mouse-cloud.com

What It Is

Mouse-Cloud is a cloud-based colony management application for mouse laboratories. It aims to replace spreadsheet-based workflows such as Excel and Google Sheets, helping teams track mice, cages, samples, experiments, images, and projects. It emphasizes access from any device and uses a more structured data model to reduce data-entry errors, inconsistent naming, and the risk of accidental deletion.

Core Features and Collaboration

The product is designed around mouse breeding and experimental workflows. It supports management of entities such as mice, cages, litters, samples, projects, and experiments, and can maintain relationships between them. Compared with free-form spreadsheet input, Mouse-Cloud uses dropdown lists, uniqueness checks, and conditional input fields—for example, showing pregnancy dates or mating dates only when relevant. When moving mice, it also helps prevent cage overcrowding and prioritizes recommending cages with fewer mice. Sample management can record room, freezer, rack, and box locations, making it useful for addressing the common problem of hard-to-trace sample origins and storage locations.

Permissions, Security, and Data Quality

Its highlights are access control and version control. Account roles include View, Edit, Delete, and Lab Admin. Lab administrators can invite members and assign permissions, while edit and delete rights are separated to reduce the risk of accidental deletion. The system creates a version for every change made to an individual mouse and records who modified it and when, making history easier to trace. Publicly available materials also mention cloud backups and data-entry validation, but do not disclose deeper security details such as encryption, compliance certifications, or data residency.

Pricing and Ease of Use

Pricing is straightforward: the free plan supports 3 users and 300 mice; Small Team costs $80/month for 5 users and 2,000 mice; Large Team costs $140/month for 10 users and 5,000 mice; the institutional plan requires a custom quote and supports unlimited users and mice. Import from MS Excel or Google Sheets is supported, lowering the barrier to migrating away from spreadsheets. No information was found about APIs, developer support, or broader third-party integrations.

Pros, Cons, and Who It’s For

Its strengths are its highly vertical focus, clear onboarding path, and practical solutions for common laboratory issues around data consistency, permissions, and traceability. The free plan is friendly to small teams. Its limitations include insufficient information on ecosystem openness, as well as limited disclosure around compliance, support, and payment details that institutions may need for procurement. It is suitable for research groups, animal facilities, and research institutions using mouse models. If one or two people are managing a very small colony, spreadsheets may still be sufficient.

Access from China

The crawled text does not provide information on access from mainland China, payment methods, or localization, so this is currently unknown. Teams in China should test network accessibility, import/export capabilities, and the payment process before purchasing. Alternatives may include Excel, Google Sheets, or more general-purpose LIMS / laboratory animal management systems.