DEV Community: LivePoll

Add a Live Poll to Your Stream in 5 Minutes (OBS Browser Source, Free, No Viewer Login)

LivePoll — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 05:18:25 +0000

Chat is great at arguing about what to play next and bad at counting. A poll fixes that, and if the results are drawn on the stream itself, everyone watching sees the bars move as votes come in.

Here's the whole setup with LivePoll: a free poll, one browser source in OBS, and a 6-digit code your viewers type on their phones. It takes about five minutes the first time and under one after that.

What viewers see: the poll as one source in the scene, with the vote code repeated in chat.

What you need

OBS Studio, or any streaming app that has a browser source (Streamlabs and most others do).
A browser to make the poll. You don't need an account.
Viewers need a phone or a second tab. They don't sign in to anything.

Step 1: make the poll

Go to FreeLivePoll.com, type your question and answers, and press Publish poll. You can add up to 20 answers.

If you want a head start, there's a set of ready-made stream polls, like a character pick, that you can edit before publishing.

Publishing opens the big-screen view. Its address ends in /live, like this:

https://freelivepoll.com/819-330/live

That's the URL OBS needs. The six digits in the middle are the code your viewers will type.

The big-screen view at 1920 by 1080. The bars, percentages and counts update live.

Step 2: add it to OBS as a browser source

In your scene, click + under Sources and pick Browser.
Name it something like Live poll.
Paste the /live URL from step 1.
Set the width to 1920 and the height to 1080, so the page lays out exactly as it does full screen.
Click OK, then drag the corner handles to size it.

Source type:  Browser
URL:          https://freelivepoll.com/<your-code>/live
Width:        1920
Height:       1080

Rendering at 1920 by 1080 and scaling down in OBS keeps text sharp. If you set a small width instead, the page reflows for a small screen, and that's not what you want on stream.

If your streaming app has no browser source, a window capture of the /live page in a normal browser window works too.

Step 3: tell viewers how to vote

Viewers can get in three ways:

The code. Put it in chat: "Vote at freelivepoll.com, code 819-330." This is the one that always works, because chats that hold links for review still let six digits through.
The QR code on the big screen, for anyone watching on a TV or a second device.
The link in chat or your stream description, where links are allowed.

They land on a page with big tap targets and no sign-up, vote once, and see the live results right there:

A viewer's phone after voting. They see the same live results as the stream.

Make it fit your scene

Shrink the QR code. OBS has an Interact option when you right-click a browser source. Open it and press Q, and the QR code moves to a small corner tile, which gives the bars the room. Press Q again to bring it back. The code stays on screen either way.
Crop it. Hold Alt (Option on a Mac) and drag an edge of the source to crop the page down to just the bars.
Light or dark. The big screen has a light mode toggle if your overlay is bright.
Run it from your phone. In the browser tab where you published, press Remote on the big screen and scan the code with your own phone. From there you can close voting, reopen it, reset it or share it, without touching OBS mid-stream. Keep that code to yourself, since anyone who scans it can control the poll.

When you close voting, the QR code makes way for a button that starts your next question, so one browser source can carry a whole series of polls.

Here's the full flow in 30 seconds, from a blank poll to votes landing on the big screen:

Twitch and YouTube specifics

On Twitch, the poll is separate from Twitch's built-in polls, so it works on any channel and the results are part of your video, VODs included. Our Twitch poll page covers the details.

On YouTube Live, the same goes for replays: the bars are in the recording. If your channel holds links in chat, the code still gets through. More on the YouTube Live poll page.

FAQ

Is it free? Yes. Free polls have no voter limit.

Do viewers need an account? No. They vote in a browser.

Does this need a plugin or an extension? No. It's a web page that OBS shows as a source.

Can I use it for a talk or a webinar instead? Yes, the same big screen works on a projector. We wrote that up in adding a live poll to your next talk.

The short version

Publish a poll at freelivepoll.com and copy the /live URL.
Add it in OBS as a Browser source at 1920 by 1080 and scale it down.
Post the 6-digit code in chat.

What would you ask your chat first?

Add a Live Poll to Your Next Talk, Meetup or Webinar (Free, No Add-in)

LivePoll — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 01:18:44 +0000

The quickest way to wake up a room is to ask it something. "Who here has shipped a Friday deploy?" works fine with a show of hands, until the hands half go up and you can't count them, or the talk is on Zoom and half the faces are off camera.

A live poll fixes that: the question goes on the big screen, people vote from their phones, and the bars move while you talk. Here's how to set one up for a conference talk, a meetup or a webinar in a few minutes, with no add-in and nothing for your audience to install.

Here's the whole thing in 30 seconds, from typing the question to a room of phones voting:

Why not a PowerPoint add-in?

Add-ins tie the poll to one app and one version. The venue laptop runs a different Office build, the add-in needs admin rights to install, or you present from Keynote or Google Slides and it doesn't exist there.

The approach below keeps the poll in a browser window. Your slides stay a normal deck, and the only thing on a slide is a QR code image, which every slide app supports.

Step 1: Publish the poll before you present

Create the poll at FreeLivePoll.com: type the question and the answers, then publish. You don't need an account, and neither do your voters. Keep the big-screen view open in its own browser window.

The big-screen view waiting for votes: the question, the answers, and a QR code people can scan from the back row.

Do this before your talk starts, so the live moment is just a window switch.

Step 2: Put the QR code on a slide

From the poll's settings page, download the QR code as a PNG and insert it on the slide where you'll ask the question, like any other picture. Add the short code in big type under it for people whose camera won't focus from the back.

This is the part that makes it work in any deck: PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides, any version. The details for PowerPoint are in our guide to a live poll for PowerPoint.

Step 3: Switch to the results when it's time

When you reach the poll slide, people scan and vote. Switch to the results window with Alt+Tab (Cmd+Tab on a Mac), press F for full screen, and the bars update as the votes arrive.

The reveal happens in front of everyone, which is the point. Talk through it as the bars move.

On each voter's phone, the vote is one tap, and they see the live results right under their answer:

What each voter sees after one tap.

When you've made your point, close voting from your phone and switch back to your slides. The results stay on the page after you close voting, so you can bring them up again in the Q&A.

Running it on Zoom, Teams or a webinar

Remote talks work the same way with two swaps. Share the results window instead of switching to it, and paste the voting link into the chat instead of relying on the QR code. Attendees open the link in a new tab, tap an answer and come back to the stream.

It only needs screen sharing and a chat, so it doesn't depend on your Zoom plan or your webinar platform. Our guides for a live poll in Zoom and a webinar poll walk through each one.

Questions that work well in a talk

Opening: "How much have you used [the thing I'm about to show]?" (Never / A bit / Daily). It tells you where to pitch the rest of the talk.
Mid-talk check: "Which of these would you try first?" with the options you just covered.
Before the reveal: "What do you think happened next?" Then show the answer.
Closing: "How useful was this session?" Votes are anonymous, so you get honest answers.

The short version

Publish the poll before the talk and keep the big-screen view in a browser window.
Put the QR code PNG and the short code on a slide.
Alt+Tab or Cmd+Tab to the results, press F, talk through the bars.
On Zoom or a webinar: share that window and paste the link in the chat.

Every poll is free, with unlimited voters and no ads. What's the one question you'd ask your next audience?