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Research · head to head

LabArchives vs Schrodinger

LabArchives logo

LabArchives

Research

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Schrodinger logo

Schrodinger

Research

Physics based molecular modelling and drug discovery software, licensed by token pool

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only LabArchives has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Schrodinger licences are sold as token pools rather than unlimited module access, so a department can be blocked mid campaign because colleagues are consuming concurrency, and expanding the pool is a new commercial negotiation rather than a setting.
  • They diverge on capability: LabArchives covers Versioned entries, Schrodinger covers Maestro.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which LabArchives and Schrodinger actually diverge.

Attributes where LabArchives and Schrodinger differ
AttributeLabArchivesSchrodinger
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer user per yearquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidLinux, macOS, Windows, Web

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 LabArchives

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

Only in Schrodinger

  • Maestro
  • Glide
  • FEP+
  • Desmond
  • Jaguar
  • LiveDesign
  • Materials Science suite

What people use each for

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

LabArchives

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

Schrodinger

  • A medicinal chemistry programme using FEP+ to prioritise which analogues to synthesise, where avoiding a handful of wasted syntheses pays for the licencenot LabArchives
  • A structure based design campaign that needs docking at scale against a target with a good crystal structurenot LabArchives
  • A materials group modelling polymer or electrolyte properties before committing to formulation experimentsnot LabArchives
  • A university modelling group that qualifies for the published academic site licence and needs Maestro across a teaching and research cohortnot LabArchives

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Schrodinger

  • Licences are sold as token pools rather than unlimited module access, so a department can be blocked mid campaign because colleagues are consuming concurrency, and expanding the pool is a new commercial negotiation rather than a setting.
  • Commercial pricing is not published and is negotiated against modules, cores and term, so two companies of similar size can pay very different amounts and neither can benchmark the other.
  • FEP+ needs substantial GPU capacity that is not included in the licence, so the real annual cost includes cloud or on premise hardware that often rivals the software line item.
  • The tools require trained computational chemists to produce trustworthy results, and an organisation without that function will generate predictions it cannot interpret or defend to its own medicinal chemists.
  • Schrodinger runs its own internal drug discovery pipeline alongside selling software to discovery companies, and some prospective customers treat that dual role as a conflict when discussing proprietary targets, which slows procurement even where contractual separation exists.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Schrodinger

On request
  • Commercial licence$undefined/year
    • Quoted per customer against modules, cores and licence term
    • Applications draw from a shared token pool that caps concurrency
    • GPU compute for FEP+ and Desmond is a separate cost, on premise or cloud
  • Academic site licence$undefined/year
    • Published academic entry around 7,500 USD a year for a premium package with a token allocation
    • Restricted to academic and research use, not work supporting a commercial enterprise
    • Maestro generally unrestricted with tokens shared for compute heavy applications

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Schrodinger if

  • You need maestro.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Web.
  • You also want glide.
Schrodinger review

Questions people ask

Is LabArchives or Schrodinger better?
Neither clearly leads. LabArchives starts at Free and Schrodinger at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, LabArchives or Schrodinger?
LabArchives has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for LabArchives and On request for Schrodinger.
Does LabArchives or Schrodinger run on more platforms?
LabArchives runs on Web, iOS, Android. Schrodinger runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Web.
Can I use LabArchives for free?
Yes. LabArchives has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Schrodinger starts at On request.
What is LabArchives best used for?
LabArchives is most often used for a university group that must keep research records after a phd student leaves, rather than losing them with a laptop, a core facility that needs instrument booking and a shared record of who ran what and when, a small biotech building patent-defensible evidence of invention with witnessed, timestamped entries, a teaching department running undergraduate laboratory courses where instructors need to see and grade notebook work. Of those, a university group that must keep research records after a phd student leaves, rather than losing them with a laptop and a core facility that needs instrument booking and a shared record of who ran what and when are not what Schrodinger is typically brought in for.
What can LabArchives do that Schrodinger cannot?
LabArchives covers Versioned entries, Witnessing and signing, Inventory, Scheduler. Schrodinger covers Maestro, Glide, FEP+, Desmond.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Schrodinger: How is Schrodinger software licensed?

Annual licences with a shared token pool. Tokens cap how much you can run at once rather than which modules you own outright.

LabArchives: Who owns LabArchives?

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

Schrodinger: Is there published pricing?

Only for academic site licences, which start around 7,500 USD a year for a premium package. Commercial pricing is quoted.

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.

Schrodinger: Do I need my own GPUs?

For FEP+ and Desmond in practice yes, or cloud GPU capacity. Compute is not included in the licence.

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.

Schrodinger: Does Schrodinger compete with its customers?

It runs its own drug pipeline as well as selling software. It manages this through contractual separation, but buyers with sensitive targets should raise it during procurement.

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