Open-Source PyMOL
Molecular visualisation for inspecting structures and interfaces.
Developer: Schrödinger, LLC (open-source build)
Overview
- Developer
- Schrödinger, LLC (open-source build)
- Category
- Data and structure resources
- Commercial rights
- Commercial OK
- Commercial cost
- Free commercially
- Compute
- CPU
- Open weights
- Yes
- Last verified
Capabilities
Molecular visualisation and measurement. Input: structures and trajectories; output: rendered images/sessions plus interface inspection - contacts, distances, buried surface - for sanity-checking a design by eye.
When to use it
Use for visual QC of designs, epitopes and docked poses. The open-source build lacks some features and support of the commercial distribution.
Input / Output
- Input
- structures and trajectories
- Output
- rendered images/sessions plus interface inspection - contacts, distances, buried surface - for sanity-checking a design by eye
Compute
Commercial Licensing
Commercial rights — may a company use it?
Commercial use OKLicence as writtenOpen-Source PyMOL Copyright Notice (custom permissive, MIT/X11-style)
The LICENSE file grants permission to use, copy, modify and distribute for any purpose without fee, provided copyright notices are kept; the PyMOL name may not be used in advertising without permission, and derivatives must be plainly distinguished from Schrödinger's PyMOL products. The paid Incentive PyMOL product is separate.
The licence read at the source allows use by a company. Attribution or copyleft conditions may still apply — read the note.
Commercial cost — is commercial use free of charge?
Free for commercial useThe open-source build is free for any use. The commercial PyMOL sold by Schrodinger is a separate, paid product; you do not need it, and incentive/educational builds have their own restrictions.
Price and rights are separate: this panel is about money, the panel above is about permission.
- Commercial OK ≠ Free of charge. A tool can be licensed for company use and still need a paid licence for a dependency (BindCraft → PyRosetta).
- Free download ≠ Commercially licensed. Weights you can download at no cost may still forbid commercial use (AlphaFold 3).
- Unverified ≠ Commercially permitted. If no published statement settles it, treat it as unknown — not as a yes.
- Every component counts. Each status considers the code licence, the model-weights terms, required dependencies and any terms of use.
Model Weights
Open weights. A separate weights licence is Not documented as its own field; where weights carry different terms from the code, that is stated in the licence explanation above.
Dependencies
Not documented as a separate field. Any dependency that affects commercial use (for example a paid PyRosetta licence) is named in the licence and cost explanations above.
Official References
- Official site / repo
- github.com/schrodinger/pymol-open-source
- Paper
- Not documented
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