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Research · head to head

Chemaxon vs LabArchives

Chemaxon logo

Chemaxon

Research

Cheminformatics toolkits and structure handling, now a Certara subsidiary

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
LabArchives logo

LabArchives

Research

Electronic lab notebook with witnessing, version history and long-term institutional retention

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only LabArchives has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Chemaxon the October 2024 Certara acquisition ended two decades of vendor neutrality, and organisations that embedded JChem precisely because Chemaxon competed with nobody now depend on a component owned by a company that sells into their accounts.; LabArchives the corporate rate is roughly 75 per cent above the academic rate for the same product, so a university spinout crossing into commercial status faces a step change in cost at exactly the point its budget is tightest.
  • They diverge on capability: Chemaxon covers Marvin, LabArchives covers Versioned entries.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chemaxon and LabArchives actually diverge.

Attributes where Chemaxon and LabArchives differ
AttributeChemaxonLabArchives
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotePer user per year
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Windows, macOS, Linux, On-premise, APIWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Research).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Chemaxon

  • Marvin
  • JChem toolkits
  • Calculator Plugins
  • Compound Registration
  • Instant JChem
  • Design Hub
  • Free academic package
  • Embedded redistribution

Only in LabArchives

  • Versioned entries
  • Witnessing and signing
  • Inventory
  • Scheduler
  • Education edition
  • Single sign-on
  • Structured data entry
  • DOI and repository publishing

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Chemaxon

  • A software vendor embedding a structure sketcher and search into its own product rather than writing chemistry codenot LabArchives
  • A pharmaceutical informatics team building an internal compound registration system on JChem cartridgesnot LabArchives
  • A computational chemistry group needing consistent pKa and logD prediction across a screening cascadenot LabArchives
  • A university teaching cheminformatics that can use the free two-year academic package for a classnot LabArchives

LabArchives

  • A university group that must keep research records after a PhD student leaves, rather than losing them with a laptopnot Chemaxon
  • A core facility that needs instrument booking and a shared record of who ran what and whennot Chemaxon
  • A small biotech building patent-defensible evidence of invention with witnessed, timestamped entriesnot Chemaxon
  • A teaching department running undergraduate laboratory courses where instructors need to see and grade notebook worknot Chemaxon

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Chemaxon

  • The October 2024 Certara acquisition ended two decades of vendor neutrality, and organisations that embedded JChem precisely because Chemaxon competed with nobody now depend on a component owned by a company that sells into their accounts.
  • Licensing is genuinely complicated, with different terms for named users, servers, desktop applications and embedded redistribution, so working out what you are allowed to deploy usually requires a conversation rather than reading a document.
  • The free academic package is granted for two-year terms and covers education rather than research, so a research group that assumed it was free discovers it needs a paid commercial academic licence.
  • Nothing is priced publicly for commercial use, so a team evaluating Chemaxon against open source alternatives such as RDKit cannot compare total cost without entering a sales process.
  • Open source cheminformatics has closed much of the functional gap for basic structure handling and search, so the commercial case increasingly rests on prediction quality, support and registration workflows rather than on capability that cannot be obtained elsewhere.

LabArchives

  • The corporate rate is roughly 75 per cent above the academic rate for the same product, so a university spinout crossing into commercial status faces a step change in cost at exactly the point its budget is tightest.
  • Inventory and Scheduler are separate per-user line items, so a lab that assumed one price per person for a working system ends up paying two or three.
  • It is now a Dotmatics product inside a large scientific software portfolio, which puts roadmap priority with enterprise pharmaceutical buyers rather than with the academic labs that made it popular.
  • The interface is functional rather than pleasant, and adoption typically fails not on features but on researchers quietly continuing to keep notes elsewhere; you need a mandate, not a rollout email.
  • Instrument integration is thin compared with dedicated laboratory information management systems, so automated capture from analytical equipment usually still means manual upload or custom scripting.

Pricing, plan by plan

Chemaxon

On request
  • Academic package$undefined/year
    • Free of charge for education for a two-year term
    • Covers a class including tutor and students, or an applicant faculty
    • Non-commercial research use only
  • Commercial licence$undefined/year
    • Quoted per named user, per server or per redistributed application
    • Toolkits, desktop applications and embedded redistribution licensed separately
    • Annual support and maintenance included in the subscription

LabArchives

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Limited storage
    • Core notebook and versioning
    • Intended for evaluation and individual use
  • Professional (Academic)$330/year
    • Full ELN with witnessing and signing
    • Academic rate per user per year
    • Corporate rate is $575 per user per year
  • ELN plus Inventory bundle$360/year
    • Notebook plus sample and reagent inventory
    • Academic rate; corporate rate is $675 per user per year
  • Inventory standalone$99/year
    • Sample tracking without the notebook
    • Academic rate; corporate rate is $199 per user per year

Which should you pick?

Choose Chemaxon if

  • You need marvin.
  • You work on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, On-premise, API.
  • You also want jchem toolkits.
Chemaxon review

Choose LabArchives if

  • You need versioned entries.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want witnessing and signing.
LabArchives review

Questions people ask

Is Chemaxon or LabArchives better?
Neither clearly leads. Chemaxon starts at On request and LabArchives at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chemaxon or LabArchives?
LabArchives has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Chemaxon and Free for LabArchives.
Does Chemaxon or LabArchives run on more platforms?
Chemaxon runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, On-premise, API. LabArchives runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use LabArchives for free?
Yes. LabArchives has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Chemaxon starts at On request.
What is Chemaxon best used for?
Chemaxon is most often used for a software vendor embedding a structure sketcher and search into its own product rather than writing chemistry code, a pharmaceutical informatics team building an internal compound registration system on jchem cartridges, a computational chemistry group needing consistent pka and logd prediction across a screening cascade, a university teaching cheminformatics that can use the free two-year academic package for a class. Of those, a software vendor embedding a structure sketcher and search into its own product rather than writing chemistry code and a pharmaceutical informatics team building an internal compound registration system on jchem cartridges are not what LabArchives is typically brought in for.
What can Chemaxon do that LabArchives cannot?
Chemaxon covers Marvin, JChem toolkits, Calculator Plugins, Compound Registration. LabArchives covers Versioned entries, Witnessing and signing, Inventory, Scheduler.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Chemaxon: Is Chemaxon still independent?

No. It has been a subsidiary of Certara since October 2024. The products continue under the Chemaxon name.

LabArchives: Does LabArchives satisfy patent evidence requirements?

Its versioning, timestamping and witnessed signatures are designed for that purpose, and it is widely accepted for it, but the legal weight depends on your institution's process being followed, not on the software alone.

Chemaxon: Is the academic licence really free?

The education package is free for two-year terms covering a class or faculty. Non-commercial research groups pay a discounted commercial academic licence.

LabArchives: Who owns LabArchives?

Dotmatics. The product is branded LabArchives by Dotmatics and shares that company's corporate footprint.

Chemaxon: Can I ship Chemaxon inside my own software?

Yes, but embedded redistribution is licensed separately from internal use and must be negotiated.

LabArchives: Is there really a free tier?

Yes, with limited storage. It is suitable for trialling or a single researcher, not for a group that needs retention guarantees.

Chemaxon: How does it compare with RDKit?

RDKit is free and covers basic structure handling well. Chemaxon differentiates on property prediction, registration workflows, the sketcher and commercial support.

LabArchives: Can we export everything if we leave?

Yes, notebooks export in bulk, but exported archives lose much of the interactive structure, so treat the export as an archive rather than as a migration path into another ELN.

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