What Open Ephys does

Open Ephys is an employee-owned cooperative, founded in 2014 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, that designs and distributes open-source hardware and software for neuroscience research. The portfolio centers on two electrophysiology acquisition platforms: the USB-based Acquisition Board (3rd Generation), which supports up to 512 channels with 9-axis IMU integration, and the PCIe-based ONIX system, which delivers sub-millisecond closed-loop latencies (~300 µsec) and compatibility with Neuropixels, Intan, and silicon probes. Surrounding these are specialized headstages (16–64 channel, SPI and coaxial variants), torque-free commutators using IMU or computer-vision tracking (DeepLabCut/SLEAP), the Miniscope V4/V4.5 for calcium imaging, ShuttleDrive and R2 chronic implants, Twister3 for tetrode fabrication, FED3 pellet dispensers, Cyclops and StimJim stimulation tools, Harp behavior devices, and pyControl/pyPhotometry modules. The Open Ephys GUI provides a plugin-based, JUCE-built acquisition layer that streams to Python and MATLAB via ZMQ and integrates tightly with the Bonsai visual programming language.

The company's go-to-market is community-led: design files, firmware, and software are released openly on GitHub, and adoption is driven through academic publications, workshops (NeuroDoWo, Paris Neuro Course, Cajal Training Courses), and a Google Groups / Discord community. Hardware is sold globally through a direct e-commerce storefront (open-ephys.org/store), with assembly, testing, shipping, and repair handled by the Open Ephys Production Site (OEPS) in Lisbon, Portugal — a wholly-owned subsidiary that emerged from the Champalimaud Foundation. Revenue is generated from three streams: hardware product sales (acquisition boards, headstages, commutators, miniscopes, drives, stimulators, and fiber photometry kits), remote professional training services (e.g., €1,500 for a 6-hour Acquisition Board module), and educational course kits such as NeuroKit. Customer concentration is diffuse — hundreds of academic labs worldwide use the platform and the Miniscope V4 alone is deployed in thousands of labs — and no external venture or private equity backing has been disclosed.

Name

Open Ephys

Legal name

Open Ephys

Website

https://open-ephys.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Hardware Product Sales: Open Ephys generates revenue through the sale of open-source hardware devices including acquisition boards, headstages, commutators, stimulators, miniscopes, and drive implants. Products are sold fully assembled or as kits for self-assembly.
2. Professional Training Services: Remote training sessions delivered by team members covering acquisition board operation, GUI usage, experimental design adaptations, and data processing. Training includes intake calls, live sessions, and follow-up support hours.
3. Educational Course Kits: Sale of hardware kits (NeuroKit) for self-paced extracellular electrophysiology courses, enabling students to follow course materials on their own schedule with certificate of completion available.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Open Ephys designs, manufactures, and sells open-source electrophysiology hardware and accompanying software used by neuroscience researchers to record and analyze neural signals. The product line spans acquisition boards, headstages, commutators, miniscopes, stimulators, microdrives, and behavioral tools, paired with the plugin-based Open Ephys GUI for data acquisition, visualization, and analysis.

Product overview

Open Ephys is an open-source neuroscience tools company offering a comprehensive ecosystem of electrophysiology, imaging, behavior control, and stimulation products. The portfolio centers on two main acquisition platforms: the USB-based Acquisition Board (3rd Gen) supporting up to 512 channels with 3D IMU capabilities, and the PCIe-based ONIX next-generation multimodal system enabling sub-millisecond closed-loop experiments. Supporting hardware includes specialized headstages (16ch-64ch, SPI and coaxial variants), torque-free commutators using IMU or computer vision tracking, Miniscope V4/V4.5 for calcium imaging, ShuttleDrive and R2 System microdrive implants, Twister3 for tetrode production, FED3 pellet dispensers, Harp behavior control devices, Cyclops/StimJim stimulation tools, and pyControl/pyPhotometry for behavioral and fiber photometry experiments. The Open Ephys GUI provides plugin-based acquisition software compatible with all platforms, while training services and educational kits support user onboarding.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Open Ephys Acquisition System Primary data acquisition board that captures and digitizes electrophysiological signals from electrode arrays for neuroscience research.
• Headstages Interface units that connect electrode probes to the acquisition system, supporting multiple electrode configurations.
• Commutators Slip-ring and optical commutators that manage cables during electrophysiological recordings in freely behaving animals.
• Miniscopes Miniaturized fluorescence microscopes for imaging calcium dynamics in freely-moving animals, integrating with the Open Ephys acquisition ecosystem.
• Stimulators Programmable electrical stimulators used to deliver patterned stimulation during neural recording experiments.
• Microdrives Motorized electrode positioners that allow precise adjustment of electrode depth during chronic recording experiments.
• Behavioral Tools Hardware and accompanying tools designed to synchronize animal behavior tracking with neural recordings.
• Open Ephys GUI Open-source, plugin-based graphical application for real-time acquisition, visualization, and analysis of electrophysiology data.
• Professional Training Services Subscription-based training courses for researchers learning to use Open Ephys hardware and software in their labs.
• Educational Course Kits Curriculum and hardware kits packaged for university courses teaching neuroscience recording methods.

Quantifiable outcome

• Miniscope V4 costs approximately 1/20th the cost of commercial alternatives while maintaining market-leading imaging performance
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

AI capability6 records

Feature11 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Open Ephys Production Site (OEPS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOEPS is the manufacturing and fulfillment partner for Open Ephys hardware products. Based in Lisbon, Portugal and grown out of the Champalimaud Foundation, OEPS coordinates assembly, testing, shipping, and repairs for all devices sold through the Open Ephys Store. They also provide scientific support and training by neuroscientists using open-source tools.
• Steve Potter's Lab (Georgia Tech)coreTechnology or IntegrationCyclops LED driver was developed by Jon Newman while in Steve Potter's lab at Georgia Tech. The lab supported thesis work requiring ultra-precise optogenetic stimulation capabilities that were not commercially available.
• Wilson Lab (MIT)coreTechnology or IntegrationTwister3 tetrode maker was developed by Jonathan P. Newman and Jakob Voigts from the Wilson Lab at MIT. The lab designed the device to greatly increase speed and repeatability of constructing twisted microwire neural probes.
• Jon NewmancoreTechnology or IntegrationJon Newman developed Cyclops LED driver and Twister3 tetrode maker while at Georgia Tech and MIT. Both are key open-source hardware contributions to the Open Ephys ecosystem.
• UCLA Miniscope Team (Daniel Aharoni)coreTechnology or IntegrationOpen Ephys collaborates with the UCLA Miniscope team led by Daniel Aharoni. The Miniscope V4 is developed by UCLA and distributed through Open Ephys. This partnership enables global distribution of the miniscope system as 'the global standard for endoscopic calcium imaging.'
• CAMBER (Emory University & Georgia Tech)coreTechnology or IntegrationCAMBER (Center for Advanced Motor BioEngineering Research) develops and distributes myomatrix high-density EMG arrays that are compatible with Open Ephys Acquisition Board. Currently providing myomatrix arrays free of charge to researchers.
• Bonsai (Gonçalo Lopes)coreTechnology or IntegrationBonsai visual programming language is tightly integrated with Open Ephys ONIX system and Acquisition Board. Enables multimodal acquisition, behavioral control, and sub-ms closed-loop experiments. ONIX is optimized for Bonsai with dedicated ONIX1 package.
• Lex Kravitz Lab (Washington University)coreTechnology or IntegrationFED3 pellet dispenser was designed by Lex Kravitz and team at Washington University. Open Ephys sells FED3 devices with profits supporting continued development. Design is open-source with Arduino library.
• Champalimaud FoundationcoreTechnology or IntegrationOEPS manufacturing partner grew out of the Champalimaud Foundation. Also, pyControl system is actively developed by researchers at Champalimaud Foundation and Oxford University.
• Nate Cermak (Technion-Israel Institute of Technology)coreTechnology or IntegrationStimJim electrical stimulator was created by Nate Cermak while in Jackie Schiller's lab at Technion. Open Ephys sells this device which offers dual-channel galvanically isolated stimulation.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Plexon: Direct peer; established commercial supplier of electrophysiology recording systems, LED/optogenetic drivers (LD-1, PlexBright), and behavioral hardware. Open Ephys explicitly prices Cyclops and Miniscope against Plexon products as cheaper, open-source alternatives.
• Neuralynx: Direct peer; commercial supplier of electrophysiology recording systems (e.g., Digital Lynx SX) for in-vivo neural recording. Targets the same academic neuroscience buyer as Open Ephys's acquisition board family.
• Intan Technologies: Direct peer; manufactures RHD and RHS electrophysiology recording chips/boards used widely in academic neuroscience. Open Ephys explicitly integrates with Intan recording systems, making them direct collaborators/alternatives in the same ephys acquisition market.
• Blackrock Microsystems: Direct peer; supplies neural acquisition systems, microelectrodes, and clinical-grade research hardware. Overlaps with Open Ephys in headstages, commutators, and acquisition boards targeted at academic and BCI research labs.
• Tucker-Davis Technologies (TDT): Direct peer; commercial provider of multi-channel electrophysiology acquisition systems (RZ, RX), headstages, and behavior hardware for academic and industry neuroscience — competing for the same lab equipment budgets as Open Ephys.
• Inscopix: Direct peer; commercial miniscope (nVista) supplier for calcium imaging in freely behaving animals. Direct competitor to Open Ephys's Miniscope V4 platform, with Open Ephys offering significantly lower-priced open-source hardware.
• SpikeGadgets: Direct peer and existing collaborator; manufactures open-source electrophysiology hardware including tetrode drives and acquisition tools. Co-developed Twister3 with Open Ephys and competes in the same niche open-source hardware space.

Emerging players

• Neurophotometrics: Emerging peer; open-source fiber photometry systems (e.g., FP3002) that complement Open Ephys's pyPhotometry offering. Recently announced transition to fully open source, following Open Ephys's philosophy.
• Cambridge NeuroTech: Emerging player; commercial supplier of high-density silicon probes (e.g., ASSY-116-E, ASSY-156-E) used in Neuropixels-adjacent experiments. Competes with Open Ephys ONIX-compatible silicon probe workflows for chronic recording.

Others

• Imec / Neuropixels: Adjacent enabling partner/peer; Imec-developed Neuropixels probes are supported by Open Ephys ONIX headstages. Not a direct system competitor but defines the roadmap for high-channel-count probes that drive Open Ephys's acquisition system demand.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/open-ephys
• Xx.com/OpenEphys

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Open Ephys