# CommCare review (2026): is the free plan enough?

> No-code apps for frontline case management and data collection

Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA.

CommCare is a no-code platform from Dimagi for building mobile apps that collect data and manage cases for frontline programs, with offline use. It is used in community health, humanitarian response and other social impact work. Plans are priced by the number of mobile workers.

- **Category:** Forms & Surveys
- **Made by:** Dimagi, Inc.
- **Website:** https://commcare.dimagi.com
- **Runs on:** Web, Android, iOS
- **Who should skip it:** Tight if you stay free, as it is for testing with 5 mobile workers.
- **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026

## Pricing

As of Nov 13, 2026, CommCare has a free plan, and paid plans start at $100 per month, billed annually ($120 billed monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** Free Edition for testing: 1 project space and 5 mobile workers.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. |

Read from https://commcare.dimagi.com/pricing/ on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with CommCare before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **About 17% off with annual billing** (Annual discount): Paying annually costs about 17% less than paying monthly, for example $500 versus $600 a month on Pro. Source: https://commcare.dimagi.com/pricing/
- **Subsidized pricing for health ministries** (Other savings): Ministries running national community health programs qualify for subsidized pricing through Dimagi's eCHIS offering. Source: https://commcare.dimagi.com/pricing/

## Key features

- **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.

## Good for

- NGOs and health programs managing clients over months or years
- Government and community health worker programs
- Teams collecting data in places with poor connectivity

## Worth knowing

- 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.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.0 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. CommCare builds mobile apps for case management in frontline programmes, with offline use. The free edition is for testing: 1 project space and 5 mobile workers. Standard is $100 a month, and web apps and Power BI feeds need Advanced at $1,000 a month.

- **Value for money: D.** Standard 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.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** The Free Edition is for testing: 1 project space and 5 mobile workers.
- **Features: C.** No-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.
- **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. Building a case-management app is real design work.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web plus Android and iOS apps, with Zapier, Power BI, Tableau and Excel links. No desktop app.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from CommCare's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among form and survey tools

- CommCare's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 26 of the 148 other form and survey tools we grade, and level with 29.
- It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 46 of 148) and worst on value for money (D, above 1).
- Its paid plans start at $100 a month, against a middle price of $20 for the category: 97 of the 114 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 38 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/forms

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** The plain part of CommCare you could make: forms, surveys and case management. What surrounds it you could not. The 4 things listed below take a company, not a weekend. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 93 of the 148 other form and survey tools grade higher. It costs $1,200 a year. CommCare is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.

- You could make: Forms, surveys and case management: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Zapier, Power BI and Tableau among them, and has an API.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- You could not: What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: SOC 2 and HIPAA.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Zapier, Power BI, Tableau, Excel

**Tags:** Forms, Surveys, Works offline, Case management, Open source, AI features, Public API

## Alternatives

- [SurveyCTO](https://toolgpa.com/tools/surveycto): Offline-capable data collection for field research. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/commcare-vs-surveycto)
- [KoboToolbox](https://toolgpa.com/tools/kobotoolbox): Open-source data collection for field surveys, online or offline. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/commcare-vs-kobotoolbox)
- [Open Data Kit](https://toolgpa.com/tools/open-data-kit): Open-source mobile and web data collection. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/commcare-vs-open-data-kit)
- [Ona](https://toolgpa.com/tools/ona): Mobile data collection with forms, maps and charts. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/commcare-vs-ona)
- [Epicollect5](https://toolgpa.com/tools/epicollect5): Free mobile and web data collection from Oxford University. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/commcare-vs-epicollect5)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026:

- https://commcare.dimagi.com/pricing/
- https://commcare.dimagi.com

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/commcare
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).