q&A, scheduling and standups are all paid.

If the question is "which free Slack poll app", it depends on the poll. For volume, Polly: a 200-person channel can vote every day without a meter. For anything sensitive, Simple Poll, because anonymous polls are free there and cost $29 a month on Polly.

Pricing: opposite models

The two apps bill in ways that punish opposite team shapes, so the cheaper one depends on who you are.

Simple Poll bills the workspace. Premium is $49 a month, billed annually at $588, for a workspace of up to 24 members, and the price rises with workspace size; Enterprise is custom for large organizations and Enterprise Grid. One price unlocks everything for everyone: unlimited responses, 45 options per poll, surveys up to 20 questions, recurring and scheduled polls, hidden results, DM surveys, export and API. The catch is that the price follows the size of the Slack workspace, not the number of people polling. A 300-person company where one team of eight runs polls pays for 300.

Polly bills creators. Basic is $19 a month per licence billed $228 a year. Pro is $29 a month billed $348 a year and adds anonymous responses. Team is $249 a month for five licences, billed annually. Respondents never need a licence, and no plan caps responses. The catch is that every person who wants to create premium pollys is another licence.

Worked through for three team shapes:

One organiser and a big audience favours Polly. Many organisers in a small workspace favours Simple Poll. Both bill annually.

Anonymous polls

Simple Poll includes anonymous polls on the free plan. Polly puts anonymous responses on Pro, at $29 a month per licence, and anonymity is switched on per polly rather than by default.

For a lunch vote none of this matters. For anything about workload, morale or a manager, it is the whole question, and two cautions apply to both apps. First, "anonymous" in a poll app means names are hidden in the results; ask either vendor what an admin export shows before you rely on it. Second, a public tally can de-anonymize a small team on its own: if four of five people voted "fine" and one voted "burned out", everyone can guess. Sensitive questions belong in a survey with a minimum response threshold, not a poll. We cover that in the Slack survey app comparison.

Surveys, Q&A and everything past the poll

This is Polly's side of the table. Nine question types, templates for pulse, eNPS, onboarding and retros, recurring schedules, delivery by DM or channel, live Q&A with upvoting for all-hands, trivia, a suggestion box, workflows, and an async standup template. It runs in Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet as well as Slack, and the Enterprise plan adds an API and webhooks. Our Polly review goes through each of these and where reviewers push back, mostly on reporting depth and the editing interface.

Simple Poll's surveys are a Premium feature capped at 20 questions, with ranked, scale, short-text and Q&A question types and CSV export. They are enough for a retro or a quick feedback round and not a feedback program. What Simple Poll leads with is ranked-choice voting, which is the right tool for picking one option out of several contested ones.

If surveys and Q&A are the reason you are shopping, Polly. If you noticed them on the feature list and shrugged, Simple Poll.

Ease of use

Both are fast. Simple Poll's /poll "Question" "Option 1" "Option 2" has been the muscle memory of Slack polling since 2015, and the company says 945,000 teams have used it. Polly's creation flow runs through a modal with more choices, which is slower for a lunch vote and better for anything with settings. Capterra reviewers give Polly 4.6 out of 5 across 91 reviews, with ease of use at 4.6, and the recurring complaint is that editing a polly after it is live is clunky. Simple Poll lets you edit polls after posting on Premium.

Which one should you pick

You want free polls and anonymity matters: Simple Poll. 100 responses a month, anonymous polls included.

You want free polls for a big channel: Polly. No response limit, with 45 days of history.

You want polls, often, and the workspace is small: Simple Poll Premium at $49, or see the third option below.

You want a survey, pulse and Q&A program with a few people running it: Polly, on Pro if anonymity matters.

You are on Microsoft Teams, or want polls inside Zoom or Meet: Polly. Simple Poll is Slack only.

You need ranked-choice voting front and centre: Simple Poll.

Your workspace is large and only one team polls: Polly, because Simple Poll prices the whole workspace.

A third option

Simple Poll meters responses on its free plan, Polly keeps free polls to one question and 45 days of history, and both bill annually once you outgrow them. asyncmate is a standup bot, and polls are free on every plan: no response cap, no creator licence, voters never billed, at any workspace size. Anonymous polls are on Pro and store no voter identity. We do not have ranked choice, Q&A or trivia, so it is not a Polly replacement for a feedback program, and if all you ever want is polls, Simple Poll under its free cap or Polly's free plan costs the same as we do. The longer comparison, including Geekbot's per-respondent poll pricing, is in the best Slack poll apps, and the line-by-line against Polly is on the Polly alternative page.

Figures from simplepoll.rocks/pricing and polly.ai/slack-pricing, November 5, 2026. Polly and Simple Poll are trademarks of their owners; asyncmate is not affiliated with either.

FAQ

Is Polly or Simple Poll better for Slack? For polls, Simple Poll: anonymity on the free plan, ranked-choice voting, and one flat price. For surveys, pulse checks, eNPS and all-hands Q&A, Polly, which is an engagement platform rather than a poll tool. The right one depends on which of those two jobs you are hiring it for.

Which has the better free plan? It depends on the poll. Polly's free plan has no response limit, but no anonymity, and it hides results after 45 days. Simple Poll's allows 100 responses a month with anonymous polls included.

How much does Simple Poll cost? Free for 100 responses a month. Premium is $49 a month, billed annually at $588, for a workspace of up to 24 members, and rises with workspace size. Enterprise is custom.

How much does Polly cost? Free for single-question polls, with unlimited responses. Basic is $19 a month per creator licence billed $228 a year; Pro is $29 billed $348 and adds anonymous responses; Team is $249 a month for five licences; Enterprise is on quote.

Are anonymous polls free in Slack? On Simple Poll, yes. On Polly they need the Pro plan. Emoji reactions and Workflow Builder forms are never anonymous.

Does Simple Poll work with Microsoft Teams? No, Simple Poll is a Slack app. Polly runs on Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet, with Teams priced on its own page.

Is there a Slack poll app with no response limit? Yes. asyncmate's polls have no response cap on any plan, including the free one, and voters are never billed. Polly's free plan has no response limit either. Simple Poll caps its free plan at 100 responses a month and removes the cap on Premium.