LabArchives

Overview

The suite serves academic, nonprofit and commercial research organizations, and LabArchives says it is used by 750,000 scientists. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Boston, it pairs an electronic lab notebook (ELN) with separate inventory and scheduling applications. That breadth is valuable when a lab wants to connect experiments with materials and shared equipment; it is less compelling for someone who needs only a basic notebook.

Key features

The ELN for Research records, organizes, searches and shares scientific data. More than 20 built-in widgets and support for custom widgets let teams structure records around their work. Integrations include GraphPad Prism, SnapGene, REDCap, Jupyter and Protocols.io, giving users named options for bringing related research tools into their workflow.

LabArchives Inventory organizes, tracks and orders laboratory inventory, while Scheduler manages equipment and other lab resources. ELN + Inventory plans add unlimited inventory items, links between reagents and experiments, and automatic inventory debiting. Those connections suit labs that want notebook records and materials management to work together; buyers who need scheduling or inventory alone can choose the separate application plans.

Audit trails, electronic signatures and approval workflows support controlled recordkeeping. Offline access and API access add flexibility, and exports are available as PDF or read-only offline HTML in a ZIP file. LabArchives states that it has FedRAMP, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications, supports HIPAA and GDPR requirements, and is compliant with 21 CFR Part 11, HIPAA and NIST 800-171.

Help comes through a knowledge base, FAQs, application support staff and regular training webinars. This mix is useful for teams adopting a research platform, though the stated support channels do not promise a particular response time.

Pricing

LabArchives uses a freemium model, but its plans cover different products and audiences, so the entry price of $330/user/yr is not a single price for the whole suite.

• Free: 0.00 USD per free, with two owned notebooks, 1GB per user, a 25MB file limit, and SnapGene and GraphPad Prism integrations. It is a sensible way to begin with the ELN, but the notebook and storage caps constrain larger projects.
• Inventory Free: 0.00 USD per free for 90 days. It includes ELN for Research integration, custom inventory categories and custom storage locations. The 90-day term makes it an evaluation option rather than a permanent free inventory plan.
• ELN for Education: 25.00 USD per contact, billed per student / term, with course management tools. It is the education-specific choice when course management is needed.
• Inventory Academic: 99.00 USD per year per user; Inventory Corporate: 199.00 USD per year per user. Both include ELN for Research integration, custom inventory categories and storage locations, and parent/child item relationships. Choose between them by audience and budget when inventory is the main need.
• Professional Academic: 330.00 USD per year per user; Professional Corporate: 575.00 USD per year per user. Both provide unlimited owned notebooks, 100GB per user, a 250MB per-file limit, and NIH Data Management Mandates & Sharing support. The larger storage and file allowance is a meaningful step up from Free for data-heavy work.
• ELN + Inventory Academic: 360.00 USD per year per user; ELN + Inventory Corporate: 675.00 USD per year per user. Both combine the inventory application with unlimited inventory items, reagent-to-experiment links and automatic inventory debiting. These fit teams that need materials management alongside the notebook rather than a standalone inventory tool.
• Enterprise ELN: custom pricing, with unlimited storage, files up to 16GB, advanced security and usage reports, SAML SSO, a developer API, an uptime guarantee and SLA, and a dedicated success manager. It is aimed at organizations requiring enterprise controls and service commitments.

Per-user annual billing applies to the plans described as billed per user per year; the education plan is billed per student per term. The Professional limits are 100GB per user and 250MB per file, compared with Free's 1GB per user and 25MB per file. The Free plan also limits users to two owned notebooks.

Platforms

LabArchives supports web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and API access. The ELN runs in browsers on Windows, macOS and Linux, and its mobile-browser experience supports direct image, video and audio capture. The Android app wraps the browser-based session. Mobile capture is useful for recording observations at the bench, while the browser-based Android app is not a separate native ELN experience.

Who it's for

Academic, nonprofit and commercial labs can use the suite for research documentation, inventory and shared-resource scheduling. Academic researchers who need more notebook capacity and NIH data-management support have a clear upgrade path; instructors can choose the term-priced education plan. Teams handling significant data should account for the Free plan's per-user storage and per-file caps before adopting it as their long-term workspace.

Pros and cons

• Pro: The suite links notebook work with inventory and resource scheduling, reducing the need to treat those lab functions as unrelated jobs.
• Pro: Professional plans raise the allowance to 100GB per user and 250MB per file and include unlimited owned notebooks.
• Pro: Audit trails, signatures, approval workflows and stated compliance credentials address controlled research recordkeeping.
• Con: Free allows only two owned notebooks, 1GB per user and 25MB per file, which can be restrictive for growing or media-heavy projects.
• Con: The full inventory workflow requires a paid plan after the 90-day Inventory Free period; combined academic and corporate plans cost more than the notebook-only Professional plans.

Alternatives

For a wider shortlist, see Electronic Lab Notebook Software and Equipment Scheduling Software.

• LabCollector ELN is worth considering if a lifetime free Startup Pack with three users and 1,000 data records suits your starting scale.
• Labfolder is an alternative if a freemium ELN with self-hosted platform support is a priority and you are prepared to request a quote.
• eLabFTW may fit teams seeking free, AGPLv3 self-hosted software that can handle server hosting and administration themselves.
• SciNote offers a free plan for one user in a dedicated workspace, making it an option for an individual who does not need guaranteed support.
• NETVIBES is another option.
• Benchling Notebook is an option for academic researchers seeking a free plan that includes Notebook and Molecular Biology.
• LabKey ELN is another freemium alternative.
• CDD Vault Electronic Lab Notebook is another option.

Verdict

Choose LabArchives if your lab needs an ELN that can sit alongside inventory and equipment scheduling, with paid tiers for larger storage and integrated materials tracking. The free plan is a low-cost way to start, but its 1GB-per-user and 25MB-per-file limits are the main reason to look elsewhere or budget for an upgrade if research data will grow.