What software do reforestation teams use?
Often several tools: spreadsheets, a survey app such as KoboToolbox, ODK or QField, a GIS such as QGIS, and sometimes a public page or funder portal. Restoration Scope connects these into one project record.
Where Restoration Scope fits in your restoration stack
Many nature restoration teams already run a stack: spreadsheets, a survey app, a GIS, a page for funders. Each comparison below says what the other tool does best, and where Restoration Scope fits beside it.
KoboToolbox vs Restoration Scope
A proven survey tool, free for nonprofits, and the system that connects its submissions to sites, seasons and funders.
CompareODK vs Restoration Scope
Open-source forms you can host yourself, and the project record their submissions join.
CompareTerraware vs Restoration Scope
A free, ready-made seed-to-planting workflow, and a system configured around the one you already run.
CompareQField vs Restoration Scope
QGIS power in the field, and a configured app that keeps every visit tied to its site.
CompareQGIS vs Restoration Scope
Free desktop GIS for analysts, and the system the rest of the team works in.
Compareexplorer.land vs Restoration Scope
A public story page for funders, and donor portals fed by the records field teams keep.
Compare
Spreadsheets in a nature restoration stack
Many tree-planting projects start in Excel or Google Sheets, and many should stay there for a while. The question is when a spreadsheet stops being enough.
| Spreadsheets | Restoration Scope | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost and setup | Free or already paid for. Anyone can start today. | Configured with our team around your project. |
| GPS and polygons | Latitude and longitude columns. Polygons as text or separate files. | Points, lines and polygons on a map. |
| Photos | Images in cells, links, shared folders, chat messages. | Attached to the record, with place and time. |
| Survival over time | A tab per season, joined with lookup formulas on site IDs you maintain. | Each visit linked to its site, season after season. |
| Many partners | Shared sheets work; separate copies drift apart. | One current record per site, nursery and species. |
Use both
Restoration Scope connects Google Sheets and keeps syncing as the sheet changes, so the sheet can stay.
A spreadsheet is enough when
- One site, one season, one or two people.
- No repeat survival checks yet.
- Funders accept a table.
It stops being enough when
- Repeat survival checks over five years must match the right planting, as the CI and WRI monitoring framework asks.
- Several partners keep separate copies, as Acción Andina's sixteen partner organizations across six countries did before their shared database.
- Funders ask for maps and photos by site.
Questions teams ask
Do I have to replace my current tools?
No. Restoration Scope connects Kobo, Google Sheets, spreadsheets and GIS files. Most teams keep the tools that work and add the links between them.
How much does Restoration Scope cost?
It is priced per project after a scoping call, because each system is configured around the project. There is no public price list.
Field data capture apps compared
Restoration Scope publishes this comparison. Something out of date? Write to info@restorationscope.com.