Akvo Flow vs KoboToolbox

Akvo Flow is a data collection tool for organisations that use data to drive change. Its online workspace lets teams create, edit, copy and store surveys, then connect enumerators’ devices and assign survey groups for a set period. Forms can capture qualitative and quantitative responses, water test results, GPS data, images, geographical shapes, barcodes and QR codes. Monitoring forms track selected data points over time. The Android app collects information offline and can upload it automatically when coverage returns or manually by USB. Flow exports data and form codebooks, and its Comprehensive report presents basic statistics and charts. The open source platform connects with other tools through an API. Roles and permissions help control team access; Akvo says data transmission between system components uses SSL encryption and users choose what to keep private or share. Flow runs on Android, web, API and self-hosted platforms. Flow Basic is free for new clients, with a 300-submission limit, one export format and one user. Flow Pro + pricing is custom.

KoboToolbox is a survey and data collection platform for gathering information online or offline. Forms can include skip logic, validation, guidance, translations, GPS, and multimedia data. Collection is available through KoboCollect or web forms on iOS and desktop devices. The platform provides response analytics and API access, and teams can own members’ projects with role-based permissions for Owners, Admins, and Members. It works with Excel, Google Sheets, Power BI, Tableau, ArcGIS, and Stata, with direct integrations for TolaData and monday.com. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit using SHA-256 with RSA, alongside project-level key encryption. The platform also offers SSO and GDPR compliance. Data hosting is available in 28 countries or on a customer’s own infrastructure. The Community plan is free for nonprofits and includes 5,000 submissions per month and 1 GB of storage. Starter is $21 a month, Professional is $129 a month, and Teams is $249 a month. The maker says the platform is used by 35,000+ organizations across 220+ countries and territories, with 25M+ surveys collected per month.