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CitizenLab vs Legistar

CitizenLab logo

CitizenLab

Software

Digital Democracy Platform

From
$500/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Legistar logo

Legistar

Software

Legislative Management System

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: CitizenLab citizenLab has rebranded to Go Vocal and the product now sells under govocal.com; Legistar pricing is not published; sold by quote through a sales process
  • They diverge on capability: CitizenLab covers Participatory Budgeting, Legistar covers Legislation Tracking.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CitizenLab and Legistar actually diverge.

Attributes where CitizenLab and Legistar differ
AttributeCitizenLabLegistar
Starting price$500/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWeb
Founded20151999

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

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 Legistar

  • Legislation Tracking
  • Meeting Agendas
  • Voting Records
  • Public Portal
  • Document Management
  • Video Streaming
  • Microsoft Office
  • Records Systems

Both cover

  • Web 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 Legistar
  • Collecting resident input through surveys, ideation, mapping and votingnot Legistar
  • Centralising engagement data across multiple municipal departmentsnot Legistar

Legistar

  • Legislative agenda managementnot CitizenLab
  • Meeting management and video processesnot CitizenLab
  • Public records managementnot CitizenLab
  • Government transparencynot 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

Legistar

  • Pricing is not published; sold by quote through a sales process

Pricing, plan by plan

CitizenLab

$500/month
  • Government$500/month
    • Participatory Budgeting
    • Idea Collection
    • Surveys

Legistar

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Legistar review.

Which should you pick?

Choose CitizenLab if

  • You need participatory budgeting.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want idea management.
CitizenLab review

Choose Legistar if

  • You need legislation tracking.
  • You also want meeting agendas.
Legistar review

Questions people ask

Is CitizenLab or Legistar better?
Neither clearly leads. CitizenLab starts at $500/month and Legistar at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CitizenLab or Legistar?
CitizenLab starts at $500/month and Legistar at On request.
Does CitizenLab or Legistar run on more platforms?
CitizenLab runs on Web, Ios, Android. Legistar runs on Web.
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 Legistar is typically brought in for.
What can CitizenLab do that Legistar cannot?
CitizenLab covers Participatory Budgeting, Idea Management, Online Consultations, Surveys & Polls. Legistar covers Legislation Tracking, Meeting Agendas, Voting Records, Public Portal. Both handle Web support.
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