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Surveys · head to head

LimeSurvey vs Octoboard

LimeSurvey logo

LimeSurvey

Surveys

Open source survey software you can self-host, with German-hosted cloud as the alternative

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 LimeSurvey has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: LimeSurvey self-hosting shifts patching, backups and PHP upgrades onto your own team, and neglected installations become a security liability holding participant data.; 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: LimeSurvey covers Self-hosted deployment, Octoboard covers White-label client portal.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which LimeSurvey and Octoboard actually diverge.

Attributes where LimeSurvey and Octoboard differ
AttributeLimeSurveyOctoboard
Starting priceFree€25/month
Pricing modelOpen source, with paid cloud hostingPer month by connected client count
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, 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 LimeSurvey

  • Self-hosted deployment
  • Question type depth
  • Expression manager
  • Quotas and screening
  • Multilingual surveys
  • Participant management

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.

LimeSurvey

  • A university study whose ethics approval requires participant data to stay on institutional serversnot Octoboard
  • A public body procuring survey software under European data protection rulesnot Octoboard
  • A market research agency running multilingual instruments with quotas and screening logicnot Octoboard
  • A team that needs complex matrix and ranking questions consumer form builders do not supportnot Octoboard

Octoboard

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

Where each one falls short

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

LimeSurvey

  • Self-hosting shifts patching, backups and PHP upgrades onto your own team, and neglected installations become a security liability holding participant data.
  • The default interface and themes look dated beside Typeform or Jotform, which measurably lowers completion rates on consumer-facing surveys.
  • Cloud plans are capped on responses per period, so an unexpectedly successful field wave can force an upgrade in the middle of data collection.
  • Serious theming and layout changes require template and CSS work rather than a visual designer, so agencies often budget developer time per project.
  • Support on the free edition is community forums only, and paid support is a separate purchase, which is a poor fit for teams with no technical staff.

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

LimeSurvey

Free
  • Community Edition (self-hosted)Free
    • Free under the GNU General Public Licence
    • No response limits imposed by the vendor
    • Hosting, patching, backups and upgrades are your responsibility
  • LimeSurvey Cloud$undefined/year
    • Hosted on servers in Germany
    • Tiered on responses and storage per period rather than per user
    • Higher tiers add branding removal, more storage and support

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 LimeSurvey if

  • You need self-hosted deployment.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted.
  • You also want question type depth.
LimeSurvey review

Choose Octoboard if

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

Questions people ask

Is LimeSurvey or Octoboard better?
Neither clearly leads. LimeSurvey 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, LimeSurvey or Octoboard?
LimeSurvey has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for LimeSurvey and €25/month for Octoboard.
Does LimeSurvey or Octoboard run on more platforms?
LimeSurvey runs on Web, Self-hosted. Octoboard runs on Web.
Can I use LimeSurvey for free?
Yes. LimeSurvey has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Octoboard starts at €25/month.
What is LimeSurvey best used for?
LimeSurvey is most often used for a university study whose ethics approval requires participant data to stay on institutional servers, a public body procuring survey software under european data protection rules, a market research agency running multilingual instruments with quotas and screening logic, a team that needs complex matrix and ranking questions consumer form builders do not support. Of those, a university study whose ethics approval requires participant data to stay on institutional servers and a public body procuring survey software under european data protection rules are not what Octoboard is typically brought in for.
What can LimeSurvey do that Octoboard cannot?
LimeSurvey covers Self-hosted deployment, Question type depth, Expression manager, Quotas and screening. Octoboard covers White-label client portal, Client-based pricing, Automated SEO audits, Business analytics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

LimeSurvey: Is LimeSurvey really free?

The self-hosted Community Edition is free under the GPL with no vendor response limits. The hosted cloud is paid and tiered by response volume.

Octoboard: Is white labelling an upgrade?

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

LimeSurvey: Where is cloud data stored?

On servers in Germany, which is why public sector and academic buyers choose it over United States hosted competitors.

Octoboard: How is it priced?

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

LimeSurvey: Can it handle complex research designs?

Yes. Quotas, randomisation, piping and matrix question types are core features rather than enterprise add-ons.

Octoboard: Are users charged?

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

Octoboard: Does it do SEO audits?

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

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