features
An electronic laboratory notebook
A laboratory inventory management system
Booking system
Advanced permissions
Responsive design
Accessible to all
Secure audited codebase
Promoting FAIR Data and Open Science
Internationalization
Truly open-source
Stay in control of your data, use an open source solution!
Cloud services can shut down, be acquired, or change privacy policy any time. The last thing you want is proprietary formats and data lock-in. Using eLabFTW, you stay in control.
FAQ
Features for users
- Can be employed by any type of lab or company (chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, deep tech startup, etc.)
- Timestamp your experiments using Trusted Timestamping
- Export in PDF, ZIP, CSV, JSON, ELN
- Use templates to structure experiments
- Use the steps function to organize your workflow
- Use the API to access your data via an external program (see API Documentation)
- Attach any type of file to your entries, embed images directly in the text
- Highly customizable: create and change your own categories, status options, and tags etc.
- Handy "To do" list
- Custom shortcuts
- Draw doodles directly with your mouse
- Be part of a growing community of users and contributors
Features for IT staff
- One eLabFTW instance can host over one hundred teams and thousands of users
- No need for a lot of RAM or CPU, eLabFTW is efficient and uses minimal resources
- Works in Docker containers
- LDAP authentication
- SAML2 authentication with a centralized identity provider
- 2 factor authentication
- PRO Support available from Deltablot
- CSRF, XSS, bruteforce login protections
- Automated vulnerability scanning, secure configuration, high code quality, and best practices for maximum security (see page on security)
- Perfect score on Mozilla's Observatory test for security:
Citations
- eLabFTW: a simple tool for open science, data quality, and reproducibility
- eLabFTW as an Open Science tool to improve the quality and translation of preclinical research
- An Open Source Stack for Physical Science Startups
- Manage Any Scientific Laboratory with this Amazing Fee Open-source LIMS Software: eLabFTW
- Data management at the SEM facility for diagnostics and plasma surface technology
- Considerations for implementing electronic laboratory notebooks in an academic research environment
User reviews
Great tool for doing and teaching good RDM practices
— Florian Strauß (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))
Well maintained interdisciplinary ELN with a lively community
— Lauritz Bußfeld ( University Hannover)
Intuitive to use, great UI, great community, open source and generically usable!
— Adienne Karsten (Universität Münster, Forschungsdatenmanagement)
Super fast developer feedack
— Alexander Haller (University of Heidelberg Computing Center)
The most adapted ELN software for academic research groups. A true alternative to paper notebooks, that is simple and intuitive to use.
— Garrett Curley (École Polytechnique - Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas)
As an open-source tool, eLabFTW allows full customization without expensive licenses. It’s great for labs that need flexibility and control over their data.
— Hüseyin Uzun (RDM Universität Frankfürt)
A user-friendly and flexible open source tool with great support and a helpful community
— Nikki Parks (Universität Aachen)
Easy and simple to setup and use.
— Rohit Karthikeyan
install
Installation instructions
eLabFTW should be installed on a server. This means it is not a software that you can download and install on your computer. It must be installed, configured and maintained by a Systems Administrator.
If you're not familiar with containerized services (Podman/Docker/K8s) and GNU/Linux server administration, we recommended our managed hosted solution. See our pricing on this page: eLabFTW hosted pricing.
If you want to install it yourself, head to the documentation.
contact
Subscribe to the newsletter (low volume) to stay informed about major updates and community meeting announcements.
If you think you found a bug or want to suggest an improvement, please open a GitHub issue.
If you want to chat, get in touch at: contactdeltablot.email or book a call with us.