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OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences vs Schrodinger

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences logo

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences

Research

Computational chemistry toolkits and the Orion cloud platform, now inside Cadence

From
On request
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

  • Each has a real cost: OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences the free Public Domain Research Licence requires surrendering intellectual property rights and publishing results into the public domain, which rules it out for any academic group with a technology transfer office or patent ambitions.; 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: OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences covers OMEGA, Schrodinger covers Maestro.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences and Schrodinger actually diverge.

Attributes where OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences and Schrodinger differ
AttributeOpenEye, Cadence Molecular SciencesSchrodinger
PlatformsLinux, Windows, macOS, Web, APILinux, macOS, Windows, Web

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), 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 OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences

  • OMEGA
  • ROCS
  • ROCS X
  • Orion platform
  • Programmatic toolkits
  • Academic routes
  • Structure preparation
  • Docking and scoring

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.

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences

  • A pharmaceutical discovery team screening a multi-billion compound library by three-dimensional shape rather than by two-dimensional similaritynot Schrodinger
  • A computational chemist embedding conformer generation into an internal pipeline through the Python toolkitsnot Schrodinger
  • A university group publishing openly that can accept the public domain licence terms in exchange for zero costnot Schrodinger
  • A biotech scaling virtual screening on cloud compute without building its own clusternot 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 OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences
  • A structure based design campaign that needs docking at scale against a target with a good crystal structurenot OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences
  • A materials group modelling polymer or electrolyte properties before committing to formulation experimentsnot OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences
  • A university modelling group that qualifies for the published academic site licence and needs Maestro across a teaching and research cohortnot OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences

Where each one falls short

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

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences

  • The free Public Domain Research Licence requires surrendering intellectual property rights and publishing results into the public domain, which rules it out for any academic group with a technology transfer office or patent ambitions.
  • Free academic licences are renewable but re-evaluated annually with no guarantee of continuation, so a multi-year research programme has no assured software entitlement beyond the current year.
  • OpenEye now sits inside Cadence Design Systems, whose core business is chip design, so the roadmap and licensing culture are set by a company for which molecular sciences is one growth line among several.
  • Commercial pricing is entirely unpublished and structured as annual subscriptions with separate Orion compute, making total cost of a screening programme hard to forecast before contracting.
  • The toolkits assume real computational chemistry expertise; they are libraries and applications for specialists, not an interface a medicinal chemist can drive without training.

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

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences

On request
  • Commercial licence$undefined/year
    • Annual subscription priced through Cadence sales
    • Toolkits and applications licensed separately from the Orion platform
    • Orion compute billed on top of software entitlements
  • Academic Package$undefined/year
    • Paid annual subscription for university groups under ten members
    • Includes support
    • Researchers retain intellectual property rights
  • Public Domain Research LicenceFree
    • No cost
    • No support of any kind
    • No intellectual property rights retained

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 OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences if

  • You need omega.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, macOS, Web, API.
  • You also want rocs.
OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences review

Choose Schrodinger if

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

Questions people ask

Is OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences or Schrodinger better?
Neither clearly leads. OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences starts at On request and Schrodinger at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences or Schrodinger?
OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences starts at On request and Schrodinger at On request.
Does OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences or Schrodinger run on more platforms?
OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Web, API. Schrodinger runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Web.
What is OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences best used for?
OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences is most often used for a pharmaceutical discovery team screening a multi-billion compound library by three-dimensional shape rather than by two-dimensional similarity, a computational chemist embedding conformer generation into an internal pipeline through the python toolkits, a university group publishing openly that can accept the public domain licence terms in exchange for zero cost, a biotech scaling virtual screening on cloud compute without building its own cluster. Of those, a pharmaceutical discovery team screening a multi-billion compound library by three-dimensional shape rather than by two-dimensional similarity and a computational chemist embedding conformer generation into an internal pipeline through the python toolkits are not what Schrodinger is typically brought in for.
What can OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences do that Schrodinger cannot?
OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences covers OMEGA, ROCS, ROCS X, Orion platform. Schrodinger covers Maestro, Glide, FEP+, Desmond.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences: Is OpenEye still OpenEye?

It trades as OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences, and is part of Cadence Design Systems following acquisition. The product names OMEGA, ROCS and Orion continue.

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.

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences: Can academics use it for free?

Yes, through the Public Domain Research Licence or a Teaching Licence, but both come with no support and no intellectual property rights. Keeping IP rights and support requires the paid Academic Package.

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.

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences: What is ROCS X?

A machine learning enabled extension of ROCS shape search, built on the Orion platform, aimed at screening chemical spaces in the trillions of molecules.

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.

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences: Is commercial pricing published?

No. Commercial licences are annual subscriptions quoted through Cadence sales, with Orion compute charged separately.

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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