Comparison · Verified 2026-05-12
Two ways to solve the same problem. Microbank Marketplace is the Pro-Lab HOS approach — modern, Stripe-billed, sensor- and vendor-agnostic. Excel & paper logs is the established alternative with a different scope and buying motion. Below: where each one wins, where each one loses, and which fits your team.
Choose Microbank Marketplace if you want
Choose Excel & paper logs if you require
Pricing snapshot at a glance. Verify directly on each vendor's site before procurement.
| Microbank Marketplace | Excel & paper logs | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | Stripe-billed per-strain + storage tiers; 14-day trial | Free + invisible cost of strain loss, audit findings, and revival failures |
Honest line-by-line, marked with the winner where one platform clearly leads.
| Feature | Microbank Marketplace | Excel & paper logs | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strain catalog with lot/source/viability | ✓ | Partial | Microbank Marketplace |
| Chain-of-custody audit trail | ✓ | — | Microbank Marketplace |
| Lab-to-lab marketplace | ✓ | — | Microbank Marketplace |
| Microbank vial scan-in workflow | ✓ | — | Microbank Marketplace |
| Zero cost | — | ✓ | Excel |
| Offline operation | Partial | ✓ | Excel |
| Multi-user collaboration | ✓ | Partial | Microbank Marketplace |
Free + invisible cost of strain loss, audit findings, and revival failures
Stripe-billed per-strain + storage tiers; 14-day trial
For the use-case overlap, yes. Microbank Marketplace covers the inventory / QC core; some Excel & paper logs-specific features (see the feature table above) may be on the Microbank Marketplace roadmap or out of scope. Read the TL;DR section for honest fit guidance.
Yes. Microbank Marketplace accepts CSV import of items, lots, vendors, and locations. For larger Excel & paper logs datasets, we'll provide a one-time import on the kickoff call.
Stripe-billed, cancel anytime, no enterprise minimums.