ESMira review: an open-source, self-hosted experience sampling platform for researchers. See features, licensing, pricing and academic alternatives.
ESMira is an open-source software system built specifically for Experience Sampling Method, Ecological Momentary Assessment, and ambulatory assessment research. It was created by David Lewetz and Stefan Stieger of the Department of Psychology and Psychodynamics at Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences in Austria, with development starting in early 2019 and the underlying methodology described in a 2023 paper published in Behavior Research Methods.
The system is split into a self-hosted PHP server, which researchers install on their own webspace to design studies and collect data, and native Android and iOS apps (with a web interface as an alternative) that participants use to answer prompted questionnaires. Because the server runs on infrastructure the researcher controls rather than a vendor's cloud, ESMira is described in its own documentation as decentralized, and participant data collection and communication are designed to stay anonymous throughout a study.
ESMira supports complex, nested time-based sampling schedules, which lets researchers design studies with multiple prompt types and timing rules within a single project. It includes an anonymous, built-in chat feature so study administrators can message participants without collecting identifying contact information, and a reward-code system that allows incentivizing participation while preserving anonymity.
Participants can see live graphical feedback and personal statistics as they progress through a study, which is intended to support engagement over the course of longer sampling periods. The mobile apps can store completed surveys locally and upload them once connectivity returns, so continuous internet access is not required to participate.
ESMira is free and open source, released under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL-3.0). There is no commercial pricing tier: the source code, server software, and mobile apps are all available at no cost from the project's GitHub repository, and researchers run their own instance on a PHP-enabled webserver they provide themselves.
Because ESMira is self-hosted rather than offered as a managed SaaS product, the only practical cost to a research team is the webserver hosting they already need to supply, not a subscription or license fee to the ESMira project itself.
ESMira is an open-source platform for running Experience Sampling Method, Ecological Momentary Assessment, and ambulatory assessment studies, combining a self-hosted server with native Android and iOS apps for participants.
ESMira was developed by David Lewetz and Stefan Stieger at the Department of Psychology and Psychodynamics, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences in Austria, with development beginning in early 2019.
Yes. ESMira is released under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL-3.0) and is free to download, self-host, and use; there is no paid tier from the project itself.
Yes. ESMira's server component is PHP-based and must be installed on a webserver the researcher controls, which is what makes the platform decentralized and self-hosted.
Participants are identified with randomly generated IDs rather than personal accounts, and features like the built-in chat and reward-code incentive system are designed to allow communication and compensation without breaking that anonymity.
ESMira offers native apps for Android and iOS, plus a web interface as an alternative for participants, alongside the PHP-based server that researchers use to manage studies.