Our secure, free and open-source participation platform empowers organisations and communities to engage in meaningful, balanced discussions and democratic decisions.
With this ad-free, browser-based platform, you can connect individuals from diverse locations and timezones. Together, make bottom-up, collective decisions on matters that directly affect those involved.
Our non-profit platform is free for everyone. No fees, no ads, no catch
Well-vetted open source code, with high level security and no sale of data
Just log in and get started, no lengthy set-up or integration faff
Our full-time, sustainably-funded team is here to help you make bottom-up decisions
Discuss, vote and decide collectively on the topics that matter to you most!
Foster participatory leadership and tap into collective wisdom for decisions everyone supports.
Collectively decide with a broader audience of diverse opinions, wherever and whenever it suits them
Tap into collective wisdom through healthy dialogue to make decisions everyone’s on board with
Hold discussions and votes in a secure, hassle-free and democratic way
Create a safe space for everyone to take an active role in joint decision-making
Topics are the space in which inclusive decisions happen publicly or privately. Topics can have up to four phases – idea gathering, pro-con discussion, voting and action. Choose where to start and which phases to add next, depending on what suits your process! Add text, photos, footnotes and attachments to give context and guidance to participants. Co-create your topic with others before you share it.
Topics are the space in which inclusive decisions happen publicly or privately. Topics can have up to four phases – idea gathering, pro-con discussion, voting and action. Choose where to start and which phases to add next, depending on what suits your process! Add text, photos, footnotes and attachments to give context and guidance to participants. Co-create your topic with others before you share it.
Technology enables us too bring together the voices of a large number of people, regardless of their geographical location or time zone.
For better quality decisions
The more people who participate in the decision-making process, the higher the quality of decisions. On the Citizen OS platform you can ask everyone’s opinion on the topics that affect their own lives and well-being.
Topics are the space in which inclusive decisions happen publicly or privately. Topics can have up to four phases – idea gathering, pro-con discussion, voting and action.
Choose where to start and which phases to add next, depending on what suits your process! Add text, photos, footnotes and attachments to give context and guidance to participants. Co-create your topic with others before you share it.
To crowdsource ideas from your group or community, start your topic with an idea gathering phase. There, participants can post their ideas, browse and reply to others’ ideas, and upvote their favourites.
Admins can create folders for ideas to help keep them organised.
Once the idea gathering is over, add a voting phase for an official vote on which ideas to go ahead with.
Use a discussion phase to weigh up all sides of a decision collectively. Participants can add pro or con arguments and neutral points of information. Arguments can be replied to, reacted to, or reported as inappropriate to the topic admin.
You can start your topic with a discussion or add it as an optional phase after idea gathering. After discussion, you can move on to voting.
Let everyone have their say with a vote. You can start a topic that cuts straight to the vote or add a voting phase after idea gathering or discussion.
Choose from customisable settings like multiple selection votes, veto power, neutral votes, and vote delegation.
Manage the process using deadlines and vote reminders.
Once the vote is over, download the results for further analysis. Or, in Estonia, send off digitally signed votes to the relevant body.
Keep your participants updated on actions taken due to the decisions made in the final ‘Action’ phase of your topic. Let them know what will be done and when, and report back once you’ve done it. Keep them trusting in your participation process, and engaged for the future!
Invite members of your organisation or community to a shared group. Groups are an easy way to share several topics with the same people, and keep all relevant topics in one easily accessible place. Groups can be public or private, depending on your needs.
The platform can be switched into five different languages, or let’s work together to translate it into your own!
Filters on public topics allow users to search for topics in their language.
Our easy-to-use platform includes social logins and tools to pin, favourite or filter content.
Activity feeds and topic notifications also allow you to stay up-to-date with the latest. Share your topic or group via an email invite, share link or QR code – you choose.
Awesome people engaged in our projects last year:
| Project participations | 1249 |
| Volunteers | 77 |
Activity on our platform since its creation:
| Discussions | 4901 |
| Votes | 19700 |
| Groups | 707 |
| Users | 12019 |
If you can’t find the answer to your question from our FAQ, feel free to contact us!
Citizen OS is funded via private philanthropic donations, EU grants and other grant funds. We do not sell any of your data to third parties to raise funds.
Citizen OS is a non-profit organisation, founded in 2015 by philanthropist and tech entrepreneur Ahti Heinla, civic society expert Margo Loor, and the Let’s Do It! Foundation (coordinators of World Cleanup Day).
Our team is based in Tallinn, Estonia (EU), with an active branch in Jakarta, Indonesia. You can find all team contacts here. We also work with volunteers who assist with testing, development, and projects. If you’re interested in collaborating with us to build a better platform for participatory democracy, improved discussion culture, and more inclusive decision-making, learn more here.
As an organisation, we maintain impartiality and independence. We stay clear from political biases and resist any form of undue influence. Our dedication to openness ensures that we remain a trusted, neutral, and safe space for our target groups.
We are proud members of the Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations, adhering to ethical principles for NGOs as outlined on the Hea Kodanik (The Good Citizen) website. We are also part of People Powered, a global network of organisations, government practitioners, researchers, and advocates supporting participatory democracy.
To better understand our platform’s usage and improve its usability, we anonymously track certain elements of user activity via Plausible.
This data is never linked to an individual user or group, but gives us an overall picture of platform activity. Plausible is a lightweight and open source web analytics tool which uses no cookies and is fully compliant with data protection regulations around the world.
All your personal data is stored securely. We do not, and will never, sell any of your data to third parties.
Your activity in private topics will be visible to other participants of that topic, but to no one else — not even the Citizen OS team. If you participate in a public topic, then, as the name suggests, anyone can see your contributions, ideas, replies and likes.
Your votes will only be visible to topic admin(s). When you join a group, your username will be shown in the members list, but your email address will only be visible to the group admin(s).
See our full Privacy and Cookies Policy for more information.
The Citizen OS platform is currently available in English, German, Estonian, Slovakian and in Russian. We are always ready to make the platform available in more languages and seek voluntary translators to make it more accessible. Interested? See more information about volunteering as a translator here.
We encourage users to use their real names on our platform, as it supports healthy online participation. However, you’re free to choose any username you prefer. Group admins can see the email addresses of members, which may reveal their identity.
When it comes to voting, your vote remains anonymous to other participants. However, once the vote ends, topic admins can download a report that shows how each user voted.
There are five login methods available. You can log in using:
Topic participants can report any ideas, pro-con arguments or replies which they find inappropriate to the topic admin(s). The topic admin(s) can decide whether to hide the content, or allow it to remain visible. If content is hidden by an admin, participants can individually choose to ‘View anyway’, for full transparency. The creator of the content is also informed when their content is reported, and given the opportunity to edit it.
Users can also report whole topics they find inappropriate. The report is sent to the Citizen OS super-admin, and members of the Citizen OS team will decide whether the topic violates the platform’s community guidelines. If the topic is found to be inappropriate it will be hidden, but again with an option to ‘View anyway’, for full transparency.
It is not possible to customise the platform itself, but you can add your own branding to your groups and topics using the topic header image and group profile image. You can also access our open source code on Github to build your own branded version of the platform.
1. Comments, replies, informing participants. Topic participants and admins can have multi-way conversations using the reply threads under contributions in the idea gathering or pro-con discussion phases. It is also possible to like ideas, arguments and replies. Admins can keep participants engaged by posting progress updates in the topic’s final ‘Action’ phase.
2. Private messaging. There is no private messaging feature, but group admins can see the email addresses of their group’s members, so can contact them directly via email if needed. Admins can also add invitation messages to their topic or group invites, when inviting users via their email address.
The platform automatically sends notifications for high-priority updates by default, such as invitations, new topics added to a group, and moderation actions. Users can also choose to receive additional notifications, including updates on new contributions, the start of new phases, and action updates.
No, we do not have a traditional forum functionality. However, the platform enables discussions, comments, arguments, liking posts and replying to comments.
On the Citizen OS platform, you can join the Citizen OS public group, where you can ask questions, share practices, and exchange ideas. While Citizen OS does not currently coordinate events or activities for members, plans are underway to provide more inspiration and support for civil society and platform users in the future.
Currently, most Citizen OS users only come onto the platform to engage in topics or groups they have been invited to, so popularity of your group or topic will rely on your own efforts to recruit participants. The most effective way to get participants to take part in your discussions and decisions on Citizen OS is to invite them directly using their email address or by sharing the URL or QR code in your preferred communications channels.
In the top right corner of the platform (or bottom right corner on mobile), you’ll find the ‘Recent Activity’ button. This shows a list of all past actions with timestamps, such as topic updates, new ideas, replies, votes, arguments, and reactions.
When you go into a group or topic, you’ll also find an activity feed for that particular location. These feeds only display updates related to users’ activity within that group or topic.
The activity feeds only display updates related to your topics and groups, and other users’ activity within them. You won’t see activity from people, groups, or topics you’re not involved with. The activity feeds are non-intrusive by default, but you can opt in to receive automatic notifications to your email if you wish.
On the platform, you can access the ‘Help’ panel via the Help bubble (the blue question mark icon, bottom right) or in the main menu. Use it to contact us with any issues, and your query will go directly to the right team member. You can also drop an email to support@citizenos.com. We have a full-time team, and while we can’t always answer immediately, we won’t leave you waiting long.
We welcome collaboration and are grateful for any feedback! As a non-profit focused on enabling meaningful participation, we greatly appreciate input from volunteers, users and partners.
How you can contribute:
Social Democratic Party in Estonia
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Collectively decide with a wider audience of diverse opinions, wherever and whenever it suits them
Tap into collective wisdom through healthy dialogue, to make decisions everyone’s on board with
Hold discussions and votes in a secure, hassle-free and democratic way
Create a safe space for everyone to take an active role in joint decision-making
