This page is about the participant side of a trial: diaries, questionnaires and consent on a phone. If you are shortlisting patient-facing technology, the test that separates options is what a participant sees on day one and how many are still answering on day sixty.
Free sandbox · No credit card · 21 CFR Part 11 aligned
| Assessment | Screening | Baseline | Week 2 | Week 4 | Week 8 | Week 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| eConsent | ||||||
| Daily sleep diary | D | D | D | D | D | |
| Pain score (weekly) | ||||||
| Fatigue questionnaire | ||||||
| Site visit eCRF |
x done at visit · D daily diary
What to know first
Why people search
Patient-reported data fails quietly. A participant who finds a diary tedious does not complain; they stop answering, and the gap shows up months later as missing data. The platform decides most of that: how a participant gets in, how long the first screen takes, how reminders arrive, and whether the questionnaire works on the phone they already own.
Teams that already use a large vendor's patient modules still go looking for alternatives, usually for structural reasons: a participant app that has to be downloaded, an ePRO set-up that is configured and priced separately from the EDC, a lead time that does not fit a small study, or the effort of reconciling two systems. None of these is a statement about any one product. They are the questions to put to every shortlisted option.
If your study is small or academic, ePRO for small clinical trials covers the budget side. For a technology overview, ePRO software for clinical trials and eCOA software for clinical trials set out the terms, and best ePRO software is the wider shortlist.
The shortlist
Generic categories. Check each vendor's own materials for specifics.
Vendors focused on patient-reported and clinician-reported outcomes, often with instrument libraries and services. Compare set-up time, the participant device model and how the data reach your EDC.
Read more Remote studiesPlatforms that combine participant apps with remote workflows. Compare which components you need and which you would be paying for without using.
Read more One systemAn EDC where the participant questionnaire is part of the same study. Compare whether a participant answer and a site value share one record and one audit trail.
Read more Low costSurvey and form tools can fit a one-off questionnaire. Compare scheduling, identity separation, audit trail and consent against what a regulated study needs.
Read more Where Capture fitsEDC, ePRO, eConsent, randomization and kit management in one system, built by your own team with AI drafting.
Read moreCriteria
| Criterion | What to test with every vendor | Capture |
|---|---|---|
| Participant access | What must a participant install, and how do they sign in? | Questionnaires open in the phone browser from a link; no app download. See BYOD ePRO |
| Scheduling | Daily, weekly and event-driven tasks tied to visits | Diary and questionnaire tasks follow visit anchors and windows |
| Reminders | Channel, timing and escalation | Email and SMS reminders on a ladder you configure. See ePRO reminders |
| Instrument handling | Where licence details and expiry are recorded | Licence number, holder and expiry recorded on patient questionnaires; Capture does not verify licences or supply instruments |
| Consent | Verified signature and countersignature | eConsent with email one-time code, legal-binding acknowledgement and investigator countersignature |
| Link to site data | One record or two systems to reconcile? | ePRO answers and EDC data share one participant record and one audit trail |
| Build effort | Who configures the diary and how long? | Your team builds in the visual builder; AI drafts questions from a description or file for review |
| Cost structure | What is a line item? | Free sandbox; no setup fee; pay only once you go live |
The test questions apply to every vendor, including Capture. Capture does not currently offer offline entry or multilingual questionnaires; check any vendor for these if you need them.
The free sandbox includes every feature. Compare the first-day experience with your shortlist.
Participant experience
A participant taps a link in a message, confirms who they are and answers on the phone they already carry. There is nothing to download and no account to remember, which removes the first and biggest drop-off. Staff see completion by participant and task, and reminders follow the schedule you set.
Evening sleep diary · demo
Participant P-0017 · Week 2, Day 4
Time you went to bed
Minutes to fall asleep
How rested do you feel?
How to decide
Do not compare feature lists. Pick one real diary from your protocol, a weekly questionnaire and a consent form, and build all three in each shortlisted option. Then run the same three people through each on their own phones: a clinician, a colleague and someone outside the project. Time the invitation, the first sign-in, the first questionnaire and the first reminder.
Measure the study team's side too: how long the build took, who did it, how a change to a question was made after approval, and whether you can see which participants are overdue without exporting data. Ask each vendor how a questionnaire amendment reaches participants already enrolled. The answers tell you more than a demo.
Then read the commercial terms line by line. ePRO cost per patient shows the usual unit economics and hidden EDC fees is a checklist that works for patient modules too. Switching mid-study is possible but costly; see how to switch EDC vendors mid-study before deciding to change a running study.
Week 1
96%
Week 4
88%
Week 8
74%
Fit
If a large programme already runs on one vendor's EDC and patient modules, with processes and training built around them, staying is often the right call. Moving the patient side alone can create the reconciliation work you wanted to avoid. Equally, a study that needs offline entry, many languages or provisioned devices should test those needs first with any vendor, and keep Capture on the list only if its current scope fits.
Capture fits teams that want questionnaires, consent and site data in one study with one audit trail, built by their own team with AI drafting, and tested for free before any contract. For a head-to-head on the EDC side, see Medidata alternatives and Capture vs Medidata; the patient-facing pages in the compare hub cover other eCOA vendors.
Evaluation checklist
A real daily diary and a weekly questionnaire, built identically in each option.
Three people, three phones; time invitation, sign-in and first answer.
Channel, timing and what staff see when a participant is overdue.
How a change to a questionnaire reaches participants already enrolled.
Where licence details are recorded, and what stays with your study documents.
Whether participant answers and EDC values share one record and audit trail.
Per-participant, per-task, module and termination terms side by side.
ePRO and eCOA specialists, decentralized trial platforms, EDC suites with built-in ePRO, general survey tools and all-in-one self-serve platforms. Choose by running the same diary through each on real phones and comparing the participant and study-team experience.
The Medidata alternatives page is about EDC. This page is about participant-facing technology: ePRO, eCOA, diaries and consent.
No. Questionnaires open in the phone browser from a link, so there is no app to install. Offline entry is not available today, so participants need a connection to submit.
Yes. Email and SMS reminders follow the schedule you configure, and staff can see completion by participant and task.
No. You record licence number, holder and expiry on patient questionnaires, and Capture shows staff a warning and stops new tasks after the recorded expiry. Capture does not verify licences or supply instrument wording.
Yes, though two systems mean reconciliation work. If your EDC is a good fit, weigh that cost against the benefit; a single study with one audit trail avoids it.
No. The free sandbox has every feature with sample data, no credit card and no time limit. You pay only once you go live with real participants.
Create a diary in the free sandbox, open it from a link and compare it with your shortlist. No credit card, no sales call. Start building your study free.