Comparison
Museumica vs Specify
Specify is a long-established, open-source collection management system built for research institutions. Museumica is a hosted product for private collectors and small museums. Both export Darwin Core; they differ mainly in depth of data model versus speed of setup.
Written by the Museumica team · Last updated: 22 September 2026
Side-by-side comparison
| Aspect | Museumica | Specify |
|---|---|---|
| Intended user | Private collectors, small museums and researchers. | Research institutions and university natural history collections. |
| Setup | Sign up and start cataloguing the same day. | Institutional deployment, data modelling and configuration. |
| Hosting | Fully hosted web application, EU data hosting. | Self-hosted or hosted through the Specify Collections Consortium. |
| Cost model | Free Hobby plan, then per-workspace subscription. | Open-source software with consortium membership fees for support. |
| Data model | Category-specific fields for minerals, fossils, shells, insects, herbarium, meteorites, taxidermy and curiosities. | Deep, highly configurable museum data model built around biological collections. |
| Standards | Darwin Core, CSV and PDF export. | Darwin Core and extensive aggregator publishing pipelines. |
| Public presentation | Built-in public museum page and virtual exhibitions. | Typically requires a separate portal such as Specify Web Portal. |
| Labels | Built-in museum-quality label templates and batch printing. | Report and label templating, usually configured by staff. |
| AI tools | Assistant, semantic search, AI descriptions and exhibition narratives included. | Not part of the core product. |
| Best fit | Collections of tens to tens of thousands of specimens with one or a few curators. | Institutional collections with dedicated collection-management staff. |
Frequently asked
- Is Museumica a replacement for Specify?
- For most private collections and small museums, yes; for a large research institution already publishing to global aggregators through Specify, no. Specify offers a deeper institutional data model, while Museumica targets collectors and small museums who want to be catalogued and online quickly.
- Does Museumica support Darwin Core like Specify?
- Yes. Museumica exports specimen data in Darwin Core, the biodiversity standard, alongside CSV and PDF catalogue exports.
- Which is cheaper?
- Specify is open-source software, so licence cost is zero but hosting, configuration and consortium support are not. Museumica has a free Hobby plan and a flat subscription for larger collections with hosting included.
- Can I migrate from Specify to Museumica?
- Yes, by exporting your Specify data to CSV or Darwin Core and importing it with Museumica's import wizard, which maps columns onto Museumica fields.