Slack still doesn’t ship a fully native poll feature in the standard product, most workspaces rely on a marketplace app like Polly or Simple Poll. There’s also the lightweight emoji-reaction approach for casual decisions, and Workflow Builder for recurring polls. Here’s how each option works in 2026 and when to use which.

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1. Create a Poll with Simple Poll

Simple Poll is the most-used poll app in the Slack Marketplace, quick to set up, free for basic use, paid tiers for advanced features.

Install:

1. Go to the Slack Marketplace and search Simple Poll.
2. Click Add to Slack and authorize.

Create a poll with the slash command:

1. In any channel, type:

   /poll "Where should we go for lunch?" "Pizza" "Sushi" "Salad" "Burrito"

2. Press Enter. Simple Poll posts a poll message in the channel.
3. Members click the option buttons to vote. Results update live, visible to everyone.

Create a poll with the modal:

1. Type /poll with no arguments to open the configuration modal.
2. Enter your question and options.
3. Configure:
   • Anonymous voting (paid tier)
   • Multiple choice (paid tier)
   • Limit responses (one per person, multiple, etc.)
4. Click Create poll.

Free users get unlimited single-choice public polls. Anonymous and multiple-choice features sit behind the paid plan.

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2. Create a Poll with Polly

Polly is the heavier-duty option, more features, friendlier for HR or leadership use cases, including scheduled and recurring polls.

Install: Search Polly in the Slack Marketplace and click Add to Slack.

Create a poll:

1. Type /polly in the channel.
2. The Polly modal opens.
3. Choose a template (Quick Poll, Multiple Choice, Anonymous, Scored, Open-ended).
4. Enter your question and options.
5. Configure:
   • Schedule: send now, later, or recurring (weekly retro, daily standup, etc.)
   • Audience: channel, multiple channels, or specific users
   • Anonymity: fully anonymous or named
   • Allow comments: let voters add context with their vote
6. Click Send.

Polly’s free tier covers basic polls with limits on response count. Paid tiers add unlimited responses, advanced reporting, and the recurring scheduler.

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3. Create a Poll with Emoji Reactions (No App)

For a quick yes/no or “which option” decision in a small team, you don’t need an app at all.

1. Type your question in the channel:

   Lunch spot? React to vote.
   :pizza: Roberta's
   :sushi: Sugarfish
   :salad: Sweetgreen

2. Send the message.
3. Add each emoji as a reaction to your own message. (Hover > smiley icon > pick the emoji.)
4. Teammates click the emojis to vote. Reaction count = vote tally.

Pros: zero setup, works on every plan.

Cons: no anonymity, no enforced one-person-one-vote, not great for more than ~5 options before reactions get crowded.

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4. Create a Poll with Workflow Builder

Workflow Builder is built into Slack and lets you create custom polls without an app, though the polling experience is less polished than dedicated apps.

1. Click More in the sidebar and choose Automations > Workflows > New Workflow.
2. Pick a trigger:
   • From a link in Slack: anyone with the link can launch the poll
   • Scheduled date and time: recurring polls
   • From a shortcut: accessible from the channel + button
3. Add a Send a form step. Configure questions as single-select or multi-select with your options.
4. Add a Send a message step that posts the response to a channel (or to a Google Sheet, Notion, etc., via the available connectors).
5. Publish the workflow.

This approach works well for recurring polls like daily standups or weekly mood checks because results can flow into a spreadsheet automatically. It’s overkill for one-off lunch decisions.

Workflow Builder is included on Pro, Business+, and Enterprise Grid. Free workspaces have a limited subset.

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5. Other Marketplace Options

A few other apps worth knowing:

• Polls for Slack: minimalist alternative to Simple Poll, free.
• Geekbot: async standups with poll-style check-ins, paid.
• SurveyMonkey for Slack: full survey tool, posts results back to a channel.
• Jotform for Slack: form-builder integration with poll question types.
• Tally for Slack: lightweight forms and polls.

For most teams, Simple Poll covers 90% of use cases. Reach for Polly if you need anonymity at scale or recurring scheduled polls. Reach for Workflow Builder if you want results to flow into another tool automatically.

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Quick Reference

Method	Setup	Anonymous	Recurring	Best for
Simple Poll	Install app, free tier OK	Paid only	Paid only	Fast public team polls
Polly	Install app, free tier limited	Yes	Yes (paid)	HR pulse checks, anonymous votes
Emoji reactions	None	No	No	3-5 option casual polls
Workflow Builder	Setup once per poll type	Limited	Yes	Recurring polls into a Sheet/DB
Custom slash command app	Engineering work	Depends	Depends	Branded internal poll experiences

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Which Method Should You Use?

• Lunch poll, small team? Emoji reactions. Done in 30 seconds.
• Public team-wide poll? Simple Poll. Free, fast, clean UI.
• Anonymous feedback or pulse survey? Polly. The anonymity is the feature.
• Daily standup or weekly retro? Workflow Builder with a scheduled trigger and a Sheet output.
• Customer-facing form via Slack? SurveyMonkey or Jotform integration.

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Stop Manually Tallying Team Decisions

Polls help you collect votes, but they don’t tell you what to do with the result. Carly is an AI assistant that connects to 200+ apps including Slack and handles the repetitive work, turning team feedback into calendar events, follow-ups, and next steps without you copy-pasting between tools.

More on Slack: How to schedule a message in Slack · How to pin a message in Slack · How to set status in Slack · Best AI assistants for Slack

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