[5] As of 2023[update], Decidim instances were actively in use for participatory decision-making in municipal and regional governments and by citizens' associations in Spain, Switzerland and elsewhere.

[3] In early 2017, the server was switched to a similarly inspired, but new software project, Decidim, completely rewritten, aiming to be more modular and convenient for development by a wide community.

[5][4] The participatory components (twelve as of early 2024[2]: 3 ) range from "comments", "proposals", "amendments", "votes" through to "accountability".

[4] Decidim software provides an application programming interface (API) for command line access.

[2]: 2 Decidim proponents see the combination of online and offline participation as fundamental: "From its very conception until today, a distinguishing feature of Decidim over other kinds of participatory democracy software ... was that of connecting digital processes directly with public meetings and vice versa.

[2]: 3 In 2022, Borge and colleagues estimated that there were 311 instances running Decidim in Spain and in 19 other countries;[3] while Borges and colleagues estimated that there were Decidim instances run by 80 local and regional governments and 40 citizens' associations in Spain and elsewhere.

The Decidim software allowed threaded discussion, labelling whether the initial comment on a proposal was negative, neutral or positive, and notification to participants.

Use of Decidim in Zurich and Lucerne in 2021 and 2022 was studied by Suter and colleagues, based on documentary evidence, interviews with 15 people in Zurich and 17 in Lucerne ranging from municipality employees through to representatives of neighbourhood associations, and "participatory observations" (informal participatory events observed by the researchers).

[5] The project was scaled up to the Zurich city level the following year with the name "Stadtidee" and a participatory budget of CHF 540,000.

A top-down use of a Decidim server by the local administration, in which citizens' associations were encouraged to participate, was found by the researchers to strengthen the digital divide rather than overcoming it.

[3] The Borge et al. study also found, consistently with other research, that the participatory aspect of citizens making proposals and participating in decisions was obstructed in some cases by local civil society associations, since direct citizen participation was seen to be in competition with the associations' roles.

[3] The use of Decidim and participatory processes was found to depend on electoral results in some cases: these ceased in Badalona after Dolors Sabater lost power as Mayor in June 2018.