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https://github.com/Labii/comparison-of-best-electronic-lab-notebook
There are tons of electronic lab notebook out there, but only few of them are actually usable. It usually takes months for a scientist to decide which ELN is the right software to go.
https://github.com/Labii/comparison-of-best-electronic-lab-notebook
electronic-lab-notebook
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There are tons of electronic lab notebook out there, but only few of them are actually usable. It usually takes months for a scientist to decide which ELN is the right software to go.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/Labii/comparison-of-best-electronic-lab-notebook
- Owner: Labii
- Created: 2017-07-26T17:55:31.000Z (almost 7 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2022-03-08T09:04:05.000Z (over 2 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-03-06T16:54:51.349Z (4 months ago)
- Topics: electronic-lab-notebook
- Homepage: https://www.labii.com
- Size: 19.5 KB
- Stars: 18
- Watchers: 3
- Forks: 3
- Open Issues: 1
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
Lists
- awesome-chemical-data - Comparison of ELNs
- awesome-self-driving-labs - list of solutions by Labii - finder.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/home). (Software / Research Data Management)
README
# Comparison of The Best Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN)
There are tons of electronic lab notebook out there, but only few of them are actually usable. It usually took months for a scientist to decide which ELN is the right software to go. Here, We tested all available cloud-based ELNs and summarized their features. Hopefully, it is useful for you to find the right ELN.
All data was collected based on the date of 2017-07-26, version v0.1. We will update the information annually. Please suggest a change by creating an issue. All rights reserved @Labii Inc.
This page is available at [https://labii.github.io/comparison-of-best-electronic-lab-notebook/](https://labii.github.io/comparison-of-best-electronic-lab-notebook/)
## List of ELNs
We collected the list of ELN from google, linkedin and [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ELN_software_packages). This is a list of ELN that been most well-known and most commonly used.
| Name | Website | Address | Company Size | Year Found |
|-------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------|--------------|------------|
| __Labii ELN & LIMS__ | [https://www.labii.com](https://www.labii.com/?utm_source=GitHub&utm_medium=Content&utm_campaign=Blog) | San Francisco, CA | 9 | 2014 |
| LabArchives Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) | http://www.labarchives.com/ | Carlsbad, CA | 11-50 | 2009 |
| Benchling | https://benchling.com/ | San Francisco, CA | 31 | 2012 |
| LabCollector AgileBio | http://labcollector.com/labcollector-lims/add-ons/ | San Diego, CA | 35 | 2010 |
| SciNote | http://scinote.net/ | | 11-50 | 2015 |
| Labfolder | https://www.labfolder.com/ | Germany | 20 | 2012 |
| RSpace (eCAT) | http://www.researchspace.com/ | Powell, Ohio | 5 | 2007 |
| CERF | http://cerf-notebook.com/ | | 5 | 2007 |
| Hivebench | https://www.hivebench.com/ | Great Britain | 10 | 2012 |
| LabGuru | https://www.labguru.com/ | Cambridge, MA | 18 | 2007 |
| IDBS E‑WorkBook | https://www.idbs.com/en/platform-products/e-workbook/ | UK, Boston | 300 | 2006 |
| BIOVIA ELN | http://accelrys.com/products/unified-lab-management/biovia-electronic-lab-notebooks/ | San Diego, CA | 500-1000 | 2001 |
| DOCOLLAB | https://www.docollab.com/ | | 1-10 | |
| eLabFTW | https://www.elabftw.net/ | Paris, France | | 2013 |
| PerkinElmer - Elements | http://www.cambridgesoft.com/E-Notebook2.aspx | Waltham, Massachusetts | 5000-10000 | 1937 |
| LabVantage ELN | http://www.labvantage.com/lims/elnles/ | | | 2010 |
| Core ELN | http://www.coreinformatics.com/products/core-eln/ | | | |
| BookitLab | http://bookit-lab.com/ELN | | | 2013 |
| Arxspan ELN Software | http://www.arxspan.com/electronic-lab-notebook.asp | Southborough, MA | | |
| Celerion | https://celerion.com/service/electronic-laboratory-notebook-system | | | |
| Collaborative Drug Discovery ELN | https://www.collaborativedrug.com/cdd-vault/eln | Burlingame, CA 94010 | | 2010 |
| Sciency ELN Cloud | https://sciency-eln.com/ | Frederick, MD, 21703 | | |
| genohm SLims | http://www.genohm.com/slims/ | Switzerland | | |
| Studylog | http://www.studylog.com/products/studylog-web/ | | | |
## Comparison of Features
What makes a ELN? There are no specific answers. An ELN need to keep the purpose of documenting research data, and keeping the fact of research as accurate as possible. We selected a list of features that are required in the process of experimentation. See the details of each features bellow.
Here, we do not consider a software like google docs, microsoft word, evernote or microsoft onenote as electronic lab notebook. Because the results can be easily deleted.
| Features | Labii | LabArchives | eLabFTW | Benchling | LabCollector | SciNote | Labfolder | RSpace | CERF | Hivebench | LabGuru | DOCOLLAB | Element | IDBS |
|-----------------------|---------|-------------|-----------|-----------|--------------|---------|-----------|---------|---------|-----------|---------|----------|---------|---------|
| Projects | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Kind of | Yes |
| Protocols | Yes | Kind of | Yes | Kind of | Kind of | Yes | Kind of | Kind of | Kind of | Kind of | Yes | Kind of | Kind of | No |
| Referencing Protocols | Yes | No | Yes | Kind of | Kind of | | No | No | No | Kind of | Yes | No | Not yet | |
| Experiments | Yes | Kind of | Yes | Kind of | Yes | Yes | Kind of | Kind of | Kind of | Yes | Yes | Kind of | Kind of | Yes |
| Files | Yes | No | Yes | Kind of | Kind of | No | Kind of | Yes | Yes | Kind of | Kind of | Kind of | Kind of | Kind of |
| Inventory | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| Purchase | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | |
| LIMS | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Kind of | Yes | No | No | |
| Location | Yes | | | | Yes | | | No | No | Kind of | Yes | No | No | |
| Search | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Template | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Kind of | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Barcode and Labels | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | |
| Analysis | Kind of | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Comment | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | | Yes |
| References | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Todo, Calendar | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | | | |
| Mobile | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Kind of | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Ability to Store other type of data | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Custom columns | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| API | Yes | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
* Projects: manage experiment notes in many different projects
* Protocols: manage protocols and can be cited easily in the ELN
* Experiments: document the note for each experiments
* Files: manage exteranl files that been used in the experiments
* Inventory: manage the reagents, tubes, equipments etc
* Purchase: online purchase of the inventory
* LIMS: intergrate LIMS with ELN
* Search: search documented records
* Template: able to create a experiment note quickly from pre-defined template
* Barcode and Label: able to generate barcode for identification
* Location: storage place
* Analysis: able to perform the data analysis
* Comment: able to write comments
* References: able to insert citations
* Todo, Calendar: has a todolist and a calendar
* Mobile: works from a mobile phone
* Ability to Store other type of data: Able to store other type of data like plasmids, cell lines, et.al
* Custom columns: Define what columns for each type of data
* API: API support.
## Comparison of Security and Compliance
For industrial use, the security and compliance are the top features to consider when using electronic lab notebook.
| Features | Labii | LabArchives | Benchling | LabCollector | SciNote | Labfolder | RSpace | CERF | Hivebench | LabGuru | DOCOLLAB | Element | IDBS |
|--------------------------------|------------------------------|-------------|-----------------------------------------------------|--------------|----------|------------------------------|----------|----------|------------------------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|
| Organization Permissions/Roles | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | | |
| Project Permissions/Roles | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Kind of | Kind of | Yes | | Yes |
| How to create user | Invite | Share | Invite | Register | Invite | Invite | Register | Register | Invite | Register | Invite | | |
| Account security | Password | Password | Password | Password | Password | Password | Password | Password | Password | Password | No | Password | Password |
| Data security | AWS, backup, encryption, ssl | - | [See here](https://benchling.com/enterprise/resources/security) | IP, LDAP | AWS | AWS, backup, encryption, ssl | | | AWS, backup, encryption, ssl | | | | SSL, |
| Data retension | 5 Years | Read only | No | No | No | 3 Years | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| 21 CFR Compliant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Yes | Yes | FDA | | | Yes |
| Avoid deletion | Yes | | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | | Restrict |
| Signature | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | Yes |
| Version Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Not yet | Yes |
| Audit trail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Yes |
| User and date stamp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | | Yes |
| Visit history | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | | Yes |
| Export/Import | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | No | Kind of | Yes |
| Backup | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Kind of | Kind of | | Yes | No | | |
| Feeds | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | | Yes |
| Unique ID | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
## Comparison of the Subscription Price
Labii ELN & LIMS provides Pay-Per-Use Option that does not cover in this table. See [here](https://www.labii.com/#price) for more details.
| ELNs | Cost/Seat/Year | Free storage | Storage Price |
|--------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|---------------------|
| Labii | $960 | 100G | $10/100G |
| LabArchives | $365 | 100G | $0.99/G |
| eLabFTW | Free (AGPL licence) | N/A | N/A |
| Benchling | $2,400 | 10G | |
| LabCollector | $460 | | 0 |
| SciNote | $250 | 1G/100G, 10G Free | $1000/100G, $9/100G |
| Labfolder | $468 | 3G, 300G | |
| RSpace | $200 + $1500 install fee | | |
| CERF | $200 + one time $500/user/licence + $2000 to install | | |
| Hivebench | $1000/month, $20,000 + licensing fee | | 10G |
| LabGuru | $900 | 40G/user | |
| DOCOLLAB | $60 | | |
| Element | | | |
| IDBS | | 1G | |
## To do:
* Comparision on how to document results
* Screenshots