Method and disclosure
How we rank data collection software
Every tool in this guide is scored on the same six criteria, using facts from its vendor's own public pages. Here is the method, who the rankings are written for, and who publishes the guide.
This guide is published by ResearchGuru Ltd, which also makes ResearchGuru EDC. How we rank.
Who publishes this guide
This guide is published by ResearchGuru Ltd, which also makes ResearchGuru EDC. ResearchGuru EDC is one of the 18 products compared here, and it is ranked first overall. We apply the same criteria to every product, show every score, and link the public sources behind each fact so that you can check them yourself.
Who the rankings are for
The weights reflect what matters most to study teams running academic, investigator-initiated, observational and small-to-mid clinical studies, as well as patient registries, patient-reported outcome studies and research surveys. If you run a large multinational Phase III programme, start with the enterprise platforms named in our rankings by study size: they are built for that work.
The six criteria
| Criterion | Weight | What we look at |
|---|---|---|
| Study build and support | 20% | Who builds and tests the study database, how quickly a study can go live, and the support available while it runs. |
| Data quality, security and compliance | 20% | Audit trail, electronic signatures, edit checks, queries and source data verification, security certificates, and the vendor's stated support for FDA 21 CFR Part 11, GCP and GDPR. |
| Reports, analysis and exports | 20% | Built-in dashboards and reports, statistical analysis, numbered tables, figures and listings, and exports to statistics packages and CDISC formats. |
| Participant data | 15% | ePRO and eDiaries, eConsent, forms in several languages, and offline collection on mobile devices. |
| Study designs and scale | 10% | Randomisation, visit schedules and repeated measures, multi-site studies, and how large a study the tool is built for. |
| Cost and access | 15% | Published pricing, free or open-source options, licensing that suits academic budgets, and how easily a team can get started. |
How we score
- Each criterion is scored from 0 to 10, based on what the vendor documents publicly: product pages, help centres, security statements and price lists.
- The overall score is the weighted average of the six criteria, rounded to one decimal place. Every criterion score is shown on the comparison page.
- Where we could not confirm a feature, we mark it “not stated” rather than guess, and it earns no credit until the vendor documents it.
- Claims about compliance, security and speed are reported as the vendor's own claims. A tool that supports FDA 21 CFR Part 11, GCP or GDPR still needs your own procedures, validation and training.
- Prices change often. We report each pricing model and any published price, with a link to the source.
What we don't do
We don't take payment or commission from any vendor for a place in the rankings, and the guide carries no affiliate links. We don't test every product hands-on: the reviews summarise public documentation. A high score is not a guarantee that a tool suits your study, so check the vendor's documentation, validation material and data processing terms before you decide.
Corrections
If a fact about a product is wrong or out of date, email admin@edcstat.com with a link to a public source and we will review it and update the page.
When the facts were checked
All facts in the guide were checked in November 2026. Each review lists its sources.