Slido Poll: How It Works, What It Costs and How Votes Are Counted
A Slido poll is a live voting interaction built by Slido, an audience-response vendor whose tools sit inside meetings and events. Hosts write a question with options, participants join with a code and answer from their own devices, and the tally updates in real time. By default each person casts one vote per poll unless the host enables multiple responses, and the strictest counting controls sit on paid tiers.
Written by BuyPollVotes editorial desk | Last checked
Where a Slido poll lives and how people join
A Slido poll is one question, a set of options and a tally that moves as people answer, built inside the vendor's audience platform rather than on a separate widget. The polling app is designed to sit inside meetings and events, Webex among the platforms it is used with, so participants join from the room they are already in. A code brings them in, and the tally follows on their own devices.
The types are few and clear. Alongside the single-question format sits the survey, which stacks several questions and serves them together: the community help says surveys are started like any other poll, with every question presented at the same time. An existing question can also be converted, which saves rebuilding a set you already like.
- A single poll asks one question and suits a quick pulse during a talk.
- A survey stacks several questions and is built by clicking + Add new, choosing the Survey option and giving it a name.
- A question you already like can be turned into a survey from the My interactions panel.
Free access, plans and what each tier gates
The free-tier picture is plan-shaped rather than a flat yes or no. Slido's community help places email verification, the strongest one-vote control, on Professional or higher plans, and names Google SSO or company SAML login as an alternative route to the same outcome. Lower tiers get the default counting: one vote per person unless the host enables multiple responses. No amount is printed on those pages, so the practical answer is to read the tier list before leaning on a verification control.
What the tiers do not change is the core mechanic. The single vote per person is the documented default across the answers, and the alert on unusual vote volume is described without a plan attached to it. A host on any tier gets the default rule; the paid controls make it enforceable against repeat answers.
- Default counting, one vote per person, is the documented baseline and needs no particular tier.
- Email verification sits on Professional or higher plans.
- Google SSO or company SAML login is named as the alternative access check for the same job.
One vote per person: how the counting works
The default counting rule is one vote per person for each poll. That is what Slido's community answer states, and it flips only when the host turns on multiple responses. For a contest organiser, that default is the first thing to check, because a duplicate answer usually traces back to that one toggle.
Tighter counting is documented in two shapes. Email verification sends each address a single unique code for entering, which pins answers to identities; Google SSO or company SAML login reaches the same place through a workplace sign-in. Both sit on Professional or higher plans, so a Slido poll meant to carry real stakes deserves one of them.
- The default: one vote per person, flipped only by the multiple-responses toggle.
- Email verification on Professional or higher: each address receives a single unique code for entering.
- Google SSO or company SAML login: a workplace sign-in that reaches the same place.
Anonymous or named: what the documentation says
Anonymous is the word people arrive with, and Slido's published answers treat it sideways. No switch labelled anonymous appears in the community documentation on counting; what appears is identity control pointed the other way, email verification that ties one code to one address. A host who wants accountability switches that on; a host who does not simply leaves the default in place.
Where the documentation stays silent is on what displays next to each answer under the default setting. The vendor's pages say nothing about showing voter names, so name visibility follows the host's settings and the plan's controls, and anyone running a contest where privacy matters should test the display before the room fills. Silence is not the same as a promise.
One more piece sits in the acceptable-use page: participants must stay inside the organiser's ground rules, and content that breaks them can be kept off the screen or the access blocked outright.
- No switch labelled anonymous appears in the community answers on counting.
- Identity control points the other way: one verified code per address on paid tiers.
- The acceptable-use page lets the organiser or Slido remove content that breaks the ground rules and block access.
Live tallies, Present mode and the arrow icon
Once a participant answers, the tally updates in real time on their devices unless the host has chosen to hide it. That single behaviour shapes how a live Slido poll feels: the room watches numbers move while the speaker talks, and nobody waits for a reveal slide at the end.
Two controls put the numbers in front of everyone. The arrow icon next to an individual question displays its outcomes to participants on their screens; Present mode pairs with a shared screen so the whole room follows along. The host picks per question, which means a delicate question can stay hidden while the crowd-pleasers go public.
- Participant devices: the tally refreshes there in real time unless the host hides it.
- The arrow icon next to a question displays its outcomes to the room.
- Present mode, opened from the green button, pairs with a shared screen so everyone follows the numbers together.
Closing, clearing and the reset question
Reset is the question the documentation never quite answers. No reset button appears in the community answers; the documented sequence is close, then deactivate. Locking voting stops attendees from sending or changing answers while the poll stays visible on the Present screen, and the tally remains displayed until the host deactivates the poll, which removes it from view.
Starting over therefore means building a fresh question rather than wiping an old one, as far as the published answers go. The same silence covers daily limits: nothing in the documentation sets a daily reset, so how often a Slido poll runs is the host's decision, made by creating new interactions when the old ones have served their turn.
- Locking stops attendees from sending votes or changing answers while the poll stays visible.
- Deactivating removes the tally from the Present screen and is the documented clear.
- No daily reset or per-day cap appears anywhere in the published answers.
What Slido checks and what the rules forbid
Slido's own detection note is blunt: if an event receives a very unusual high amount of votes within an extremely short period of time, the vendor is alerted. That is the platform-side check a contest organiser inherits. Nothing on the published pages promises that inflated counts pass unnoticed, and nothing suggests they do.
The terms draw the wider fence. Use that harms Slido or any third party, or interferes with the functionality or operation of the service or its underlying systems, is forbidden. For a breach of authorised-use obligations the vendor can edit or remove a user's data, terminate access with immediate effect or cancel accounts. The acceptable-use page adds the room-level version: the organiser or Slido can keep breaking content off the screen, and access can be blocked.
Anyone weighing paid poll votes should read that fence plainly: the alert fires on volume, the organiser's ground rules govern the contest, and the terms hand the vendor removal and termination powers. The documentation offers no shortcut around any of it.
- Volume: an unusual high amount of votes in an extremely short period triggers an alert to the vendor.
- Conduct: use that interferes with the service or its underlying systems is forbidden by the terms.
- Enforcement: removal of a user's data, terminated access or cancelled accounts for a breach of authorised-use obligations.
| Control | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Default counting | One vote per person for each poll, flipped only by the multiple-responses toggle |
| Email verification | Each address receives a single unique code, on Professional or higher plans |
| SSO or SAML login | Participants sign in through a workplace login, named as the alternative access check |
| Locking votes | Blocks sending and changing answers while the poll stays visible on the Present screen |
| Deactivating | Removes the tally from view, following locking in the documented sequence |
How to do it
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Click + Add new
In your event, click + Add new and pick the interaction type: a single poll question or a survey that stacks several. The vendor's community help names Survey as the option to select, then asks you to give it a name.
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Write the question and options
Select + Add first question and write it out, then add answer options beneath. Continue with + Add another question until the set is complete; a survey starts saving automatically once two questions exist.
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Set the counting rule
Leave the default, one vote per person, or switch on multiple responses when repeat answers are wanted. For contest-grade counting on Professional or higher plans, turn on email verification or Google SSO and company SAML login so each participant is verified.
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Activate it for the room
Start the interaction the way any other poll is started. A survey pushes every question to participants at once, so there is no drip-feed of separate prompts during the talk.
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Show the tally live
Click the arrow icon next to the question to display outcomes for the room, or open Present mode and share your screen so everyone follows the numbers together. Updates arrive on participant devices in real time unless the host hides them.
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Lock it and clear it
When voting should stop, lock the poll: attendees still see it on the Present screen but cannot send votes or change answers. The tally stays up until you deactivate the poll, which is the documented way to clear it from view.
Common questions
Can Slido do polls?
Yes. Polls are Slido's core interaction: a host writes a question with options, participants join with a code and the tally moves live on their devices. Surveys extend the format by stacking several questions and presenting them all at once.
Is Slido poll free?
Slido's own pages frame it by plan rather than by a flat amount. The default one-vote counting needs no particular tier, while email verification and SSO or SAML login, the strictest counting controls, sit on Professional or higher plans. No figure is printed alongside those controls, so check the vendor's tier list before relying on one.
Is Slido poll anonymous?
Slido's published answers document no anonymous switch. What they document is identity control in the opposite direction: email verification that issues one unique code per address on Professional or higher plans. What the pages do not state is how voter names display under the default setting, so test the display before the event.
How do you reset a Slido poll?
No reset button appears in Slido's documentation. The documented sequence is to lock voting, which stops new answers while the poll stays visible, then deactivate the poll, which removes the tally from screens. A fresh start means building a new question.
How do you activate a Slido poll?
You start it the way any other interaction is started, from the event's interface while presenting. A survey pushes all of its questions to participants at once the moment it goes live, so activation is a single action rather than a per-question one.
How do you clear a Slido poll?
Deactivating is the documented clear. After voting is locked, the tally stays on the Present screen until the host deactivates the poll, and that removal wipes it from view. The answers describe no other clearing step.
Where these facts come from
- community.slido.com. community.slido.com/community-q-a-7/how-can-i-make-sure-people-only-vote-once-4185.
- community.slido.com. community.slido.com/poll-display-settings-221/lock-voting-in-live-polls-and-surveys-421.
- slido.com. slido.com/terms.
- community.slido.com. community.slido.com/community-q-a-7/what-plan-do-i-need-for-users-to-only-vote-once-1158.
- community.slido.com. community.slido.com/community-q-a-7/how-can-i-make-sure-people-only-vote-once-4185.
This page cannot promise a contest win, and it never tells anyone how to slip past a host's controls. Slido's documentation checked here does not publish a numeric option cap, a reset button or a flat price, so none is stated. No vote seller is named and no workaround is taught, because the vendor's own terms forbid interference with its service.
X prohibits coordinating with or compensating others to inflate engagement metrics, and it names Polls among the features covered. The Pet Industry Business Awards name the consequence in their own contest: a business may be investigated, lose votes or be disqualified on reasonable evidence of purchased votes. No seller can stop an organiser from doing that.
Slido says it is alerted when an event gets an unusually high number of votes in a very short time, and Crowdsignal says its built-in measures detect patterns of potentially abusive voting. Ordinary participation arrives spread across the voting window, from different people at different moments. Nothing on this site is a method for getting a vote past a check, and a vote that a tool blocks does not count.
Organiser rules differ: the RSPCA Pet of the Year Awards allow extra votes through donations on their official mechanism, while OpenTable Australia treats a vote cast in exchange for money or a reward as null and void. Both are contest rules, not statutes, and whether payment is lawful where you live is a question for a lawyer. Orders are refused for any contest whose rules ban paid votes, and for political ballots.
Votes ordered for a poll that never appear on its count are refunded after the poll closes. A refund never covers an organiser's decision: Localsearch may void all votes for a disqualified nominee, and Mentimeter says a user whose access it cancels under its Acceptable Use Policy is owed no refund or compensation. No result is promised.