Research · head to head
Medidata Rave vs REDCap
Medidata Rave
Research
Electronic data capture for regulated clinical trials, sold only through a sales process
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
REDCap
Research
Research data capture licensed free to non-profits, and not licensable at all to companies
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Medidata Rave no pricing is published at all, so a first time sponsor cannot budget a study without entering a sales process and usually cannot benchmark the quote against anything.; REDCap a for-profit company cannot hold a licence or self-host REDCap, so a biotech or CRO that liked it at university simply cannot deploy it the same way and must buy a commercially licensed hosted version instead.
- They diverge on capability: Medidata Rave covers Case report form design, REDCap covers Form and survey designer.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Medidata Rave and REDCap actually diverge.
| Attribute | Medidata Rave | REDCap |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Web | Web, Linux, Windows |
Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Research).
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 Medidata Rave
- Case report form design
- Edit checks and queries
- Part 11 audit trail
- Rave Lite
- Coding and safety
- Platform integrations
Only in REDCap
- Form and survey designer
- Longitudinal projects
- Data quality rules
- Randomisation
- Audit trail and e-signature
- API and exports
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Medidata Rave
- A sponsor running a registrational Phase III study where inspection readiness and a validated audit trail are non negotiablenot REDCap
- A biotech that wants its CRO to run data management and benefits from the CRO already having Rave trained staff and templatesnot REDCap
- A sponsor standardising forms across a programme so that a global library is reused rather than each study being built from scratchnot REDCap
- A device or Phase IV study where Rave Lite gives the same compliance posture at a lower configuration burdennot REDCap
REDCap
- An academic research group at an institution that already runs REDCap, where a new study database costs nothing beyond the time to build itnot Medidata Rave
- A hospital collecting patient reported outcomes where data must stay on institutional infrastructure rather than a vendor cloudnot Medidata Rave
- An investigator initiated trial that needs randomisation, an audit trail and statistical export without a commercial EDC budgetnot Medidata Rave
- A multi site academic collaboration where each site can be given scoped access to a single longitudinal projectnot Medidata Rave
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Medidata Rave
- No pricing is published at all, so a first time sponsor cannot budget a study without entering a sales process and usually cannot benchmark the quote against anything.
- Cost is dominated by study build rather than licence, and every protocol amendment that changes a form triggers billable rework, so a study with unstable protocols costs far more than the initial quote implied.
- Configuration requires trained specialists, so most sponsors cannot build a study in house and are dependent on Medidata professional services or a CRO, which lengthens startup.
- The system assumes a professional clinical data management function; a small sponsor without data managers will not operate it directly and will pay a CRO to do so.
- Deep use of the wider Medidata platform for randomisation, imaging and patient reported data creates commercial lock in, because moving EDC later means unpicking integrations that were bought as one bundle.
REDCap
- A for-profit company cannot hold a licence or self-host REDCap, so a biotech or CRO that liked it at university simply cannot deploy it the same way and must buy a commercially licensed hosted version instead.
- Because each institution hosts its own instance, support, uptime, backup and version currency vary by university, and a researcher has no recourse to Vanderbilt when the local instance is two years out of date.
- It is free of licence fee but not free of cost: the hosting institution carries server, security, patching and support staffing, which is why some institutions charge internal recharges per project.
- Validation for regulated use is the deploying institution responsibility, so an instance is not Part 11 compliant simply because REDCap supports the features; someone locally has to produce and maintain the evidence.
- The interface and reporting are dated compared with commercial survey and EDC tools, and complex logic is built through data dictionary spreadsheets rather than a modern visual builder, which slows non technical study teams.
Pricing, plan by plan
Medidata Rave
On request- Medidata Rave EDC$undefined/year
- Priced per study through a sales process
- Study build and configuration charged separately from licence
- Mid study amendments generally billable
REDCap
On request- REDCap non-profit licence$undefined/year
- No licence fee to non-profit and government institutions that join the consortium
- Institution must install and host it on its own infrastructure
- For-profit organisations may not hold a licence or self-host
Which should you pick?
Choose Medidata Rave if
- You need case report form design.
- You also want edit checks and queries.
Choose REDCap if
- You need form and survey designer.
- You work on Web, Linux, Windows.
- You also want longitudinal projects.
Questions people ask
- Is Medidata Rave or REDCap better?
- Neither clearly leads. Medidata Rave starts at On request and REDCap at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Medidata Rave or REDCap?
- Medidata Rave starts at On request and REDCap at On request.
- Does Medidata Rave or REDCap run on more platforms?
- Medidata Rave runs on Web. REDCap runs on Web, Linux, Windows.
- What is Medidata Rave best used for?
- Medidata Rave is most often used for a sponsor running a registrational phase iii study where inspection readiness and a validated audit trail are non negotiable, a biotech that wants its cro to run data management and benefits from the cro already having rave trained staff and templates, a sponsor standardising forms across a programme so that a global library is reused rather than each study being built from scratch, a device or phase iv study where rave lite gives the same compliance posture at a lower configuration burden. Of those, a sponsor running a registrational phase iii study where inspection readiness and a validated audit trail are non negotiable and a biotech that wants its cro to run data management and benefits from the cro already having rave trained staff and templates are not what REDCap is typically brought in for.
- What can Medidata Rave do that REDCap cannot?
- Medidata Rave covers Case report form design, Edit checks and queries, Part 11 audit trail, Rave Lite. REDCap covers Form and survey designer, Longitudinal projects, Data quality rules, Randomisation.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Medidata Rave: Who owns Medidata?
Dassault Systemes, which acquired Medidata in 2019. Rave is sold as part of the Dassault life sciences portfolio.
REDCap: Is REDCap really free?
The licence is free to non-profit institutions and government organisations that join the consortium, but they must host and support it themselves, so there is real internal cost.
Medidata Rave: How is Rave priced?
Per study, through a sales process. Nothing is published, and study build and amendments are charged separately from the licence.
REDCap: Can my company use REDCap?
Not by holding a licence or self-hosting. For-profit organisations must use a separately licensed commercial hosted route.
Medidata Rave: Is Rave validated out of the box?
Medidata supplies validation and qualification documentation, but the sponsor still owns study level user acceptance testing and its own validation evidence.
REDCap: Is REDCap 21 CFR Part 11 compliant?
It has the features to support Part 11 use, but compliance depends on how the hosting institution configures, validates and documents its own instance.
Medidata Rave: What is Rave Lite for?
Lower complexity studies, typically Phase I, Phase IV and medical device, where a full study build is not justified.
REDCap: Who supports it?
Your local institutional REDCap administrator, not Vanderbilt. Support quality varies by site.
Related pages
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