Civic Tech Field Guide
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https://consuldemocracy.org/

CONSUL DEMOCRACY

The most complete citizen participation tool for an open, transparent and democratic government.

Active
Since 2015
Amsterdam
Open source: Yes (https://github.com/consuldemocracy/consuldemocracy)
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CONSUL is free software, so it does not requires the payment of licenses. CONSUL can be modified by each organization to adapt the software to their needs, which facilitates the exchange of knowledge and experiences. As a tool, CONSUL is allowing cities to develop processes that put into the hands of citizens decisions around urban space, the budget of the city or priorities in municipal management. See also the Decidim vs. CONSUL [feature table](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTKzaH-l8v-VeBdxVl2yfxmcJoruXkjCUIR9vkZVchlmC1ixW3HqSLzFQ264PRmagJU0GvpRd5WmMq9/pubhtml) (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTKzaH-l8v-VeBdxVl2yfxmcJoruXkjCUIR9vkZVchlmC1ixW3HqSLzFQ264PRmagJU0GvpRd5WmMq9/pubhtml) and [blog post](https://xabier.barandiaran.net/2019/01/14/comparativa-decidim-vs-consul/) (https://xabier.barandiaran.net/2019/01/14/comparativa-decidim-vs-consul/)

Evidence of this project's impact

33 Countries, 100 Institutions, 90 Million citizens (Source) β€” 2018-10

Resources

Related projects

Parent organization: CONSUL DEMOCRACY Foundation

Org. type
Non-profit / charity / foundation
Project type
Tool or platform
Country
Netherlands (Nederland, Holland) πŸ‡³πŸ‡±
Founded
2015
Language(s)
Albanian, Arabic
Employees
0-5
Pricing
Free
Used by
90% (local) governments, 10% CSO, university, researchers We have a network of tech and regional partners: https://consuldemocracy.org/about-us/ We have recently implemented a sponsorship program that we intend to expand in the coming months. We have concluded an initial partnership with the City of Munich. https://consuldemocracy.org/sponsor/
Features
Collaborative drafting, Assessment of ideas, Idea submission, Collaborative budgeting, Voting, Debates, Commenting, Surveys, Mapping, Video upload, Photo upload, Recommendation engine, Notifications, Messaging between users, Verified participation, Forums and/or threaded conversations, Translation
Tech stack
BuiltWith report β†’
Categories
Digital participation platforms, Engagement tech, Group decision making, Ideation, Parliamentary and legislative tech, Participatory budgeting, Participatory budgeting tools, Participatory democracy, The Tech
Tags
Consul
Added
2025-08-24
Last modified
2026-07-12T16:45:52.000Z

Additional details

Institutions using the platform
200
How AI is used
Three years ago, in collaboration with the Alan Turing Institute and several British universities, we launched an AI pilot project that allows suggestions to be sorted by certain tags, links similar suggestions with each other (or at least points out existing similar suggestions), and, as an additional function, summarizes discussions and comments. In an initial use case, this was utilized for moderation in Glasgow to summarize several thousand comments and evaluate them for administration. **Links here: ** - Alan Turing: <https://arxiv.org/pdf/2103.00508> - Glasgow: <https://docs.consuldemocracy.org/use_cases/scotland/glasgow> - Demo-Version: <https://demo.consuldemocracy.org/admin/machine_learning#settings> - Github: https://github.com/consul-ml/related\_content
Number of end users
10,000,000+
Number of integrations
0
GitHub contributors
144
Metrics of success
33 Countries, 100 Institutions, 90 Million citizens
Geographic focus
Central and Eastern Europe, Central America, South America, Western Europe, Germany (Deutschland) πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿, Spain (EspaΓ±a) πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Έ, Balkans, Latin America, Mexico (Estados Unidos Mexicanos) πŸ‡²πŸ‡½, Netherlands (Nederland, Holland) πŸ‡³πŸ‡±
Geographic focus β€” country
Europe, Central America, South America, Europe, Germany (Deutschland) πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§, Spain (EspaΓ±a) πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Έ, Europe, South America, Mexico (Estados Unidos Mexicanos) πŸ‡²πŸ‡½, "Netherlands (Nederland, Holland) πŸ‡³πŸ‡±"
Pricing
Free
Pricing β€” license model
Free for download or offers a free subscription option with full features.
Pricing β€” government / nonprofit discount
No
Demo
https://demo.consulproject.org/
Documentation & learning
Our Documentation you can find here: https://docs.consuldemocracy.org/index Tech Documentation: https://docs.consuldemocracy.org/tech\_docs For Admins: https://docs.consuldemocracy.org/docs\_general/type-of-users/type-of-users Use Cases: https://docs.consuldemocracy.org/use\_cases
Support resources
Documentation system, personal consulting from us or our local partners, online meet-ups, slack channel, ConsulCon, Github (pull requests)
Source
Some data provided by People Powered's [Ratings for Digital Participation Tools](https://www.peoplepowered.org/platform-ratings)
Accessibility certification
Our platform meets the web accessibility standards e.g WCAG https://docs.consulproject.org/docs/english-documentation/customization/views\_and\_styles#accesibility

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