Biorender is a software that allows researchers, students, teachers, and others to create scientific illustrations and graphs. It includes a library of over 40,000 icons and illustrations from over 30 life science fields and over 1,000 premade templates.
However, while Biorender is incredibly useful and very popular in the scientific community, it has some disadvantages, the biggest one being its price. While it has a free plan, you’ll be limited to five illustrations only, and you won’t be able to publish them in journals.
Fortunately, there are plenty of free or cheaper alternatives to Biorender that you can use.
Let’s get into them.
Best Biorender Alternatives
1. Mind the Graph
The best alternative to Biorender for the scientific community is an app called Mind the Graph. With over 65,000 icons from over 80 fields of science, it has better icon editing tools than Biorender.
Using Mind the Graph, you can create posters, illustrations, and presentation slides for your science projects, whether you’re a student or researcher. Its simple drag-and-drop editor is easy to use, and you’ll be able to access your illustrations from any device.
Its poster maker allows you to choose from multiple templates, input your research paper into the preset sections, and instantly generate a high-quality poster.
The free version only allows for four scientific illustrations, but unlike Biorender, it allows you to publish those illustrations in scientific journals. However, one of the best things about Mind the Graph is its pricing – it is a fraction of the price of Bio Render.
Non-student plans start at just $12/month, much less than what Biorender charges. Premium plans come with a seven-day free trial, and you can even request custom illustrations, although the amount of custom illustrations you can request per month depends on your plan (usually, it’s five per user per month).
See updated pricing and a full pricing comparison chart on this page.
Biorender, on the other hand, only allows members signed up with an Institution plan to request custom branded icons.
Mind the Graph offers additional features as well. For example, you can request custom graphical abstracts for you to submit them to scientific journals or get professional presentation design help.
2. Chemix
Chemix is an online editing and illustration tool for drawing lab diagrams. Unlike Biorender, it is entirely free to use.
You can download your free illustrations in high resolution and use them in research papers, assignments, publications, and more.
It doesn’t require any signup or download – you can use the online tool by just visiting the website. While it doesn’t have as many icons as Biorender, it still has a nice variety of icons for:
- Chemistry
- Biology
- Physics
- And more
It also has a nice selection of shapes you can use while drawing your diagrams and charts.
The editor is fairly intuitive and easy to figure out, so it won’t involve much of a learning curve.
Once you create a diagram, you can download it to your computer. Alternatively, you can save it to the cloud, so you can access it from another device later.
However, you must create an account if you want to save your diagram to the cloud.
3. SmartDraw
Another good alternative to Biorender is SmartDraw, which features a scientific diagram maker, complete with thousands of scientific symbols you can drag and drop into your diagrams and illustrations.
It has symbols for various fields and subjects, including:
- Chemistry
- Biology
- Physics
- And more
You can start with any of the provided templates, which make your life a lot easier.
SmartDraw also features a flowchart maker, allowing you to create flowcharts to explain scientific processes.
It is a more comprehensive tool than Biorender, useful not only for science but other subjects as well. You can create organizational charts, mind maps, infographics, and various other diagrams that might come in useful when writing a research paper – there are over 70 diagram types altogether.
Furthermore, it makes collaboration easy. You can share diagrams you made on SmartDraw by creating a shared folder or emailing others a link, allowing them to comment and add notes.
Alternatively, you can use one of the tools that SmartDraw supports, such as Google Drive or Dropbox, to store your creations in the cloud and collaborate with others.
Fortunately, SmartDraw is significantly cheaper than Biorender. It costs just $9.95/month for a single user, which gives you access not just to the scientific diagram creator but to its other tools as well.
For group plans with over five users, it will cost just $5.95/month, per user. See updated pricing here.
4. EDrawMax
EDrawMax is a free diagram creator that you can use instead of Biorender to create scientific diagrams. It features various templates you can start with, as well as free shapes and icons that you can drag and drop into the illustrations and diagrams you create.
There are hundreds of icons and shapes covering most fields of science, including those depicting human anatomy, lab equipment, and more.
If you want, you can create your own icons or upload them from your library.
EDrawMax is excellent for students who wish to study with others, and not only because it’s free to use. Its collaboration tools allow students to collaborate on projects in the cloud – the software is based in the cloud and compatible with top operating systems, including Windows, Mac, and Linux.
You can keep your files in the cloud (they will be saved there automatically) or download them as popular file formats once done. With presentation mode, you can instantly create a slide-based presentation as well.
5. Focus eLearning
Focus eLearning offers a science diagram and illustration tool. It includes images for a variety of science fields and subjects, including waves, hazard symbols, human biology, DNA, and more.
The library has a variety of diagrams you can use and edit, or you can draw your own diagrams from scratch. It allows for scaling to any size without a loss of graphics quality, and you can copy and paste your diagram into word processing apps or print directly from the app.
The app works in the cloud, and it is compatible with Windows, Mac, Chromebooks, iPads, and Android tablets. No download is required.
Focus eLearning’s tool is a great alternative to Biorender for schools, as it offers an affordable subscription that will make the tool available to all teachers and students in your school. A free trial is available (see here for updated information).
6. Canva
Canva is a popular design tool, and it also features a diagram maker you can use instead of Biorender. It’s free to use, unlike Biorender, so students on a budget will find it useful.
The tool features a wide range of diagram templates, including fishbone diagrams, Venn diagrams, and more. You can also use its data visualization tools, like charts and tables.
Canva is a very comprehensive tool, allowing you to create posters, flowcharts, mind maps, and all other kinds of designs. With the group collaboration features, you can work together with fellow students on school projects.
You can also create presentations and even record yourself narrating your presentations.
It has a media library with a nice variety of shapes and elements, but I suggest finding free icons online to use with Canva, as it will make things simpler for you. Later in this article, I will go over several sources for finding free science icons and illustrations when using a tool like Canva.
7. Inkscape
Inkscape is a free illustration tool and vector graphics editor that you can use to create all kinds of diagrams and illustrations, including scientific illustrations. Unlike Biorender, it is entirely free and open source, and it is available for Mac, Linux, and Windows.
While it uses SVG as its primary file format, you can also import other file formats, such as PNG and PDF.
Many students have found Inkscape to be a great alternative to Biorender, although it might require a bit of a learning curve. You should also use it in conjunction with a free graphics library of science icons, such as Bioicons, which I talk about below.
It has a wide range of object creation and manipulation tools.
8. Vectr
Vectr is a free online graphics editor that you can use instead of Biorender when working with science vectors. Not only is it free, unlike Biorender, but it has a small learning curve, as the interface is very intuitive and easy to figure out.
It is free forever – you will never have to pay – and powered by artificial intelligence. It also allows for easy collaboration, as you will be able to share your project with anyone, and they will be able to follow along in real time as you work and edit.
One of the advantages of using vector graphics in general is that you can scale them without losing quality.
9. Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is one of the most widely-used illustration tools for students and scientific researchers. In fact, there are many tutorials and resources online teaching how to use Illustrator for science.
For example, this course covers using Illustrator as a scientist, including a full overview of the various tools available and how to add scientific graphs and tables. There are many free courses available as well, including on YouTube and on the websites of various universities and colleges.
Therefore, although Illustrator typically has a bit of a learning curve involved, it won’t be that difficult to figure out how to use it.
One of the reasons to choose it over Biorender is that it offers a 60% discount to students – at just $19.99/month, it’s very affordable. Not only that, but the subscription gives you access not only to Adobe Illustrator but to 20 Creative Cloud apps from Adobe.
Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, Lightroom, and Adobe Express are all included, for example. Thus, signing up for a Creative Cloud All Apps subscription will give you access to a wide range of tools you can use for your school projects.
See more information about the student plan and the free trial for Illustrator on this page.
10. PowerPoint
PowerPoint is one of the oldest and well-known alternatives to Biorender. It’s been around since the 1980s, and there is a free version available.
It is best for creating slideshow presentations, but there are also plenty of diagram templates available, such as these from Microsoft. One of the best things about PowerPoint is that since it is so popular, there is a seemingly never-ending number of templates available on the web from third-party sources, including plenty of free templates.
11. Cacoo
Cacoo is a diagramming software that you can use instead of Biorender, although it doesn’t have as many icons available. Created by Nulab, the free plan allows you to create up to six sheets.
It also allows you to add an unlimited number of users, with real-time collaboration tools such as commenting, chat, and video chat.
A number of templates are available, but they’re mostly designed for other purposes other than science. However, you can still create your own template from scratch, using the various tools to create a science diagram.
Where to Find Science Icons and Illustrations?
If you decide to go with a tool like Canva, Adobe Illustrator, or PowerPoint, it’s useful to know where to find science icons and graphics. The following websites are great places to find free science icons for your projects.
1. SMART – Servier Medical Art
If you’re looking for free medical art, Servier is the place to go. It has over 3,000 icons and illustrations for the medical field.
Unlike Biorender, it is entirely free, with all icons in the library under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. That means you can use them without prior permission, although you must cite Servier Medical Art and include a link to the website.
The library features art depicting the digestive system, urinary system, and other anatomy-related art. It also has cellular biology art, icons for different medical fields (like oncology and neurology), and various general icons related to medicine.
Since Servier does not have its own illustration software, you will have to use it in conjunction with PowerPoint or another illustration and graphing tool.
2. Bioicons
A great source for finding science-related icons for use in free or paid illustration tools like Inkscape or Illustrator is Bioicons.
Bioicons is a free library of over 1,700 icons, covering various fields of sciences, such as:
- Machine learning
- Human physiology
- Microbiology
- Viruses
- Nucleic acids
- And many more
The icons are uploaded to the library by different creators and have different licenses. It’s important to check the license of each icon before using it, as some creators require you to add attribution to them.
However, the icons are free to use, and downloading them is quick and easy.
You can also check out the project on Github.
3. SciDraw
SciDraw is a free online repository of science-based drawings and illustrations, including drawings of animals, scientific equipment, and other scientific drawings.
You can browse the illustrations on the homepage, use the search tool to find illustrations of a certain object, or filter for vector graphics only.
Anyone can upload an illustration or drawing to SciDraw, and they don’t need an account to do so. However, all illustrations must get approval before they are published in the library.
Furthermore, by uploading an illustration, the author agrees to license it under the Creative Commons 4.0 license. That means that anyone is free to download and use the illustration, including in scientific posters and even commercially, as long as they attribute the author.
You are even allowed to distribute and modify the illustrations you download.
4. IconScout
IconScout has around 220,000 science icons. The icons are available as individual icons and can also be downloaded in packs.
Both free and premium icons are available. If you’re only looking for free icons, simply click on “Free” on the left side of the page to filter for the free ones.
You can customize the royalty-free icons to your brand and use them in your publications. You can also download them in a variety of file formats.
In addition to simple icons, there are illustrations, including 3D illustrations. There are around 9,000 3D science illustrations currently on IconScout, but more are being added all the time.
While IconScount is free to use, the premium plan gives you access to more features, such as the ability to customize the color palette of the icons you are downloading.
5. Flaticon
Flaticon has over 100,000 science icons you can use when using a program like Vectr or Inkscape to create science diagrams and illustrations. It also has a few hundred science stickers and a few dozen animated icons.
You can filter for colored icons, hand-drawn icons, and more.
It is free to use the icons you download from Flaticon, but you must credit the author and include a link in your attribution. However, there is also a premium plan which allows you to use around icons without any attribution required.
6. Icons8
Icons8 also has a great selection of science icons. The Icons come in packs, and both black-and-white and colored icons are available for download as both vectors and PNG images.
There are both animated and static icons.
Icons8 is free to use, but you can only download free icons in low resolution, and you must link to Icons8 when using images you download. Various premium plans that don’t require attribution and allow for high-resolution downloads are available as well – see updated pricing here.
7. Vecteezy
Vecteezy has over 150,000 royalty-free science icons you can use while creating your diagram. There are a few types of licenses available.
The free license allows you to use the icons for free, but you must include attribution. However, even the free icons allow you to purchase an option to remove attribution.
There are also premium icons and those that you can only use for editorial purposes (such as in a news article but not for commercial reasons).
The icons come in packs and cover many fields of science. Packs that are free are marked as such; you can filter for free packs only.
8. FreePik
FreePik has a massive collection of around 600,000 science-related images, icons, illustrations, and vectors. You can filter by category, such as icons, PSD, vectors, and photos; you can also filter by license – both free and premium assets are available.
There are many other filters, such as the color filter if you are looking for pictures in a specific color. You can also search by specific field, such as chemistry or biology.
While thousands of icons are free on FreePik, you will only get unrestricted access to the full library by signing up for a premium plan. Furthermore, with the free plan, you will have to add attribution, while it is not required if you have a premium plan.
The premium plan also gives you access to the icon editor, which can be useful when preparing your presentation or scientific research paper.
See updated pricing here.
9. Reshot
Reshot has over 500 SVG vector icons in various fields of science. In addition to the general science category, there are icons in the medical, space, and other categories.
The Reshot license allows you to use these icons for free, whether it’s in educational projects or even for commercial purposes. You can also modify or distribute them.
Not only that, but attribution is not required, although Reshot says it is appreciated. 10.
10. Iconfinder
Another good place to find science icons is Iconfinder, which has over 650 science icons available for download. Both free and premium black-and-white and colored icons are available.
Many of the icons do not require attribution – just filter for those under the “Basic License.” Additional licenses for commercial use are available as well.
Wrapping It Up – What Is the Best Biorender Alternative?
The best Biorender alternative is Mind the Graph, which is cheaper and has equally good tools for creating scientific diagrams and illustrations.
Whether you use Mind the Graph or a totally free alternative like Inkscape, make sure to check out the free science icon libraries linked above.
