CommCare vs KoboToolbox (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, KoboToolbox grades higher than CommCare: 2.6 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
KoboToolbox grades higher on value for money and features. They get the same grade on the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
CommCare
No-code apps for frontline case management and data collection
KoboToolbox
Open-source data collection for field surveys, online or offline
Which one is for you
Pick CommCare if
- Fits if you run a health or social programme with field workers and follow-up visits
- Works for a pilot of up to 5 mobile workers
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, as it is for testing with 5 mobile workers
- Pricey if you grow: $2 a month for each extra mobile user, active or not
- Watch out: web applications and Power BI feeds need Advanced at $1,000 a month
- Watch out: buying online covers up to 3 project spaces; more needs a sales call
Pick KoboToolbox if
- Fits if you're a nonprofit, UN agency or researcher collecting data in the field
- Works for survey teams collecting offline on Android phones and tablets with long, spreadsheet-built questionnaires
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you're a company or individual hoping for free, as the free plan is for nonprofits, schools and government
- Skip it if your team is on iPhones and wants an app, since KoboCollect is Android only
- Pricey if you're a business past 1,000 submissions a month, where the next plan is $88 billed yearly, and there's no trial
- Watch out: going over a submission or storage limit blocks new submissions until the quota resets or you upgrade
- Watch out: these prices come from a July 5, 2026 archive copy, because the live pricing page could not be loaded
How we grade them
| 2.0GPACommCareFair | 2.6GPAKoboToolboxGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DStandard is $100 a month on yearly billing plus $2 for each extra mobile user. Web apps and Power BI and Tableau feeds sit on Advanced at $1,000. | C$21 a month billed yearly for unlimited projects, unlimited data collectors and 1,000 submissions a month, which lands just under this category's $24 middle. For a company the next rung is brutal: 5,000 submissions costs $88, past the dearest tenth. |
| Free plan and trial | CThe Free Edition is for testing: 1 project space and 5 mobile workers. | CDepends entirely who you are. Nonprofits, government agencies, UN bodies and schools get 5,000 submissions a month and 1 GB free, caps a busy project would still reach. Everybody else gets nothing free and no trial either. |
| Features | CNo-code apps, offline case management, reports, messaging and security. Web applications, BI feeds and de-identification need Advanced, and texts cost $0.01 to $0.10 each. | AIt does the whole survey job and several things nothing else in this category does: XLSForm questionnaires with cascading selects and translations, GPS, photo, audio and barcode questions, offline collection, automatic transcription of audio answers, and exports to Stata, ArcGIS and Power BI. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Building a case-management app is real design work. | CNo store rating on record, and there's a real learning curve: the serious questionnaires are written as XLSForm spreadsheets, projects have to be deployed, and collectors need accounts. The visual Formbuilder is the gentle route. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb plus Android and iOS apps, with Zapier, Power BI, Tableau and Excel links. No desktop app. | BWeb plus the KoboCollect Android app, both working offline, with an API that downloads data and deploys projects, and exports into Excel, Power BI, Tableau and ArcGIS. No iPhone app: Apple users fill forms in a browser. |
| Best for | no-code mobile apps for frontline programmes | field surveys that have to work offline |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: CommCare and KoboToolbox. How we grade
Price against what you get
CommCare starts at $100 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. KoboToolbox starts at $21 a month and scores 3.0.
KoboToolbox scores higher and starts $79 a month lower. Of the other form and survey tools on the chart, 38 score higher than CommCare for less, and none scores higher than KoboToolbox for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- KoboToolbox is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- CommCare also covers case management.
- KoboToolbox also covers reports.
At a glance
| CommCare | KoboToolbox | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $100 per month, billed annually ($120 billed monthly) | $21 per month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly); nonprofits have a free plan |
| Free plan | Free Edition for testing: 1 project space and 5 mobile workers. | Community plan, free for nonprofits, government agencies, UN organizations and educational institutions: 5,000 submissions a month and 1 GB of file storage. Other users pay $99 a month for it. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Dimagi, Inc. | Kobo |
| Price read from | commcare.dimagi.com | web.archive.org (not the vendor's own page) |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Worth knowing
CommCare
- Billing counts mobile users, active or inactive, at $2 per extra user a month; web users are unlimited.
- Text messages carry per-message fees, roughly $0.01 to $0.10 through Dimagi's gateway depending on country.
- Web applications, Power BI and Tableau feeds and data de-identification need the Advanced plan.
- Buying online covers up to 3 project spaces; 4 or more need a sales conversation.
KoboToolbox
- The free Community plan is limited to nonprofits, government agencies, UN organizations and educational institutions; others pay.
- Going over a plan's submission or storage limit blocks new submissions until the quota resets or the plan is upgraded.
- KoboCollect is an Android app; iPhones and iPads collect data through web forms in a browser.
- Prices here come from a July 5, 2026 archive copy of the pricing page, because the live page could not be loaded.
Key features
CommCare
- No-code app builder
- Program staff build and deploy mobile apps without engineers, with multi-language support and multimedia.
- Offline case management
- Track clients over time and collect data with no signal; everything syncs when connectivity returns.
- Reports and exports
- A web report builder, scheduled exports and Excel dashboards; Power BI and Tableau OData feeds on Advanced.
- Messaging
- One-way messaging and live text chat; two-way text messaging is an add-on or Advanced feature.
- Security
- The vendor says it is SOC 2 certified, GDPR compliant and signs HIPAA BAAs on Advanced.
KoboToolbox
- Formbuilder and XLSForm
- Build forms in a visual Formbuilder or as XLSForm spreadsheets, with skip logic, validation, calculations, cascading selects and translations.
- Offline data collection
- Web forms and the KoboCollect Android app both store submissions on the device without a connection and upload them once it returns.
- GPS and multimedia questions
- Forms can capture GPS locations, photos, audio and video, and the KoboCollect app adds device features such as barcode scanning.
- Audio transcription and translation
- Audio responses can be transcribed and translated automatically within a monthly quota: 10 minutes on Community and 120 on Professional.
- Reports, data tables and exports
- Custom reports, table views and bulk editing are built in, and data exports work with Excel, Google Sheets, Power BI, Tableau, ArcGIS and Stata.
- API
- The API downloads data as JSON, CSV or XLSX, submits or edits records, creates and deploys projects, and manages users and permissions.
Plans
CommCare
Free Edition$0
For testing purposes: 1 project space, 5 mobile workers, unlimited form submissions.
Standard$100
per month, billed annually ($120 billed monthly)
50 mobile users included, offline case management; shown as was $250, with no end date given.
Pro$500
per month, billed annually ($600 billed monthly)
250 users included, case sharing, child cases, a web report builder, APIs and priority support.
Advanced$1,000
per month, billed annually ($1,200 billed monthly)
500 users included, Power BI and Tableau integration, web applications, de-identification and two-way SMS.
Enterprise$4,000
per month and up, billed annually
Custom user volume, single sign-on, account management, customized terms and roadmap input.
KoboToolbox
Community (nonprofit)$0
For nonprofits, government agencies, UN organizations and educational institutions: unlimited projects, 5,000 submissions a month and 1 GB of storage.
Starter$21
per month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly)
For companies and personal use only: unlimited projects and data collectors, 1,000 submissions a month and 1 GB of file storage.
Community (other)$88
per month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
The Community plan as sold to companies and individuals outside the nonprofit category: 5,000 submissions a month and 1 GB of storage.
Professional$129
per month, billed annually ($159 monthly); nonprofit rate
25,000 submissions a month and unlimited file storage. Organizations outside the nonprofit category pay $166 billed annually or $199 monthly.
Teams$249
per month, billed annually ($289 monthly); nonprofit rate
50,000 submissions a month, unlimited storage and 1 team with member roles. Other organizations pay $309 billed annually or $359 monthly.
Enterprise SolutionsCustom
Unlimited submissions and 10 teams, with single sign-on included and hosting in a choice of 28 countries or on your own infrastructure.
Ways to pay less
CommCare
- Annual discount
About 17% off with annual billing
Paying annually costs about 17% less than paying monthly, for example $500 versus $600 a month on Pro.
- Other savings
Subsidized pricing for health ministries
Ministries running national community health programs qualify for subsidized pricing through Dimagi's eCHIS offering.
KoboToolbox
- Nonprofit
Free Community plan and lower rates for nonprofits
Nonprofits, government agencies and UN organizations get the Community plan free and pay less for Professional and Teams than other organizations do.
- Education
Nonprofit pricing for educational institutions
The pricing page counts educational institutions in its nonprofit category, which includes the free Community plan and the lower paid rates.
- Annual discount
Lower monthly rate with annual billing
Billed annually, Starter is $21 instead of $25 per month, and the nonprofit rates are $129 instead of $159 for Professional and $249 instead of $289 for Teams.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, CommCare or KoboToolbox?
As of Nov 13, 2026, KoboToolbox is cheaper to start with: $21 a month, against $100 a month for CommCare. CommCare starts at $100 per month, billed annually ($120 billed monthly), and KoboToolbox starts at $21 per month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly); nonprofits have a free plan.
Which has a free plan, CommCare or KoboToolbox?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both CommCare and KoboToolbox have a free plan.
Which platforms do CommCare and KoboToolbox run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only CommCare lists an iOS app. Both list a web app and an Android app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.