# LimeSurvey — Forms & Surveys

LimeSurvey by LimeSurvey GmbH holds a panel rating of 3/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-10-29. Provenance: EU-Made; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: LimeSurvey GmbH (https://www.limesurvey.org)
- Category: [Forms & Surveys](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): EU-Made
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/limesurvey
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/limesurvey/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/limesurvey/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-04 · evaluated 2026-10-29 · oldest source captured 2026-10-28

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: LimeSurvey GmbH
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
- Free plan: Yes, per the vendor’s own page [S4]

## The panel's verdict

LimeSurvey is an open-source survey platform from LimeSurvey GmbH of Hamburg, offered as a cloud service and as a free self-hosted Community Edition under GPLv2. The bench scores it strongest at form building, where five of six judges gave 9 on 28+ question types, conjoint/CBC and maxDiff research methods, relevance equations and quick translation across 80+ languages. Collection and workflows holds at 7 on mass invitations with bounce handling, quotas and unique access codes per respondent. It is weakest at analysis and reporting, scored 5-6: filtering, charts and exports to SPSS, R and Stata are documented, with no public information on cross-tabulation, significance testing, weighting or open-text analysis. Pricing transparency splits 6 against 7 — four judges hold back over the contact-sales Corporate plan and the absence of published overage prices. Consent and data protection divides 6 against 7 over undocumented retention automation and per-respondent erasure tools. One split is anomalous: the data protection officer's computed scores stand at 0 across every criterion while their written rationale cites the same documented strengths and gaps as the rest of the bench.

**Speaks for it:**
- Form building scored 9 from five of six judges on 28+ question types, conjoint/CBC and maxDiff research methods, relevance equations and 80+ languages with quick translation.
- Collection and workflows scored 7 from those five judges for mass invitations and reminders with bounce handling, quotas and unique access codes per respondent.
- Hosting and administration scored 7-8 on a free GPLv2 self-hosted Community Edition, a choice of seven hosting regions, and data stored in Germany on Hetzner Online GmbH hardware.
- Sovereignty scored 6-7 on a named Hamburg controller, third-country transfers only under EU standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision, and AI functions running on an open-source model in the provider's own infrastructure.
- Responses export to SPSS, R, Stata, CSV, Excel and PDF, with public statistics and a data integrity check documented.

**Held against it:**
- Analysis and reporting scored 5-6, with no public information on cross-tabulation, significance testing, weighting or open-text and sentiment analysis.
- Responses are by default not encrypted at rest, with encryption configurable only for certain question types and participant fields.
- No public information on retention periods with automatic deletion of responses or per-respondent access and erasure tooling.
- The Corporate plan carrying SSO, SAML/LDAP and the dedicated server is contact sales only, with no public information on extra-response or overage prices.
- ISO 27001 is stated as in progress rather than achieved, and no public information on a complete subprocessor list with locations.

**Best for:**
- You run multilingual research or academic surveys and need conjoint/CBC, maxDiff, randomisation, quotas and exports to SPSS or R.
- Your faculty or team can operate its own infrastructure — the Community Edition is downloadable free of charge under GPLv2 for self-hosting.
- You must document a European chain for an ethics board or works council: a Hamburg controller, responses stored within Germany, third-country transfers only under EU standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision, and AI functions on an open-source model in the provider's own infrastructure.
- You invite and remind large participant panels, using quotas, unique access codes per respondent, bounce handling and the option of your own mail server.

**Avoid if:**
- You need cross-tabulation, significance testing, weighting or open-text coding inside the product — the documented analysis tools are filtering, charts, quick statistics and export, and the market researcher expects to finish analysis in SPSS by hand.
- You require encryption at rest by default for all responses — the pages state data is by default not encrypted at rest, with encryption configurable only for certain question types and participant fields.
- You need a guaranteed availability commitment — the terms offer only reasonable efforts toward 99% calculated per month, with no guarantee.
- You need SSO or a dedicated server on a self-service budget — both sit on the Corporate plan, which is contact sales with custom pricing.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Market Researcher | The Operations Manager | The HR Lead | The Academic Researcher | The Data Protection Officer | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Form & survey building | 4.5/5 | 4.5/5 | 4.5/5 | 4.5/5 | 0/5 | 4.5/5 |
| Distribution, response collection & workflows | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 0/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Survey analysis & reporting | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 0/5 | 3/5 |
| Consent, GDPR & respondent data | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 0/5 | 3/5 |
| Hosting choice, teams & portability | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 0/5 | 3.5/5 |
| European sovereignty | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 0/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 0/5 | 3/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **0/5** | **3.5/5** |

### The judges

- **The Market Researcher** (v1.0): Runs customer and brand studies for a mid-sized consumer-goods company, three waves a year in four languages. Wants logic and quotas that keep the sample clean, invitations with reminders, cross-tabs and NPS without exporting to a spreadsheet first, and open answers grouped into themes before the board meeting.
- **The Operations Manager** (v1.0): Replaces paper and PDF forms at a service company: event registrations, supplier onboarding, damage reports with photos, order requests with a payment. Wants forms a colleague can build without IT, file uploads, a submission that lands in the right inbox and the CRM or spreadsheet without copy and paste, and a price that does not jump when the response count does.
- **The HR Lead** (v1.0): Runs the yearly engagement survey and pulse checks for a German company of six hundred, with the works council reading every question. Wants anonymity that is real and stated, results hidden below a minimum group size, reports per department that managers can read, and answers that are deleted when the agreement with the works council says so.
- **The Academic Researcher** (v1.0): Runs questionnaire studies at a European university and has to satisfy the ethics board before the first respondent sees a question. Wants complex branching, randomisation and validated scales, an informed-consent page that is part of the instrument, exports to SPSS and R with labels intact, and a licence the faculty can host or at least keep in the EU.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Signs off every form tool a department wants to use and has found health data in a feedback form before. Wants a data processing agreement and a subprocessor list on the vendor's own pages, consent fields and an anonymous mode that drops IP addresses, retention periods that delete on their own, EU hosting the customer can choose, and roles that keep responses away from people who do not need them.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen a "free form builder" put its logo on every customer survey and charge per response the month the campaign worked. Reads "GDPR compliant" with no data processing agreement behind it, "anonymous" surveys that still log IP addresses, "EU hosting" on the enterprise plan only, and AI analysis features with no word on where the answers go — and asks whether the responses can leave with the customer.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Anonymous surveys: yes [S1]
- Cookie consent not required: no [S10]
- Cookie exemption basis: Cookies strictly necessary to provide the service are exempt from consent per EU Commission Handbook / WP29 [S10]
- Dedicated server: yes [S3]
- DPA: customer account · yes [S5]
- DPA reference: yes [S7]
- Encryption: 2048 bit SSL encryption of personal data (page spells "SLL") [S2]
- European company: yes [S4]
- GDPR: yes [S1]
- GDPR: yes [S3]
- GDPR: yes [S2]
- ISO 27001 status: in progress [S1]
- Limesurvey cookie exemption claim: LimeSurvey session cookies are claimed exempt from consent because surveys span several pages [S10]
- Ssl encryption: 2048 [S1]
- Ssl in transit: yes [S11]
- Third country transfers: EU standard contractual clauses or adequacy decision [S5]
- Wcag: WCAG 2.2 Level AA-aligned [S1]

**Data**
- Backup responsibility: yes [S7]
- Free account deletion: 4 · 24 · 4 [S7]

**Hosting**
- Data residency: no · Germany [S5]
- Dedicated server: yes [S1]
- Dedicated server: yes [S2]
- Germany: yes [S1]
- Hetzner: Germany · Hetzner Online GmbH [S5]
- Region choice: yes [S1]
- Regions: 7 · automatic [S4]
- Regions list: EU · US · more [S1]

**Integrations**
- API: yes · XML-RPC · JSON-RPC [S4]
- Embed surveys: yes [S1]
- Extensions: installation/update · yes · yes [S4]
- Panel integration: yes · yes · yes · yes [S4]
- Qr codes: yes [S1]

**Legal**
- Address: Hamburg · Papenreye 63 · Germany · 22453 [S6]
- Contract language: German · yes [S7]
- Controller: Papenreye 63, 22453 Hamburg · LimeSurvey GmbH · Germany [S5]
- Dispute resolution: , [S6]
- Docs available: Terms & Conditions · Legal notice · Privacy notice · Cancellation · Withdrawal [S9]
- Entity: LimeSurvey GmbH · Hamburg, Germany [S1]
- Entity: LimeSurvey GmbH · Hamburg, Germany [S3]
- Entity: Hamburg · LimeSurvey GmbH · Germany [S2]
- Entity: Hamburg, Germany · LimeSurvey GmbH · 2006-2026 [S8]
- Entity: Hamburg · LimeSurvey GmbH · Germany [S10]
- Entity: Hamburg · LimeSurvey GmbH · Germany [S11]
- Entity: LimeSurvey GmbH · Papenreye 63, 22453 Hamburg [S7]
- Entity: LimeSurvey GmbH · Hamburg, Germany [S4]
- Entity and location: Hamburg · LimeSurvey GmbH · Germany · 2006-2026 [S9]
- Entity name: LimeSurvey GmbH [S6]
- Gtc date: 2026-09-02 [S7]
- Liability limit: foreseeable typical damage · 12 [S7]
- Register: HRB 137625 · Amtsgericht Hamburg · Handelsregister Hamburg [S6]
- Register: Hamburg District Court · HRB 13762 [S7]
- VAT id: DE301233134 [S6]
- VAT number: DE301233134 [S7]
- Warranty period: 2 · 1 [S7]

**Pricing**
- Basic price: monthly · 34 · yes [S4]
- Business price: annually · 75 · yes [S4]
- Corporate contact: contact sales · yes [S4]
- Corporate plan regions: Corporate plan [S1]
- Expert price: annually · 29 · yes [S4]
- Free tier: yes [S4]
- Price changes: 6 · quarterly · yes [S7]
- Trial: yes · yes [S7]
- VAT note: yes · 19 [S4]

**Product**
- Access modes: shared survey URL · unique access codes per respondent [S2]
- Accessibility features: yes · yes [S4]
- Advanced logic: yes [S2]
- AI billing: yes · yes [S7]
- AI functions: yes · yes · generation · reformulation · translation · extension · supplementation [S7]
- AI hosting: open-source · provider-controlled · no [S7]
- AI translation: yes [S1]
- Analysis tools: yes · yes · yes [S2]
- Analytics: yes [S1]
- Analytics integration: yes [S4]
- Analytics support: yes [S3]
- Anonymity option: yes [S2]
- Anonymous forms: yes [S8]
- Anonymous surveys: yes · yes [S4]
- Availability SLA: no · per month · 99 [S7]
- Basic limits: 250 MB · unlimited · unlimited · 1000/month · 1 [S4]
- Comfortupdate: ComfortUpdate LimeSurvey Extension · 1 · yes [S7]
- Community edition: yes · LimeSurvey Community Edition · GPLv2 · yes [S7]
- Corporate features: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S4]
- Custom design: yes · yes [S4]
- Custom domain: yes [S1]
- Custom plugins: yes [S2]
- Customizable: yes · yes · yes [S3]
- Daily backups: yes · 1 · yes [S11]
- Data at rest encryption: no · yes · yes [S11]
- Data export formats: SPSS · R · Stata · CSV · Excel · PDF · yes · yes [S4]
- Data integrity check: yes [S2]
- Data security features: yes · yes [S4]
- Database isolation: Separate database with separate username/password per LimeSurvey Cloud instance [S11]
- Expert limits: 1 GB · 10000/year · 3 · yes · yes [S4]
- Features listed: Easy and simple to use · Statistics · Questionnaire templates · GDPR compliance [S8]
- Form maker features: 80+ · 28+ · yes · 800 · yes [S3]
- Free ads: yes [S7]
- Free start: yes [S8]
- Free templates count: 800 [S9]
- Free tier: Get started for free, no questions asked [S3]
- Languages: Support for over 80 languages [S1]
- Languages count: 80 [S2]
- Languages count: 80 [S9]
- Languages supported: 80+ [S4]
- Languages translated: 40 [S2]
- Limestone: LimeStore · digital software extensions [S7]
- Limesurvey cloud: LimeSurvey Cloud · FREE · yes · yes [S7]
- Logic branching: yes [S1]
- Logic branching: yes [S3]
- Multilingual: 80+ · yes · yes [S3]
- Multilingual features: yes · yes · yes [S4]
- Multilingual surveys: yes [S9]
- No vendor lockin: no [S1]
- On brand customisation: yes [S9]
- Open codebase: yes [S1]
- Open source: yes [S2]
- Participant features: yes · yes · yes · yes [S4]
- Password protected links: yes [S1]
- Password requirements: 8 · yes [S7]
- Question creation features: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S4]
- Question groups random order: yes · yes [S2]
- Question types: Over 30 customizable question types [S1]
- Question types: Single choice, Multiple choice, Text answer, Image choice, Star rating, Semantic differential, Net Promoter Score, Rating scale, Ordering, Matrix single choices, Matrix multiple choices, Custom text [S3]
- Question types available: 9 [S4]
- Question types count: 28+ different question types [S2]
- Question types count: 28 [S9]
- Question types list: Single choice · Multiple choice · Text answer · Image choice · Star rating · Semantic differential · Net Promoter Score · Rating scale · Ordering · Matrix - single choices · Matrix - multiple choices · Custom text [S2]
- Question types present: Template includes multiple-choice, 1-5 scale, free text, rating matrix, and dropdown question types [S9]
- Quick translations: yes [S9]
- Real time monitoring: yes [S2]
- Reporting features: yes · yes [S4]
- Research methods: conjoint/CBC, maxDiff, click-map heatmaps & shelf-tests, tachistoscope, IAT (soon) [S1]
- Self hosted open source: yes · yes [S1]
- Support matrix: community · email · email with priority · VIP [S4]
- Survey logic: yes · yes · yes [S4]
- Survey management: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S4]
- Survey processor role: no · no [S5]
- Template builder: yes [S8]
- Template count: 837 [S8]
- Template types list: Anonymous forms · Brand awareness · Branded · Church · Course evaluation · Customer experience · Customer satisfaction · Employee experience · Employee motivation · Fitness [S8]
- Templates count: 800+ pre-designed survey templates [S1]
- Templates examples: Appointment Scheduling · Booking form · Cake order form · Commercial Survey · Healthcare Appointment · Hotel Reservation · Personal Training Booking [S3]
- Templates free: yes · 800 [S2]
- Templates free: yes [S8]
- Templates over 1000: 1000 [S2]
- Termination notice: yes · 2 [S7]
- Trusted by: 250+ [S4]
- Unlimited surveys: yes [S2]
- Unlimited surveys: yes [S9]
- Unlimited surveys all plans: yes [S4]
- User stats: 1.5 · 260 [S2]
- Vip support detail: email queue, direct contact CSM/CSE, check-ins · onboarding · training · customisation [S4]
- Wcag accessibility: WCAG 2.2 AA [S4]
- White label: yes · yes [S2]

**Subprocessors**
- Zoho scc: yes [S5]

**Support**
- Channels: yes · yes [S3]
- Channels: yes · yes [S2]
- Community channels: Community · Forums · Developers · Translation [S9]
- Community resources: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S7]

## Questions

### Is LimeSurvey European?

Yes. whats-best.ai classifies LimeSurvey as EU-Made.

### Where does LimeSurvey store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

### Does LimeSurvey have a free plan?

Yes. LimeSurvey has a free plan, per [the vendor’s page captured 28 Oct 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/11776).

### What are the best alternatives to LimeSurvey?

As of 3 Nov 2026, the panel rates [Formbricks (4/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/formbricks), [easyfeedback (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/easyfeedback) and [Netigate (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/netigate) highest among the other 19 Forms & Surveys products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Formbricks](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/formbricks) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [LimeSurvey alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/limesurvey/alternatives).

## Head-to-head

- [LimeSurvey vs SurveyMonkey](https://whats-best.ai/compare/limesurvey-vs-surveymonkey.md)

## What this page leaves out

- 7 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 5 subprocessors facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 4 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 5 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage: https://www.limesurvey.org/ (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S2] Features page (surveys): https://www.limesurvey.org/products/surveys (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S3] Features page (forms): https://www.limesurvey.org/products/forms (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S4] Pricing page: https://www.limesurvey.org/pricing (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S5] Privacy policy: https://www.limesurvey.org/privacy-notice (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S6] Legal notice: https://www.limesurvey.org/legal-notice (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S7] Terms of service: https://www.limesurvey.org/terms-conditions (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S8] Form & survey building — found from sitemap: https://www.limesurvey.org/template (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S9] Form & survey building — found from sitemap: https://www.limesurvey.org/template/quiz-template (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S10] Consent, GDPR & respondent data — found from sitemap: https://www.limesurvey.org/support/faq/data-protection-and-policy/do-i-need-to-show-a-cookie-consent-form-inside-limesurvey (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S11] Consent, GDPR & respondent data — found from sitemap: https://www.limesurvey.org/support/faq/data-protection-and-policy/is-my-survey-data-in-limesurvey-cloud-encrypted (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S12] Code repository (open-source licence) — found from the homepage: https://github.com/LimeSurvey/LimeSurvey (checked 2026-11-01)

---

Cite as: whats-best.ai, "LimeSurvey — Forms & Surveys", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-04. https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/limesurvey

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1107?target=page