- Open-Source & Self-Hosting: Install on your own server for full data ownership and customization, or use the hosted cloud version.
- Advanced Question Types: Access 20+ question formats including arrays, multiple choice, text input, ranking, and more for complex surveys.
- Conditional Logic & Branching: Create detailed skip logic, branching paths, and relevance equations for dynamic questionnaires.
- Multilingual Surveys: Build surveys in multiple languages within a single project to reach global audiences.
- Participant Management: Manage tokens, send invitations and reminders, and track responses from a built-in participant database.
- Customizable Themes & Templates: Adjust survey design with themes, templates, and custom CSS for branded experiences.
- Data Export & Reporting: Export results in formats like CSV, Excel, and SPSS for deeper statistical analysis.
- Quota & Access Control: Set response quotas and control access with closed surveys or invitation-only participation.
- Plugin & API Support: Extend functionality through plugins and integrate with other systems using the API.
LimeSurvey
Open-source survey platform with advanced logic and full data control
Updated August 11, 2026
LimeSurvey Overview
LimeSurvey is an open-source survey platform that organizations can host themselves or use as a managed service. It supports branching logic, multilingual questionnaires, different question types and controlled access.
Researchers and businesses use it for customer feedback, internal surveys and longer studies. A self-hosted installation can keep the application and survey data inside the organization’s own environment.
Key Features
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Core survey features; sign up free |
| Basic | $39/month (billed monthly) | $1,000 responses/month; 1 admin user; 250 MB upload storage |
| Expert | $36/month or $432/year (billed annually) | $10,000 responses/year; 3 admin users; 1 GB upload storage; white-label domain |
| Business | $69/month or $820/year (billed annually) | $50,000 responses/year; 5–10 admin users; 3 GB upload storage; priority email support |
| Corporate | Contact sales | Tailored users/responses; SSO, LDAP, SAML, dedicated server and VIP support |
Basic, Expert and Business are available as cloud subscriptions, while the continuing Free plan costs $0. Annual equivalents and regional currency displays can differ from the monthly US-dollar figures.
Pricing source: LimeSurvey pricing
Pros
| Compared with | Why this product may fit better |
|---|---|
| SurveyMonkey | SurveyMonkey is a fixed hosted service, while LimeSurvey adds self-hosting and an open-source codebase. Compliance-sensitive organizations gain more control over storage, deployment and complex survey logic inside their own environment. |
| Qualtrics | Research groups can run LimeSurvey's multilingual forms, conditional structures and exports on a lower-cost cloud plan or their own server. Qualtrics wraps similar survey work in a much broader experience-management suite with a different implementation commitment. |
| Google Forms | Google Forms keeps collaboration simple, whereas LimeSurvey supports arrays, quotas, deeper branching and deployment choice. Technical teams can shape complex studies and retain application control when Google's simplicity becomes a functional limit. |
| Jotform | Jotform centers broad business forms, payments and automation; LimeSurvey is more focused on structured research and configurable hosting. Survey teams can avoid transactional features that do not belong in their study workflow. |
Cons
| Compared with | Where this product may fall short |
|---|---|
| SurveyMonkey | Authoring and administration can feel technical, especially when a team self-hosts or builds complex conditions. SurveyMonkey is easier for beginners who value a polished distribution workflow more than deployment control. |
| Qualtrics | Panels, benchmarks and enterprise experience analytics are less comprehensive than Qualtrics' surrounding research ecosystem. Large insight programs may save on software but still need additional services and analytical tools. |
| Typeform | The respondent experience is more conventional and less visually conversational than Typeform. Brand-led campaigns should preview mobile completion carefully, because logic depth does not automatically create an engaging public form. |
Reviews
- SurveyLab review: SurveyLab's walkthrough finds LimeSurvey highly customizable and capable of complex conditional and multilingual studies. It also describes the interface as technical and occasionally fiddly, which is a useful warning for teams attracted to open-source control but staffed mainly by casual survey authors.
- Capterra reviews: Capterra lists 4.4/5 and highlights accessible survey creation and the interactive tutorial. The comments are most useful for cloud-plan usability and should not be treated as evidence that a self-hosted installation requires the same level of administration.
- G2 reviews: G2 lists 4.2/5 from 33 reviews. Customization and the open-source codebase are recurring positives, while administration and interface complexity reinforce the need to distinguish the managed cloud service from a self-hosted deployment.
- Trustpilot reviews: Trustpilot lists 2.9/5, much lower than the software-review profiles. Complaints about limits, upgrade prompts, interface quality and support make billing terms and the intended hosting route worth checking before a team commits existing survey data.
- Reddit discussion: One participant notes that “LimeSurvey is open-source” and explains that self-hosted data is only as safe as the server configuration. The comment is an individual security perspective, but it correctly frames self-hosting as responsibility rather than automatic protection.
