OpenInstrument

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Built for labs that need clarity across scheduling, access, and uptime

Schedule instruments. Control access. Run your lab.

OpenInstrument gives research labs, departments, and shared facilities a cleaner way to schedule instruments, manage access, handle maintenance, and document usage.

Start your 30-day trial See the workflow

Scheduling

Real-time

Booking rules, approvals, and blackout periods in one calendar flow.

Access

Role-based

Approve by researcher, instrument, or workflow instead of by spreadsheet memory.

Reporting

Export-ready

Usage data stays ready for grants, planning, and department reviews.

What changes

OpenInstrument removes the extra glue work around shared instruments so a lab can operate with fewer side channels and less ambiguity.

Before
Spreadsheets, inbox threads, and disconnected calendar invites.
During
Scheduling, approvals, downtime, and access all happen on the same operating surface.
After
Cleaner records for grant reporting, planning, and department visibility.

Workflow

Designed around what actually happens in a shared research lab.

The product story is not a list of generic features. It is the sequence lab admins and researchers repeat every week: reserve time, control access, manage downtime, and report usage accurately.

Step 01

Reserve with clarity

A booking board your team can trust at a glance.

Researchers see what is actually available, what needs approval, and what is offline for maintenance before they commit time to an experiment.

In practice

  • Configurable hours, minimums, maximums, and blackout periods
  • Role-based access so only approved researchers can reserve instruments
  • Optional approval gates for high-demand or higher-risk equipment

Step 02

Run the lab day

Move from access requests to confirmed sessions without email chaos.

Instead of stitching together shared calendars, spreadsheets, and inbox threads, admins handle the daily flow in one place.

In practice

  • Invite researchers and assign instrument access during onboarding
  • Track recurring reservations for repeat experiments
  • Keep teams aligned with confirmation and approval notifications

Step 03

Protect uptime

Maintenance and documentation stay attached to the instrument.

Every instrument keeps its own operating context, so downtime, SOPs, and service history are visible where decisions happen.

In practice

  • Log maintenance events and keep a durable service history
  • Attach SOPs, manuals, training files, and embedded videos
  • Mark instruments online, offline, or in maintenance instantly

Step 04

Report what happened

Usage records stay ready for grants, cost recovery, and planning.

OpenInstrument helps labs answer the practical questions departments ask: who used what, when, and how often.

In practice

  • Export usage and reservation data as CSV
  • Review instrument activity without rebuilding the story by hand
  • Support budgeting and allocation decisions with cleaner records

Why it fits

Research facilities need software that stays clear as operations grow.

OpenInstrument focuses on the scheduling, access, maintenance, and reporting workflows labs run every day, while still leaving room for departments and shared facilities that need more coordination without unnecessary software weight.

What modern lab operations need

  • Clear reservations with approval only where it matters.
  • Simple access control for specific researchers and instruments.
  • Maintenance logs, SOPs, and training files attached to the equipment.
  • Usable exports for grants, cost recovery, and planning.
  • Pricing that makes sense for one lab, one department, or one campus.

What creates friction

  • Complex deployment and workflow mapping before day one.
  • Extra approval layers for routine scheduling and access changes.
  • Disconnected records for maintenance, training, and documentation.
  • Pricing and implementation shaped around heavyweight rollouts.
  • A product team willing to tolerate operational sprawl.

Pricing

Start with a 30-day trial, expand to a single paid lab, or standardize across a department.

Start with a 30-day free trial on the Lab plan. No credit card required.

Lab

$600 /yr
30-day free trial

For a single lab that needs the full operating system.

  • Unlimited instruments
  • Unlimited users
  • Recurring reservations
  • Approval workflows
  • CSV exports
Start 30-day trial

Department

$2,500 /yr

For departments standardizing across multiple labs.

  • Unlimited labs
  • Unlimited instruments
  • Unlimited users
  • Department dashboard
  • Priority support
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University

Contact us

For institution-wide rollout and procurement conversations.

  • Everything in Department
  • Unlimited departments
  • Custom onboarding
  • Admin reporting
  • Dedicated support
Talk to us

OpenInstrument

A calmer way to run shared instruments across your lab.

OpenInstrument is for research teams that want instrument scheduling, access control, maintenance context, and cleaner records without installing a system built for someone else’s scale.

Start 30-day trial Contact us