How-to Guide · Updated June 2026
There are two ways to make a poll on Twitch. If your channel is a Twitch Affiliate or Partner, you can use the native poll in your chat panel, which allows 2 to 5 options. If you are not an affiliate, or you want more options and a live overlay, run a free chat-command poll where viewers vote by typing !1, !2 or !3 in chat. Below is how to do both.
Method 1
Twitch's built-in poll lives in your chat panel and is available only once your channel reaches Affiliate or Partner. Every logged-in viewer gets one free vote, and you can optionally let viewers spend Channel Points for additional votes.
Confirm your channel is a Twitch Affiliate or Partner. Polls do not appear for channels below that level.
In your channel chat, open the actions menu and choose the poll (bar chart) icon.
Type your question (up to 60 characters) and add 2 to 5 options (up to 25 characters each).
Set a duration (Twitch allows anywhere from 15 seconds to 30 minutes). Optionally let viewers spend Channel Points for extra votes.
Start the poll. Viewers vote in the poll panel, and the result is shown when the timer ends.
Native poll limits
Source: Twitch developer documentation and Help Center, June 2026.
Method 2
A chat-command poll does not use Twitch's native feature, so there is no affiliate requirement. Viewers vote by typing a command in your normal chat, the tally updates live, and the result shows on your stream overlay. This is the route for non-affiliates, and many affiliates prefer it for the extra options and controls.
Log in with Twitch at StreamerGiveaway. No bot is added to your channel and no password is shared.
Open the Polls page, write your question, and add up to 8 options. Each gets a command: !1, !2, !3.
Set your rules: subscriber-only voting, vote changes, a vote weight for subs, and a timer if you want one.
Copy the poll overlay URL and add it as a Browser Source in OBS, Streamlabs, XSplit, or any broadcasting software.
Start the poll and tell chat to type !1, !2 or !3. The bars fill live and the leading option is highlighted.
What you get instead
Use a chat-command poll if
You are not an affiliate yet, you want more than five options, you want a live overlay on stream, subscriber-only voting, or a saved history of results.
Use the native poll if
You are already an affiliate, a simple two to five option vote in the chat panel is enough, and you do not need an overlay or history.
There are two ways. If you are a Twitch Affiliate or Partner, open your chat panel, select the poll icon, type a question with 2 to 5 options, and start it. If you are not an affiliate, use a chat-command tool like StreamerGiveaway: viewers vote by typing !1, !2 or !3 and the results show on your overlay. The chat-command method works on any channel.
In a native poll, viewers click an option in the poll panel or type /vote with the option number, and every logged-in viewer gets one free vote (the streamer can let viewers spend Channel Points for extra votes). In a chat-command poll, viewers type the command for their pick, such as !1, directly in chat.
For the native poll feature, yes. Twitch limits polls to Affiliates and Partners. To poll your chat without affiliate status, use a chat-command tool that reads votes from chat and works on any channel.
A native Twitch poll allows 2 to 5 options. A chat-command poll in StreamerGiveaway allows up to 8 options, each mapped to a command from !1 to !8.
Twitch lets a native poll run from 15 seconds up to 30 minutes. A StreamerGiveaway chat-command poll can use a 1, 2, 5, or 10 minute timer, a custom length, or no timer at all so you end it when you are ready.
Native polls can be created by the broadcaster and by channel editors with the right access. With StreamerGiveaway you can also hand a poll to a trusted moderator through a private link, so they can run it without your account login.
When a native poll ends, Twitch shows a vote breakdown at your poll popout URL, but there is no list of past polls in your dashboard. StreamerGiveaway keeps a saved history of every past poll with its final vote counts.
Free to start, works on any channel. Log in with Twitch and ask your chat anything.