PollQR

Overview

PollQR is a QR-based platform for live polls, surveys, audience Q&A, and judged competitions. It best suits presenters and businesses that want audience members to respond on their phones without installing an app. Its breadth is useful, but event size, response limits, and retention should guide the choice.

Key features

Live polls offer seven question types, including multiple choice, word clouds, and ranking, with results updating as votes arrive. That makes PollQR a good fit for presentations where the audience should see collective responses as they happen. Moderation tools and Q&A help manage contributions, while competitions add live judging with a private jury board.

Business surveys can provide downloadable response data, email alerts, AI sentiment analysis, and optional review nudges for happy customers. These tools make PollQR more than a presentation poller, though Pro's 5,000-response-per-poll cap may rule it out for high-volume surveys. Pro includes CSV exports and webhooks; responses can be downloaded in CSV or JSON.

Browser-based workflows support PowerPoint, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Slides without requiring a presentation add-in. PollQR says it uses encryption, secure hosting, and access controls, and that customers own their survey data. It does not sell, trade, or rent personal information, but customers remain responsible for privacy compliance relating to respondents. The PowerPoint add-in reads and writes only the open presentation to insert selected content and communicates with PollQR over HTTPS.

Pricing

The Free plan costs nothing and includes one live poll with no credit card required. It is a low-commitment way to try a single poll, but not a broad ongoing event or survey package.

Pay-As-You-Go costs $2.99 a month, with no subscription required. It allows 500 responses per poll and retains data for 90 days, making it the more restrained option for occasional teachers, trainers, speakers, or short events. The response ceiling and short retention period are meaningful trade-offs for recurring or larger-scale work.

Pro costs $19 a month after a free 14-day trial. It includes 20 surveys with unlimited responses, 25 custom QR codes, 100 live polls per month, up to 5,000 responses per poll, and 100 Q&A sessions per month with up to 1,000 questions each. Businesses and regular presenters get substantially more room than the per-poll option, but the per-poll ceiling still matters. The competition pass is $149 with Pro.

Enterprise Starter starts at $299 a month for 5–25 locations. Competition passes cost $249 per competition for one event, one QR code per entry, up to five scoring criteria, and a private live jury board; fields above 10 contestants are quoted individually. This is a specialized event purchase rather than a general polling tier.

Platforms

PollQR supports Android, iOS, macOS, web, and Windows, with an audience limit of 500. Participants need no app installation to respond. Slide integration and browser-based workflows cover PowerPoint, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Slides, a useful combination for presenters who want participation without adding a presentation plug-in.

Who it's for

PollQR is strongest for presenters who need live polling and Q&A, businesses gathering customer feedback, and event organizers running judged competitions. Occasional speakers and educators can use the per-poll option without a subscription. It is less compelling for audiences beyond its 500-person limit, very large individual surveys, or competitions with more than 10 contestants unless custom quoting suits the event.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Participants can respond without installing an app, reducing friction for live events.
• Pros: Polls, surveys, Q&A, and judged competitions cover several audience-engagement needs in one platform.
• Pros: Pro combines a generous monthly activity allowance with survey analysis, exports, and webhooks.
• Cons: The 500-person audience limit and 5,000-response per-poll Pro ceiling constrain larger engagements.
• Cons: Pay-As-You-Go retains data for only 90 days, which may not suit longer-term feedback analysis.
• Cons: Competition passes are a substantial separate cost, and larger fields require individual quotes.

Alternatives

Choose Poll Everywhere if its free tier's 40-person audience limit, or 700 for 30 days, fits your presentation better. Particify is an alternative with a free tier for 200 participants per room and unlimited rooms. Consider AhaSlides if a free plan capped at 50 participants, five quiz questions, and three poll questions matches your needs. Votinova offers a free tier for 50 participants per session and one simultaneous session. Crowdpurr is a web-based alternative with a free tier for 20 participants, 15 questions, and three simultaneous experiences. PollsLive has a free tier with 500 responses per poll, but limits live participation to three people. Vevox offers a free tier for 100 participants and one user. Mentimeter is another freemium option, with a free tier for 50 participants per month and 23 slide types.

Browse more options in Polling Software or Audience Response Systems.

Verdict

PollQR is a strong fit for presenters and businesses that want QR-based participation across polls, surveys, Q&A, and competitions without asking guests to install an app. Its range and Pro plan make it particularly practical for recurring events and feedback work. Look elsewhere if your audience or individual survey may exceed its limits, or if competition pricing is out of scale for your event.