Switch to Domandata

Switch from LimeSurvey to Domandata

LimeSurvey is a solid open-source option, but self-hosting, upgrades, and server security become the lab's responsibility — and its exports still need extra tooling to reach SPSS or Stata cleanly.

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LimeSurvey is genuinely research-friendly and open-source, which is exactly its trade-off: if you self-host, your lab owns the server, the upgrades, and the security patching. Its hosted cloud plan avoids that, but either way, getting from a LimeSurvey export to a clean SPSS or Stata file usually takes extra syntax or scripting.

Why researchers switch from LimeSurvey

What Domandata does specifically to make social science research easier than LimeSurvey.

No server to own

A hosted, no-code builder replaces self-hosting, upgrades, and security patching — without giving up research-friendly conventions.

Real files, not syntax to run yourself

Native .sav/.dta files with a matching generated codebook replace an SPSS syntax file you have to execute against the raw export.

Preregistration LimeSurvey doesn't have

Instrument fingerprinting and OSF/Dataverse integration are things LimeSurvey doesn't offer, despite otherwise being research-friendly.

Plan and pilot in the same workspace

Built-in power analysis and Silicon Samples let you size and pretest a study without installing a plugin or leaving the builder.

Domandata vs. LimeSurvey

Feature	Domandata	LimeSurvey
Randomized treatment assignment	Randomized treatment arms with weighted, stratified, or balanced allocation, plus permutation sets that shuffle values across variables without within-respondent repeats — all built in, no scripting.	Randomization plugins and question-order randomization exist, configured per-survey rather than as a guided workflow with permutation sets.
Quotas & partner status links	Path-aware quotas on treatment arms and Flow endings, with shareable quota-status links so partners can watch fill counts live without editor access.	Basic quotas exist; shareable partner-facing status links and path-aware routing to an over-quota ending aren't built in.
Branching, piping & flow logic	Visual flow canvas shows every routing path, condition, and piped variable at a glance.	Relevance equations handle conditional logic well for researchers comfortable writing expressions, but there's no visual path map.
Research-specific question types	Conjoint, MaxDiff, card sort, constant sum, text highlighter, click heatmaps, signature, file upload, and AI text/voice chat ship as built-in question types.	Good academic-oriented question library (including ranking and array types); some newer types like MaxDiff need plugins.
AI-simulated pilot testing	Silicon Samples pilot-test a survey with AI-simulated respondents — built from personas, panel data, or prior responses — before fielding it with real people.	No AI-simulated respondent feature.
Power & sample-size planning	Built-in power and sample-size planning with a Sankey view of expected allocation, right where the survey is built.	No built-in power or sample-size planning tool.
Data-quality tooling	Automated quality scores (speeding, straightlining, duplicate devices, bot signals), author-defined attention/dwell/impossible-combination rules, and a human review queue with an exportable cleaning log.	Basic quotas and validation; author-defined attention-check and dwell-time rules aren't a built-in feature.
Export to SPSS/Stata/R	Native SPSS (.sav) and Stata (.dta) files, a generated codebook, and randomization audit columns (answer order, treatment assignment, fixed-order comparisons) in every export.	Exports include an SPSS syntax file alongside the data, rather than a ready-to-open .sav/.dta file with a matching codebook or audit columns.
Open Science / preregistration	Lock and fingerprint a preregistered instrument, push study artifacts to OSF or Harvard Dataverse, and export a complete replication package — data, code, codebook, and instrument bundled together.	No built-in OSF/Dataverse integration or instrument fingerprinting, despite otherwise being research-friendly.
Pricing	Free plan for drafting and previewing instruments; paid plans add Flow, Deploy, Export, and team collaboration, with published self-serve pricing.	Free if self-hosted (plus your own server/maintenance cost), or a paid hosted-cloud plan.

Migrating from LimeSurvey

Export or print your survey to PDF or Word, then upload it through Domandata's Import dialog — the document parser reads in your questions and answer choices for you to clean up in Block Builder.

Import method: Upload a PDF or Word export

Export your survey as PDF or Word
In LimeSurvey, use Survey → Print survey (or export the question list) to generate a PDF or Word copy of your questionnaire.
Upload the document to Domandata
Open Import from your workspace dashboard, choose File, and select the exported document. Domandata parses questions and choices into Block Builder.
Review and finish each question
Document parsing is a starting point — relevance-equation logic won't carry over, so check every question type and branch.
Rebuild logic and randomization in Flow
Recreate your relevance equations as visual conditions in Flow, and add permutation sets or quotas for multi-arm designs.
Preview, then retire the self-hosted instance
Walk the survey in Preview, then re-point distribution links before winding down your self-hosted LimeSurvey install.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I import my LimeSurvey survey automatically?

LimeSurvey doesn't share a file format with Domandata's importer. Use Survey → Print survey to export a PDF or Word copy, then upload it through Domandata's Import dialog — the document parser reads in your questions and answer choices for you to review in Block Builder.

Does my LimeSurvey relevance-equation logic carry over?

No — relevance equations aren't captured by a document import. You'll rebuild that conditional logic visually in Flow, and add permutation sets or quotas for multi-arm designs.

What happens to my existing LimeSurvey response data?

Import brings over your questionnaire structure, not historical responses. Export your existing response data from LimeSurvey as CSV and keep it alongside your new Domandata dataset.

Do I need to keep hosting a server?

No. Domandata is fully hosted, so once you've migrated you can retire your self-hosted LimeSurvey install and stop maintaining the server, upgrades, and security patching yourself.

Ready to bring your survey over?

Create a free account, then use Import from your workspace dashboard to bring in your LimeSurvey survey.

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