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Field Survey vs Formulus: catalog facts
Field Survey	Formulus
Best for: Researchers and volunteers collecting structured observations in the field	Best for: Research teams and organizations running field data collection in low-connectivity areas
Free Free and open source under the GPL-3.0 licence, with optional donations.	Free Free and open source under the MIT licence.
Android, iOS	Android
Custom survey templates for almost any field work Automatic timestamps, GPS and photos per record All 4 strengths for Field Survey Custom survey templates for almost any field work Automatic timestamps, GPS and photos per record Exports to a spreadsheet No account or cloud needed	Offline-first collection with later sync Forms defined with the open JSONForms specification All 3 strengths for Formulus Offline-first collection with later sync Forms defined with the open JSONForms specification Part of a complete open-source platform with server and CLI
Templates take some setup before the first survey Data stays on one device unless exported	Needs the ODE server side set up to be useful Aimed at organizations building forms, not casual users All 3 limitations for Formulus Needs the ODE server side set up to be useful Aimed at organizations building forms, not casual users Small project with a young community
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-3.0	License: MIT
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Field Survey pufstudio.net/apps/field_survey Catalog checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Formulus opendataensemble.org github.com/OpenDataEnsemble/ode f-droid.org/packages/org.opendataensemble.formulus Catalog checked October 2, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.