Research · head to head
REDCap vs Seven Bridges
REDCap
Research
Research data capture licensed free to non-profits, and not licensable at all to companies
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Seven Bridges
Research
Cloud bioinformatics platform and trusted research environment, sold by Velsera
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: REDCap a for-profit company cannot hold a licence or self-host REDCap, so a biotech or CRO that liked it at university simply cannot deploy it the same way and must buy a commercially licensed hosted version instead.; Seven Bridges the parent merged into Velsera in 2023 alongside Pierian and UgenTec, so the platform now competes for roadmap attention with clinical interpretation and diagnostics products inside a private equity owned group.
- They diverge on capability: REDCap covers Form and survey designer, Seven Bridges covers Trusted research environment.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which REDCap and Seven Bridges actually diverge.
| Attribute | REDCap | Seven Bridges |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Web, Linux, Windows | Web, API, Cloud |
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 REDCap
- Form and survey designer
- Longitudinal projects
- Data quality rules
- Randomisation
- Audit trail and e-signature
- API and exports
Only in Seven Bridges
- Trusted research environment
- Cloud-agnostic
- CWL pipelines
- Compliance certifications
- Cost prediction
- Public data commons
- Collaboration
- Tool library
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
REDCap
- An academic research group at an institution that already runs REDCap, where a new study database costs nothing beyond the time to build itnot Seven Bridges
- A hospital collecting patient reported outcomes where data must stay on institutional infrastructure rather than a vendor cloudnot Seven Bridges
- An investigator initiated trial that needs randomisation, an audit trail and statistical export without a commercial EDC budgetnot Seven Bridges
- A multi site academic collaboration where each site can be given scoped access to a single longitudinal projectnot Seven Bridges
Seven Bridges
- A cancer genomics group analysing controlled-access dbGaP data that cannot be moved to local infrastructurenot REDCap
- A federal or federally funded programme that needs FedRAMP Moderate authorisation for its analysis environmentnot REDCap
- A multi-institution consortium sharing pipelines and results under defined access controls rather than by emailing filesnot REDCap
- A diagnostics developer building reproducible CWL pipelines that must stand up to later regulatory reviewnot REDCap
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
REDCap
- A for-profit company cannot hold a licence or self-host REDCap, so a biotech or CRO that liked it at university simply cannot deploy it the same way and must buy a commercially licensed hosted version instead.
- Because each institution hosts its own instance, support, uptime, backup and version currency vary by university, and a researcher has no recourse to Vanderbilt when the local instance is two years out of date.
- It is free of licence fee but not free of cost: the hosting institution carries server, security, patching and support staffing, which is why some institutions charge internal recharges per project.
- Validation for regulated use is the deploying institution responsibility, so an instance is not Part 11 compliant simply because REDCap supports the features; someone locally has to produce and maintain the evidence.
- The interface and reporting are dated compared with commercial survey and EDC tools, and complex logic is built through data dictionary spreadsheets rather than a modern visual builder, which slows non technical study teams.
Seven Bridges
- The parent merged into Velsera in 2023 alongside Pierian and UgenTec, so the platform now competes for roadmap attention with clinical interpretation and diagnostics products inside a private equity owned group.
- Pricing is not published and splits into a platform subscription plus consumption-based cloud compute, so a heavy analysis quarter produces a bill that headcount-based budgeting does not anticipate.
- The analysis capability itself has credible open source equivalents in Nextflow and Cromwell on raw cloud, so you are principally paying for compliance and governance rather than for the science.
- Pipelines are built around Common Workflow Language, which is a real learning curve and a portability commitment for teams whose existing work is in other workflow languages.
- Cloud storage of large genomic datasets accrues continuously whether or not you are analysing, and egress charges apply when moving results out, both of which are outside the subscription line.
Pricing, plan by plan
REDCap
On request- REDCap non-profit licence$undefined/year
- No licence fee to non-profit and government institutions that join the consortium
- Institution must install and host it on its own infrastructure
- For-profit organisations may not hold a licence or self-host
Seven Bridges
On request- Seven Bridges Platform$undefined/year
- Platform subscription quoted through Velsera sales
- Cloud compute and storage charged on consumption on top of the subscription
- Cost predictor tools provided to estimate analysis spend in advance
Which should you pick?
Choose REDCap if
- You need form and survey designer.
- You work on Web, Linux, Windows.
- You also want longitudinal projects.
Choose Seven Bridges if
- You need trusted research environment.
- You work on Web, API, Cloud.
- You also want cloud-agnostic.
Questions people ask
- Is REDCap or Seven Bridges better?
- Neither clearly leads. REDCap starts at On request and Seven Bridges at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, REDCap or Seven Bridges?
- REDCap starts at On request and Seven Bridges at On request.
- Does REDCap or Seven Bridges run on more platforms?
- REDCap runs on Web, Linux, Windows. Seven Bridges runs on Web, API, Cloud.
- What is REDCap best used for?
- REDCap is most often used for an academic research group at an institution that already runs redcap, where a new study database costs nothing beyond the time to build it, a hospital collecting patient reported outcomes where data must stay on institutional infrastructure rather than a vendor cloud, an investigator initiated trial that needs randomisation, an audit trail and statistical export without a commercial edc budget, a multi site academic collaboration where each site can be given scoped access to a single longitudinal project. Of those, an academic research group at an institution that already runs redcap, where a new study database costs nothing beyond the time to build it and a hospital collecting patient reported outcomes where data must stay on institutional infrastructure rather than a vendor cloud are not what Seven Bridges is typically brought in for.
- What can REDCap do that Seven Bridges cannot?
- REDCap covers Form and survey designer, Longitudinal projects, Data quality rules, Randomisation. Seven Bridges covers Trusted research environment, Cloud-agnostic, CWL pipelines, Compliance certifications.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
REDCap: Is REDCap really free?
The licence is free to non-profit institutions and government organisations that join the consortium, but they must host and support it themselves, so there is real internal cost.
Seven Bridges: Is Seven Bridges still sold?
Yes. It is sold by Velsera, formed in 2023 when Summa Equity merged Seven Bridges with Pierian and UgenTec. The Seven Bridges name was retained for the platform.
REDCap: Can my company use REDCap?
Not by holding a licence or self-hosting. For-profit organisations must use a separately licensed commercial hosted route.
Seven Bridges: What compliance does it hold?
FedRAMP Moderate, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, dbGaP and ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701, which is the usual reason institutions choose it over building on raw cloud.
REDCap: Is REDCap 21 CFR Part 11 compliant?
It has the features to support Part 11 use, but compliance depends on how the hosting institution configures, validates and documents its own instance.
Seven Bridges: How is it priced?
Not published. Expect a platform subscription plus consumption charges for cloud compute and storage.
REDCap: Who supports it?
Your local institutional REDCap administrator, not Vanderbilt. Support quality varies by site.
Seven Bridges: Do I have to use a specific cloud?
No. The platform is cloud-agnostic and designed to bring analysis to where the data already resides.
Related pages
More on Seven Bridges
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