LabArchives

Overview

LabArchives is a research documentation suite with separate tools for electronic lab notebooks, inventory and equipment scheduling. It best suits academic and commercial research teams that need scientific records alongside lab operations; users wanting only a simple notebook may find its broader product range unnecessary.

Key features

The ELN for Research records, organizes, searches and shares scientific data. More than 20 built-in widgets and support for custom widgets give teams ways to structure records around their work, while integrations with GraphPad Prism, SnapGene, REDCap, Jupyter and Protocols.io help connect the notebook with named research tools.

Inventory organizes, tracks and orders lab supplies; Scheduler handles equipment and resource scheduling. Combined ELN and inventory plans go further by linking reagents to experiments and automatically debiting inventory items. That makes the suite more relevant to labs managing both records and materials than to teams seeking just one of those functions.

Audit trails, electronic signatures, approval workflows, offline access and API access support controlled recordkeeping and operational flexibility. Records can be exported as PDF or read-only offline HTML in a ZIP file. LabArchives states that it holds 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.

Browser access works on Windows, macOS and Linux. The ELN is optimized for mobile browsers and supports direct image, video and audio capture; the Android app wraps the browser-based session. LabArchives also offers a Help Center, application support staff and regular training webinars.

Pricing

The Free plan costs nothing and includes two owned notebooks, 1GB per user, a 25MB per-file limit, and SnapGene and GraphPad Prism integrations. It is a useful entry point for a small individual workload, but the notebook, storage and file caps may constrain larger or media-heavy projects.

Inventory Free costs nothing for 90 days and includes the ELN for Research integration, custom inventory categories and custom storage locations. Its 90-day term makes it a limited way to assess inventory workflows rather than an ongoing free option.

ELN for Education costs from $25 (priced on request), billed per student per term, and includes course management tools. It is aimed at teaching use rather than a lab team's general annual licensing. Inventory Academic and Inventory Corporate each cost $99 a year and $199 a year, respectively, billed per user per year. Both include ELN integration, custom categories and storage locations, and parent/child item relationships.

Professional Academic costs $330 a year per user; Professional Corporate costs $575 a year per user. Both offer unlimited owned notebooks, 100GB per user, a 250MB file limit, and support for NIH Data Management Mandates & Sharing. These tiers remove the Free plan's notebook and storage constraints, though the higher corporate price matters when licensing multiple users.

ELN + Inventory Academic costs $360 a year per user, while ELN + Inventory Corporate costs $675 a year per user. Both include the Inventory application, unlimited inventory items, reagent-to-experiment links and automatic inventory debiting. They suit users who need inventory integrated into their notebook workflow rather than only inventory management.

Enterprise ELN has custom pricing and includes 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. Its enterprise controls and much larger file allowance address needs beyond the per-user Professional caps.

Platforms

LabArchives supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web and Windows, as well as API access. Browser access on desktop operating systems and mobile capture broaden where records can be entered, although Android access through the app remains a browser-based session.

Who it's for

Academic researchers, nonprofit and commercial organizations are the stated user base; LabArchives says it serves 750,000 scientists. Its education tier also targets courses. The strongest fit is a lab that values searchable research records and may want inventory or scheduling in the same suite. A team needing only a basic notebook, or unwilling to work within per-user storage and file limits, should compare alternatives.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Notebook, inventory and scheduling tools cover connected lab work rather than records alone.
• Pros: Free entry includes two notebooks and integrations with SnapGene and GraphPad Prism.
• Pros: Compliance claims, audit trail, signatures and approval workflows suit teams with formal recordkeeping needs.
• Cons: Free storage is capped at 1GB per user and files at 25MB, which limits larger datasets or media.
• Cons: Professional plans cost $330 a year per user for Academic and $575 a year per user for Corporate; multi-user teams should account for seat-based pricing.
• Cons: Inventory Free lasts only 90 days, so it does not provide a permanent no-cost inventory tier.

Alternatives

For a wider category comparison, browse Electronic Lab Notebook Software or Equipment Scheduling Software.

LabCollector ELN has a free Startup Pack for three users and 1,000 data records. Labfolder has a free plan and pricing based on user count by quote. eLabFTW offers free self-hosted software under AGPLv3, with server hosting and administration required. NETVIBES is another option with an Enterprise Data Science plan. SciNote has a free plan for one user and a dedicated workspace, with no guaranteed support. Benchling Notebook offers a free academic plan covering Notebook and Molecular Biology. LabKey ELN is another freemium option. ELabELN offers unlimited users with no per-seat fees.

Verdict

Choose LabArchives if your lab wants research documentation with inventory and resource scheduling available in one suite, especially when compliance-related controls matter. Its main trade-off is the recurring per-user cost for expanded notebook capacity and the Free plan's tight storage and file limits; teams that need a narrower or self-hosted tool should compare alternatives.