Can I code Slido?

A live poll with results updating in real time on everyone's screen is a genuinely achievable WebSocket build. Handling thousands of simultaneous audience members reliably is where the real infrastructure care lives.

VIBE SCORE 83/100

how this is worked out

Why CanICodeThis says Borderline

  • A poll question with multiple-choice options, broadcasting live vote counts over WebSockets, is a well-documented real-time pattern
  • A live Q&A queue where the audience submits and upvotes questions shares this register's feedback-board build pattern
  • For a small meeting or classroom, this is genuinely a weekend project

Read before building

  • Reliable real-time delivery to a large conference audience (thousands of simultaneous connections) is a genuinely different scale of infrastructure than a small meeting
  • Presentation software integration (embedding live results inside PowerPoint or Google Slides) is a real, separate integration
  • Moderation tools to filter inappropriate live questions at scale need real content-review workflow

Bill of materials

The parts this build actually needs, each rated on its own — the average is the Vibe Score above.

Landing page99
Realtime collaboration67

The build spec

Build me a live polling and Q&A tool: a host creates a poll or opens a Q&A session, attendees join via a link with no account needed, and results/questions update in real time for everyone via WebSockets. Basic upvoting on Q&A questions. Built for a small meeting or classroom scale — skip large-conference reliability engineering and slide-software integration for v1.

What it actually costs to build

Two real costs, not just "free": the AI agent's own usage, and hosting once it's running. Both are estimated from this app's own effort rating and component list — see the assumptions on the method page.

AI agent — with a subscription (Claude Pro/Max, Cursor, etc.)$0 marginal
AI agent — pay-per-use API, no subscription$43–$86 one-time
Hosting, once it's running$5–$10/mo
Domain name, if you want your own~$12/yr

Slido costs $20/mo. Even paying per-token with no subscription, and accounting for hosting, this build pays for itself in about 9 months.

categorydevtools
time to codea weekend
Borderline
their price$20/mo · $240/yr
last checked2026-08 · source ↗

Questions

Can I code Slido?

Borderline. A live poll with results updating in real time on everyone's screen is a genuinely achievable WebSocket build. Handling thousands of simultaneous audience members reliably is where the real infrastructure care lives.

How much does Slido cost?

Slido costs $20/mo (about $240/yr) as of 2026-08. That's what a working rebuild would save you.

What do I lose by building it myself?

Reliable real-time delivery to a large conference audience (thousands of simultaneous connections) is a genuinely different scale of infrastructure than a small meeting Presentation software integration (embedding live results inside PowerPoint or Google Slides) is a real, separate integration Moderation tools to filter inappropriate live questions at scale need real content-review workflow