Softwr

Nonprofits · head to head

CommCare vs ArcGIS Field Maps

CommCare logo

CommCare

Nonprofits

Offline-first case management and mobile data collection for frontline health and development programmes

From
$100/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ArcGIS Field Maps logo

ArcGIS Field Maps

Maps

Esri field data collection that cannot be bought on its own, only with an ArcGIS user type

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: CommCare pricing is by included mobile user bands with a hard step between them, so a programme at 260 mobile users pays the Pro band plus per-user overage or jumps to Advanced, and neither option matches its actual size.; ArcGIS Field Maps field Maps has no price of its own, so a project budget built from the product page misses the Creator seats, the Mobile Worker seats and the ArcGIS Online credits or Enterprise infrastructure that actually cost money
  • They diverge on capability: CommCare covers Case management, ArcGIS Field Maps covers Offline map areas.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CommCare and ArcGIS Field Maps actually diverge.

Attributes where CommCare and ArcGIS Field Maps differ
AttributeCommCareArcGIS Field Maps
Starting price$100/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer month by mobile user countIncluded with an ArcGIS user type licence
PlatformsAndroid, WebiOS, Android, Web
CategoryNonprofitsMaps

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

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 CommCare

  • Case management
  • Offline-first mobile app
  • App builder
  • Multi-language support
  • Two-way SMS
  • Report builder
  • API access
  • BI integration

Only in ArcGIS Field Maps

  • Offline map areas
  • Smart forms
  • High-accuracy GNSS
  • Location sharing
  • Assignment dispatch
  • Indoor positioning
  • Direct editing of authoritative data

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

CommCare

  • A community health worker programme where each worker must see their own assigned households, what is overdue and what happened last visit, which a survey tool cannot representnot ArcGIS Field Maps
  • A ministry of health digitising a national frontline protocol and requiring in-region data hosting for legal reasonsnot ArcGIS Field Maps
  • An NGO running the same intervention in four countries that needs one application, several languages and consolidated reportingnot ArcGIS Field Maps
  • A research team collecting longitudinal data on the same participants over years, where linking visits to a case rather than a submission is the whole requirementnot ArcGIS Field Maps

ArcGIS Field Maps

  • A water utility whose inspectors update the same asset feature service the office GIS runs on, rather than filling in forms that someone re-keysnot CommCare
  • A county carrying out a sign inventory where crews work in areas without mobile coverage and need offline maps that sync laternot CommCare
  • An environmental team needing sub-metre positions from an external GNSS receiver recorded directly against the authoritative datasetnot CommCare
  • An organisation consolidating from Collector, Explorer, Tracker and Workforce onto a single app after Esri retired themnot CommCare

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

CommCare

  • Pricing is by included mobile user bands with a hard step between them, so a programme at 260 mobile users pays the Pro band plus per-user overage or jumps to Advanced, and neither option matches its actual size.
  • The subscription is the small number; application design, device procurement, worker training and supervision dominate the real cost, and grant budgets that fund only the licence stall at deployment.
  • Grant funding cycles and subscription renewals rarely align, so programmes routinely face a year-four cliff where the software is embedded in a workflow and the money that paid for it has ended.
  • It is Android-only on the device side, which is usually right for the target markets but blocks iOS-issued staff and makes the platform a poor fit for programmes in higher-income settings.
  • The open source option is real but effectively theoretical: self-hosting CommCare HQ requires substantial engineering, so the licence being free does not translate into an escape from the subscription.

ArcGIS Field Maps

  • Field Maps has no price of its own, so a project budget built from the product page misses the Creator seats, the Mobile Worker seats and the ArcGIS Online credits or Enterprise infrastructure that actually cost money
  • It only works against Esri feature services, so an organisation whose data is in PostGIS or a database without an ArcGIS layer must publish through Esri first, which is a platform decision rather than an app choice
  • Named user licensing means occasional or seasonal field staff still consume a full annual seat, and organisations with a large pool of infrequent collectors pay for capacity they use a few weeks a year
  • As a forms tool alone it is more rigid and more expensive than dedicated mobile forms products, so its value collapses if you are not already committed to ArcGIS
  • The consolidation of four apps into one changed established workflows, and organisations that had built processes around Collector or Workforce have had to rework them on Esri's timetable rather than their own

Pricing, plan by plan

CommCare

$100/month
  • Standard$100/month
    • 50 mobile users included
    • $2 per additional mobile user per month
    • Unlimited free web users
  • Pro$500/month
    • 250 mobile users included
    • Case sharing and child cases
    • Web report builder
  • Advanced$1000/month
    • 500 mobile users included
    • Power BI and Tableau integration
    • Web applications
  • Enterprise$4000/month
    • Custom mobile user count
    • Single sign-on
    • Named account management

ArcGIS Field Maps

On request
  • Mobile Worker user type$undefined/year
    • Field editing in Field Maps included with no additional purchase
    • Cannot author maps; requires a Creator seat elsewhere in the organisation
    • Priced per named user per year
  • Creator user type$undefined/year
    • Required to author and publish the maps that field workers use
    • At least one Creator needed before Field Maps can be deployed
    • Includes Field Maps editing as well as authoring
  • ArcGIS Enterprise deployment$undefined/year
    • Field Maps against self-hosted ArcGIS Enterprise instead of ArcGIS Online
    • Server licensing and infrastructure priced separately
    • Quoted through Esri or a distributor

Which should you pick?

Choose CommCare if

  • You need case management.
  • You work on Android, Web.
  • You also want offline-first mobile app.
CommCare review

Choose ArcGIS Field Maps if

  • You need offline map areas.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want smart forms.
ArcGIS Field Maps review

Questions people ask

Is CommCare or ArcGIS Field Maps better?
Neither clearly leads. CommCare starts at $100/month and ArcGIS Field Maps at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CommCare or ArcGIS Field Maps?
CommCare starts at $100/month and ArcGIS Field Maps at On request.
Does CommCare or ArcGIS Field Maps run on more platforms?
CommCare runs on Android, Web. ArcGIS Field Maps runs on iOS, Android, Web.
What is CommCare best used for?
CommCare is most often used for a community health worker programme where each worker must see their own assigned households, what is overdue and what happened last visit, which a survey tool cannot represent, a ministry of health digitising a national frontline protocol and requiring in-region data hosting for legal reasons, an ngo running the same intervention in four countries that needs one application, several languages and consolidated reporting, a research team collecting longitudinal data on the same participants over years, where linking visits to a case rather than a submission is the whole requirement. Of those, a community health worker programme where each worker must see their own assigned households, what is overdue and what happened last visit, which a survey tool cannot represent and a ministry of health digitising a national frontline protocol and requiring in-region data hosting for legal reasons are not what ArcGIS Field Maps is typically brought in for.
What can CommCare do that ArcGIS Field Maps cannot?
CommCare covers Case management, Offline-first mobile app, App builder, Multi-language support. ArcGIS Field Maps covers Offline map areas, Smart forms, High-accuracy GNSS, Location sharing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

CommCare: How much does CommCare cost?

Standard is $100 a month for 50 mobile users, Pro $500 for 250, Advanced $1,000 for 500 and Enterprise from $4,000. Extra mobile users are $2 each per month; web users are unlimited and free.

ArcGIS Field Maps: Can I buy Field Maps on its own?

No. It is included with the Mobile Worker, Creator and GIS Professional user types, and you need at least one Creator in the organisation to author maps.

CommCare: Is CommCare open source?

Yes, CommCare HQ is open source, but self-hosting requires serious engineering capacity. Nearly all users take the hosted service.

ArcGIS Field Maps: What replaced Collector and Workforce?

Field Maps. Esri merged Collector, Explorer, Tracker and Workforce into it and retired the separate apps.

CommCare: Where is our data stored?

You choose United States, European Union or India hosting, which is what makes it acceptable to ministries with data residency rules.

ArcGIS Field Maps: Does it work offline?

Yes. Map areas are downloaded in advance and edits synchronise when connectivity returns.

CommCare: Who funds CommCare?

Dimagi is a for-profit B Corporation funded by customer subscriptions and services. Individual deployments are usually funded by donors such as USAID successors, the Gates Foundation or national health budgets.

ArcGIS Field Maps: Can it write to a non-Esri database?

Not directly. The data must be published as an ArcGIS feature service, which may sit over an enterprise geodatabase you already run.

CommCare: Does it do case management or just forms?

Case management. Workers hold a caseload of individuals or households and see history and due actions, which is the main reason to choose it over a form tool.

Share

Related pages

More on CommCare

More on ArcGIS Field Maps

Keep looking

Other head to heads