2018-10-04 Labii ELN & LIMS Vs LabWare, Which One Should I Choose?

2018-10-04

This article contains all my original notes for the blog: Comparative Analysis of Labii and LabWare in ELN & LIMS. This is the detail comparison of Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) and Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) between Labii and Labware.

	Labii ELN & LIMS	LabWare ELN & LIMS	Comment
Company Introduction	Labii Inc. is a software company headquartered in South San Francisco, CA. that develops and distributes Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) and Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).	LabWare is a company that develops and implements Laboratory Information Management Systems and Electronic Laboratory Notebooks.
Founded	2014	1987	Labii is a silicon valley startups while LabWare has been established for a long time.
Website	https://www.labii.com	https://www.labware.com
Type of deployment	Cloud-based: A third-party installs, operates and maintains the software on its own or another entity’s servers; and stores the data in its own or another entity’s data center. Processing and data are physically or virtually segregated from other customers.	Premises-based: Customer installs, operates and maintains the software on its own servers; and stores the data in its own data center(s).	There is still a huge debate on where to store the data: Advantage on Premises: full control of the data. Disadvantage on Premises: Need to manage computer infrastructure, need to take risk of data lost because of an angry employee, water, fire damage, huge cost upfront to purchase the infrastructure and hire technical specialists. The advantage of Cloud: Easy to set up, cheap - no need to hire someone to manage the computer infrastructure, safer - additional data backup in the cloud Disadvantage on Cloud: not fully controlled. Choose a solution based on mindset, law, budget. With the improvement of technology, more and more people go with Cloud solution.
Newest Version	Labii ELN & LIMS v6.0	LabWare v7, ELN v3	Labii as a startup is consistently adding new features and upgrades with new technology (6 version in 6 years). LabWare is trying to be stable and very conserved in new upgrades (7 version in 38 years). If you expect your reported problem/features get resolved much faster, use Labii. If you prefer stable, no changes to the procedure, use LabWare.
Integration	ELN and LIMS as one platform	ELN and LIMS are two separate software	Labii creatively merge the ELN and LIMS into one system, ELN as one special type of data to manage in LIMS. LabWare provides traditional ELN and LIMS, two products are separate. If you need to cross-references the data between Electronic Laboratory Notebook and LIMS, use Labii.
Highlight	Labii is one solution for all your research data. It provides high-level customization to the type of data to store (notes, reagents, protocols, et.al), the attribution of the data, and the detail of each record. https://www.labii.com/blogs/eln-lims-to-meet-diversity-of-research/	LabWare has achieved success by meeting commitments and exceeding expectations in LIMS and ELN projects large & small, local & global, routine & complex. https://www.labware.com/en	LabWare has been in the market for a very long time, but with the advancing of the computational technology, LabWare failed to address the old and new problems that had for most of the companies. This is why Labii and other startup step in, to fill the ELN and LIMS with new blood.
Customers	Companies with any size.	Big companies.	Labii is designed for the companies with any size. LabWare is for big companies only.
Interface
Design	Simple, beautiful, materialized, modern.	Outdated design carry from 1990	Check out their homepage and you know exactly what I mean. If you are looking for a user-friendly interface, use Labii.
ELN - Design	Widget and section based that is extensible and able to perform advanced functions like data analysis	Text editor based Electronic lab notebook	Use Labii because, beside the Text editors, Labii provides a variety of other widgets to use in the Electronic Lab Journal.
ELN - Regulation	Meet the requirement of GLP and FDA 21 CFR part 11. Blockchain enhanced Version Control and Activity Tracking.	ISO 9001	Labii is the only ELN & LIMS that secured with blockchain technology make it impossible to false manipulate data. Whoever has access to LabWare database can fraud the research data.
LIMS - Type of data	Labii provides full LIMS to store any type of data, which includes but not limited to Samples, Reagents, Equipment, Locations. Custom tables can be provided for all other types of data like Plasmid, Cell lines, Proteins, et.al	LabWare provides fixed modules to manage samples, projects, reagents, folders.	LabWare is fixed, you can only use the module they provided to manage a certain type of data. Labii is more flexible. You can add a table to manage any type of data. Use Labii because Labii can manage all type of data the LabWare can manage, and have the flexibility to manage other types of data.
LIMS - Sample Tracking	Labii can track the usage of samples. Widgets are available to record how much samples/reagents are used in an experiment, and to show the consumption history of a sample/reagent.	Tracking the shipment of Samples.	LabWare is good for lab managers, who only need to track samples. Labii is for everyone at the organization: beside the sample tracking, bench scientist can use Labii to document research data, data scientists to use Labii to perform data analysis, et.al.
LIMS - Workflow Management	Yes	Yes.	LabWare has more advanced workflow management. Labii is constantly upgrading and learning from customers’ requirement and could catch up in a few months.
API	Labii provides API to customize, automate data process and to facilitate data analysis https://docs.labii.com/api/overview	No.	With LabWare, you can only do what the software can do. With Labii, the door is open to tons of possibilities, you are not limited to what Labii provided, the data scientists can use the API to meet their specific needs.
Other - Data analysis	Use widgets to perform different data analysis	No.	Labii ELN & LIMS is also data-analysis friendly. LabWare does not have such capability.
Mobile Support	Mobile and Tablet Support in the browser. Native App development in the process.	A native App is available based on its Ads, but I am not able to find it in Apple Store or Android Store.	None of LabWare and Labii are actually mobile-friendly. Both of them can perform certain actions in mobile, but it is really difficult to use.
Support	Support tickets, the team replies within 24 hours. Paid Support ($50/hour) is available for Immediate assistance	Yes, but very expensive ($160,000 - 100 days of consulting services, not including travel)	Unless you are a big company, otherwise the cost of support from LabWare will make your bankrupt. The Support from Labii is much easier to access.
Training	Free	$7,300 - Configuration and Training	The training and configuration are free at Labii, while, you need to pay $7300 out of pocket to get trained at LabWare.
Price	Subscription ($960/user/year) Pay-Per-Use ($0.1/record) https://www.labii.com/pricing	$72,800 - 20 concurrent ELN user license ($3640/user/year)	Pay less and get more from Labii.
Prons	Easy to get started Scalable Extensible Agile Advanced technology and design	Ready to use Stable
Cons	Learning curve required Need configuration to get started	Expensive Limited functions Outdated - Technology from last century
Conclusion	If you seeking a solution that able to meet your future requirements, agile, flexible, scalable, avoidable and advanced, you should try Labii	If you are a big company, does not care about the budget, seeking a stable solution that does not require many changes, LabWare is the solution to go.	Just like the conflict between old and new technology, LabWare is established, expensive and outdated, while Labii is new, scalable, avoidable and armed with new possibilities. Although in the market in a very long time, LabWare is failed to make the adjustment to meet the new requirement.