Free plan · For academic labs
Cypher AI Free: a free ELN with AI for academic labs
Record your experiments in the Cypher AI ELN at no cost, with the agent on hand for 15 messages a month. Your entries stay private until you share them.
Free plan, no card. Academic labs can get Pro at up to 50% off through the Academic Program.
What's included
What does Cypher AI Free include?
The same ELN that Pro teams use, with a starter allowance of the agent and the analysis tools.
Free vs Pro
What are the limits of Cypher AI Free?
Free is designed for individual researchers who want to record experiments and share entries. Pro adds a shared lab workspace, sample tracking and more capacity for private analyses.
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $100 per user a month, with up to 50% off for academic labs |
| ELN | Included, with private entries | Included |
| Working together | Share single entries by email | A team workspace for the whole lab, with roles and permissions |
| LIMS for samples, plates and lineage | Not included | Included |
| The agent | 15 messages a month | No monthly cap, with advanced models from OpenAI and Anthropic |
| Analyses and widgets | One private analysis and one private widget | More analyses and widgets, with more compute |
| REST API | Not included | Scoped API keys |
| Where it runs | The shared cloud app at cypherbio.ai, in the US | The same shared cloud app, in the US |
Privacy
Is work on the Free plan private?
Yes. A new ELN entry or project on Free is private: only you can see it until you share it.
Sharing is one entry at a time. Share an entry by email with a lab mate or your PI, and give each person a role: viewer, editor, co-author or reviewer. Each person signs in with their own free account.
Public is your choice. You can make a project, analysis or widget public, so anyone with the link can see it. That suits open science and teaching, and public analyses and widgets don't count toward Free's limits.
The same security as Pro. Free runs on the same cloud app as Pro, and Cypher AI holds a SOC 2 Type II report. Cypher AI doesn't use customer data to train AI models, its own or any third party's.
Your data comes with you. Export any entry as a PDF, or its files as a ZIP.
Upgrade paths
Which Cypher AI plan fits your lab?
Most academic researchers should start on Free. Move up when the lab needs one shared place for its samples and data.
| Your lab | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A graduate student or postdoc recording their own experiments | Free | The ELN costs nothing, and you can share entries with your PI. |
| A lab that works as one team, or tracks samples and plates | Pro, through the Academic Program | A team workspace and the LIMS for the whole lab. |
| A core facility serving many groups | Pro, through the Academic Program | Every group's samples in the LIMS, with lineage, and the Marketplace to list the core's own services. |
| A spinout or early-stage biotech | The Startup Program | Pro free for 90 days, then $25 per user a month in year one. |
| An institute that needs its own deployment, SSO or data residency | Enterprise | A single-tenant cloud deployment in your own cloud account, from $25K per year. |
Pro for academic labs
What does a lab get when it moves to Pro?
Pro adds the LIMS and a team workspace to the same ELN, so samples and data sit next to the experiments that produced them.
Turning an ELN entry into LIMS records (File → Sync LIMS from Notebook) is in Beta. See how it works.
Free ELNs compared
How does Cypher AI Free compare with other free ELNs?
When comparing free ELNs, look at sample tracking, included AI tools and where your data is hosted.
| Option | What's free | Samples | AI | Where your data lives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cypher AI Free | The ELN with private entries, and one private analysis | The LIMS comes with Pro, at up to 50% off for academic labs | The agent, 15 messages a month | Cypher AI's cloud app in the US. SOC 2 Type II. Not used to train AI models |
| Benchling for Academics | Notebook and Molecular Biology tools | Inventory and Registry aren't part of the academic plan | Benchling AI, free to try for verified academic accounts | Hosted by Benchling |
| eLabFTW | All features, open source | Resources and storage containers, built in | Not listed | Your own server, run by your IT team, or paid hosting from Deltablot |
| Genemod Free | All modules for up to 10 users, within the free plan's usage limits, with 3 months of history and no data export | Inventory, within the free plan's usage limits | AI Agent included | Hosted by Genemod |
First steps
How do you start with Cypher AI Free?
- Create a free account.Sign up with no card. No setup is needed to start writing.
- Write your first entry.Start with what you record today: notes, a table, a protocol. Ask the agent to help structure it.
- Share it with your lab.Send an entry to a lab mate or your PI by email. They sign up free to open it.
- Upgrade when your lab needs more.When you need sample tracking and a shared lab workspace, apply to the Academic Program for discounted Pro access.
Want a walkthrough first? Book a free 15-minute onboarding call, and talk directly to the people who build Cypher AI.
FAQ
Questions about Cypher AI Free.
Can my whole lab use Cypher AI Free?
Each person can use Free on their own account and share entries by email. Free accounts can't create a team workspace, and the LIMS isn't included, so a lab that wants to work as one team moves to Pro, which academic labs can get through the Academic Program.
How much does Cypher AI cost for an academic lab?
Free is $0 per person. For the whole lab, Pro is $100 per user a month, and academic labs can get up to 50% off through the Academic Program. Terms may vary by institution.
Is the Free plan a trial?
No. Free is a plan, not a time-limited trial. You keep using it at $0, and upgrade only when you need Pro.
What happens to my entries when the lab moves to Pro?
They stay yours. Entries you wrote on Free stay in your account, and you can share them into the lab's team workspace once it's set up.
Can I use Cypher AI Free for teaching?
Yes. Each student signs up free, records lab work in the ELN and shares entries with the instructor. For a course, the Academic Program adds training workshops and help bringing Cypher AI into your teaching.
Who qualifies for academic pricing?
The Academic Program is open to faculty, graduate students and research scientists conducting life science or biotech research at an accredited university, college or research institute. Participants must be willing to take part in a case study. Apply through a short call; you can start on Free while your application is reviewed.
Sources: plan details from the Cypher AI pricing page; Benchling for Academics, eLabFTW and Genemod pricing, checked October 23, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.