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Research · head to head

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences vs Valispace

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
Valispace logo

Valispace

Research

Requirements and systems engineering for hardware teams, with published per-seat pricing

From
$999/year
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.; Valispace the three-seat minimum means a solo consultant or a two-person startup pays for a seat nobody uses, roughly 3,000 US dollars a year before anyone logs in.
  • They diverge on capability: OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences covers OMEGA, Valispace covers Live requirements.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences and Valispace differ
AttributeOpenEye, Cadence Molecular SciencesValispace
Starting priceOn request$999/year
Pricing modelquotePer user per year
PlatformsLinux, Windows, macOS, Web, APIWeb, On-premise, API

Identical on both: 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 Valispace

  • Live requirements
  • Budgets and margins
  • Component tree
  • Verification and validation
  • Python API and Jupyter
  • ValiAssistant
  • SSO and MFA

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 Valispace
  • A computational chemist embedding conformer generation into an internal pipeline through the Python toolkitsnot Valispace
  • A university group publishing openly that can accept the public domain licence terms in exchange for zero costnot Valispace
  • A biotech scaling virtual screening on cloud compute without building its own clusternot Valispace

Valispace

  • A small satellite team keeping mass and power budgets live across a design cycle instead of rebuilding spreadsheets before each reviewnot OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences
  • A drone manufacturer that needs requirement traceability for a certification authority but cannot justify an enterprise requirements databasenot OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences
  • A university engineering department teaching systems engineering with real traceability under the flat education ratenot OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences
  • An electronics-heavy hardware startup wanting requirements linked to the PCB design work happening in Altiumnot 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.

Valispace

  • The three-seat minimum means a solo consultant or a two-person startup pays for a seat nobody uses, roughly 3,000 US dollars a year before anyone logs in.
  • Ownership has changed twice in two years, from independent to Altium to Renesas by way of the Altium acquisition, and the technology has been repackaged as the Altium Requirements Portal, so the standalone roadmap is genuinely uncertain.
  • It is not a certified DO-178C or ARP4754 toolchain component in the way established requirements databases are, so highly regulated aerospace programmes may still need a recognised tool alongside it.
  • The parametric model rewards teams who structure their data properly at the start; teams that import a flat requirement list get a slower version of a document tool and none of the budget automation.
  • Integration depth outside the Altium and Jira world is limited, so linking to an existing PLM or a CAD-driven mass properties source usually means writing against the Python API yourself.

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

Valispace

$999/year
  • Valispace$999/year
    • Minimum three users
    • Requirements, components, V&V and analysis modules
    • ValiAssistant AI beta
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • On-premise deployment option
    • Staging servers with controlled update timing
    • Advanced support terms
  • Education$1000/year
    • Flat annual rate for an institution
    • Unlimited students and professors
    • Non-commercial projects only

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 Valispace if

  • You need live requirements.
  • You work on Web, On-premise, API.
  • You also want budgets and margins.
Valispace review

Questions people ask

Is OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences or Valispace better?
Neither clearly leads. OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences starts at On request and Valispace at $999/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences or Valispace?
OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences starts at On request and Valispace at $999/year.
Does OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences or Valispace run on more platforms?
OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Web, API. Valispace runs on Web, On-premise, API.
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 Valispace is typically brought in for.
What can OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences do that Valispace cannot?
OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences covers OMEGA, ROCS, ROCS X, Orion platform. Valispace covers Live requirements, Budgets and margins, Component tree, Verification and validation.

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.

Valispace: Who owns Valispace?

Altium acquired it in December 2023, and Renesas Electronics acquired Altium in 2024. It is therefore a Renesas-owned product, despite frequent reports elsewhere linking it to defence groups.

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.

Valispace: Is it the same thing as the Altium Requirements Portal?

They share a lineage. Requirements Portal is the Altium 365 packaging of Valispace technology. The standalone Valispace product is still sold with its own pricing.

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.

Valispace: What does it actually cost?

999 US dollars per user per year with a minimum of three users, billed annually. Enterprise with on-premise deployment is quoted separately.

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences: Is commercial pricing published?

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

Valispace: Can it replace a requirements database like DOORS?

For small and mid-sized hardware programmes, often yes. For programmes with contractual tool mandates, no.

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