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Surveys · head to head

KoboToolbox vs Octoboard

KoboToolbox logo

KoboToolbox

Surveys

Offline-first data collection for humanitarian, development and research field work

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Octoboard logo

Octoboard

Marketing

Low-cost white-label client reporting and dashboards priced per connected client

From
€25/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only KoboToolbox has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: KoboToolbox the free Community plan caps at 5,000 submissions a month and 1 GB of file storage, and any form collecting photographs exhausts storage long before it exhausts the submission count.; Octoboard the interface and documentation are visibly less polished than AgencyAnalytics or Whatagraph, and agencies often spend longer than expected getting a first report to look presentable.
  • They diverge on capability: KoboToolbox covers Offline data collection, Octoboard covers White-label client portal.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which KoboToolbox and Octoboard actually diverge.

Attributes where KoboToolbox and Octoboard differ
AttributeKoboToolboxOctoboard
Starting priceFree€25/month
Pricing modelPer month by submission countPer month by connected client count
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Android, Self-hostedWeb
CategorySurveysMarketing

Identical on both: 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 KoboToolbox

  • Offline data collection
  • XLSForm and browser form builder
  • Skip logic and validation
  • Multilingual forms
  • GPS and media capture
  • Case management
  • Exports and analysis
  • Self-hosting

Only in Octoboard

  • White-label client portal
  • Client-based pricing
  • Automated SEO audits
  • Business analytics
  • Scheduled report delivery
  • Data streaming and export

What people use each for

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

KoboToolbox

  • A rapid needs assessment after a disaster where enumerators work for days without mobile coveragenot Octoboard
  • A ministry of health running a national survey that must be self-hosted in country for data protection reasonsnot Octoboard
  • An NGO running the same longitudinal household survey in four languages across three countriesnot Octoboard
  • A research group that needs a free instrument for a modest sample and an SPSS export at the endnot Octoboard

Octoboard

  • A freelancer or two-person agency that needs client-branded reports without a two hundred dollar monthly platform billnot KoboToolbox
  • An agency that wants white labelling in the entry tier rather than paying to unlock itnot KoboToolbox
  • A small SEO shop that wants automated site audits and channel reporting from one subscriptionnot KoboToolbox
  • An agency with a large but shallow client roster where per-client pricing beats per-data-source pricingnot KoboToolbox

Where each one falls short

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

KoboToolbox

  • The free Community plan caps at 5,000 submissions a month and 1 GB of file storage, and any form collecting photographs exhausts storage long before it exhausts the submission count.
  • The Starter paid plan allows only 1,000 submissions a month for $21, which is fewer than the free nonprofit tier, so a small commercial user pays more for less than a charity gets free.
  • Eligibility for the free plan depends on Kobo's assessment of your organisation and purpose, which introduces an approval step that a consultancy working on behalf of an NGO may not clear.
  • Self-hosting is genuinely possible but the stack is substantial to deploy and maintain, so a ministry choosing it for data residency reasons takes on real infrastructure staffing cost.
  • Analysis and reporting inside the platform are basic compared with dedicated tools, so most serious use exports to Excel, Power BI or statistical software, and that export step is where data governance often gets loose.

Octoboard

  • The interface and documentation are visibly less polished than AgencyAnalytics or Whatagraph, and agencies often spend longer than expected getting a first report to look presentable.
  • Connector reliability is the recurring complaint in this price bracket, and a silently stale connection means a client receives a report with wrong numbers before anyone notices.
  • Support is email based with no dedicated onboarding on the entry tiers, so a broken integration during a month-end reporting crunch can sit unresolved for days.
  • Because pricing is per connected client, an agency serving few clients with many channels each pays for capacity it does not use compared with per-source pricing.
  • Data retention and export options are thinner on lower tiers, so leaving Octoboard means losing report history rather than migrating it.

Pricing, plan by plan

KoboToolbox

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • Free for qualifying nonprofit and public good organisations
    • 5,000 submissions per month
    • 1 GB file storage
  • Starter$21/month
    • 1,000 submissions per month
    • 0.5 GB file storage
    • For private and for-profit use
  • Professional$129/month
    • 25,000 submissions per month or 300,000 per year
    • Unlimited file storage
    • Priority support
  • Teams$undefined/month
    • 50,000 submissions per month or 600,000 per year
    • Shared team administration
    • Pricing published by plan tier

Octoboard

€25/month
  • Agencies$25/month
    • Five connected clients
    • Unlimited users, dashboards and reports
    • White labelling and custom email domain included

Which should you pick?

Choose KoboToolbox if

  • You need offline data collection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Android, Self-hosted.
  • You also want xlsform and browser form builder.
KoboToolbox review

Choose Octoboard if

  • You need white-label client portal.
  • You also want client-based pricing.
Octoboard review

Questions people ask

Is KoboToolbox or Octoboard better?
Neither clearly leads. KoboToolbox starts at Free and Octoboard at €25/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, KoboToolbox or Octoboard?
KoboToolbox has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for KoboToolbox and €25/month for Octoboard.
Does KoboToolbox or Octoboard run on more platforms?
KoboToolbox runs on Web, Android, Self-hosted. Octoboard runs on Web.
Can I use KoboToolbox for free?
Yes. KoboToolbox has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Octoboard starts at €25/month.
What is KoboToolbox best used for?
KoboToolbox is most often used for a rapid needs assessment after a disaster where enumerators work for days without mobile coverage, a ministry of health running a national survey that must be self-hosted in country for data protection reasons, an ngo running the same longitudinal household survey in four languages across three countries, a research group that needs a free instrument for a modest sample and an spss export at the end. Of those, a rapid needs assessment after a disaster where enumerators work for days without mobile coverage and a ministry of health running a national survey that must be self-hosted in country for data protection reasons are not what Octoboard is typically brought in for.
What can KoboToolbox do that Octoboard cannot?
KoboToolbox covers Offline data collection, XLSForm and browser form builder, Skip logic and validation, Multilingual forms. Octoboard covers White-label client portal, Client-based pricing, Automated SEO audits, Business analytics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

KoboToolbox: Is KoboToolbox free?

Free for qualifying nonprofit and public good organisations under the Community plan, currently 5,000 submissions a month and 1 GB of storage. Commercial use requires a paid plan from $21 a month.

Octoboard: Is white labelling an upgrade?

No, it is included from the entry tier along with a custom email sending domain.

KoboToolbox: Who funds it?

Kobo Inc is a US nonprofit funded roughly 38 per cent by grants and contributions and 62 per cent by service contracts, subscriptions and training, based on its 2024 figures.

Octoboard: How is it priced?

Per connected client per month, roughly five dollars or euros each, with the entry bundle covering five clients.

KoboToolbox: Can I host it myself?

Yes. The server stack is open source and is regularly deployed in country for data residency reasons.

Octoboard: Are users charged?

No, users, dashboards and reports are unlimited on all tiers.

KoboToolbox: Are forms portable?

Yes. It uses XLSForm and ODK standards, so instruments move between Kobo and other ODK-compatible servers.

Octoboard: Does it do SEO audits?

Yes, automated site crawls are built in and can be scheduled into client reports.

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