Government & Public Sector · head to head
CitizenLab vs Bang the Table
CitizenLab
Government & Public Sector
Digital Democracy Platform
- From
- $500/month
- Rated
- -
Bang the Table
Government & Public Sector
Community Engagement Platform
- From
- $600/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: CitizenLab citizenLab has rebranded to Go Vocal and the product now sells under govocal.com; Bang the Table the Internet Archive's capture of Bang the Table's homepage on 29 December 2020 confirmed its EngagementHQ platform is sold only via demo request, with EngagementIQ support offered as separate 'annual success plan options'; no price figure is published for either.
- They diverge on capability: CitizenLab covers Participatory Budgeting, Bang the Table covers Online Surveys.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which CitizenLab and Bang the Table actually diverge.
| Attribute | CitizenLab | Bang the Table |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $500/month | $600/month |
| Founded | 2015 | 2007 |
Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Government & Public Sector).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in CitizenLab
- Participatory Budgeting
- Idea Management
- Online Consultations
- Surveys & Polls
- AI-powered Analysis
- Single Sign-On
- Open Data Portals
- GIS Systems
Only in Bang the Table
- Online Surveys
- Discussion Forums
- Interactive Mapping
- Story Telling
- Participation Analytics
- ArcGIS
- Google Maps
- Social Media
Both cover
- Web support
- Ios support
- Android support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
CitizenLab
- Running community consultation and participatory budgeting for a citynot Bang the Table
- Collecting resident input through surveys, ideation, mapping and votingnot Bang the Table
- Centralising engagement data across multiple municipal departmentsnot Bang the Table
Bang the Table
- Citizen Servicesnot CitizenLab
- Records Managementnot CitizenLab
- Public Safetynot CitizenLab
- Civic Engagementnot CitizenLab
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
CitizenLab
- CitizenLab has rebranded to Go Vocal and the product now sells under govocal.com
- No prices are published on the plans page; every tier requires scheduling a demo
- The Essential plan allows only 1 active project and 1 admin seat, with no project manager seats
- Standard is limited to 4 admin seats and 5 project manager seats, and Premium to 8 admin seats and 25 project manager seats
- Standard restricts Sensemaking to Light, capped at 30 inputs; auto-insights require Premium
- The integrated Konveio document annotation and Echo blended engagement methods are excluded from Standard and require Premium
- Auto-translation on Premium is limited to 3 languages
- Custom fonts and other premium styling options are Premium only
- Priority support is Premium only
- Plans are split by population band, with separate ladders for cities under and over 100K population
Bang the Table
- The Internet Archive's capture of Bang the Table's homepage on 29 December 2020 confirmed its EngagementHQ platform is sold only via demo request, with EngagementIQ support offered as separate 'annual success plan options'; no price figure is published for either.
Pricing, plan by plan
CitizenLab
$500/month- Government$500/month
- Participatory Budgeting
- Idea Collection
- Surveys
Bang the Table
$600/month- EngagementHQ$600/month
- Surveys
- Forums
- Mapping Tools
Which should you pick?
Choose CitizenLab if
- You need participatory budgeting.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want idea management.
Choose Bang the Table if
- You need online surveys.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want discussion forums.
Questions people ask
- Is CitizenLab or Bang the Table better?
- Neither clearly leads. CitizenLab starts at $500/month and Bang the Table at $600/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, CitizenLab or Bang the Table?
- CitizenLab starts at $500/month and Bang the Table at $600/month.
- Does CitizenLab or Bang the Table run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, Ios, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- What is CitizenLab best used for?
- CitizenLab is most often used for running community consultation and participatory budgeting for a city, collecting resident input through surveys, ideation, mapping and voting, centralising engagement data across multiple municipal departments. Of those, running community consultation and participatory budgeting for a city and collecting resident input through surveys, ideation, mapping and voting are not what Bang the Table is typically brought in for.
- What can CitizenLab do that Bang the Table cannot?
- CitizenLab covers Participatory Budgeting, Idea Management, Online Consultations, Surveys & Polls. Bang the Table covers Online Surveys, Discussion Forums, Interactive Mapping, Story Telling. Both handle Web support, Ios support, Android support.