Poll Everywhere is a tool that does just as its name suggests. It's a useful online polling tool that lets presenters, no matter their job or function, run live polls and surveys that can help engage with their audiences. That being said, other software solutions offer both similar and expanded functions; so we decided to list them here.
What is Poll Everywhere?
Poll Everywhere is a live polling tool mainly used to engage hybrid audiences during meetings. It features word clouds, Q&As, surveys, and other features that allow presenters to gather feedback.
It is a well-known tool that many presenters around the world have become familiar with, especially with the rise in remote and hybrid meetings. A major goal of presenters around the world, from educators to team leads and beyond, is to establish a connection with their audience and to keep both engagement and attention levels as high as possible.
Given these varied ways to improve engagement, there are, of course, plenty of online tools on the market that solve many different needs.
So let's see which tools allow you to create a complete presentation, an incredibly designed slide deck, and offline surveys!
Top free Poll Everywhere alternatives
- Mentimeter
- Meeting Pulse
- SurveyMonkey
- Slido
- Lucidchart
- Beautiful.ai
- Acadly
- Slides with Friends
Mentimeter - For polls, surveys, and more
If you are looking for something that gives you the flexibility to create live polls, as well as surveys you can send out at any time and a full presentation experience, then Mentimeter can offer those functions. I would say this, especially considering you are here on our blog, but Mentimeter is a multi-purpose tool that focuses on creating engagement in a wide variety of different ways - not just an audience response system.
Icebreaker quizzes can be a great way to warm up the audience and avoid those few awkward moments before you showcase the meeting agenda. Asking your students to create a Word Cloud can be the ideal way to break up a long class or assess if they understand a new subject.
The ability to combine these interactive slides and polls with the more 'classic' content slides you would see in a PowerPoint presentation means that you can create a full presentation experience in Mentimeter.
Thus, Mentimeter is an excellent alternative if you are looking for a tool that allows you to expand upon those interactive and engaging elements by adding in some more functionality and features.
Meeting Pulse - For plenty of integrations
Running a live poll doesn't necessarily mean running it in front of a live audience. So many more of our lectures, meetings, and get-togethers are taking place either virtually or semi-virtually, that our need for Microsoft Teams and Zoom has skyrocketed. With all of that being said, integrations with some of the major 'video communications tools' (Zoom, etc.) will make the life of presenters easier - think fewer issues with screen sharing, muting, and joining!
Bring available on the Zoom, Teams, and Webex app stores mean that Meeting Pulse can offer an added layer of ease for presenters when running these fully or partially online meetings. Likewise, their YouTube and Vimeo links allow presenters can add an extra bit of variety to their slides in the form of video content.
SurveyMonkey - For surveys & questionnaires rather than polls
Yes, you probably have heard of SurveyMonkey, and yes as the name implies it is a survey tool, one of the biggest and most well-known on the market right now. So yes in that way SurveyMonkey is one of the best alternatives to Poll Everywhere for those looking to get in-depth insights not in the here and now.
The versatility of SurveyMonkey means that is the perfect way to send a detailed and well-thought-out questionnaire to any group of people, from employees and customers to website visitors and users. So for those of us that are not standing up in front of a group - whether they happen to be virtual or face-to-face - can happily type up questions on SurveyMonkey and send them at our convenience.
Slido - For polls, you can use in a range of scenarios
Much like Poll Everywhere, Slido promises that its polls, quizzes, and word clouds will help to improve interaction. Slido's website is packed to the brim with use cases on all of the different situations and scenarios where their interactive slides can be best utilized.
From remote meetings to larger conferences, Slido has detailed breakdowns for potential and existing users on how they can get started. Add to this a vast collection of resources in their blog and use cases sections, and new users can get up to speed with a bit of scrolling and a few clicks.
Lucidchart - For a great brainstorming experience
Polls and quizzes can be of great use in certain scenarios but when it comes to workshops and brainstorming sessions then an online whiteboard comes into its own. Lucidchart offers both presenters and audience members to collaborate and cooperate during meetings.
Meetings won't just stop at the ideation phase but can develop into full-blown discussions and debates with diagrams and charts that will help to clarify and visualize the team's thought process.
Beautiful.ai - For full presentations in seconds
Beautiful.ai is an aptly named product; their collection of presentation templates is nothing short of stunning. Gone are the days of boring white backgrounds and black font PowerPoints designed to make audience members' eyes heavy and minds wander. From single slides to full presentations, Beautiful.ai has something to meet every need.
So if you are in search of a fully designed slide deck with all the basic elements you need to run a presentation, then all you need to do is search Beautiful.ai's collection, download the template that is right for you, and get customizing. Nice and simple.
Acadly - For students and teachers
Acadly is a complete tool for teachers. Not only can you run live quizzes, polls, and check-ins with students, but teachers can also take attendance, receives messages from students, and upload valuable resources once the class ends. Thanks to Acadly engagement in online, face-to-face, hybrid, and HyFlex classrooms, doesn't end once students have submitted their quiz answers or responses to a multiple-choice question.
Slides with Friends - For when you want to include photos
Slides with Freinds has many of the features that other software providers listed in this article have. One feature that stands out though is ‘Live Photo Sharing’. Thank this nifty little feature, audience members can upload photos in response to questions that hosts include in their presentations.
This is more than just a bit of fun, as it lets audience members get creative with their responses and can be a new and simple way to initiate some interesting discussions and conversations. This is a nice innovative feature that will help kickstart meetings with a healthy dose of interactivity.
Is Poll Everywhere free?
Yes, Poll Everywhere has a free tier that caps an audience to 25 voters. Several paid subscriptions offer a wider variety of features and audience capacity.
All of the alternatives listed here also have both free and paid tiers for users. The majority, however, cap the number of voters that can take part in any presentation, while Mentimeter’s audience size remains unlimited throughout its plans.
Plenty of ways to engage an audience
Polls and quizzes are just two ways in which you can establish a connection with an audience. Presentations that feature icebreakers, Q&As, and a mix of interactive elements can help both to boost engagement and help to capture attention. Likewise, a strong combination of elements can impress an audience and highlight that presentations need not be the uninteresting experience many of us have been conditioned to believe.
So why not try out a tool that can help you achieve all of your goals and leave your audience impressed?
Sign up for Mentimeter now and engage your audience immediately
Get started, it's freeFAQ
Q: Can I import existing PowerPoint presentations into these alternatives? A: Yes, many free PowerPoint alternatives like Google Slides and Mentimeter offer features to import existing PowerPoint presentations.
Q: Are these alternatives compatible with all operating systems? A: Most of the alternatives listed, such as Mentimeter and Canva, are web-based and compatible across various operating systems. However, Keynote is exclusive to Apple products.
Q: Can I collaborate in real-time with others using these tools? A: Yes, many of these tools, including Mentimeter, provide real-time collaboration features.
Q: Are there limitations to the free versions of these alternatives? A: While the free versions are quite robust, some features and advanced functionalities may be restricted to paid tiers.
