Where your survey data is stored and how it is protected | LimeSurvey

Where your survey data is stored and how it is protected

About data protection in LimeSurvey Cloud

Your survey site and all its data, including backups, stay in the country you chose for it. Each survey site has its own database, the connection to it is encrypted, and you can encrypt personal answers in your surveys. For the GDPR, you can create a data processing agreement with us on your account page.

Where your data is stored

LimeSurvey Cloud hosts survey sites in:

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • Finland
  • Germany
  • Singapore
  • United Kingdom
  • USA

Your data is stored only on servers in the country of your survey site. For surveys under the GDPR, choose Germany or Finland.

To see where your site is hosted, log in at account.limesurvey.org: the Account details tab shows it under Survey site location.

Choose or change the location

When you log in to your new account for the first time, LimeSurvey picks a location based on your IP address. To pick one yourself, click skip at the top right of the Create survey site screen, then Create Survey Site on the Account details tab, and choose the country.

The location of an existing survey site can't be changed. You can delete the survey site and create a new one in another country: export your surveys and responses first, because deleting removes them. See Manage your account and survey site.

How your data is protected

  • Each survey site has its own database with its own user name and password.
  • The connection between browsers and our servers is encrypted.
  • Answers are not encrypted inside the database by default, because LimeSurvey works with them. You can encrypt the answers to chosen questions and chosen participant fields. See Encrypt personal data in your survey.
  • We back up your data every day. The backups are encrypted and stored on a separate drive at the same hosting location.

Sign a GDPR agreement

  1. Log in at account.limesurvey.org.
  2. On the Account details tab, under General preferences, click View Agreements next to GDPR Agreements.
  3. Create the agreement with the online tool and download it as a PDF. It is already signed by us.

We offer only this agreement and don't sign custom agreements, except for Corporate customers.

Next steps

FAQ

Do I need a cookie consent banner in my surveys?

LimeSurvey uses only the cookies it needs to run a survey, such as the session cookie that keeps a participant's answers across pages. Cookies that are strictly necessary for a service the user asked for don't need consent under EU rules. This is not legal advice; if in doubt, ask your data protection officer.

Do you have a privacy policy template for my survey?

No. What a policy must say depends on your country and on the data you collect. Ask your data protection officer or a lawyer. To show your policy in a survey, see Add a privacy policy.

Can participants' answers be anonymous?

Yes. See Set up an anonymous survey.

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