This article provides an overview of the licensing and usage for figures created using BioRender. It details what you can do with your illustrations based on your subscription, ensuring you understand how to use your figures appropriately.
BioRender offers different account options and plans, each with varying licensing and usage restrictions:
BioRender Basic, The Free Trial and the Undergrad plan
Figures can only be used for academic purposes, including:
- Unpublished grant applications
- Posters
- Educational presentations and assignments
- Unpublished theses or dissertations
For more information check out BioRender Basic, The Free Trial or The Undergraduate Subscription.
Note: 14-day free trial, BioRender Basic and the Undergrad plan do not come with publication rights.
|
FOR FREE OR TRIAL PLANS USERS: Please review our Basic License Terms found at: https://www.biorender.com/basic-license for further information on permitted and prohibited uses. |
Paid subscriptions (Academic or Industry)
If you wish to use your figures in published works or commercial projects, you will need to subscribe to one of our paid plans.
Academic Plans:
Industry plans:
|
FOR ACADEMIC PLAN USERS: Please review our Academic License Terms found at: https://www.biorender.com/academic-license for further information on permitted and prohibited uses under an Academic plan. |
What can you do with your plan
Where you can use your figures, depend on your plan type. Use the tables below to find your use case
Academic publishing permissions
|
|
|
|
|
Use Case |
Free |
Academic Individual License |
Academic Lab License |
Academic Institutional License |
Publishing uses |
|
|
|
|
Journal publication |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Journal Cover |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Published thesis |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Not-for-profit website |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Not-for-profit textbook figures, 5 or less |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Not-for-profit textbook figures, greater than 5 figures, or less than and equal to 15 |
|
|
✅ |
✅ |
Textbook figures, more than 15 |
Contact us |
------- |
------- |
------- |
Personal YouTube / social media (no profit) |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Unpublished thesis |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Conference poster (academic user) |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Grant application |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Academic Poster |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
|
Internal Meetings (lab or team)
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
|
Conference Presentation (Academic Audience)
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
|
Assignment/Exam
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
|
Teaching Slides
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Personal Blog Website posts (No profit) |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
|
FOR INDUSTRY PLAN USERS: Please review our Industry License Terms found at: https://www.biorender.com/industry-license for further information on permitted and prohibited uses under an Industry plan. |
Industry publishing permissions
|
|
|
|
|
Use Case |
Free |
Industry Individual License |
Industry Team License |
Industry Enterprise License |
Publishing uses |
|
|
|
|
Unpublished thesis |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Personal YouTube / social media |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
|
Conference Presentation
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Journal publication |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Published thesis |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Journal cover |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Textbook figures, 5 or less on Annual plan |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Textbook figures, greater than 5 figures or less than or equal to 15 figures on Annual plan |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Textbook figures, more than 15 |
Contact us |
------ |
----- |
----- |
YouTube / social media channels that generate revenue |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Marketing materials |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Conference poster (industry) |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Any commercial uses that generate profit |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Trade show materials including brochures |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
|
Information Packets/User Guides that are associated with a product. (Non-Educational)
|
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Company website |
|
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
Important notes:
- The watermark must be included in the exported figure with a Basic or Free Trial account.
- A Premium plan (paid Academic or Industry) is required for all print users.
- Completed graphics included in any published or printed material, including websites and social media, containing BioRender content as permitted hereunder must include either “Created with BioRender.com” or your unique figure URL depending on your use case.
- More information on how to cite your figure can be found here: How to cite your BioRender figure
Additional information for thesis and book usage:
Theses and dissertations:
You can use the Basic Plan or 14-day Free Trial to create figures for theses and dissertations that will be uploaded to university libraries or databases. An academic license is required for publishing in journals or wider databases.
Textbooks and book chapters
Not-for-profit
If you will not be gaining any profit from your textbook/book chapter publication, the following subscription types can be used without incurring additional charges:
- 5 or fewer figures: Requires an Academic Individual, Student, or Postdoc Plan
- 5 to 15 figures: You will require any annual academic plan (Postdoc, Student, Academic Individual) the Academic Lab or the Annual Industry Plan
- Institutional license: Members can publish up to 15 figures.
- There will be an additional per-figure charge if you’re looking to publish more than 15 figures.
For-profit
If you will be gaining any profit from your textbook/book chapter publication, the following subscription types can be used without incurring additional charges:
- An Annual Industry Individual Lite Plan allows you to publish up to 15 figures in a for-profit textbook/book chapter without incurring additional charges.
- Please note that the Monthly Industry Plan cannot be used for this purpose. For more than 15 figures, additional per-figure charges will apply.
For more information on your specific use case, see our Publishing BioRender Figures: Publishing by Resource Type collection.
Need help?
- Email: support@biorender.com
- Live Chat: Available by clicking on the "Help" bubble in the app on the bottom right-hand corner.