CATMA
What it is
CATMA is a free tool for computer-assisted text markup and analysis, designed for qualitative text studies, especially literary studies. It supports annotation, interpretation, analysis, and visualization. Users can upload corpora, share projects, create tagsets, and apply overlapping annotations. Work can be exploratory or taxonomy-based, qualitative or quantitative, and individual or collaborative. The Analyze module provides interactive visualizations such as word clouds, distribution graphs, and Double Tree. CATMA runs as a web application in common browsers on macOS, Windows, or Linux and requires a stable internet connection. CATMA Standalone can run locally or on a private network, including where internet access is unavailable. Projects can be exported as text, TEI-XML, or CSV, and data can also be accessed through Git, the GitMA Python package, or the JSON API. Hosted data is stored in Germany with automatic backups at least daily. CATMA says its own server data is not encrypted at rest and advises against uploading sensitive material.
For and against
For
- Free to use.
- Supports overlapping annotations and shared projects.
- Exports text, TEI-XML, and CSV.
- Standalone can run locally or on a private network.
Against
- Stable internet is required for the web application.
- Touch devices are not supported for text annotation.
- Hosted server data is not encrypted at rest.
- Not designed for massive-scale statistical text mining.
The verdict
CATMA offers annotation, analysis, visualization, and export options for qualitative text research, with both hosted and standalone use. Its focus and stated data-security limitation are important considerations for prospective users.
Who it suits
CATMA suits researchers working on qualitative text studies, particularly literary studies, who want annotation and visualization tools. It is not designed for massive-scale quantitative or statistical text mining.
Plans and prices
Public CATMA instance
Browser-based · unlimited projects stated · collaborative use
Read 15 Oct 2026 · catma.de
CATMA
Free to use; no listed project or collaboration count limit; not designed for massive quantitative or statistical text mining
Read 7 Oct 2026 · catma.de
On the record
- Analysis
- The Analyze module performs word-frequency, distribution, tag-frequency and complex text-and-annotation queries.catma.de · read 15 Oct 2026
- Annotation
- Annotations may be short or extensive, overlapping, and assigned in multiple colors.catma.de · read 15 Oct 2026
- API limitation
- The documented JSON API does not currently insert or modify data, although future expansion is planned.catma.de · read 15 Oct 2026
- App-store identity
- The Apple CATMA listing is also a Chittenden County transportation app by Agile Mile, Inc., not the CATMA text-analysis application.apps.apple.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Browser use
- CATMA is a web application that runs in common browsers on macOS, Windows, or Linux and requires a stable internet connection.catma.de · read 7 Oct 2026
- Collaboration
- Projects support synchronized and latest-contributions viewing modes, roles, permissions and collaborative comments.catma.de · read 15 Oct 2026
- Data access
- Users can access project data through Git, the GitMA Python package, or the JSON API.catma.de · read 7 Oct 2026
- Data hosting
- The FAQ says public-instance servers are in the Technical University of Darmstadt data center, with backups in Germany or another EU member state.catma.de · read 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation and support
- Official support materials include FAQs, tutorials, a compact manual, glossary, query-language guide, technical documentation and email support.catma.de · read 15 Oct 2026
- Exports
- CATMA documents, annotations, tagsets, metadata and identities can be exported, including through TEI-XML.catma.de · read 15 Oct 2026
- File and language support
- The project repository says CATMA supports most file formats and text languages, including right-to-left languages.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Git integration
- CATMA stores project data in GitLab repositories that can be accessed as Git repositories.catma.de · read 15 Oct 2026
- Independent origin history
- An independent reference says CATMA began in 2008 as a reimplementation of the TACT text-analysis tools at the University of Hamburg.en.wikipedia.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- CATMA describes itself as designed for qualitative text studies, with a focus on literary studies, rather than massive-scale quantitative or statistical text mining.catma.de · read 7 Oct 2026
- Licence
- CATMA is open source under the GNU General Public License version 3.catma.de · read 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: Capterra cloud dependence
- One Capterra reviewer reported login outages, slow cloud performance and difficulty using the service with unreliable internet connections.capterra.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: Capterra editing and usability
- Reviewers reported that uploaded text cannot be changed, some analysis functions are unintuitive, and the product is narrowly focused on literary analysis.capterra.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: G2 product evolution
- The G2 reviewer wanted more advanced features and more automation, describing product evolution as limited.g2.com · read 15 Oct 2026
