KoboToolbox collects forms. Restoration Scope runs the project, surveys included.

Should you use KoboToolbox or Restoration Scope?

It depends on the job, and for most projects that is operations. Where every visit must stay tied to the right site and plot season after season, fill the survey in Restoration Scope: it is linked to its site as it is filled, picks from the records the project keeps, and counts in the project totals once the phone syncs. For a standalone questionnaire, such as a household survey, with someone to own the form, KoboToolbox is proven and free for nonprofits. Kobo forms that already work can keep feeding the same record.

Restoration Scope publishes this comparison and is one of the options. We list it first because we think it's the best fit for most projects: it adapts to each project and grows with it, and covers operations and costs as well as fundraising and reporting. No vendor paid to be included. Something out of date? Write to info@restorationscope.com.

KoboToolbox and Restoration Scope at a glance

KoboToolbox and Restoration Scope compared

	Restoration Scope	KoboToolbox
What it is	The system that runs a nature project: sites, field work, surveys, maps, results and funder reporting. The field app and its surveys are part of it.	A general data-collection platform from a nonprofit, used in humanitarian, development and environmental work.
Cost	A free pilot on a sample of your data, then a platform license plus implementation, quoted after a scoping call.	As of October 2026: the Community plan is free for nonprofits, including government, UN and education, with 5,000 submissions a month and 1 GB of files. Paid nonprofit plans are $159–289 a month ($129–249 billed yearly); other organizations pay $25–359 a month.
Setup	Configured with our team around your project, surveys included; Kobo forms you already use are rebuilt during setup. Someone on your side owns the workflow.	Self-serve form builder or XLSForm, with 25 question types, skip logic and multilingual forms.
Offline capture	Restoration Scope Field works offline: points, lines, polygons and photos.	KoboCollect on Android and web forms both work offline.
Where a survey is filled	Inside the record it is about: open a site or plot, add the visit, and it is linked to it. Questions show only when they apply, and later steps open on the same record, such as consent, then onboarding, then the tree count. Pick lists come from the project, such as its sites and species.	In a form of its own. Forms can pull lists such as sites from another project, but you design and maintain those links yourself. Without them, the same site can be entered twice.
Catching errors	Required questions, number limits, project pick lists and a weak-GPS warning as it is filled. We also set up GPS checks, such as a tree outside its farm or a point inside another site, and checks that flag problem records, such as a boundary that crosses itself or overlaps another.	Constraints check each answer as it is entered. Reviewers mark submissions approved, not approved or on hold in the data table.
Maps	Sites and records on one project map, with geospatial data layers.	Point, line and area questions, a map of submissions, and GeoJSON export for GIS.
Results and reporting	A synced record counts in the project totals, with no export or import step. Donor portals are built from the same records.	Custom reports with charts and tables, plus exports and live data links that feed Excel, Power BI or Google Sheets dashboards.

Checked against KoboToolbox's own pages on October 28, 2026: Features, Pricing, About Kobo, Data collection tools, Validation criteria, Validating data, Exports, Synchronous exports, Maps, Custom reports, Linking forms, Trillion Trees template forms.