Self-Hosted Group Decision Making Platforms: Loomio vs DemocracyOS vs Consider.it Compared

Introduction

Making decisions as a group is one of the hardest challenges any organization faces. Whether you are running a worker cooperative, an open-source community, a nonprofit board, or a distributed team, getting everyone’s input and reaching consensus without endless email threads is essential. Self-hosted group decision making platforms offer a way to structure discussions, run proposals, conduct votes, and visualize where your group stands — all on infrastructure you control.

In this guide, we compare three leading open-source platforms for collaborative decision making: Loomio, the established collaborative decision-making tool used by thousands of organizations worldwide; DemocracyOS, a voting and deliberation platform born from political activism; and Consider.it, a lightweight deliberation tool focused on opinion visualization. Each takes a different approach to the same fundamental problem: how do groups make better decisions together?

Feature Comparison

Loomio: The Collaborative Decision-Making Powerhouse

Loomio is the most mature and widely adopted platform in this space. Originally developed in 2012 by a worker cooperative in New Zealand, it has grown into a full-featured collaborative decision-making tool used by organizations ranging from city governments to grassroots movements.

Loomio’s core workflow revolves around threads and proposals. A group member starts a discussion thread on a topic, participants comment and share perspectives, and when the discussion has matured, anyone can raise a formal proposal. Members then vote on the proposal (agree, abstain, disagree, or block), with the option to provide a reason for their position.

Deploying Loomio with Docker is straightforward. It uses a multi-container setup with a Rails backend, Vue.js frontend, PostgreSQL database, and Redis for background jobs:

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version: "3.8"
services:
  loomio:
    image: loomio/loomio:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: postgres://loomio:password@db:5432/loomio
      REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379/0
      SECRET_KEY_BASE: your-secret-key-here
      SMTP_SERVER: smtp.example.com
      SMTP_PORT: 587
    depends_on:
      - db
      - redis
    volumes:
      - loomio_uploads:/app/public/uploads
      - loomio_storage:/app/storage

  db:
    image: postgres:16
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: loomio
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
      POSTGRES_DB: loomio
    volumes:
      - pg_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    volumes:
      - redis_data:/data

volumes:
  loomio_uploads:
  loomio_storage:
  pg_data:
  redis_data:

Loomio also supports Single Sign-On (SSO) via OAuth2, SAML, or OpenID Connect, making it suitable for organizations with existing identity providers. Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations are available for teams that want to bridge decision making into their existing communication channels.

DemocracyOS: Voting and Deliberation for the Digital Age

DemocracyOS takes a more politically oriented approach to group decision making. Originally developed in Argentina by the Democracia en Red foundation, it was designed to bring deliberative democracy to governments, political parties, and civic organizations. The platform focuses on structured debates around specific proposals, with voting mechanisms that support majority rule, ranked choice, and proportional representation.

DemocracyOS is built on Node.js with the Meteor framework, making it relatively easy to deploy for teams familiar with JavaScript ecosystems:

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version: "3"
services:
  democracyos:
    image: democracyos/democracyos:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      MONGO_URL: mongodb://mongo:27017/democracyos
      ROOT_URL: https://decide.yourdomain.com
      MAIL_URL: smtp://user:pass@smtp.example.com:587
      ORGANIZATION_NAME: "Your Organization"
      ORGANIZATION_URL: "https://yourdomain.com"
    depends_on:
      - mongo

  mongo:
    image: mongo:7
    volumes:
      - mongo_data:/data/db

volumes:
  mongo_data:

The platform excels in scenarios where formal voting procedures are required — think policy referendums, budget allocation decisions, or constitutional amendments. It supports delegated voting (where members can delegate their vote to a trusted representative) and transparent result publication.

One notable feature is DemocracyOS’s law drafting module, which allows groups to collaboratively write and amend legislative text, then vote on each section. This makes it particularly suitable for organizations that need to ratify formal documents like bylaws, policies, or contracts.

Consider.it: Lightweight Deliberation and Opinion Visualization

Consider.it takes the lightest-weight approach of the three. Rather than formal proposals and voting, it focuses on helping groups understand where they stand by visualizing opinions on specific issues. Users express their position (support or oppose) and provide their reasoning, which gets displayed in an intuitive visual map.

Consider.it is built with Meteor (CoffeeScript) and deploys as a standard Node.js application:

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# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/Considerit/ConsiderIt.git
cd ConsiderIt
meteor npm install
meteor --settings settings.json

For production deployment with Docker, you can containerize it:

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version: "3"
services:
  considerit:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      MONGO_URL: mongodb://mongo:27017/considerit
      ROOT_URL: https://deliberate.yourdomain.com
    depends_on:
      - mongo

  mongo:
    image: mongo:7
    volumes:
      - mongo_data:/data/db

volumes:
  mongo_data:

Consider.it shines in scenarios where the goal is to surface diverse perspectives rather than force a binary decision. It is often used by community organizations, university departments, and open-source projects that want to gauge sentiment on complex issues before making a final call.

Deployment Architecture

All three platforms follow a similar deployment pattern: a web application server backed by a database, with a reverse proxy handling TLS termination. Here is a recommended Nginx configuration for any of these platforms:

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server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name decide.yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate     /etc/letsencrypt/live/decide.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/decide.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    }
}

Choosing the Right Platform

Your choice depends on your organization’s decision-making culture:

• Choose Loomio if you need a mature, full-featured platform with threaded discussions, formal proposals, extensive integrations (Slack, SSO, API), and support for 30+ languages. It is the best choice for organizations that make decisions regularly and want a structured, transparent process.

• Choose DemocracyOS if your organization needs formal voting mechanisms (majority, proportional representation, ranked choice), delegated voting, or legislative drafting capabilities. It is ideal for political organizations, unions, housing cooperatives, and any group that deals with binding votes.

• Choose Consider.it if you want a lightweight deliberation tool focused on opinion visualization rather than formal decision making. It works well for community pulse-checks, pre-decision temperature-taking, and surfacing diverse perspectives on complex issues.

For related reading on self-hosted civic technology, see our citizen participation platforms guide. If your group also needs formal voting for elections, check out our online voting systems comparison. For gathering broader input before decisions, our self-hosted survey platforms guide covers complementary tools.

FAQ

What is the difference between Loomio and a regular forum?

Loomio is purpose-built for decision making, not general discussion. While it has threaded discussions like a forum, its core feature is the proposal system: discussions lead to formal proposals that members vote on, with clear outcomes (passed, blocked, or failed). A regular forum (like Discourse or Flarum) is designed for ongoing conversation rather than structured decisions. If your primary need is to make binding group decisions, a decision-making platform is more appropriate than a general forum.

Can I use these platforms for anonymous voting?

Loomio supports anonymous voting on a per-proposal basis — you can configure a proposal so that votes are secret. DemocracyOS also supports secret ballots. Consider.it shows names by default but can be configured to hide identities. However, these platforms are designed for transparent deliberation by default, with anonymity as an option for sensitive votes.

How do these compare to Doodle or scheduling polls?

Doodle and similar tools (like Rallly or Framadate) are designed for scheduling meetings, not for substantive group decision making. They ask “when should we meet?” rather than “what should we do?” If you need to schedule meetings, use a scheduling tool. If you need to make organizational decisions about policies, budgets, or strategy, use a decision-making platform.

Do these platforms support delegated or liquid democracy?

DemocracyOS supports delegated voting natively — members can assign their vote to a trusted delegate on specific topics. Loomio does not have built-in delegation but can approximate it through its group and subgroup permissions. Consider.it focuses on deliberation without formal delegation mechanisms. If liquid democracy is central to your governance model, DemocracyOS is the strongest choice.

What kind of hardware do I need to self-host these?

All three platforms are relatively lightweight. A VPS with 2 GB RAM and 2 vCPUs is sufficient for groups up to 500 members. For larger organizations (1,000+ members), 4 GB RAM with 4 vCPUs is recommended. All platforms support PostgreSQL or MongoDB as their database backend, so choose a VPS provider that offers SSD storage for database performance.

How do these platforms handle email notifications?

Loomio has the most comprehensive email system, with digest emails, instant notifications for mentions, and customizable notification preferences per group. DemocracyOS sends email notifications for new proposals and voting results. Consider.it has basic email support. All three can be configured with any SMTP server (SendGrid, Mailgun, or a self-hosted mail server like Postal or Mailcow).

Why Self-Host Your Group Decision Making Platform?

Data sovereignty is the primary reason to self-host a decision-making platform. When your organization makes strategic decisions, deliberates on sensitive policies, or votes on budgets, storing that data on a third-party SaaS platform introduces risk. A self-hosted deployment ensures that your group’s deliberation history, voting records, and member data remain under your control.

Cost is another factor. SaaS alternatives like Loomio’s hosted plan or specialized board portals charge per user or per organization, which can add up quickly for larger groups. A self-hosted deployment on a $20/month VPS can serve hundreds of members without recurring per-user fees.

Finally, customization matters. Self-hosted platforms allow you to modify the software to match your organization’s specific governance model. Whether you need custom voting mechanisms, integration with your existing identity provider, or branding that reflects your organization’s identity, self-hosting gives you the flexibility that SaaS cannot match.

For organizations already managing their own infrastructure, adding a decision-making platform is a natural extension. See our guide on self-hosted collaborative editors for complementary tools that work alongside decision platforms.

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