Gather a set of entries, let your audience vote, and watch the standings update live. Here is how to run a voting contest from a blank page to a crowned winner — no signup for voters and free to start.
No signup required. Just enter teams and get a printable PDF bracket instantly.
A voting contest is an online event where your audience votes on a set of entries — photos, products, names, or ideas — instead of teams competing in matches. There is no entry fee and no roster signup: you gather the entries, voters pick their favourites, and the standings rank them live.
Brakto runs a voting contest in one of three formats — Leaderboard, Bracket, or Hybrid. The format decides how votes are counted and how the winner is decided.
16
Entries on the Free plan
3
Voting formats
18+
Ready-made templates
Leaderboard — a ranked poll where every entry collects votes and the top total wins.
Bracket — head-to-head single-elimination, 4 to 64 entries, decided one matchup at a time.
Hybrid — poll first, then the top entries seed a bracket for the finish.
See the voting contest software overview or the voting admin and embed help for how a contest runs start to finish.
Pick the format before you add entries — it changes how people vote and what the finish looks like.
A ranked poll
Every entry collects votes and the standings rank them live. It is the simplest format to explain, and it scales to a long list of entries.
When to use it: Use it when you want one clear “most votes wins” result across a large field — best photo, best name, or best product.
Head-to-head elimination
Entries are paired, the audience picks a winner in each matchup, and winners advance round by round until one remains. Built for 4 to 64 entries.
When to use it: Use it when you want drama and repeat visits: every round is a new reason for voters to come back and check the result.
Poll first, then bracket
Run a poll to open the field, then seed the top entries into a bracket for the finish. You get a wide-open vote followed by a knockout finale.
When to use it: Use it when the field is large but you still want a head-to-head champion at the end.
Six steps, no registration flow for voters, nothing to install.
Open the voting contest creator and name the contest. Choose Leaderboard, Bracket, or Hybrid at the start, or start from one of 18+ ready-made templates if you would rather not build the field by hand.
Add each entry and give it a photo so voters can see what they are choosing between. Photo entries are what make a contest skimmable and worth sharing.
Set who can vote: an open public contest needs no account, while a registered or invite-only contest ties each vote to an account. For an internal contest, restrict voting to a company email domain. Turn submissions on if you want the audience to supply the entries.
If submissions are open, review each entry in Manage entries and approve the ones that belong on the ballot. Pending entries stay hidden until you approve them.
Copy the contest link from the admin hub and post it where your audience already is. You can also embed the voting widget on a website or intranet page so people vote without leaving.
Results update live while voting is open. When the poll closes, the leaderboard — or the bracket final — shows the winner. Announce it and share the result.
Create the contest in the creator, and keep the help guide open if you want the detail on voting defaults, submissions, and embeds.
Both formats let an audience decide the winner. The difference is how the winner is decided and what the vote feels like along the way.
Small setup choices decide whether a contest feels busy or dead.
Categories keep each poll short, recognise more entrants, and let you run a multi-category finale instead of one crowded ballot.
For an internal vote, invite-only visibility with a company email-domain restriction keeps entries and votes inside the organisation.
An embeddable voting widget puts the contest on any website, blog, or intranet page, so people vote without leaving the page they are already on.
When entries share a rank the standings read “Tied for 1st”, so the outcome is never ambiguous. You decide how to break it, then share the final result.
A voting contest is an online event where your audience votes on a set of entries — photos, products, names, or ideas — instead of teams competing in matches. You run it as a Leaderboard (a ranked poll), a Bracket (head-to-head elimination), or a Hybrid (a poll first, then a bracket).
Create the contest at /create-voting-contest, add your entries with photos, configure who can vote, approve any submissions in Manage entries, then share the link from the contest admin hub. Results update live, and you crown the winner from the leaderboard.
No account is needed on a public contest — voters open the link and vote. You can also run an invite-only contest, optionally restricted to a company email domain, when the vote should stay inside an organisation.
A leaderboard is a ranked poll: every entry collects votes and the highest total wins. A bracket is head-to-head single elimination: entries are paired, the winner of each matchup advances, and one entry is left standing. Hybrid runs a poll first and seeds the top entries into a bracket.
Yes. Set the contest to invite-only visibility and add an optional company email-domain restriction so only colleagues can see the entries and vote. Submissions can require approval, so you review each entry in Manage entries before it appears on the ballot.
Voting is free for up to 16 entries. The Contest tier is $149 for up to 64 entries, and larger contests are available by custom quote.
Pick a format, add your entries with photos, and let your audience vote. Free for up to 16 entries — no account needed for voters.
Join thousands of organizers who save hours every tournament with Brakto's automated bracket management.
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Join thousands of organizers who save hours every tournament with Brakto's automated bracket management.
✓ No credit card required · ✓ Set up in 2 minutes · ✓ Cancel anytime
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