123 Polls & Surveys or Microsoft Teams Polls: which should I use?
Want to try ours? Add 123 Polls & Surveys to Microsoft Teams. It's free to start. Already have it? Open it in Teams.
Microsoft Teams has its own Polls app, powered by Microsoft Forms, and for a quick multiple-choice question it's a fine choice: it's already included with Microsoft 365. 123 Polls & Surveys is for when you want more kinds of questions, more control over who sees names and results, or answers from people who aren't in Teams.
Last checked against Microsoft's documentation: July 2026.
Side by side
| Microsoft Teams Polls | 123 Polls & Surveys | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Included with Microsoft 365 | Free for 2 meetings a month; paid plans for more |
| Question types | 5: multiple choice, quiz, word cloud, rating, ranking | 11: the same five, plus emoji feedback, written answer, idea board, agreement scale and a 0 to 10 recommendation score (single and multiple choice are listed separately) |
| Multi-question polls | Yes | Yes, with a review step before submitting |
| Who sees names | Record names (seen by organizers and presenters), or anonymous | Anonymous, organizers and presenters only, or everyone |
| When results show | Share results with respondents, or not | Live, after answering, when you reveal them, after closing, or presenters only |
| Approve written answers before they're shown | Not in Microsoft's documentation | Yes, on idea boards, word clouds and written answers |
| Answers from outside Teams | Through the meeting chat if they're in the meeting | A link and QR code that works in any browser |
| Meeting screen | A pop-up for attendees | Shared to the meeting screen, where people can answer |
| Downloads | Excel | Excel, CSV, and a presentation image of each result |
| Chats and channels | Quick multiple-choice polls | Quick polls in group chats, standard and shared channels |
Use Microsoft Teams Polls if
- You need a quick vote or a simple quiz.
- Your organization only allows Microsoft's apps.
- You want results to live in Microsoft Forms.
Use 123 Polls & Surveys if
- You want idea boards for a Q&A or retrospective, with answers you approve first.
- People join from meeting rooms, phones or outside your organization.
- You need a clear choice of who sees names, and when people see results.
- You want a results image for your slides, or the data in CSV.
You can have both installed and use whichever fits the moment.
Try it
Questions? Send us a message and our team will help.