LimeSurvey review

Twenty-three years of survey depth, most of it free

LimeSurvey has been an open source survey staple since 2003. It handles complex research needs that lighter tools skip: dozens of question types, quotas, randomization, multi-language surveys, and full raw-data export to SPSS, R, and CSV. You can self-host the GPL-licensed Community Edition or use the paid LimeSurvey Cloud.

Academics, statisticians and anyone exporting to SPSS

• Academic and market researchers who need quotas, randomization, and statistics-ready exports
• Universities and public institutions with data-residency requirements
• Anyone with a PHP-capable server who wants unlimited surveys at no cost

Free on your server, priced in your currency in their cloud

The Community Edition is free to self-host with no limits. LimeSurvey Cloud has a free plan with 25 responses per month (as of July 2026); paid Cloud plans are priced in your local currency and scale by response volume, storage, and admin seats.

The 25-response cloud limit, and what self-hosting asks

• The hosted free plan locks your account once you pass 25 responses in a month
• The admin interface feels dated next to Tally or Typeform
• Self-hosting needs a PHP server and manual updates, a real hurdle for non-technical teams
• Form-builder extras like payments and e-signatures are not the focus here

Run it yourself, or pick a lighter tool

For research that needs quotas, randomization and a clean export into SPSS or R, LimeSurvey does things Tally and Typeform do not attempt, and the Community Edition costs nothing beyond a PHP server you maintain. That is the version worth having. The hosted free plan is not, because 25 responses in a month locks your account before even a pilot finishes. If you have no server and no appetite for manual updates, look through the free LimeSurvey alternatives rather than paying for Cloud out of habit.