ColabFold
Fast AlphaFold2 with MMseqs2-based MSAs, runnable in Colab.
Mirdita, Ovchinnikov, Steinegger et al.
What it does
AlphaFold2/multimer with fast MSAs. Input: FASTA (or a Colab notebook cell); output: ranked predicted structures with pLDDT/PAE plots, using MMseqs2 remote MSA search instead of a local database.
Commercial use
Commercial use OKLicence as writtenMIT License
MIT LICENSE file in the repo. The AlphaFold2 parameters it downloads are CC BY 4.0 per the AlphaFold README. Note the free public MSA server is intended for modest academic-scale use; heavy or commercial batch use should run a local MMseqs2 server.
The licence read at the source allows use by a company. Attribution or copyleft conditions may still apply — read the note.
Is commercial use free of charge?
Free for commercial useThe software is free (MIT) and the public MSA server costs nothing, though it is rate-limited and fair-use. Heavy or production use means running your own MSA server or paying for your own compute, not a licence fee.
Price and rights are separate: this panel is about money, the panel above is about permission.
When to use it
The cheapest practical way to get AF2 predictions, including on free Colab GPUs. MSA depth from the public server is lower than full AF2 databases, and the server is rate-limited.
Facts
- Maker
- Mirdita, Ovchinnikov, Steinegger et al.
- Cost for commercial use
- Free for commercial use
- Category
- Structure and complex prediction
- Compute
- Single GPU
- Open weights
- Yes
- Licence
- MIT License
- Official site / repo
- github.com/sokrypton/ColabFold
- Paper
- nature.com
- Last verified
Get told when a licence changes
Licences on these tools do change. One short email when a status flips or a tool is added. No other use of your address.