1. Strawpoll
If you want to ask a single question without special gimmicks, look no further than Strawpoll. This service specializes in one thing and one thing only: creating a single question with different options. Strawpoll was once the king of creating polls on the streaming website Twitch, due to its simplicity and speed. Now, Twitch has its own polling feature; however, Strawpoll is still as useful as it ever was. What makes Strawpoll easy to use is that you don’t need to register to use it. All you need to do is type what you want to ask in the top field, then enter all the options underneath. Don’t worry if you need to enter more than three – the website will automatically add a new field when you fill the previous ones. If you don’t want people rigging your poll, you can tell it to disallow votes from the same IP address or browser cookie. Once you’re done, click “Create Poll” and share the link with your recipients. You can check the results at any time to see how things are faring.
2. Poll Maker
If you like the idea behind Strawpoll, but are disappointed at the lack of features it has, try Poll Maker. This one is a step above Strawpoll with features, making it the best option if you want a quick and simple survey with some advanced options. The main UI works very similarly to Strawpoll: you have a main field for the question and fields for the answers. However, you can add images to each answer by clicking the picture icon, which lets you upload a picture or add one from an online library. If you want even more customization, you can click the headers along the top to see advanced features. Under the “Settings” header, you can allow users to comment on your quiz. You can set it so that people can vote once every time period or just the one time. If you don’t want people peeking at the results, you can disable it and keep the votes blind. Under the Advanced Settings window, you can set a time period for when the quiz will be active. You can track where voters come from and even randomize the answer positioning.
3. Google Forms
Problems begin to arise when you begin to move away from a single question and onto a full survey. There are plenty of options – the problem is, most of them aren’t “truly” free. For instance, you have Survey Monkey, which has a free plan. However, free surveys can’t go above 10 questions or receive over 40 applicants. As such, it’s hard to recommend any other survey website when Google Forms exists. Google Forms lets you add as many questions as you like, change how it looks and does it totally free. If you’re unsure about making your own form, don’t worry. Google Forms has a few examples that fit common uses for surveys. If you find one that matches what you want to do, go ahead and use the template to speed things up. However, if you do want to dig deep into making your own survey, you won’t be disappointed with the features of Google Forms. You can set up your survey to have multiple choice answers, drop-down selections, or allow the user to type their own answer. If you need to collect the date and/or time, you can easily add fields that people can use to quickly enter their answers. When you send your Google Form out into the wild, you can monitor how it’s doing in the Responses tab. Once you’ve gathered enough data, you can click a button and export your answers into a Google Sheet without any effort. If you want to learn more about how to create a Google Form, be sure to check out our tutorial on making a Google Form. An advantage is that you can also embed your poll in email.
Which Should You Pick?
Which option is best for you? Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, and each suits a specific need. If you want to ask a single question and get single or multiple responses, use Strawpoll. Its ease of use and lack of a forced sign-in means you can quickly make and share a poll. If you want to ask a single question, but Strawpoll is a little too bare-bones for you, go for Poll Maker. Its additional options make it fantastic for making an advanced poll. However, as soon as you need to ask more than one question, you enter the realm of survey makers. In this situation, Google Forms is one of the few “truly free” options with unlimited usage and customizability.
In Fine Form with Free Forms
If you want to make a quick and free form for others to fill out, there are plenty of options out there. However, the above can be regarded as truly free while also being powerful tools worth your time.
