In the world of technology and digital participation, evolving does not mean forgetting where you come from, but finding better ways to fulfill your mission. Today, we want to share a giant leap forward in the history of our project: the official launch of the new Demokratian platform and the reorganization of our digital spaces.
A global platform with the "surname" your organization needs
Those of you who have known us from the beginning know that Demokratian was created with a clear purpose, inspired by its own name — which means "democracy" in Esperanto: democratizing online decision-making. For years, through our long-standing website demokratian.org, we have provided an open-source voting system that has served dozens of social groups, trade unions, and organizations to structure their consultations in a horizontal and secure manner.
However, times change, and so do the technical and legal requirements of the internet. Managing electoral rolls with full guarantees, ensuring ballot non-traceability under modern infrastructures, and strictly complying with regulations as rigorous as the European GDPR require a technical effort that the legacy architecture could no longer sustain efficiently for the average user.
The new SaaS platform
For this reason, after months of intense work and development, we have built the new Demokratian from scratch. We are leaving the beta phase behind to offer you a modern, robust, high-availability SaaS (Software as a Service) platform.
But we didn't stop there. Because we know that brand identity is key for your organizations, we have designed a flexible infrastructure that allows you to choose where you want to host your voting space. From now on, Demokratian will operate in a unified manner across a network of multiple domains (.net, .org, .es...).
Choose the domain that best defines your organization
Thus, if you manage an association, trade union, or NGO, you can create your community under the .org domain — the natural home for collective projects; if you represent a company or startup, you can opt for the corporate environment of .net; and if you are seeking a purely local identity, .es will be at your disposal. This network will continue to grow in the future with new international domains to adapt to the needs of each country and group.
What will happen to the legacy website and the AGPL version?
Our commitment to Free Software and the Open Source philosophy remains part of our DNA. Therefore, we do not want anyone seeking a free, self-managed solution to come away empty-handed.
We have enabled a permanent and completely independent section on our new website where you can continue to access the project's archives. If you are a system administrator, developer, or simply want to audit our roots, you can now visit our new section dedicated to Demokratian Free Software. There you will find all technical details and the free download link for the community version v4.5 under the GNU AGPLv3 license.
A more accessible future for everyone
With this move, we achieve a dual objective: we keep our open-source legacy alive for the technical community that wishes to manage its own infrastructure, while simultaneously offering a professional, fully secured, and hassle-free solution for all organizations that need a reliable electronic voting system right out of the box.
We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has downloaded, tested, and supported Demokratian during its community phase. You made it possible for us to take this leap today. Welcome to the new era of digital democracy!
Do you have any questions about the transition or want to test the new platform? We invite you to explore our Plans and Pricing or Register for free to start creating your own voting spaces today.