Try the live workspace on your own research goal. Free, no signup.

The research workspace built for reproducibility.

Design an experiment, run it, and walk away with a record anyone can recompute.

Or start from

Illustrative example: a scripted preview (7 of the 12 sections shown), not a live run.

5 free protocols5 free AI research actions a monthCancel anytimeYou own & export your dataStats run in your browser
Built to be audited: 10,000+ automated tests, 425+ row-level-security policies, and 31 of 454 server routes that call a model. The rest compute. Figures as of August 2026.
Built for
Molecular BiologyCell BiologyBiochemistryMicrobiologyImmunologyAnalytical ChemistryMechanical EngineeringElectronics & PCBManufacturing & QA
Under a minute
to draft a full, 12-section protocol from a plain-language goal, typically
$79
a month for the Researcher plan, billed per seat. The free plan needs no card
One workspace
protocol → run → data → stats → literature → publish
7 signals
a deterministic rigor score on every protocol. No AI, publicly verifiable
Generation time varies with goal complexity and load.
See it in 60 seconds

The whole research arc, one connected pass.

Design an experiment, run it, analyze the results, and leave behind a permanent, verifiable record of exactly what happened. Click through the six steps below, or let it play.

Illustrative example: a scripted preview of the product, not a live run.

01 · Design

Describe a goal. Shape the protocol.

Tell Olto what you want to find out in plain language. It drafts a full, 12-section protocol in about a minute, then you edit it as a drag-and-drop step graph.

Editable step graph · versioned
step graph
1 · Prepare buffer
2 · Incubate 37°C
3 · Measure OD₆₀₀
decision · OD>0.6?
4 · Harvest
1 / 6
The wedge · recompute it yourself

Every protocol carries a passport you can recompute.

Not an AI opinion. It is a deterministic rigor score across seven reproducibility signals: controls, replication, sample size, statistics, quantitative parameters, randomization, and safety. Run the same protocol through it twice and the number is identical. It gets a public URL and a citation string, and there's no login to read it. There are 104 live in the public library right now.

7signals
0AI in the rigor score
1public, citable URL
Open this protocol’s full passport
Insulin Dose-Response Quantification of Phospho-AKT (Ser473) and Total AKT by Western Blot in Differentiated 3T3-L1 Adipocytes
Biology
C
63/100
Experimental controls
Replication
Sample size / power
Statistical analysis
Quantitative parameters
Randomization / blinding
Safety considerations
LIVE PASSPORTrecomputable · public · citable
CITATIONpaste into a methods section
Olto Discovery. “Insulin Dose-Response Quantification of Phospho-AKT (Ser473) and Total AKT by Western Blot in Differentiated 3T3-L1 Adipocytes.” Reproducibility Passport, grade C. oltodiscovery.com/passport/insulin-dose-response-quantification-of-phospho-akt-ser473--c4a6385c
New · the Reproducibility Fingerprint

Same experiment. Same identity.

Researchers describe the same experiment in completely different words. Olto converts each protocol into its underlying experimental design (units normalized to SI, methods and controls extracted) and content-addresses it into one stable, recomputable identity. Different wording, same design, same fingerprint. Deterministic, no AI.

PROTOCOL A

Add 5 mL DMEM. Incubate at 37 °C for 30 min. Untreated controls, n=3. Analyze by t-test.

PROTOCOL B: REWORDED, RE-UNITED

Pipette 0.005 L DMEM. Incubated at 310.15 K for 1800 s. Vehicle control, n = 3. Student's t-test.

=rpf_p78hs7mthhhmz409jx0kacfby8Identical experiment

Like Olto's statistics workbench and notebook Python, the fingerprint is computed entirely in your browser, so your rawest data and protocol text never have to leave your machine.

How the scorer behaves

Not a demo dataset. Live scores from real protocols.

Every public protocol carries four design-quality scores from its AI review: feasibility, controls, reproducibility, and clarity. This is how those scores distribute across the public library today, computed live rather than illustrated. The library is seeded by the Olto team while it opens to outside authors. (The deterministic seven-signal rigor score, which no model touches, lives on each protocol's passport.)

104
public protocols
87
average design score
16
research fields
Design-score distributionmost cluster near 88
avg 87828894rigor
  • 1 protocol scored 82
  • 5 protocols scored 83
  • 5 protocols scored 84
  • 10 protocols scored 85
  • 12 protocols scored 86
  • 17 protocols scored 87
  • 19 protocols scored 88
  • 14 protocols scored 89
  • 11 protocols scored 90
  • 7 protocols scored 91
  • 2 protocols scored 92
  • 1 protocol scored 94
Average by design dimension
Feasibility
Controls
Reproducibility
Clarity
Protocols by field16 fields
Cell Biology15
Genomics15
Biochemistry10
Immunology6
Oncology6
Bioengineering5
Genetics5
Microbiology5
Molecular Biology5
7 more fields32
Computed live from the public reference library, not a mock. Every protocol in it was written and scored by us.Browse every protocol →
Where the model is, and where it is not

The model drafts the prose. It does not compute the scores.

Drafting a first protocol is a language problem, and a model is good at it. Deciding whether a design is rigorous, whether two methods are the same method, or what a variant classification is are not language problems, and those run as ordinary functions you can re-run yourself.

What the model writes
  • The first draft of a protocol, as prose you then edit.
  • Suggested refinements, which arrive as proposals to accept or reject.
  • Answers in the assistant, cited back to records in your own workspace.
  • A protocol risk assessment, which is a judgement and is labelled as one.
What functions compute
  • The seven-signal rigor score, from the protocol text alone.
  • The Protocol Fingerprint, which collapses units and wording to one identity.
  • Every statistic in the workbench, in your browser, on your machine.
  • Every variant, pharmacogenomic and engineering result, from a sealed engine.
31 of 454
server routes call a model

The other 423 compute. You do not have to take that on trust: the engine registry lists every sealed engine with its citation, its version and a content hash, and re-runs all of them each time the page loads. The rigor score is specified in full, so you can work it out by hand.

One exception, stated rather than buried: the protocol risk assessment is produced by a model, not computed, and is labelled as an assessment wherever it appears. Prompts and uploaded files are sent to our AI provider, so Olto is not end to end encrypted. The full system card lists every subsystem and whether its output is retrieved, computed, extracted or inferred.

How it works

Seven mechanisms that make a result reproducible.

Every claim below is a shipped behaviour with a specific mechanism behind it, and every one of them is something you can check on a real protocol in the public library before you sign up.

Structured output
The generator returns a 12-section protocol plus an editable step graph: typed steps with reagents, durations, temperatures, and decision branches. You run the graph, you don’t retype the prose.
One set of records
Design, run, analysis, and write-up read and write the same rows. A result carries the protocol version it came from, the run log that produced it, and the data behind it.
A recomputable score
Seven deterministic signals: controls, replication, sample size, statistics, quantitative parameters, randomization, and safety. Same protocol in, same number out, with no model in the loop.
Grounded citations
The research agent answers from the papers, protocols, and inventory in your own workspace, and links each claim back to the record it drew on.
Version and fork lineage
Every protocol keeps a numbered version history, and every fork stores the protocol it was forked from, so a design can be traced back to its origin.
A citable identity
Publishing a protocol gives it a Reproducibility Passport at a permanent URL, readable without an account, with a paste-ready citation string for a methods section.
Approval before publication
AI output arrives as a proposal. Nothing is versioned, scored, or published until you approve it, and the audit log records who approved what and when.
One platform, three kinds of work

Built for how you actually work.

The same reproducibility-first core, framed for three audiences. The workspace adapts its navigation, terminology, and tools to match the track you pick.

Research
For scientists and small labs

The full life-science lifecycle: AI protocol design, guided test runs, a client-side Statistics Workbench, literature synthesis, and a citable Reproducibility Passport.

Try the research workspace
Engineering
For hardware & test engineers

A deterministic workbench: 32 calculators, tolerance stack-up, multi-level BOM, GUM uncertainty and metrology. Every number shows its formula, runs in your browser, and is never metered.

See the engineering workspace
Education
For classrooms & educators

An inquiry-science workspace with an AI protocol coach under teacher oversight, a weighted gradebook, quizzes, discussions, and verifiable certificates, all in a school-controlled, privacy-conscious space.

Explore Olto for Education
What's inside

A full workbench, not just a notebook.

One connected platform for the whole of experimental research: design, run, analyze, document, and collaborate, for life sciences and engineering alike. Everything below is included on paid plans. AI research actions are metered; storage scales by plan; features are not.

New · Engineering

One platform, two labs.

Flip from the life-sciences lab to the engineering lab and the navigation, terminology, and tools adapt. The engineering side is deterministic all the way down: every number shows its formula, runs in your browser, and is unit-tested against the published standard. No AI anywhere near the result, and it's never metered.

The block notebook works in both modes: drop a deterministic calc inline beside your Python, sign it, export. Read the engineering docs →

ENGINEERING WORKSPACEdeterministic · unit-tested
Calculators
32
Mechanical, electrical, structural, signals, thermal & fluids
Metrology
GUM · Cp/Cpk · Gage R&R
Uncertainty, X̄/R control charts, requirements traceability
Tolerance & BOM
worst-case + RSS
1-D stack-up plus a multi-level BOM with cost & mass roll-up
Materials
26 + ISO/UNC
Property reference and metric / UNC fastener tables
Standards
8 bodies
ASME · ISO · IPC · IEEE · ASTM · AISC · IEC · MIL-STD
Sealed record
SHA-256
A SHA-256 checksum a reviewer can recompute to detect changes
AI

Protocol generator

Describe a goal, get a 12-section, publication-structured first-draft protocol in under a minute, scored on feasibility, controls, reproducibility, and clarity. Edit inline, export to PDF, fork to anyone.

AI

Research agent

A tool-using assistant that searches your own protocols, papers, and inventory, and can run a statistical test, answering grounded, with citations and an audit trail.

BUILT-IN

Computational notebook

A block-based electronic lab notebook that runs Python in your browser. Run a t-test, get a matplotlib figure inline, then sign, version, and export the entry to PDF.

BUILT-IN

Statistics Workbench

Run real t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, regression, and non-parametric tests entirely client-side, so your raw data stays in your browser unless you choose to save or export it. Effect sizes, CIs, and plots included.

BUILT-IN

Guided test runs

Execute any protocol as a step-by-step session. Per-step timers, pass/fail/deviation logging, findings and evidence captured as you go, then a session-report PDF.

AI

Research library

A reference manager with collections, full-text search, Ask-AI Q&A grounded on a paper, multi-paper synthesis, and 13-style citation export.

LAB

LIMS & Certificates of Analysis

Order lab tests, track results, auto-flag against reference ranges, release a Certificate of Analysis, and invoice. On Lab plans and up.

BUILT-IN

Image & gel analysis

Deterministic computer vision in the browser: lane densitometry and cell counting. The numbers are yours; AI is used only for QC.

OPEN

Standards library

Map an experiment to the ISO, ASTM, USP, and ICH standards it should meet, and surface them right on the protocol.

TEAMS

Real-time collaboration

Presence, live cursors, and inline comments. Co-edit protocols and projects with version history and approvals.

BUILT-IN

Inventory & reagents

Track stocks, expirations, locations, suppliers, and lot numbers with a full transaction ledger. Get warned before you run out, not after.

OPEN

Public protocol library

Browse a rigor-scored reference library we wrote and scored ourselves. Fork any one to start from something real, and put your name on yours.

Pricing

Real pricing, for real scientists.

Start free, no card. AI is metered; on paid plans everything else is unlimited (free Explorer includes 5 protocols).

Explorer
Free
5 protocols. 5 AI research actions a month. No card.
Start free
FOR INDIVIDUALS
Researcher
$79 /mo
Unlimited protocols. 200 AI research actions a month.
Start Researcher
Lab
$499 /mo
Up to 10 seats. 2,000 AI research actions. Teams + LIMS.
Start Lab
Enterprise
Custom
Unlimited everything. HIPAA BAA eligibility under a scoped Enterprise agreement. SSO planned.
Talk to us
The landscape

How Olto compares.

We built Olto because we wanted to use it. The alternatives were either too expensive or too narrow. This comparison is made in good faith. If something looks wrong, tell us and we'll fix it.

What only Olto does

These are specific, checkable capabilities that set Olto apart: each one is in the product today, not a roadmap promise.

  • Deterministic seven-signal reproducibility scoring
    Every protocol is scored against seven reproducibility signals (controls, replication, sample size, statistics, quantitative parameters, randomization, and safety) by a pure function anyone can recompute to the same result.
  • Public Reproducibility Passports
    Each shared protocol gets a public, citable Passport page that summarizes its rigor and provenance for anyone to inspect.
  • Protocol Fingerprints
    A content-addressed fingerprint gives every protocol a canonical identity, so the same method always resolves to the same verifiable hash.
  • No-signup protocol demo
    Type a research goal and watch a structured protocol assemble in the browser, before you create an account.
  • Transparent self-service pricing
    Plans are published openly at $79–$499 / month and you can subscribe yourself, with no sales call or custom quote required.
  • Browser-side statistical calculations
    t-tests, ANOVA, regression, and non-parametric tests run client-side, and the notebook runs Python locally via Pyodide, so the raw data you analyze can stay in your browser.
  • Teacher-approval workflow
    Olto for Education routes student work through an explicit teacher-approval step before it is finalized.
  • Structured protocol fork lineage
    Forking a protocol records structured parent-and-child lineage, so any derivative can be traced back to the protocol it came from.
  • Public protocol publishing
    Publish a protocol to the public library, where anyone can read it, cite it, or fork it as a starting point.

About the alternatives

For context, enterprise lab platforms are typically priced through sales rather than published; Olto publishes its pricing openly at $79–$499 / month. The tools below serve overlapping but different jobs, so here is a neutral one-line description of each.

  • Enterprise R&D suitesBroad ELN / LIMS platforms, sold and priced through a sales process.
  • Electronic lab notebooksRecord-keeping first; design, scoring and publishing are usually separate tools.
  • Spreadsheets and docsGeneral-purpose, already installed, and carry no record of how a result was produced.

Competitor capabilities and pricing were reviewed on August 2026 and may change; verify current information directly with each provider. This comparison is made in good faith. If something looks wrong, tell us at support@oltodiscovery.com and we'll fix it.

What Olto is
  • Purpose-built for working researchers, students, and small teams
  • A reproducibility-first platform for the whole research lifecycle
  • Built so AI proposes and you sign off, with an audit trail
What it isn't (yet)
  • Not a HIPAA-, GLP-, or clinical system-of-record, so don't upload PHI
  • Not SOC 2 or HIPAA certified. We say so plainly, and won't imply otherwise
  • AI drafts are starting points to review, never finished, authoritative designs

Your statistics and notebook Python run in your browser, so sensitive data can stay on your machine; everything else is encrypted in transit and at rest and isolated per-tenant by Postgres row-level security. See exactly what we do (and don't) claim →

FAQ

The questions everyone asks.

You can. What you get back is an ungrounded chat transcript you retype into your real tools, with no way to verify the rigor. Olto is built for the lab. Every protocol carries a deterministic 7-signal rigor score anyone can recompute, the whole lifecycle (generate, run, log evidence, analyze) lives in one auditable place, your statistics run client-side so raw data never leaves your browser, and the assistant searches your own protocols, papers, and inventory and answers with citations. Same starting point, but verifiable and connected, not a paragraph you have to take on faith.

See it work on your next experiment.

Generate a real, rigor-scored protocol right now. No account, no card, no demo call. Then keep it free.

Try the live demo, no signupStart free