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Biobot Analytics vs WastewaterSCAN

Both test wastewater for disease trends. Biobot is a contracted lab service; WastewaterSCAN is philanthropically funded with free public data.

Side by side

Biobot Analytics WastewaterSCAN
Vendor Biobot Analytics Stanford University and Emory University (WastewaterSCAN)
Pricing model Quote only Free
Free tier No Yes
Deployment Cloud Cloud
Open source No No
Best for Health departments and public agencies wanting population-level, anonymous early-warning signals without individual clinical testing. Health officials, researchers, and journalists wanting free, public, multi-pathogen wastewater trend data.
Pricing

Sampling and analysis services are quoted per contract directly with Biobot; no public price list.

Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site.

Dashboard and published sewershed data are free and public; the program is philanthropically funded rather than sold commercially.

Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site.

Features
  • Wastewater sampling kits and logistics
  • Laboratory analysis for pathogens and substances
  • Population-level trend dashboards
  • SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and mpox monitoring
  • Opioid and substance-use wastewater testing
  • Support for CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance System
  • 1-3 business day result turnaround
  • Public sewershed-level data dashboard
  • Monitoring of roughly a dozen pathogens beyond SARS-CoV-2
  • Influenza, RSV, mpox, and norovirus tracking
  • Nationwide U.S. sampling network
  • Academic research partnership (Stanford, Emory)
  • Lab processing via Verily Life Sciences
  • Freely published trend and level data

Verdict

Biobot Analytics and WastewaterSCAN use the same underlying method — testing composite sewage samples from a treatment plant to estimate how much of a pathogen is circulating in that sewershed, without identifying any individual. The difference is not the science; it is who pays and who sees the results. Biobot is a company that sells sampling, lab analysis and reporting as a quoted, contracted service. WastewaterSCAN is an academic network, run by Stanford and Emory with Verily as lab partner, funded philanthropically, that publishes its sewershed-level results on a public dashboard.

Choose Biobot Analytics if

  • You want sampling on your own schedule and locations, under a contract with defined service levels.
  • Your sewershed is not already covered by an existing public network and you need dedicated coverage.
  • You are already working with the CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance System, which Biobot was selected to help operate and expand.

Choose WastewaterSCAN if

  • Your area is already part of the WastewaterSCAN network — check the public dashboard before contracting anyone.
  • You want free, public data you can cite without a procurement process, including for journalism or public communication.
  • You need signal on a broader pathogen list day one; WastewaterSCAN tracks roughly a dozen, including influenza A and B, RSV, mpox and norovirus, alongside SARS-CoV-2.

What they share

Both report at the sewershed level, not the individual level, and both are inputs for spotting trend direction and rough magnitude rather than confirmed diagnostic counts. Coverage for either service depends on which treatment plants participate, so the practical first step for any health department is checking which one already samples the sewershed you care about before comparing anything else.

Last reviewed September 22, 2026

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