Reddit Poll Limit: Options, Duration and What One Account Can Do
A reddit poll limit has three numbers: up to six answer options, a duration of up to one week, and an end time fixed when the poll is posted. Each account casts one vote, the poll runs only from the mobile app while the desktop web version is under construction, and results stay hidden until a person votes or the poll ends. Anti-vote-cheating measures can ignore votes from coordinated efforts, so the visible count is not every real ballot cast.
Written by BuyPollVotes editorial desk | Last checked
The three numbers Reddit publishes
Reddit announced the poll post type with a short, fixed set of numbers, and the reddit poll limit starts there. A question can carry up to six answer options for the community to choose from. The poll itself can stay open for up to one week. That is the whole published range: six, seven days, and nothing adjustable in between. Reddit's announcement states each figure plainly, so there is no room to negotiate a seventh option or an eighth day inside the standard post type.
The end time is part of the deal from the first tap. Reddit requires the end time to be selected at the moment of posting, which means you cannot launch a poll first and decide later how long it should run. Once the clock is set and the post goes live, the deadline holds. A poll that ends early stays ended, and one set for a week runs the full week.
- Six is the maximum number of answer options.
- One week is the longest possible duration.
- The end time is locked when the poll is posted.
- No character cap for the question has ever been published.
One vote per account, no take-backs
Voting takes a signed-in Reddit account, and each account holds exactly one vote in any given poll. There is no second ballot waiting behind the first, no weighted extra choice for long-standing accounts. Reddit's help pages treat the single vote as the basic unit of a poll, which is why the counter on a poll post reads as a head count of accounts rather than a pile of clicks.
Results follow a simple gate. If you voted in the poll, you can see the current results right away. If you have not voted, you either cast a vote or wait until the poll ends; there is no preview for bystanders. That design ties the count to participation, so the tally you see after voting reflects accounts that committed an answer.
What the rules call manipulation
Reddit's help centre lists vote manipulation as a rule violation, whether it is done by hand, by a program, or by any other method. The rule covers the poll counter exactly as it covers upvotes on any other post, so the reddit poll limit sits inside a broader rulebook about how counts are allowed to grow.
The enforcement ladder is published too. Reddit's transparency report describes a sequence for vote manipulation: a warning first, then a three-day ban, then a seven-day ban, and a permanent ban if the behaviour continues. The report also notes that bots must not manipulate voting or karma, or get around safety mechanisms such as blocks and bans. A poll count inflated from the outside therefore carries a user-level penalty on top of the corrected tally.
- Using multiple accounts, voting services, or software to change vote counts.
- Requesting or encouraging people to upvote a specific post for personal gain.
- Joining or forming groups that coordinate votes.
- Asking for upvotes in exchange for gifts or prizes, which Reddiquette forbids.
How Reddit catches the inflated counts
Reddit hooked its normal anti-vote-cheating measures into poll votes when the format launched. The stated purpose is to ignore votes that arrive from coordinated efforts, which means the number displayed under a poll is the filtered count, not the raw tap total. Reddit does not publish the thresholds or the signals involved, and the help pages do not describe how a particular vote gets weighed.
The wider enforcement picture uses three channels. Reddit's transparency report names automated detection, human review, and user reports as the tools that identify and remove violating content. In practice that means a suspicious poll can be flagged by readers, reviewed by a person, and matched against patterns the automated systems already track, all without the poster taking any action.
Why creation lives in the mobile app
The mobile app is the only working door for poll creation right now. Reddit has told users that polls on the web are under construction, that polls have not been functional on desktop web for some time, and that the app is where a poll can still be made. There is no published timeline for the desktop return.
That gap shapes the reddit poll limit in practice: whatever the official numbers say, they only apply where the feature works. Building a poll on a laptop through the browser is not an option at the moment, so plan the post from a phone and keep the six-option, one-week frame in mind.
- Polls on the web are marked under construction.
- The mobile application is the only method available for making a poll.
- Reddit says it is transitioning polls to a new platform.
- No specific date for the desktop fix has been announced.
Where money does nothing
Money does not move these numbers. Buying upvotes for a poll post is treated by Reddit as vote manipulation, and Reddiquette separately tells users never to ask for upvotes in exchange for gifts or prizes, so a paid push on a poll lands on the wrong side of two published rules at once. The reddit poll limit is a mechanical fact about the post type; spending cannot add a seventh option or stretch the week.
Anonymity cuts the other way too. All voting on Reddit polls is anonymous, so nobody, including the person who posted the poll, has access to any voter's username or information during or after voting. A poster who suspects bought support on a poll cannot inspect the voter list to confirm it; the evidence lives in Reddit's own measures, not in anything the poll displays.
What these limits mean in practice
In practice, the reddit poll limit makes a poll a short, tight instrument. Six options force a real trim of the answer list before you post. Seven days is long enough for a slow community vote and short enough that a stale question drops off naturally. The fixed end time rewards planning, because the moment of posting is also the moment of commitment.
The honest gaps stay gaps. Reddit publishes no character limit for a poll question, no per-community exceptions to the six-option cap, and no figure for how many coordinated votes its measures ignore. Where a number is missing, no tool, plan, or payment fills it in; the missing figure is simply not published.
| What is capped | The number Reddit publishes |
|---|---|
| Answer options | Six at most |
| Duration | Up to one week |
| End time | Chosen when the poll is posted |
| Votes | One per account |
| Creation surface | Mobile app only; web is under construction |
How to do it
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Open the Reddit app
The mobile application is currently the only method available for creating polls, since the desktop web version is under construction. Sign in first, because both posting and voting need an account.
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Compose the question
Write the question in the app's poll composer. No character limit for the question has been published, so keep it short enough to read at a glance and clear enough to answer with the options you plan to give.
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List up to six options
Add the answer choices one by one, to the max of six that Reddit's announcement allows. Fewer is fine; the cap is a ceiling, not a target. Trim weak options rather than padding toward six.
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Fix the end time
Select the end time before posting, up to a maximum of one week. This is the only moment the duration can be set; once the poll is live, the deadline holds and cannot be edited.
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Post and watch the counts
Send the post to the community and watch the tally. Voters see results immediately; everyone else sees them after voting or after the poll ends. Coordinated votes risk being ignored by Reddit's anti-cheating measures.
Common questions
What is the option count on a reddit poll?
Six is the published maximum. Reddit's announcement of the poll post type says a question can list up to six answer options for the community to choose from, and nothing in the help pages raises that cap for any community or account.
Can a reddit poll stay open longer than one week?
No. The published reddit poll limit for duration is one week of open voting. Reddit requires the end time to be selected at the time of posting, and no setting, plan, or community configuration extends a poll past that deadline.
When do you have to choose when the poll ends?
At the moment of posting. Reddit's announcement states that the end time must be selected when the poll is posted, so there is no option to launch first and set the deadline later, and no edit window for it afterwards.
Can you make a reddit poll from a desktop browser?
Not at the moment. The reddit poll limit on creation surfaces is the mobile app: Reddit has told users that polls on the web are under construction and that the application is the only method available, with no specific timeline published for the desktop version's return.
Why do some poll votes never appear in the count?
Reddit applies its anti-vote-cheating measures to poll votes and states that they ignore votes from coordinated efforts. The number shown under a poll is therefore a filtered tally, and Reddit does not publish the signals or thresholds it uses to weigh a vote.
Do reddit polls show who voted for which option?
No. Reddit polls are anonymous, so nobody has access to any voter's username or information during or after voting. The poster sees only the totals per option, and a voter sees the current results once their own vote is in.
Where these facts come from
- Reddit. reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/fo7p5b/introducing_reddit_polls_an_allnew_post_type/.
- reddiquette.com. reddiquette.com/reddit-polls/.
- redditinc.com. redditinc.com/blog/introducing-reddit-polls-an-all-new-post-type.
- redditinc.com. redditinc.com/blog/introducing-reddit-polls-an-all-new-post-type.
- redditinc.com. redditinc.com/blog/introducing-reddit-polls-an-all-new-post-type.
No setting adds a seventh option, extends a poll past one week, or moves the end time after posting. Reddit does not publish a character cap for poll questions, does not allow poll creation on desktop web today, and never treats paid or coordinated upvotes as legitimate votes.
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.