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Research · head to head

Dotmatics vs Terra

Dotmatics logo

Dotmatics

Research

Research informatics group behind GraphPad Prism, SnapGene, Geneious and LabArchives, now owned by Siemens

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Terra logo

Terra

Research

Open biomedical research platform for genomic analysis, priced only by the cloud you consume

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Terra has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Dotmatics the portfolio was assembled by acquisition and integration between the constituent products is uneven, so buying several Dotmatics brands does not deliver a single connected environment and often means the same manual export steps as before.; Terra the absence of a licence fee hides the real cost driver: an idle notebook virtual machine left running overnight, or a workspace bucket full of intermediate workflow outputs, quietly consumes grant money with no vendor invoice to prompt a review.
  • They diverge on capability: Dotmatics covers Dotmatics platform, Terra covers No platform licence fee.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dotmatics and Terra actually diverge.

Attributes where Dotmatics and Terra differ
AttributeDotmaticsTerra
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Windows, macOS, On-premiseWeb, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure

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 Dotmatics

  • Dotmatics platform
  • GraphPad Prism
  • SnapGene
  • Geneious Prime and Biologics
  • LabArchives
  • Flow cytometry tools
  • Protein Metrics
  • Siemens ownership

Only in Terra

  • No platform licence fee
  • Cloud pass-through billing
  • WDL workflow execution
  • Notebook environments
  • Controlled-access data
  • Workspace sharing
  • Compliance posture
  • Multi-cloud

What people use each for

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

Dotmatics

  • A pharmaceutical company consolidating compound registration, assay data and biology screening onto one informatics layernot Terra
  • A biotech that already owns Prism, SnapGene and Geneious separately and wants to understand what a group contract would covernot Terra
  • A university licensing LabArchives across departments as an institutional electronic lab notebooknot Terra
  • A biologics group needing sequence analysis, flow cytometry and proteomics tools from one supplier with a single procurement routenot Terra

Terra

  • A genomics lab running whole-genome alignment and variant calling pipelines without provisioning or maintaining a local clusternot Dotmatics
  • A consortium sharing controlled-access human data across institutions where the data cannot be copied to each sitenot Dotmatics
  • A health system analysing patient genomic data under a HIPAA business associate agreementnot Dotmatics
  • A federal or federally funded project needing FedRAMP Moderate authorisation for its analysis environmentnot Dotmatics

Where each one falls short

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

Dotmatics

  • The portfolio was assembled by acquisition and integration between the constituent products is uneven, so buying several Dotmatics brands does not deliver a single connected environment and often means the same manual export steps as before.
  • The Siemens acquisition completed in July 2025 with stated revenue synergy targets, which usually translates into pressure to move individually bought desktop licences into larger platform agreements, and small buyers of a single Prism or SnapGene seat should expect that pressure at renewal.
  • Nothing about the enterprise platform is publicly priced, and even the individual applications are increasingly moved to subscription, so total cost across a research group is hard to establish before negotiation.
  • Each acquired product retains its own licence terms, support channel and release cycle, so an organisation using four Dotmatics brands manages four different renewal dates, entitlement models and support experiences.
  • Enterprise deployments require data migration and configuration services, and validated instances for regulated use add both cost and an ongoing customer revalidation duty after each release, so the informatics platform is a programme rather than a purchase.

Terra

  • The absence of a licence fee hides the real cost driver: an idle notebook virtual machine left running overnight, or a workspace bucket full of intermediate workflow outputs, quietly consumes grant money with no vendor invoice to prompt a review.
  • Cost governance is entirely the customer responsibility, and grant-funded groups without a cloud engineer routinely overspend before anyone reads the Google or Azure bill in enough detail to find the cause.
  • It assumes genuine bioinformatics competence: writing or adapting WDL workflows, managing data tables and debugging failed tasks are all on you, so a wet lab without computational staff cannot use it productively.
  • Feature parity between the Google Cloud and Azure deployments is not identical, so a decision on cloud provider constrains which capabilities and datasets you can reach and is expensive to reverse later.
  • It is a research platform rather than a regulated clinical system: it is not a validated GxP environment and does not carry the qualification package a diagnostic or submission workflow would require, so clinical use needs additional infrastructure and validation you provide yourself.

Pricing, plan by plan

Dotmatics

On request
  • Dotmatics platform$undefined/year
    • Enterprise informatics platform priced per user per year on quotation
    • Chemistry and biology registration, assay data and ELN modules scoped separately
    • Implementation and data migration services quoted as a separate programme

Terra

Free
  • Terra platformFree
    • No charge for the platform, administration, security controls or frontline support
    • Workspaces, workflow execution and notebook environments included
    • Available on Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure
  • Cloud consumption$undefined/month
    • Google Cloud or Azure charges passed through at cost with no markup
    • Running notebook virtual machines around 0.22 USD per hour, roughly 0.027 USD per hour when paused
    • Storage billed continuously on workspace buckets and intermediate workflow outputs

Which should you pick?

Choose Dotmatics if

  • You need dotmatics platform.
  • You work on Web, Windows, macOS, On-premise.
  • You also want graphpad prism.
Dotmatics review

Choose Terra if

  • You need no platform licence fee.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure.
  • You also want cloud pass-through billing.
Terra review

Questions people ask

Is Dotmatics or Terra better?
Neither clearly leads. Dotmatics starts at On request and Terra at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dotmatics or Terra?
Terra has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Dotmatics and Free for Terra.
Does Dotmatics or Terra run on more platforms?
Dotmatics runs on Web, Windows, macOS, On-premise. Terra runs on Web, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure.
Can I use Terra for free?
Yes. Terra has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Dotmatics starts at On request.
What is Dotmatics best used for?
Dotmatics is most often used for a pharmaceutical company consolidating compound registration, assay data and biology screening onto one informatics layer, a biotech that already owns prism, snapgene and geneious separately and wants to understand what a group contract would cover, a university licensing labarchives across departments as an institutional electronic lab notebook, a biologics group needing sequence analysis, flow cytometry and proteomics tools from one supplier with a single procurement route. Of those, a pharmaceutical company consolidating compound registration, assay data and biology screening onto one informatics layer and a biotech that already owns prism, snapgene and geneious separately and wants to understand what a group contract would cover are not what Terra is typically brought in for.
What can Dotmatics do that Terra cannot?
Dotmatics covers Dotmatics platform, GraphPad Prism, SnapGene, Geneious Prime and Biologics. Terra covers No platform licence fee, Cloud pass-through billing, WDL workflow execution, Notebook environments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Dotmatics: Who owns Dotmatics?

Siemens, which completed a 5.1 billion dollar acquisition on 1 July 2025. Dotmatics now sits inside Siemens Digital Industries Software.

Terra: Is Terra really free?

The platform is. There is no licence fee. Everything you pay is Google Cloud or Azure compute, storage and egress, passed through at cost.

Dotmatics: Is GraphPad Prism a Dotmatics product?

Yes. So are SnapGene, Geneious, LabArchives, FCS Express, OMIQ, Protein Metrics, SoftGenetics and nQuery.

Terra: What actually drives the bill?

Running virtual machines and stored data. Pausing notebooks drops a virtual machine from about 0.22 to about 0.027 dollars an hour, and deleting intermediate workflow outputs is the other main saving.

Dotmatics: Do the products work together?

To varying degrees. They were acquired separately and integration across the portfolio is uneven, so verify the specific pair you care about before assuming it.

Terra: Can I use it with protected health information?

Yes. Terra signs HIPAA business associate agreements and GDPR data processing agreements, and the Azure deployment holds FedRAMP Moderate authorisation.

Dotmatics: Is enterprise pricing published?

No. The informatics platform is quoted per user per year with modules and services scoped separately.

Terra: Is it validated for clinical or GxP use?

No. It is a research platform. Regulated clinical or submission workflows need validation and controls you build yourself.

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