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Research · head to head

Seven Bridges vs Terra

Seven Bridges logo

Seven Bridges

Research

Cloud bioinformatics platform and trusted research environment, sold by Velsera

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: 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.; 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: Seven Bridges covers Trusted research environment, 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 Seven Bridges and Terra actually diverge.

Attributes where Seven Bridges and Terra differ
AttributeSeven BridgesTerra
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, API, CloudWeb, 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 Seven Bridges

  • Trusted research environment
  • Cloud-agnostic
  • CWL pipelines
  • Compliance certifications
  • Cost prediction
  • Public data commons
  • Collaboration
  • Tool library

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.

Seven Bridges

  • A cancer genomics group analysing controlled-access dbGaP data that cannot be moved to local infrastructurenot Terra
  • A federal or federally funded programme that needs FedRAMP Moderate authorisation for its analysis environmentnot Terra
  • A multi-institution consortium sharing pipelines and results under defined access controls rather than by emailing filesnot Terra
  • A diagnostics developer building reproducible CWL pipelines that must stand up to later regulatory reviewnot Terra

Terra

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

Where each one falls short

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

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.

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

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

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 Seven Bridges if

  • You need trusted research environment.
  • You work on Web, API, Cloud.
  • You also want cloud-agnostic.
Seven Bridges 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 Seven Bridges or Terra better?
Neither clearly leads. Seven Bridges 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, Seven Bridges or Terra?
Terra has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Seven Bridges and Free for Terra.
Does Seven Bridges or Terra run on more platforms?
Seven Bridges runs on Web, API, Cloud. 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. Seven Bridges starts at On request.
What is Seven Bridges best used for?
Seven Bridges is most often used for a cancer genomics group analysing controlled-access dbgap data that cannot be moved to local infrastructure, a federal or federally funded programme that needs fedramp moderate authorisation for its analysis environment, a multi-institution consortium sharing pipelines and results under defined access controls rather than by emailing files, a diagnostics developer building reproducible cwl pipelines that must stand up to later regulatory review. Of those, a cancer genomics group analysing controlled-access dbgap data that cannot be moved to local infrastructure and a federal or federally funded programme that needs fedramp moderate authorisation for its analysis environment are not what Terra is typically brought in for.
What can Seven Bridges do that Terra cannot?
Seven Bridges covers Trusted research environment, Cloud-agnostic, CWL pipelines, Compliance certifications. Terra covers No platform licence fee, Cloud pass-through billing, WDL workflow execution, Notebook environments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

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.

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.

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.

Seven Bridges: How is it priced?

Not published. Expect a platform subscription plus consumption charges for cloud compute and storage.

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.

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.

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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