Poll Daddy and Crowdsignal: the poll service explained
Poll Daddy, rebranded as Crowdsignal, is a poll and survey service owned by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com. It builds polls, surveys, quizzes and ratings, then publishes them on WordPress sites, by link or through its iOS app. A free tier exists: you sign up at no cost, with the free account capped at ten questions per survey.
Written by BuyPollVotes editorial desk | Last checked
From Polldaddy to Crowdsignal
Poll Daddy is the name most people still type, and the name the service answered to for years. Crowdsignal is what the vendor calls it now. Same product, same dashboard, new label: the rebrand covered polls, surveys, ratings and quizzes, the four formats the tool has always handled.
Who owns it matters for how it works. Automattic, the company that operates WordPress.com, owns the service, and that ownership shows up in the product's deepest feature: polls that drop straight into WordPress posts and pages without a third-party bridge. It also explains the login, which runs through a WordPress.com account rather than a separate username nobody remembers.
- The same dashboard, the same polls and the same surveys sit behind both names, so a Polldaddy tutorial still walks you through the current tool.
- Automattic, the WordPress.com company, owns the product, which is why the WordPress integration runs deeper than on standalone poll makers.
- The vendor ships an iOS app under the Crowdsignal name for running live feedback on an iPhone or iPad.
Inside the Crowdsignal dashboard
Everything happens in one place. The Crowdsignal dashboard hosts polls, surveys and ratings side by side, so you switch between formats without leaving the screen. Start a new survey there and the vendor now offers a shortcut: instead of a blank editor, a Create with AI button appears, and the vendor's own blog says you describe what you would like to learn and the service builds an editable draft, questions and all, in a few seconds.
The old route still works if you prefer it. Pick a format, write the question, add the options, and the draft sits in your account until you publish. From the same settings you decide whether voters see the running tally, see nothing, or see bare percentages. Those display switches matter in contests, where an organiser usually wants the count quiet until the deadline.
- Polls, surveys, ratings and quizzes all start from the same dashboard entry point.
- An AI draft builds an editable survey from a written goal, questions included.
- Display controls let you show the tally, hide it or publish percentages only.
WordPress and Crowdsignal forms
Crowdsignal's deepest feature is its WordPress integration, and it separates the service from every generic poll maker. If you run a WordPress.com site, the vendor states that Crowdsignal polls come already built in: no plugin hunt, no embed fiddling, you place the poll block and the poll runs. Crowdsignal forms behave the same way, which is why the phrase crowdsignal forms wordpress shows up so often in searches about embedding a survey in a post.
Self-hosted sites get the same treatment through a different door. For a WordPress.org install on your own hosting, the vendor points you at its WordPress.org plugin, which unlocks the same features the hosted version carries. Either way the poll lives inside your page rather than on a link elsewhere, and the responses collect back in the dashboard.
- WordPress.com sites ship with Crowdsignal polls already built in.
- Self-hosted WordPress.org installs get the same features through the vendor's plugin.
- Polls and surveys embed in posts and pages, so a contest question sits next to the content.
How the blocking settings work
Every poll creator eventually hits the same question: how do I stop the count from filling up with noise? Crowdsignal answers with a set of blocking switches, and each one works differently. The one-per-IP setting is what the vendor itself calls the most secure method to block votes, and it allows exactly one vote per IP address. A separate email setting blocks repeat voters from reusing the same email address, and the vendor ties that to its repeat-voter option.
Switch everything off and the platform still watches. The vendor's documentation notes that voting is rate-limited by IP even when no blocking is enabled, with a threshold that allows a set number of responses from one address in a given time period. Email confirmation adds another layer: the poll does not register the response until the voter clicks a confirmation link in their inbox.
The table below lines the settings up so you can pick one without digging through the vendor's help pages.
- One response per IP address is the vendor's stated strongest option.
- Email-based blocking stops a repeat voter from reusing the same address.
- Even with blocking off, the platform rate-limits responses by IP.
- Email confirmation holds a response open until the voter clicks a link.
Rules, abuse and what the platform sees
Read the terms before you hang a contest on a Crowdsignal poll, because the vendor wrote them with exactly this problem in mind. They reserve the right to block any user deemed to be using an unfair amount of server resources or submitting an excessive amount of votes in a short period of time. In plain language: a sudden flood from one source is not something the platform shrugs at.
The enforcement runs further than a warning. The terms let the vendor suspend or terminate access, in its sole discretion and with or without notice, when it believes a user has violated the terms or harmed other users or the service. And the vendor's FAQ states that the product ships with built-in measures which detect patterns of potentially abusive voting, so the check is automatic rather than something a moderator has to switch on.
One recommendation from the vendor's own FAQ deserves the last word here: the company does not recommend creating polls which offer any sort of reward, because fraudulent voting cannot always be blocked. That is a recommendation rather than an express ban, but it comes from the platform itself, and an organiser who reads it knows where the vendor stands on prize-driven contests. The honest summary is this: the platform sees what it sees, blocks what it catches, and no participant can know in advance what slipped through.
- The terms reserve the right to block users who submit an excessive number of votes in a short period.
- Accounts that break the terms or harm other users can lose access without notice.
- The vendor states its built-in measures detect patterns of potentially abusive voting.
- The vendor advises against polls that offer rewards, because inflated voting cannot always be blocked.
The iOS app
The Polldaddy app people remember from the old days has a Crowdsignal name now. The vendor calls it the Crowdsignal for iOS app, and its product page describes the pitch simply: get immediate feedback with the app on your Apple device. The tool runs on iPhone and iPad alike.
Where it earns its keep is offline and in the room. The vendor's own line for the iPad and iPhone version is that it lets you ditch paper forms, which is the event use case: a workshop, a conference session or a classroom where the presenter throws a question on screen and the audience taps answers. The Polldaddy logo still floats around screenshots of older versions, but the current app carries the Crowdsignal branding.
- The vendor names its mobile product the Crowdsignal for iOS app.
- The iPad and iPhone app exists to replace paper forms at events.
- Live feedback lands on the presenter's device while the audience responds.
Plans and what the free tier covers
The question everyone asks first: is the thing free? Yes, with a cap. The vendor's older documentation walks new users through selecting Sign Up under the free account option, and the same material notes that the free Polldaddy account does not cost money. Crowdsignal carries that forward: you can build and run polls and surveys without paying anything.
The cap is the trade. The free account limits you to ten questions per survey, which is plenty for a poll, tight for a long survey. Beyond that the vendor lists premium tiers on its plan table, with a premium account described as a yearly subscription in the older documentation and business and team options priced alongside. None of those numbers change how the blocking settings work: a paid plan buys headroom, not a different rulebook.
- A free account exists and signing up for it costs nothing.
- The free account caps surveys at ten questions.
- Paid tiers exist for larger projects, billed per month or per year.
- Team plans price per user on the vendor's published plan table.
Where the API stops
Developers get a boundary drawn clearly. The vendor's API page states that the interface supports polls but does not support surveys or quizzes, so anyone wiring a contest tally into their own tooling should plan around polls specifically. A survey built in the dashboard stays a dashboard object: you read it there, not through a script.
That boundary trips up people migrating old Polldaddy projects, because the older tooling blurred the line between poll and survey. The current rule is the current rule: if your contest needs programmatic access, run it as a poll. If it needs a multi-question survey with branching, plan to read the responses in the dashboard.
- The API covers polls and their responses.
- Surveys sit outside what the API supports.
- Quizzes sit outside it too.
How to build your first poll
Five moves take a new creator from an empty account to a live poll, and none of them need a paid plan. The sequence below follows the vendor's own documentation for the dashboard, the blocking settings and the WordPress embedding, in the order a first-time organiser actually meets them.
- Free accounts cap surveys at ten questions, so a short contest poll fits comfortably.
- The deadline switch closes the poll automatically at the date and time you set.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| One vote per IP | Allows one vote per IP address, which the vendor calls its most secure method to block votes. |
| Email blocking | Blocks repeat voters from using the same email address more than once. |
| No blocking | Lets participants respond repeatedly, within a threshold that allows a set number of responses from an IP in a given period. |
| Rate limit | Rate-limits voting by IP address even when no blocking is enabled. |
| Email confirmation | Holds the vote unregistered until the voter clicks a confirmation link in their email. |
How to do it
-
Open the Crowdsignal dashboard
Sign in with your WordPress.com account, or pick the free sign-up option if you are starting fresh. The free account costs nothing and caps surveys at ten questions.
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Build the poll
Choose the poll format, write the question and add the options. For a survey, use the Create with AI route: describe your goal and edit the draft the service returns.
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Set the blocking
Pick one vote per IP address for the tightest control, or switch on repeat-voter blocking by email. Remember the platform rate-limits voting by IP even when every blocking switch is off.
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Choose the deadline and the display
Set a date and time for the poll to close automatically, or leave it open permanently. Decide whether voters see the full tally, percentages only, or nothing.
-
Publish where the voters are
Drop the poll into a WordPress.com post, install the plugin on a self-hosted WordPress.org site, or share a standalone link. Responses collect in the dashboard as they arrive.
Common questions
Is Crowdsignal free?
Yes. Crowdsignal keeps a free plan you can sign up for at no cost, and the vendor's older Polldaddy documentation confirms the free account was always part of the product. The catch sits in the caps: the free account limits you to ten questions per survey, and paid tiers exist for larger projects. For a quick poll in a contest, a blog post or a group chat, the free tier covers what most people need.
Was ist Crowdsignal?
Crowdsignal ist der neue Name von Polldaddy, einem Umfrage- und Abstimmungsdienst von Automattic. Mit dem Tool erstellen Sie Umfragen, Abstimmungen, Bewertungen und Quizzes, betten sie in WordPress-Seiten ein oder teilen sie per Link. Ein kostenloser Tarif existiert, bezahlte Tarife gibt es für größere Projekte.
How does Polldaddy Crowdsignal work?
You build a poll or survey in the Crowdsignal dashboard, pick the questions and options, then choose the blocking settings that decide how votes are counted. The vendor lets you close the poll automatically at a chosen date and time, or keep it open permanently. Once published, the poll runs on a WordPress site, a standalone link or the iOS app, and the tally collects on the vendor's side.
Does Crowdsignal still work under the Polldaddy name?
Yes, in the sense that Polldaddy and Crowdsignal are one product with two names. The vendor rebranded the service, so the old Polldaddy branding lives on in older documentation, tutorials and the signage people remember. Anything written about Polldaddy polls describes the same dashboard, the same WordPress integration and the same blocking settings that Crowdsignal ships today.
What can Crowdsignal see about how votes arrive?
The platform records the technical signals behind each response: IP rate-limiting runs even with blocking off, one response per IP can be enforced, and repeat-voter blocking can tie to an email address. The vendor states that built-in measures detect patterns of potentially abusive voting, and its terms reserve the right to block accounts that submit an excessive number of votes in a short period.
Can a Crowdsignal poll show its tally to voters?
The creator decides that. The vendor's creation guide lists three display modes: show the full tally to everyone, hide it entirely, or publish only the percentages. Contest organisers often pick the percentage view, which keeps the winner quiet until the deadline passes while still giving voters something to watch while the poll runs.
Where these facts come from
- Crowdsignal. crowdsignal.com/support/creating-a-poll/.
- Crowdsignal. crowdsignal.com/support/creating-a-poll/.
- Crowdsignal. crowdsignal.com/support/poll-vote-blocking-options/.
- edtechbooks.org. edtechbooks.org/onlinetools/polldaddy.
- X (Twitter). x.com/Polldaddy.
Crowdsignal's free tier does not remove every cap: the free account limits surveys to ten questions, and the API never touches surveys or quizzes. The vendor does not promise that every inflated tally gets caught, and no setting makes a poll untouchable; the platform blocks what it spots, when it spots it. This page never teaches vote manipulation, names no seller and quotes no price or fee. Organisers write their own contest rules, and Crowdsignal decides what its tools record, so nothing here can guarantee a contest outcome.
X prohibits coordinating with or compensating others to inflate engagement metrics, and it names Polls among the features covered. The Pet Industry Business Awards name the consequence in their own contest: a business may be investigated, lose votes or be disqualified on reasonable evidence of purchased votes. No seller can stop an organiser from doing that.
Slido says it is alerted when an event gets an unusually high number of votes in a very short time, and Crowdsignal says its built-in measures detect patterns of potentially abusive voting. Ordinary participation arrives spread across the voting window, from different people at different moments. Nothing on this site is a method for getting a vote past a check, and a vote that a tool blocks does not count.
Organiser rules differ: the RSPCA Pet of the Year Awards allow extra votes through donations on their official mechanism, while OpenTable Australia treats a vote cast in exchange for money or a reward as null and void. Both are contest rules, not statutes, and whether payment is lawful where you live is a question for a lawyer. Orders are refused for any contest whose rules ban paid votes, and for political ballots.
Votes ordered for a poll that never appear on its count are refunded after the poll closes. A refund never covers an organiser's decision: Localsearch may void all votes for a disqualified nominee, and Mentimeter says a user whose access it cancels under its Acceptable Use Policy is owed no refund or compensation. No result is promised.