The Best Research Data Management Software in 2026
We researched research data management software using official vendor websites, including pricing pages, plan tables, and product documentation. Rankings consider how well each product supports the category’s core job, value for money, and verified features for planning, documenting, preserving, discovering, and sharing research data.
Our top picks
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Top ranked
Zenodo#1 of 329.4/10Free repository for publishing research objects with DOIs, versioning, and access controls.
Free plan
-
Runner-up
Figshare#2 of 329.2/10A repository for publishing, organizing, and tracking research outputs, with free and paid options.
Free plan
-
Top-ranked free plan
ICPSR#3 of 329.1/10A research data archive for depositing, curating, discovering, and preserving social-science studies.
Free plan
Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. How we rank.
The full ranking 32 tools, best first
-
Best forFree, general-purpose research data publishing
Free repository for publishing research objects with DOIs, versioning, and access controls.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
9.4/10★★★★★Visit Zenodo -
Best forInstitutions needing an integrated research repository
A repository for publishing, organizing, and tracking research outputs, with free and paid options.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
9.2/10★★★★★Visit Figshare -
Best forCurated social-science data and long-term preservation
A research data archive for depositing, curating, discovering, and preserving social-science studies.
- DMP templates
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
9.1/10★★★★★Visit ICPSR -
Best forInstitutional teams managing research data
A managed repository for research datasets, scripts, and code, with review and access controls.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
9.0/10★★★★☆Visit DaRUS -
Best forTeams focused on DMPs and repository workflows
A collaborative DMP tool with repository connections and paid institutional customization.
- DMP templates
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
8.9/10★★★★☆Visit ARGOS -
Best forInstitutions standardizing DMP creation and review
A free DMP tool for researchers, with institutional customization and review features.
- DMP templates
8.8/10★★★★☆Visit DMPonline -
Best forInstitutions wanting a branded dataset repository
Digital Commons Data helps institutions publish, curate, and report on research datasets.
- Persistent identifiers
8.7/10★★★★☆Contact Elsevier -
Best forCurated, long-term research dataset archiving
A curated repository for publishing, preserving, and discovering research datasets.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
8.6/10★★★★☆Visit PANGAEA -
Best forFree collaborative DMP creation and reuse
A free collaborative DMP tool for eligible Göttingen Campus researchers.
- DMP templates
8.5/10★★★★☆Visit GRO.plan -
Best forDiscovering agricultural research assets
A free discovery platform for finding agricultural research across repositories and data types.
8.3/10★★★★☆Visit GARDIAN -
Best forStraightforward, free dataset publication
A free repository for publishing research datasets with metadata, access controls, and DOIs.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
8.2/10★★★★☆Visit bonndata -
Best forKU Leuven researchers depositing managed datasets
A free, managed repository for KU Leuven researchers publishing finished datasets.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
8.1/10★★★★☆Visit KU Leuven RDR -
Best forFree dataset sharing with cloud-storage connections
A free dataset repository with DOI publication, access controls, and cloud-storage connections.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
8.0/10★★★★☆Visit Mendeley Data -
Best forOrganizations managing a network of repositories
A repository network for finding, managing, and preserving environmental research data.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
7.9/10★★★★☆Visit DataONE -
Best forInstitutions self-hosting a data repository
A self-hosted repository for publishing, preserving, and managing research datasets.
7.8/10★★★★☆Visit Dataverse -
Best forAuthors publishing openly reusable research data
A DOI-backed repository with human curation, priced per dataset for individual authors.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
7.7/10★★★★☆Visit Dryad -
Best forUK researchers depositing reviewed data collections
A free UK repository for depositing, reviewing and sharing social science data collections.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
7.6/10★★★★☆Visit ReShare -
Best forControlled access to clinical-trial data for analysis
A managed route to request and analyze clinical-trial data in a secure workspace.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
7.5/10★★★★☆Visit Vivli -
Best forFree institutional DMPs with collaboration
A free online DMP tool for institutional research planning and collaboration.
- DMP templates
7.4/10★★★★☆Visit DeiC DMP -
Best forResearchers publishing software and datasets together
A curated repository for publishing research datasets and software with DOI and access controls.
- Persistent identifiers
7.3/10★★★★☆Try 4TU.ResearchData -
Best forResearchers creating plans with funder guidance
A free planning tool with funder guidance, collaboration controls, and DMP IDs.
- DMP templates
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
7.2/10★★★★☆Visit DMPTool -
Best forParticipating institutions sharing research datasets
A free, institution-based repository with rich metadata exports and controlled dataset access.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
7.1/10★★★★☆Visit Borealis -
Best forInstitutions building customized DMP workflows
An open-source DMP workflow institutions can tailor to funders and local systems.
- DMP templates
- Metadata standards
7.0/10★★★★☆Visit DAMAP -
Best forSearching metadata across research repositories
A free discovery index for searching harmonized metadata across research repositories.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
6.9/10★★★☆☆Visit B2FIND -
Best forOpen repositories needing review workflows
An open research repository with community metadata, review workflows and persistent identifiers.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
6.8/10★★★☆☆Visit B2SHARE -
Best forGöttingen Campus researchers publishing datasets
A free, open-source repository for Göttingen researchers to preserve, version, and publish datasets.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
6.7/10★★★☆☆Visit GRO.data -
Best forFinnish researchers needing linked storage and discovery
A free Finnish research data suite connecting managed storage, metadata and dataset discovery.
- Persistent identifiers
- Metadata standards
6.6/10★★★☆☆Visit Fairdata -
Best forFree, guided DMP creation without repository needs
Guided, collaborative DMP creation with versioning and exports, but no data repository.
- DMP templates
6.5/10★★★☆☆Visit DMP Assistant -
Best forFinding standards, databases, repositories, and policies
A free registry for discovering research data resources, not for storing or managing data.
- Metadata standards
6.4/10★★★☆☆Visit FAIRsharing -
Best forSelf-hosted, customizable project-lifecycle DMPs
An open-source DMP tool for teams that can configure or host their own instance.
- DMP templates
- Metadata standards
6.3/10★★★☆☆Visit RDMO -
Best forTeams building custom, machine-actionable DMPs
Build custom questionnaires and turn answers into plans and machine-actionable documents.
- DMP templates
6.2/10★★★☆☆Visit FAIR Wizard -
Best forComparing research repositories before choosing one
A free registry for comparing repositories, not storing or managing research data.
- Metadata standards
6.1/10★★★☆☆Visit re3data.org
No tools match those filters.
Compare at a glance
| # | Tool | Free plan | Paid from | DMP templates | Repository access | Storage limit | Persistent identifiers | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zenodo | Yes | None | — | Managed | 50 GB | Yes | 9.4 |
| 2 | Figshare | Yes | — | No | Managed | 20 GB | Yes | 9.2 |
| 3 | ICPSR | Yes | None | Yes | Managed | — | Yes | 9.1 |
| 4 | DaRUS | — | None | No | Managed | — | Yes | 9.0 |
| 5 | ARGOS | Yes | €1,200/yr | Yes | Managed | — | Yes | 8.9 |
| 6 | DMPonline | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | 8.8 |
| 7 | Digital Commons Data | No | — | — | Managed | 100 GB | Yes | 8.7 |
| 8 | PANGAEA | Yes | None | — | Managed | — | Yes | 8.6 |
| 9 | GRO.plan | Yes | None | Yes | None | — | — | 8.5 |
| 10 | GARDIAN | Yes | None | — | Open | — | — | 8.3 |
| 11 | bonndata | Yes | None | No | Managed | — | Yes | 8.2 |
| 12 | KU Leuven RDR | Yes | None | — | Managed | 50 GB | Yes | 8.1 |
| 13 | Mendeley Data | Yes | None | — | Managed | 10 GB | Yes | 8.0 |
| 14 | DataONE | Yes | — | — | — | — | Yes | 7.9 |
| 15 | Dataverse | — | None | — | — | — | — | 7.8 |
| 16 | Dryad | No | $150/unit one-time | — | Open | — | Yes | 7.7 |
| 17 | ReShare | Yes | None | — | Managed | — | Yes | 7.6 |
| 18 | Vivli | Yes | — | — | Managed | — | Yes | 7.5 |
| 19 | DeiC DMP | Yes | None | Yes | None | — | — | 7.4 |
| 20 | 4TU.ResearchData | Yes | — | — | Managed | 5 GB | Yes | 7.3 |
| 21 | DMPTool | Yes | None | Yes | None | — | Yes | 7.2 |
| 22 | Borealis | Yes | None | — | Managed | — | Yes | 7.1 |
| 23 | DAMAP | No | None | Yes | Managed | — | — | 7.0 |
| 24 | B2FIND | Yes | None | — | Open | — | Yes | 6.9 |
| 25 | B2SHARE | Yes | None | No | Open | — | Yes | 6.8 |
| 26 | GRO.data | Yes | None | — | — | — | Yes | 6.7 |
| 27 | Fairdata | Yes | None | — | Managed | — | Yes | 6.6 |
| 28 | DMP Assistant | Yes | None | Yes | None | — | — | 6.5 |
| 29 | FAIRsharing | Yes | None | — | None | — | — | 6.4 |
| 30 | RDMO | Yes | None | Yes | Managed | — | — | 6.3 |
| 31 | FAIR Wizard | Yes | — | Yes | — | 50 GB | — | 6.2 |
| 32 | re3data.org | Yes | None | — | Open | — | — | 6.1 |
Head-to-head All 28 comparisons →
- Zenodo vs Figshare
- Zenodo vs ICPSR
- Zenodo vs DaRUS
- Zenodo vs ARGOS
- Zenodo vs DMPonline
- Zenodo vs Digital Commons Data
- Zenodo vs PANGAEA
- Figshare vs ICPSR
- Figshare vs DaRUS
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How we rank research data management software
Every tool on this page was researched by iTechGuides Editors from its official website — pricing pages, plan tables and product documentation. We rank on how well each one does this category's core job, what the free or entry plan includes, and where it falls short. Where we have enough verified facts, the score out of 10 is a rubric — job fit, value and how much we could verify — shown with its breakdown on every tool's page; a tool we have not verified enough to score yet shows its rank without a number. Scores are re-checked when a product changes its plans. Read the full editorial policy, or submit a tool we missed.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Last updated · How we research and update