Zenodo
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you're a researcher who needs free, citable hosting with DOIs and GitHub archiving.
New check
Comparison
Zenodo vs Figshare
Zenodo lands on Worth it, and Figshare lands on Depends.
Figshare
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Universities, libraries, and researchers publishing citable, DOI-backed outputs buy.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Depends |
| Best for | Researchers sharing citable datasets | Universities and libraries |
| Who it's not for | Sensitive or confidential data | Businesses wanting general data storage |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed. | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed. |
| Support quality | Slow replies, broken stats, silent account bans | No support-quality evidence found |
| Public sentiment | Researchers see it as a genuinely useful free public service but gripe about weak support, moderation surprises, and unreliable stats.⁶ | Institutional adopters report successful rollouts, while some individual researchers complain about unexplained takedowns. |
| Biggest gotcha | Moderation can block accounts and delete hundreds of records without prior notice⁸ | Takedown allegations exist; don't treat it as sole storage for irreplaceable data. |
Pick Zenodo when
- Researchers sharing citable datasets
- Code releases via GitHub
- NIH and EU grant data compliance
- Community-curated collections
When Zenodo is not a fit
- Sensitive or confidential data
- Anyone needing SLAs or responsive support
- Mission-critical primary storage
- Peer review . it hosts work, it does not review it
Pick Figshare when
- Universities and libraries
- Researchers needing citable DOIs
- Publishers and funders
- FAIR data compliance
When Figshare is not a fit
- Businesses wanting general data storage
- Sensitive or human-subjects data
- Buyers wanting self-serve transparent pricing
- Solo researchers content with free Zenodo
Sources
- Zenodo . official sitezenodo.orgofficial
- Zenodo Infrastructureabout.zenodo.orgofficial
- Zenodo Policiesabout.zenodo.orgofficial
- OpenAIRE Zenodo guideopenaire.euofficial
- NIH preferred repositoriesnccih.nih.govnews
- Reddit r/Physics on Zenodo credibilityreddit.comreview
- Reddit r/CERN stats pipeline complaintreddit.comreview
review
- NIH guidance on sensitive datahelp.zenodo.orgofficial
- Generalist repositories comparisonguides.lib.utexas.edunews
- figshare - credit for all your researchfigshare.comofficial
- figshare Pricing & Reviewstechjockey.comreview
- The best free Research Data Repositoryevodify.comreview
- figshare | Data Management - Harvard Medical Schooldatamanagement.hms.harvard.edureview
- Sharing Your Poster on Figsharefocalplane.biologists.comreview
- Figshare Integration offers enhanced discoverabilitydimensions.ainews