How much is a LIMS going to cost us?
It’s a common question for labs looking to implement a LIMS. Pricing for a new LIMS is always a big concern when it’s time to make the investment.
In the LIMS industry there are many different pricing models. Combine these with a selection of platform types (e.g., thick, thin, virtual clients), and today’s labs are faced with a growing variety of options from which to pick and choose when selecting a new LIMS.
Why?
Choices. Different organizations have different needs – and budgets – to consider.
How to Choose a LIMS Pricing Option
When it comes to LIMS licenses and payment models (e.g., perpetual, subscription) there are a number of considerations you should evaluate.
- Perpetual LIMS licenses are once-and-done. Once you purchase a product or license, it is yours to use forever.
- LIMS subscriptions are pay-as-you-go. These typically involve a monthly or volume-based fee to use the product or service.
As you might imagine, there are benefits – as well as some disadvantages – to each pricing model.
The Perpetual License
The key advantage? You own it outright, it’s yours.
But with ownership comes responsibility. For companies with sufficient budget and qualified support teams already in place, upfront license acquisition is often standard operating procedure. But for smaller companies or labs with tighter operating budgets, you’re probably wondering, what are some of the responsibilities a company takes on with ownership?
A perpetual license requires you to be responsible for everything. This includes:
- a large upfront license cost
- hardware maintenance
- software maintenance
- facilities
- support staff
- training
- system down time
- the cost of any outsourced tasks.
The Benefits of a Subscription License
With a subscription license, the platform is not yours – you’re simply “renting” it. The upside to this situation can be enormous.
- Pay a smaller amount at regular intervals, rather than a large sum up-front.
- Pay for use with a flexible cost structure – according to various metrics, such as number of users, data written, queries conducted, etc.
- Conserve capital budget with no hardware purchase.
- Leave support and maintenance to the platform owner.
- Maximize available resources shared by multiple users, eliminating unproductive time for the system.
- Accelerate setup and installation.
- Secure business continuity with built-in disaster recovery.
- Global availability .
A subscription-based LabVantage LIMS can be modified for specific, emerging requirements. The platform is also highly flexible – allowing easy changes to available memory, disk space, number and speed of processors and more.
For LIMS installs that are expected to change over time – or see work volumes fluctuate in definable waves – a subscription-based LIMS is a much simpler solution, with significant savings in hardware and manpower.
Which LIMS Pricing Model is Best for You?
Larger companies with more support staff and internal resources often prefer to buy a perpetual license. With more extensive infrastructure in place, they have the desire and necessary resources to manage their licenses independently.
But for smaller companies, like startups, subscription and SaaS pricing can be a smart solution that gives you everything you need – and nothing that you don’t.
Small companies with a lab but no IT staff can put everything in the cloud and pay as you go. This can be very cost-effective – while delivering cutting edge capabilities to drive your business growth. And as your company grows, new features can be added as needed. Subscriptions can provide entry-level pricing and access to the latest technology.
Did you know?
SaaS continues to grow rapidly, and legacy software providers are now obligated to include SaaS options to respond to market demand. According to Gartner, by 2020, all new entrants and 80% of traditional software vendors will offer subscription-based business models.
LabVantage LIMS is the most flexible and configurable LIMS on the market, with a wide choice of platform hosting options. It was a natural progression to extend that flexibility just a bit further – for customers’ budgeting & finance departments. For labs choosing to deploy on-premise or in the cloud, LabVantage LIMS is available with either perpetual or subscription licenses.
To find out which pricing structure is the best fit for you, contact us today.
