Scientific computing & reproducibility · Center for Open Science
OSF
Free, open-source platform for managing, preregistering and sharing research projects from planning through publication.
OSF, run by the nonprofit Center for Open Science, covers the whole research lifecycle rather than just final outputs: project file storage and version control, preregistration templates that timestamp a study's hypotheses and methods before data collection, and public or restricted sharing of the finished project. It connects to storage and code services researchers already use, including GitHub, Dropbox, Google Drive and Dataverse, syncing rather than duplicating files. Preregistrations and registrations get their own DOI, and institutional dashboards let research offices track compliance with preregistration or data-sharing policies across their researchers. It's funded by the Center for Open Science through grants and institutional storage add-ons rather than by charging individual researchers.
At a glance
| Vendor | Center for Open Science |
|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free |
| Free tier | Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud |
| Open source | Yes (Apache-2.0) |
| Best for | Research teams needing preregistration and project-lifecycle transparency, not just final data archiving. |
Pricing
Free for individual researchers, funded by the nonprofit Center for Open Science through grants and institutional storage add-ons.
Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site.
Features
- Project version control and file storage
- Preregistration templates with timestamped DOIs
- Integration with GitHub, Dropbox, Google Drive and Dataverse
- Public or restricted project sharing
- Institutional dashboards for compliance tracking
- Collaborator permission management
Integrations
Profile last reviewed September 21, 2026