The Best LIMS of 2024: The Laboratory Information Management Systems Industry Winners
Updated: August 22, 2024
The way labs operate is evolving.
Gone are the days of relying on pen, paper, and spreadsheets as LIMS (Laboratory Information Management Systems) have become the gold standard for labs looking to scale.
A LIMS is a valuable asset for any lab looking to grow. They help you organize inventory, digitize samples, automate processes, and more. The LIMS market is estimated to be worth $1.6 billion as of 2023 as the space is becoming crowded with options.
So which LIMS should you choose? Read a side-by-side comparison of the top LIMS on the market to help you make the right choice for your lab.
What is a LIMS?
New to LIMS? A Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is software that helps labs:
- Manage and organize data
- Track samples
- Automate processes and workflows
- Manage inventory
- Handle invoicing and billing
- Create reports on the fly
- Integrate lab instruments
LIMS have evolved into sophisticated systems that support a wide range of laboratory activities, from sample management and quality control to data analysis and reporting. No two platforms are the same as some LIMS are engineered with certain industries in mind, which is why we call out the top industries served in our list.
What are the benefits of using a LIMS?
A LIMS can be extremely beneficial to a lab looking to get more done and scale. Here are the top benefits you will find in using a LIMS:
- Accessibility anytime, anywhere: With cloud-based LIMS, lab personnel can access data and workflows from anywhere, provided they have an internet connection. In the ever-increasing popularity of remote work, this ensures uninterrupted data access even when away from the lab.
- Scalability on demand: As your lab grows or needs change, cloud-based LIMS (like QBench) can easily scale up or down and adapt to support your processes.
- Digitization and automation: A LIMS is invaluable when it comes to digitizing and automating your lab and its processes. A LIMS can help you digitize sample and test management while automating reports and workflows to streamline your operations.
- Improved compliance: Some LIMS (like QBench) offer features specifically geared towards compliance. While a LIMS is different from a QMS, it can help you meet certain regulatory requirements as well as maintain quality control.
With these in mind, let’s review the best LIMS on the market this year.
What are the best LIMS of 2024?
QBench is the leading option for labs of all sizes and many industries looking to get more done and scale. QBench takes a unique approach to LIMS by creating a highly configurable and flexible LIMS. This puts the power to make changes into your hands. Since all labs operate and evolve differently, they need a flexible LIMS that adapts with them over time.
So many 2nd-time LIMS buyers choose QBench. They've felt the pain of legacy LIMS and how vendor-created, code-driven customizations lead to slow, costly updates. QBench is different. Our deep workflow configurability and flexible, easy-to-use tools allow for quick workflow adjustments, report modifications, and automation tweaks.
QBench is a Momentum Leader on G2's Grid for LIMS (psst: we have the highest combined rank on that grid). What is a Momentum Leader? G2 states, "Our Momentum Grid shows the growth trajectory that products have had in their respective spaces over the last year. The Momentum Grid identifies products that are on a high-growth trajectory based on user satisfaction scores, employee growth, and digital presence." and "With a Momentum Grid, buyers can gain insight into products that are outpacing competitors by delivering innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of their users. Buyers can also evaluate products on the Momentum Grid to keep apprised of products that are pushing the boundaries of their respective spaces."
QBench also ranks higher than the category average for Ease of Use, Ease of Setup, Ease of Doing Business With, Quality of Support, and Ease of Admin. G2 Summer 2024 LIMS category awards for QBench include Momentum Leader (#1 of 11), Best Results (#1 of 7), Best Relationship (#1 of 12), and High Performer Small Business (#1 of 9).
Boasting powerful automation features, the ability to configure your LIMS to adapt to your lab's needs, and a growing list of integrations, it’s no wonder that QBench was awarded numerous badges in 2023 from G2, won even more badges from G2 in 2024, and continues to rank #1 on G2’s Highest-Rated LIMS in North America list. Over 95% of QBench's reviews are from customers in North America (as of late 2023). QBench is privately owned by a group of families and software investors with over 30 years of lab experience and a long-term time horizon, meaning that they prioritize building the best culture, continuous innovation, and a business that drives value for customers for many years to come. This is a strong contrast to many of the LIMS owned by private equity firms, where there’s an explicit goal to cut costs, extract as much value from customers in a short time, and then resell the business in 3-4 years. QBench's employees are distributed globally to serve customers across the world, but the majority of employees (84%) are located in North America (as of mid 2024).
QBench offers multiple tiers, though their base tier packs a punch. QBench’s Starter tier includes access to workflow tools, reporting tools, no-code configurations, custom fields, user permissions, and more. With all this power you won’t have to sacrifice ease of use though, QBench is quick to implement and easy to use for your entire team. Here’s a sample of what customers are saying about QBench:
It’s no surprise that QBench leads several categories on G2 and has earned 4.6/5 stars overall.
Price: Starts at $249/user/month with a discount for 20+ users
Notable features:
- Configurable automations
- Reports and data visualizations
- Inventory management
- Sample management
- Robust API support
- Billing and invoicing support
- WYSIWYG report template editor
- Integrated QMS
- BI integrations
Industries served:
- Materials & Manufacturing
- Food & Beverage
- Biotech & Life Sciences
- Diagnostic
- Agriculture
- Cannabis
- Environmental
Labguru is a great option for small labs looking to streamline and scale their operations with a focus on simplicity, ease of use, and user-friendliness. Labguru comes with a built-in ELN (learn more about the difference between a LIMS and ELN) along with inventory and equipment management features. Previously, Labguru was owned by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a European publishing house. In mid-2024, Labguru is now owned by Titian Software, a UK-based Sample Management business, which is itself owned by the private equity division of Battery Ventures. Roughly 43% of its staff are located in Europe & the Middle East, 30% in North America, 28% in Asia (according to LinkedIn and as of late 2023). Like QBench, Labguru is well-reviewed on G2 with a 4.5/5 star rating. It does have twice as many reviews for its ELN product than its LIMS product, though. 34% of their reviews are from customers in Europe, 32% from the Middle East, and 32% from North America (as of late 2023).
Price: Not available
Notable features:
- Built-in ELN
- Inventory management
- Reports and visualizations in premium tiers
- Automation in premium tiers
- API support in premium tiers
Industries served
- Biotech
- Pharma
- Food and Beverage
- Molecular farming
- CRO/Service labs
- QC Labs
LabWare is a good option for labs looking to digitize their operations thanks to their built-in ELN and LIMS automation features. LabWare boasts many automation capabilities along with QA/QC features and instrument integrations. LabWare is customizable and even has its own programming language called LIMS Basic. LabWare is privately owned and has roughly 30% of its staff in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, & Africa), 29% in North America, and 23% in South America, and 17% in Asia (according to LinkedIn and as of late 2023). LabWare's reviews come from 62% of customers in North America, 19% in Europe, and 11% in Asia (as of late 2023). LabWare is well-reviewed on G2 with 4.5/5 stars.
Price: Not available
Notable features:
- Automation capabilities
- QA/QC features
- Instrument integrations
- Sample management
- Reporting tools and data visualizations
Industries served
- Biopharmaceutical
- Biotech
- Agriculture
LabVantage is a solid option for labs looking to get started with automation and streamlining their operations. LabVantage offers a cloud-based LIMS and ELN solution with sample management, inventory management, and reporting features among its broader feature set. LabVantage is owned by The Chatterjee Group. Roughly 62% of its staff are located in Asia, 19% in North America, and 18% in Europe (according to LinkedIn and as of late 2023). LabVantage has a decent number of reviews and 4/5 stars on G2.
Price: Not available
Notable features:
- Integrated ELN
- Reporting features
- Sample management
- Data management
- Data privacy and security
Industries served
- Biobanking
- Cancer Research
- Contract Testing
- Diagnostics
- Food and Beverage
- Forensics
- Oil and Gas
- Pharma
- Public Health
Lockbox LIMS (by Thirdwave Analytics) is a well-regarded player in the LIMS space. Lockbox LIMS boasts a series of features that help labs digitize and automate their operations. Lockbox LIMS is built as a Salesforce app and is available on the Salesforce AppExchange. Lockbox LIMS is privately owned. Roughly 95% of its employees are located in North America and 5% in Europe (according to LinkedIn and as of late 2023). Lockbox LIMS is well-rated on G2 with 4.9/5 stars.
Price: Not available
Notable features:
- Sample management
- Inventory management
- Integrations
- Instrument management
- Freezer management
- Customer portal
Industries served
- Biobanking
- Biotech
- NGS Labs
- QC Labs
Like QBench, Benchling is a comprehensive LIMS platform though it is one of the pricier options on our list and is much more of an ELN first. Benchling sports a robust set of features, especially those suited for biotech and R&D labs. Benchling is privately owned by 23 investors. Roughly 87% of its employees are in North America and 11% are in EMEA, according to LinkedIn and as of late 2023.. Benchling is well-reviewed on G2 with 4.5/5 stars.
Price: Starts around $15,000/year
Notable features:
- Centralize and standardize data
- Generate reports and visualizations
- Manage workflows
- Sample and inventory management
Industries served
- Biopharmaceutical
- Biotech
- Agriculture
[Redacted - this company hired a very expensive law firm to send us nasty letters, so we redacted them from this list] a powerful option for labs looking to automate and scale. Like many LIMS leaders, [Redacted] boasts many automation and workflow features along with numerous integrations. [Redacted] is owned by a large private equity firm. Roughly 53% of its employees are in North America, 29% are in the EMEA region, and the rest are distributed globally, according to LinkedIn and as of late 2023. [Redacted] is rated 4.5/5 stars G2. [Redacted] has a large number of reviews on G2 and the vast majority them are from customers in China.
Price: Not available
Notable features:
- Automation capabilities
- Batch testing
- Sample management
- Integrations
- Audit trails and electronic signatures for compliance
Industries served
- Life Sciences
- Agrochemical
- Food and Beverage
- Contract Testing
- Chemical
- Clinical
- Oil and Gas
- Public Health
Thermo Scientific is a well-known name in lab equipment, so it’s no surprise that their LIMS would appear on any “best of” list. The Thermo Scientific SampleManager LIMS includes many of the features you’d see in any other LIMS such as automations, sample management, workflows, instrument integration, and reporting. Thermo Scientific is a large public company with over 65,000 employees. It is unclear how many of them work on the SampleManager product or where that employee group is located. Thermo Scientific has a fair amount of reviews on G2 and 4/5 stars.
Price: Not available
Notable features:
- Sample management
- Lab automation and workflows
- Instrument management
- Inventory management
- Collaboration
- Dashboards and data visualizations
- Compliance features
Industries served
- Contract testing
- Chemical and petrochemical
- Clinical testing
- Clean energy
- Environmental
- Food and beverage
- Forensics
- Manufacturing
- Metals and mining
- Oil and gas
- Pharma and biopharma
While many LIMS platforms boast similar features or lots of customizability, it's important to understand the difference between being customizable using custom code and having deep workflow configurability and flexibility. Custom code is brittle, requires paying expensive developers to maintain and change. Many LIMS promise the ability to add custom fields or change field names, but that is only scratching the surface of what labs truly need. Unlike legacy LIMS that solve for each lab's unique workflows with mounds of custom code, QBench offers simple, no-code tools that empower you to make changes to your system.
Only one LIMS platform focuses on putting the power into the hands of the lab staff. Only one LIMS provides top-tier support while also bringing together a flexible system, an extensible system, and easy-to-use, no-code tools that allow you to:
- Quickly and easily make changes to your workflows and reports.
- Configure automations without code and update them as needed.
- Streamline and automate sample and inventory management.
- Build and easily modify report templates using a simple, WYSIWYG report builder.
- Connect other systems and automate data movement using a robust API.
- Tie all your quality management practices and LIMS activities together to make compliance vastly more efficient.
- Provide a simple experience for your customers to submit orders and get reports via a customer portal.
And that is QBench.
Choose QBench. Shift your energy from battling an inflexible system to driving innovation and scientific progress.
Why Labs Love QBench LIMS
There’s a reason that QBench is a consistent leader across categories on G2, labs can get more done with QBench LIMS. Here are the top reasons why labs of all sizes love QBench LIMS.
Configurable automations
As you can see from the list above, automation is key for any scaling lab. With QBench you can:
- Trigger processes for your lab.
- Easily update a process or roll out new processes.
- Save time by automating inventory stock.
- Run calculations, generate reports, and notify customers when results are ready.
- Set up workflows between tools such as a client portal, billing, Quickbooks, inventory management, and quality management systems.
What’s more, QBench is configurable meaning that you can easily adjust automations on the fly. There is no need for complex development work or custom code - if you can dream it, you can build it.
Robust API support
The more connected your lab software and instruments are, the smoother things will go as you scale. That’s why QBench offers a RESTful API that allows you to:
- Connect laboratory instruments with the LIMS for automatic integration and a comprehensive view of your data.
- Import or export data from external systems or to other systems. You can even use AI to make better decisions about it.
- Generate custom reports from LIMS data by integrating with external reporting systems.
- Integrate LIMS data with a dashboard or visualization tool. This enables real-time monitoring of laboratory processes and provides insights into lab performance.
QBench’s API support adds to the flexibility of its LIMS helping you get more done.
Ease of use
All of these powerful features are great, but if your LIMS isn’t easy to implement and use they are for naught. Fortunately, QBench consistently earns high marks for ease of use thanks to its:
- Modern, fast, user-friendly interface.
- Configurable and flexible workflows - if you can dream it you can build it with QBench - and, more importantly, you can easily modify it over time yourself.
- Simple and automated data entry.
QBench consistently earns high marks for its responsive and helpful support on top of its powerful software platform.
Choose the Best LIMS of 2024: Schedule a Demo of QBench LIMS Today
The LIMS market is growing, but don’t get overwhelmed by the options when looking for the best LIMS of 2024.
If you are looking for a LIMS that provides:
- Robust integrations and API access
- Automation
- Reporting
- No-code configuration
- Ease of use
- Excellent support
Then look no further than QBench.
A LIMS should help your lab work smarter and with unparalleled flexibility to drive whatever the future brings. It’s one of the reasons we’re so proud that this commitment continually gets recognized by G2, and why QBench ranks among the best LIMS of 2024. Click the button below to schedule a demo and see for yourself.
