Shout-out to Senaite
Bika LIMS Open Source LIMS did not disappear when the codebase moved on to become Senaite, and the product that followed is stronger for it
Lemoene Smit, Cape Town, 16 September 2026
Since that transition the LIMS has come a long way: a cleaner architecture, stronger testing, a continued migration to Python 3, and a modern interface, still on the same Plone foundation.
That point matters. Plone was never a fashion choice. It gave the laboratory a document-aware, permission-rich web platform on which workflows, instruments, and accreditation records could sit together. Senaite kept that base and rebuilt what sat on top of it
Most of that work now comes from Europe and the developers deserve much credit. They produced a high-quality, actively maintained system: peer-reviewed code, a clearer core, and an interface labs can actually live in. That is not the old caricature of open source as a volunteer hobby with a rough UI. It is professional engineering on an open licence
What has not been thrown away is the Bika inheritance. The laboratory model is still there - clients, contacts, samples, analyses, worksheets, batches. So is the workflow discipline: receive, process, verify, publish, with transitions you can audit.
So is an ISO/IEC 17025-ready design at the centre of the platform, not bolted on as a reporting afterthought. Labs that grew up on Bika recognise the bones. They should. They are the same bones
Modern Bika releases are built around this Senaite core, complemented by a range of proven add-ons. That is the practical split: Senaite carries the product forward - Bika packages the core with the extras, and implementation practice laboratories ask for in the field. Backed by 25 years of product specific experience applied by highly qualified professionals
Freedom and ownership stay with the lab. The quality of the core is now Senaite’s achievement.
If you run Bika today, you are standing on that work. If you are choosing a LIMS and you care about open source that is still a laboratory system - not a generic tracker with a science skin - look at what Senaite made of the first generation, and at how current Bika releases use it.