What's new in Lab Atlas — August 2025

August 12, 2025 | by Will Oemler

The Lab Atlas team has been hard at work adding features and squashing bugs. This month we have two exciting new updates that will help bring Lab Atlas to more people and make it even easier to use: a free Starter Plan and a new express project import feature.

1. The Starter Plan is now Free

Effective today, all new organizations are automatically enrolled in our Free Starter Plan, with the option to upgrade anytime as your needs change.

What this means for you:

Start fast: Create an org, invite teammates, and begin managing projects in minutes. No credit card needed.
Core features, simplified: You’ll get all the essential features to plan, track, and collaborate on your research projects — with a slightly reduced feature set designed for small teams and pilots.
Flex as you scale: Need more users or features? Upgrade when you’re ready, without migration headaches.
More integrations: Third-party integrations are no longer restricted to the Professional Plan. Connect all of the electronic lab notebook, cloud storage, and source code management systems you want!

For a full, up-to-date feature comparison, check the Pricing page.

2. Meet Express Import: Bring Projects, Studies, and Assays in Minutes

Moving your lab’s work into a new platform used to be a daunting prospect. Not anymore. Our new Express Import tools lets you import existing projects, studies, and assays using a simple spreadsheet template.

Why you'll love it

Zero retyping: Map your current spreadsheets (or exports from other tools) directly into Lab Atlas.
Structured from day one: Your hierarchy (projects → studies → assays) lands cleanly, so your team can get to work immediately.
Fewer mistakes: Built-in validation catches common issues before they hit your workspace.

How it works (quick start)

Download the template from the Project, Study, or Assay Import pages in Lab Atlas.
Paste your data into the relevant columns.
Upload & preview: See exactly what will be created or updated.
Validate & import: Fix any flagged rows, then complete the import.
Review: Jump straight into linked records with everything neatly connected.

Tip: If you already track work in spreadsheets or can export from your current tool, you’ll be up and running in a single session.

Why we built this (and why it matters)

Research moves fast and you already have enough on your plate. The admin tasks should not be what slows you down. By making the Starter Plan free and onboarding painless with Express Import, we’re helping teams:

Reduce setup time and start collaborating immediately
Centralize knowledge so data, docs, and decisions live in one place
De-risk adoption — try it with a real project before rolling out broadly

Start for free

FAQ

Is the Starter Plan really free?

Yes. New organizations start on the Free Starter Plan with a modified feature set over the previous plan. You can upgrade anytime.

What’s limited in the Starter Plan?

Starter focuses on the essentials for small teams and pilots. We have limited some features, such as provided cloud storage, number of users, and record access controls. For the latest plan details and feature availability, see the Pricing page.

What formats does Express Import support?

Use our provided Excel template. You can also paste from your existing CSV/XLSX or exports from other systems into the web app's table, then import.

Can we test on a subset of our data first?

Absolutely. Start with a small slice of data to validate your mappings, then run the full import.

← Back to blog