This might be more useful if you describe your goals. Sequencher does a lot -- why are you replacing it? What type of work are you doing? Right now this reads more like crowdsourcing a business report.
@Brad Chapman: The issue with the question is that there's not one right answer. As for the goal, it's to reduce the operating cost, and to see if there's anything "new" on the market. Also, FYI, I do not have a background in by, I'm a techie.
@Brad Chapman: The issue with the question is that there's not one right answer. As for the goal, it's to reduce the operating cost, and to see if there's anything "new" on the market. Also, FYI, I do not have a background in bio, I'm a techie.
Since you mention a program that has GUI I guess you want only GUI programs enumerated. And since you mention 'alternative to...' I guess you want cheaper/free programs enumerated.
I think including that kind of information will just date quickly..
However one of your alternatives would be DNASTAR's Lasergene (of a similar pedigree) which is non-free or one of the CLCBio offerings such as the DNA Workbench, although CLCBio's product stratification has always left me wondering what the point of separating their DNA and Protein workbenches is.
If you're looking for open source alternatives, they will be mighty thin in the ground if you want a GUI involved.
EDIT in response to comment:
Of course there is also then the open source STADEN and EMBOSS packages which will replicate some of that functionality.
License type = commercial (Basic license: 400 euros for academic users. All included (support, updates))
Source Code = Nope
Date of last release/Actively being developed = two weeks ago
What features it substitutes = Fully automatic sequence assembly, batch sequence assembly (by folder and by filename), mutation detection, vector/primer detection, automatic end cleaning, base caller, batch sequence processing and conversion, etc. Available also in console mode (to integrate it in your own programs)
I've just came across DNA Baser today and a quick glance seems to work like Sequencher. I have used the fully activated Sequencher in a research group before and now I'm looking for a free/cheaper alternative for my lab. Sequencher used to have an unlimited demo version for basic trace viewing, trimming, and aligning in seconds. I've not tried aligning multiple sequences typically for my work (16.5kbp each) with DNA Baser yet, I have to find out more.
Some (most) of the tools (like sequence visualizers) are free also permanently in DNA Baser Assembler. Basically all features are unlocked until the trial expires. Upon expiration some tools will not save the data (the contig for example) anymore. However, DNA Baser cannot handle very long sequences! The limit is at around 15K-20K. But as announced in the 'DNA Baser-Road map' web page support for VERY long sequences (hundreds of MB) will come quite soon.
The interface is complicated, and keeps changing, but I'm still looking for a function that is available in Sequencher, but not in Benchling.
My institute just paid thousands of dollars for a Sequencher licence, but I still believe that everything that can be done in Sequencher can also be done in Benchling despite the somewhat confusing graphical user interface, and the constant changes to the interface.
If anyone can point to me the advantages of Sequencher over Benchling, I'd be interested in hearing what the advantages are that justify paying thousands of dollars for a licence. I'm not interested in the analysis of next-generation sequencing datasets incidentally, for which neither Sequencher or Benchling are appropriate in my opinion.
URL: http://www.benchling.com/
Platforms: All
Version: Beta
Owned by: Benchling
License: Free
Source Code: No
Date of last release: Constantly being updated
Actively being developed: Yes, all the time
What features it substitutes: All?
This might be more useful if you describe your goals. Sequencher does a lot -- why are you replacing it? What type of work are you doing? Right now this reads more like crowdsourcing a business report.
@Brad Chapman: The issue with the question is that there's not one right answer. As for the goal, it's to reduce the operating cost, and to see if there's anything "new" on the market. Also, FYI, I do not have a background in by, I'm a techie.
@Brad Chapman: The issue with the question is that there's not one right answer. As for the goal, it's to reduce the operating cost, and to see if there's anything "new" on the market. Also, FYI, I do not have a background in bio, I'm a techie.
Since you mention a program that has GUI I guess you want only GUI programs enumerated. And since you mention 'alternative to...' I guess you want cheaper/free programs enumerated.