Platform comparison
SMAAT vs formr
formr is a respected open-source study engine, widely used in psychology for diary and ESM-style designs because of its tight R integration and flexible session logic. It's web-first — surveys live in the browser and reach participants via emailed/SMS'd links — and has no native mobile app or built-in sensor pipeline. SMAAT is the opposite end of the trade-off: a closed-source EU-hosted ESM platform with a native iOS/Android app, sensor collection, a visual survey builder, cognitive-task library, and event/geofence triggering. Pick by which axis matters most: scripting depth vs in-the-pocket reach.
Researched and last updated: 28 May 2026. We try to keep this comparison factual. If you spot an inaccuracy, email info@open-lab.online and we'll update it.
formr
Open-source web platform for chained surveys and longitudinal/diary studies, with deep R integration. Free for academic use on formr.org.
Typical academic price: Free for academic use on the formr.org community instance; self-hosting is also free under the open-source licence.
Visit formr →SMAAT
Open, EU-hosted research platform with integrated survey-and-cognitive-task builder and built-in compliance monitoring.
Typical academic price: Pro €63/mo academic, billed annually (€756/yr); Free tier (1 study / 5 participants)
See SMAAT pricing →formr's hosted instance is volunteer-maintained — there are no SLAs and acceptable-use limits apply at scale. SMAAT's pricing covers managed EU hosting, the native mobile app, encrypted storage, compliance tooling, and ongoing platform development.
Feature-by-feature
| Feature | SMAAT | formr |
|---|---|---|
| What it provides | Full ESM platform: visual survey builder, cognitive tasks, scheduler, native mobile app, compliance dashboards, encrypted storage, data export. | Web survey engine with chained sessions, randomisation, scheduled emails, and server-side R for branching, scoring, and feedback. |
| Mobile app | Native iOS + Android participant app (App Store / Google Play). Surveys, notifications, sensors and tasks all inside the app. | No native app. Participants open surveys in a mobile browser via emailed or SMS'd link. |
| Survey builder | Visual drag-and-drop builder with 13+ question types (Likert, slider, sorting, swipe/tap, file upload, AI chat, etc.). | Spreadsheet-defined items (Google Sheets / Excel / CSV). Powerful once you learn the conventions; steeper learning curve for non-coders. |
| Cognitive tasks | Built-in library of validated cognitive tasks (task switching, n-back, go/no-go, flanker, trail-making, simple RT, and more). | Not built in. Tasks must be embedded as custom HTML/JS (e.g. jsPsych) and timing depends on the participant's browser. |
| Sensor data collection | GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, pedometer, barometer — collected by the app and synchronised with self-report. | Not included. Sensor integration requires an external wearable + separate platform (e.g. Fitbit API stitched in via custom code). |
| Notification / trigger types | Fixed-time, random-within-window, interval, event-based, geofenced. All configured in the dashboard. | Time-based (cron-style) email/SMS invitations within a session schedule. No native geofence or device-event triggers. |
| Scripting & analysis pipeline | CSV/JSON export, REST API for live access. Bring your own R / Python / SPSS pipeline. | Server-side R is first-class: scripts run inside the study to branch, score, and feed back results live during a session. |
| Compliance monitoring | Real-time dashboards, per-participant response rates, inactivity flags, automated email alerts (Basic tier and up). | Per-session completion tracking; richer monitoring typically built by the researcher using formr's R hooks. |
| Data storage | Encrypted at rest in the EU. Optional public/private key end-to-end encryption with the researcher holding the private key. | Stored on formr.org (Germany) by default. Self-hosting on your own server is supported under the open-source licence. |
| Open source | Closed-source SaaS. Audit-friendly documentation and a published sub-processor list. | Open source (GitHub). Self-hostable if your institution requires on-prem. |
| Hosting | DigitalOcean, Frankfurt (Germany). | formr.org community instance (Germany) or self-hosted. |
| Setup effort | Design the study in the dashboard, invite participants by code or link, configure encryption / sensors as needed. | Higher up-front: define items in a spreadsheet, write the session logic, and (often) some R for scoring. Pays off when those skills are already in the team. |
| Best for | Researchers who need native mobile, sensor data, cognitive tasks, event/geofence triggers, and managed EU hosting in one platform. | R-fluent researchers running browser-based diary or longitudinal studies who want full open-source control and rich session logic. |
When to pick formr
Pick formr when your study is web-only, you (or your team) already work in R and want analysis logic to run inside the study itself, you need full source-code access for institutional or methodological reasons, and you don't need a native mobile app, on-device sensors, or built-in cognitive tasks.
When to pick SMAAT
Pick SMAAT when you need a native iOS/Android app, want passive sensor data (GPS, accelerometer, etc.) synchronised with self-report, need event-based or geofenced triggers without stitching together a Fitbit/Qualtrics/Postman pipeline yourself (the architecture described in Yeomans, Purser, & Karg, 2025), or want managed EU hosting with end-to-end encryption out of the box.
Sources
Still deciding?
Bring the question to a 20-minute call. We'll walk through your study design and tell you honestly whether SMAAT fits.