Field data collection review

KoboToolbox review

KoboToolbox is an open-source platform for building forms, collecting data offline on Android devices or in web forms, and managing submissions on a web server. Most of its users are humanitarian, global development, environmental and human-rights organisations, and it is free for nonprofits.

Facts checked: November 2026 · Rank 11 of 18 · How we rank

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Our score: 6.3/10
Best for: Humanitarian and field surveys in low-connectivity settings
Pricing: Hosted subscription plans with nonprofit and standard rates; free open-source code for self-hosting
Vendor: Kobo Inc. (nonprofit), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Unique feature

Free hosted plan for nonprofits and education

The hosted Community plan is free for nonprofits, government agencies, UN organisations and educational institutions, with 5,000 submissions a month and unlimited projects and collaborators.

Fit

Who KoboToolbox suits

Best for

Household or community surveys in low-connectivity settings
Humanitarian or development assessments run by nonprofits or universities
Multilingual interviewer-administered questionnaires on Android devices

Less suited to

Regulated clinical trials needing e-signature controls and query management
Studies needing CDISC exports or built-in inferential statistics

Features

Key features

What the vendor documents publicly, checked against its own pages. “Not stated” means we could not confirm it, not that it is missing.

✓ Yes◐ Partly+ Add-on– No? Not stated

?Vendor builds your databasePrivate server set-up offered; no form-build service documented
✓Build forms yourselfWeb form builder or XLSForm upload
✓Audit trailActivity logs record submission edits and deletions with user and time
◐Electronic signaturesSignature appearance saves drawn image; no Part 11 controls stated
✓Edit checks at data entryValidation criteria enforced at entry with custom error messages
?Queries and source data verificationNo query management or SDV documented
?RandomisationNo treatment allocation feature documented
✓ePRO and participant self-entryWeb forms suit self-administered surveys
◐eConsentSignature capture can support consent forms; no eConsent module documented
✓Offline mobile data collectionKoboCollect Android app and cached web forms work offline
✓Forms in several languagesAny number of translations; users choose their language
–CDISC export (ODM / SDTM)Exports: XLS, CSV, GeoJSON, SPSS labels, KML, media ZIP
✓Built-in reports and dashboardsReports with charts, tables and group-by comparisons
–Built-in statistical analysisReports give simple descriptive statistics; deeper analysis after export
–Numbered tables, figures and listingsPer-question charts and tables, not numbered report outputs
✓APIAPI v2 with personal API key; listed on all plans
✓Free or open-source optionFree Community plan for nonprofits; open source and self-hostable

Verdict

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

Free hosted Community plan for nonprofits and educational institutions
Offline collection on Android and in web forms
EU server option hosted in Ireland and Germany

Limitations

No vendor-stated ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certificate found
No query management, e-signature controls or CDISC export documented
Built-in reports are descriptive only

Details

Pricing, hosting and regulation

Pricing

Hosted subscription plans with nonprofit and standard rates; free open-source code for self-hosting. Published prices: Community plan free for nonprofits and educational institutions; paid plans listed on the vendor pricing page, with lower nonprofit rates; Enterprise by quote. Pricing source.

Hosting and security

Hosting regions: Global server (location not stated on vendor pages checked) and EU server hosted in Ireland and Germany; AWS. Accounts cannot move between Global and EU servers. Code can be self-hosted (Linux, Docker-based installer). Kobo also sells private servers on AWS or Azure in the US or EU; institutions such as IFRC run their own instance.

Certifications: None stated by the vendor.

Regulatory support

Vendor says it "provides safeguards, features, and contractual terms that support compliance with the GDPR"; no HIPAA or Part 11 statement.. Whatever the software offers, your own procedures, validation and training are still needed for a regulated study.

Scale and set-up

Plans from 1,000 to 50,000 submissions a month; Enterprise unlimited. Unlimited data collectors and collaborators on all plans. Vendor reports over 35,000 organisations using it.. Self-service: build in the web form builder or upload an XLSForm, then deploy. EU users must create accounts on the EU server from the start..

Alternatives

Sources (checked November 2026)