Typeform is a polished form builder that people actually finish. Clinical studies need more behind the form: participant records across visits, a field-level audit trail, consent with signatures and role-based access. Capture adds those.
Free sandbox · No credit card · 21 CFR Part 11 aligned
Tests
5
Hands-on
4
To confirm
1
Capture vs Typeform: the short version
0
sales calls needed to start building
1
audit trail across EDC, ePRO, eConsent and randomization
Free
sandbox with every feature, no time limit
EU + US
hosting in Frankfurt or N. Virginia
The wedge
Teams reach for Typeform for sound reasons. Participants find it pleasant, a form takes an hour to build, and answers can flow into a spreadsheet or another tool through integrations. For a recruitment interest form, a satisfaction survey or a one-time screening questionnaire, that is often enough, and nothing here argues against it.
The difficulty comes when the same tool becomes the system of record. A clinical study needs to know which participant gave which answer at which visit, whether the answer was within window, who changed a value afterwards and why, and whether every participant saw the same version of the form. A form builder is designed around a submitted response, not around a participant followed over weeks. Linking responses to a person is usually done by hand, with a hidden field or an email address, and corrections are made in a spreadsheet outside the tool. That is where the evidence gap opens, summarised by the ALCOA+ principles: attributable, contemporaneous and original data with a record of every change.
A study platform handles these by design. In Capture a change to a value is written at field level with user, time, old value, new value and reason, and the form itself moves from draft to approved and is locked. For the full list of controls see 21 CFR Part 11 compliant EDC. Part 11 compliance is a shared responsibility between the software and the sponsor's validated use of it, whichever tool you choose.
Nothing says you must stop using a form builder. A common split keeps a public interest or pre-screening form in a friendly tool, then moves anyone who is invited into the study system, where consent, visits and diaries live. Do not copy identifying answers around by email or spreadsheet; share only what the next step needs. For comparable tools, see Capture vs Jotform, and for the same question about another free form tool see Google Forms for clinical research.
What to compare
| Criterion | Why it matters | Capture |
|---|---|---|
| Audit trail | Who changed what, when and why | Field-level, append-only, with user, time, old and new value and reason; exportable |
| Participant record | Follow one person across visits | One participant record across EDC, ePRO, eConsent and randomization; site-level participant numbering such as 001-0042 |
| Data checks | Clean data at entry | Range and custom-value edit checks raise auto-queries when a site enters a value that breaks a rule |
| Signatures | Consent and investigator sign-off | Verified eConsent; re-authenticated investigator signatures with a meaning statement |
| Locked structure | Forms that cannot change unnoticed mid-study | Draft and approved forms; approved forms locked for live use |
| Participant diaries | Reminders that respect the schedule | Questionnaires on the participant's own phone, with completion windows and reminders that respect quiet hours in each time zone |
| Access control | Minimum necessary access by role | Site coordinators see names, researchers see coded IDs; row-level security at the database layer |
| Data export | Analysis-ready datasets and a data dictionary | CSV or Excel with an automatic codebook; SDTM as SAS XPT with Define-XML |
| Commercial model | Budget for a small study | Free sandbox with every feature; no setup fee; pay only when you go live |
This table shows Capture's answers only. Ask Typeform for theirs, and confirm current capabilities and terms directly with them.
Compliance controls
Every change is written to an append-only, hash-chained audit trail with user, time, old and new value and reason. Electronic signatures require password re-authentication and carry a meaning statement. Roles separate sites, and identifying data is segregated from study data at the database layer.
Weight changed 68.0 to 68.5 kg
Site coordinator · Reason: Transcription error
Query Q-0014 answered on Weight
Site coordinator · Reason: Source checked
Vital signs form locked
Data manager · Reason: Visit cleaned
Longitudinal studies
Each visit is anchored to screening, a milestone, an earlier visit, a fixed study day or a date recorded on a form, with a window and an enforcement mode. Questionnaires follow the schedule, reminders go out by email or SMS, and the status overview shows every participant against every visit.
Window -3 / +3 days around the anchored target date
Soft window
Stays available with a protocol deviation flag
Hard window
Locks outside the window
Warning only
Stays available with a warning
Auto-close
Marked missed when the window closes
Describe it or upload it, and let the AI draft the questions in the free sandbox.
Fit
Typeform is often the right choice for recruitment interest forms, event sign-ups, short feedback surveys and pre-screening questions where completion rate matters and the answers will not be the basis of a study analysis. Ask Typeform what your plan records, exports and agrees contractually before any health data goes in.
Capture fits studies in which the answers will be relied on by someone else: an ethics committee, a sponsor, a journal or a regulator. It is built for visit schedules, site-entered data, consent with signatures and an audit trail with reasons, from Phase 1 to Phase 3.
Identity and access
Site coordinators see participant names; researchers and sponsor-side users work with coded IDs. Identifying data is segregated at the database layer, sites see only their own participants, and data is encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS in transit, hosted in the EU or US.
Site coordinator
Jane Peterson
DOB: 04-Mar-1978
Subject 01-004
Sees direct identifiersResearcher
Subject 01-004
DOB: withheld
Coded ID only
Sees coded ID onlySame record, two roles. Row-level security enforces the split.
Switching
List your Typeform questions and upload them, or describe the form; Capture's AI drafts the eCRF or ePRO questionnaire for your review, and nothing is saved until you approve it. Then add types, ranges, required fields and a visit schedule.
Keep responses already collected in their original export, documented, and start new collection in Capture from a defined date. Note the cut-over in the data management plan and do not edit the archived export afterwards.
Test the full flow in the free sandbox with sample data first: a diary on a phone, a failed edit check, a query, an e-signature and the audit trail export. You pay only when you go live with real participants.
Evaluation
Agreements, access control and hosting checked.
Schedules, windows and reminders needed.
Audit trail with reasons required.
Consent or investigator sign-off needed.
Site separation and roles needed.
Part 11 or GCP expectations apply.
All comparisons
Every comparison uses the same approach: what to test, where each option fits, and Capture's own answers. See all of them on the comparisons hub at /compare.
It can collect answers well. For data that will support a regulatory or publication decision, check audit trail detail, signatures, edit checks, role-based access and validation evidence against your protocol and your sponsor's expectations before relying on it.
Part 11 compliance depends on the system and on how the sponsor validates and uses it. A general form builder does not provide a field-level audit trail with reasons or investigator signatures with meaning statements on its own. Ask Typeform for its current documentation. Capture provides these controls; compliance remains a shared responsibility.
Check Typeform's current help-centre guidance on business associate agreements and which plans it covers, then confirm how your organisation configures it. Capture states HIPAA-ready infrastructure with AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS in transit.
Yes, many teams do. Keep the pre-screening form short, collect only what you need, and move invited participants into the study system for consent and data. Capture also has a pre-screening eConsent template.
Upload the question list or describe the form and the AI drafts a questionnaire for your review. Then add answer types, ranges and schedule. Nothing is saved without human review.
Participants open a secure link on their own phone, with no app to install, and answer on a screen designed for questionnaires. Test the experience in the free sandbox before you decide.
Yes. The free sandbox includes every feature with sample data, no credit card and no time limit. You pay only when you go live.
From public positioning and the criteria teams tell us matter. We state only Capture's own capabilities as fact; confirm Typeform's current offering with them.
Keep exploring
Capture vs Jotform
The same question for another form builder.
Google Forms for clinical research
When a free form is and is not enough.
ePRO software for clinical trials
Participant questionnaires in a study.
Online patient screening
Pre-screening before enrolment.
Capture vs Qualtrics
Survey and experience platform.
Capture vs SurveyMonkey
Online survey tool.
Build a study in minutes. Free sandbox.