Why OrbitDots
Most tools treat voting as a button. OrbitDots treats it as a room.
Last updated: 17 May 2026
Brainstorms, retros, and workshops usually end with a single vote stapled to a board. OrbitDots was built around a different shape of session: a live prioritization board where attention shifts, scores breathe, and the group leaves with a real record of what mattered and when. No account needed, free to use.
What makes it different
Movement is the vote
Being near a card expresses interest. Orbiting commits the strongest signal. Position and orbits are the input, not buttons.
Attention has momentum
Scores build while the group focuses and fade when attention drifts elsewhere. The ranking reflects what the room stayed with.
A level playing field
Visibility toggles apply to the host too. Facilitation shapes the session, it doesn’t give the host more information than the room.
How it compares
Three categories of tools overlap with OrbitDots: whiteboards (Miro, Mural, FigJam), live polling tools (Mentimeter, Slido), and retro tools (EasyRetro, Metro Retro, Parabol). Each is strong in its own lane. The table below zooms in on the one thing OrbitDots is built for: live group prioritization.
| Dimension | Whiteboards | Polling | Retro tools | OrbitDots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-session input | Manual setup | Usually none | Same board input | Dedicated pre-work |
| Voting model | Discrete session | Discrete slide | Discrete round | Continuous, live |
| Primary interaction | Sticky notes | Text or vote input | Sticky notes | Movement, proximity, and orbits |
| Account to participate | Usually required | Not required | Varies | Never |
| Voting without paying | Mixed: FigJam yes, Miro and Mural no | Limited | Varies by tool | All features, no paywall |
| Anonymity | Per voting session | Per poll | Usually granular | Room level, with granular host controls |
| Output | Single ranking | One result per slide | Ranked stickies | Snapshots, timeline, audit log, shareable results |
| Exports | No native voting export (screenshots or paid add-ons) | PDF and spreadsheet on paid plans | CSV, PDF, and more on paid plans | Markdown, CSV, and PDF, free |
Plan details change often. Voting was paid on Miro and Mural and free on FigJam at the time of writing. Check each vendor for the current terms.
Other tools anonymize the output: they hide who voted for what after the fact. OrbitDots anonymous rooms anonymize the interaction itself: to anyone in the room, participants appear under generated identities, with no names visible. Joining doesn't even require an account.
A few details that matter
- Sticky but decaying scores. Attention on a card does not jump around with every twitch of the cursor. Scores fade gradually, so what you see is momentum, not noise.
- Clusters with shared scores. Drag related cards together and they merge into a group with a combined score. Duplicates stop splitting the signal.
- Confine and discussed. The host can freeze scores during brainstorming with confine mode and mark topics as discussed once the room has moved on, without losing them from the record.
- Snapshots with deltas. Mark a moment and see exactly what gained or lost score against it, live and on the final results page.
Read the full guide for how each of these works in practice.
When OrbitDots isn’t the right fit
OrbitDots is focused. There are sessions where another tool is a better answer.
- If you need a freeform whiteboard with diagrams, embeds, and long-form documents. Miro, Mural, or FigJam will serve you better.
- If you need single-question polling as part of a presentation. Mentimeter or Slido is built for that.
Free, no account needed. You can also try a demo with bots on the home page.