Limesurvey: Self-Hosted Survey Platform

Google Forms is convenient but stores all responses in Google's infrastructure. SurveyMonkey is expensive at scale. LimeSurvey is the mature open-source alternative for organizations that need survey functionality with full data control — used by universities, research institutions, and organizations worldwide.

Photo by 1981 Digital on Unsplash

What LimeSurvey Offers

• Question types: Single choice, multiple choice, text, matrix, date, ranking, file upload, slider, GPS, and more
• Conditional logic: Show/hide questions based on previous answers
• Multi-language: Surveys in multiple languages with translation management
• Templates: Create reusable survey templates
• Participant management: Invite specific participants, track completion
• Anonymization: Anonymous surveys with configurable settings
• Export: CSV, Excel, SPSS, JSON exports
• Statistics: Built-in basic statistics and charts
• Quotas: Stop survey when target responses reached

Docker Deployment

services:
  limesurvey:
    image: martialblog/limesurvey:6-apache
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - 8080:80
    volumes:
      - limesurvey-upload:/var/www/html/upload
    environment:
      DB_TYPE: mysql
      DB_HOST: limesurvey-db
      DB_PORT: 3306
      DB_NAME: limesurvey
      DB_USERNAME: limesurvey
      DB_PASSWORD: change-this
      ADMIN_USER: admin
      ADMIN_NAME: Admin
      ADMIN_EMAIL: [email protected]
      ADMIN_PASSWORD: change-this-admin-password
    depends_on:
      - limesurvey-db

  limesurvey-db:
    image: mysql:8
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root-password
      MYSQL_DATABASE: limesurvey
      MYSQL_USER: limesurvey
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: change-this
    volumes:
      - limesurvey-db:/var/lib/mysql

volumes:
  limesurvey-upload:
  limesurvey-db:

Navigate to http://your-server:8080/index.php/admin. Log in with your admin credentials.

Creating a Survey

1. Surveys → Create a new survey
2. Set survey title and default language
3. Create question groups (organizes questions into sections)
4. Add questions to groups:
   • Choose question type
   • Enter question text
   • Add answer options
   • Set as mandatory if required

Conditional logic (relevance equations):

• Show question 5 only if question 3 was "Yes": set question 5's condition to Q3 == "Y"
• Skip to a section based on demographic answer
• LimeSurvey uses a simple expression language for conditions

Survey Modes

Public URL surveys: Share a URL anyone can complete (or require a code).

Token-based surveys: Generate individual tokens for invited participants. Each person has a unique link. Tracks who has/hasn't completed it. Can map responses back to participants while keeping response data anonymous.

Offline surveys: LimeSurvey has a tablet/kiosk mode for in-person data collection.

Exports and Analysis

After survey completion:

1. Surveys → [Your Survey] → Responses → Export
2. Choose format: CSV, Excel, SPSS, R
3. Select response range and fields

CSV exports include all question codes and responses. Import into Excel, R, Python, or SPSS for analysis.

Built-in statistics (Browse responses → Statistics) provide basic charts and frequency tables.

Use Cases

Academic research: LimeSurvey is widely used in academic institutions. SPSS export, full data control, no data leaving institutional infrastructure.

Internal company surveys: Employee satisfaction, pulse surveys, process feedback — without sending data to SaaS vendors.

Customer feedback: Post-purchase surveys, NPS (Net Promoter Score), product research.

Event registration and feedback: Multi-stage surveys for event signups.

Public consultations: Government or community organizations collecting public input.

Comparison

LimeSurvey's disadvantage: it's more complex to set up and learn than Google Forms. For simple one-off surveys, Google Forms is often appropriate. For organizations with ongoing research needs or data sovereignty requirements, LimeSurvey is the right tool.

Backup

# Database backup
docker exec limesurvey-db mysqldump -u limesurvey -pchange-this limesurvey \
  > limesurvey_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

# Upload files (logos, templates, collected files)
docker cp limesurvey:/var/www/html/upload ./upload-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)

The repository is at LimeSurvey/LimeSurvey. The self-hosted Community Edition is fully featured; LimeSurvey also sells hosted and enterprise versions with additional support.