Every researcher knows that moment when you finish months of work, and you need somewhere safe, visible, and citable to host your data, preprints, or code. If you’ve been searching for options beyond the most popular platform, you’ve probably already started looking into 10 Alternatives to Zenodo. For years, Zenodo has been a go-to for open science, but growing wait times, storage limits, and disciplinary gaps have left thousands of academics looking for better fits for their work.

This isn’t about saying Zenodo is bad. It’s simply that no single platform works for every field, every project size, or every team’s publishing goals. Some researchers need longer term preservation, others want better disciplinary discovery, many need private collaboration features before public release. In this guide, we break down every major option, explain who each one works best for, and give you clear comparison points so you don’t waste hours testing platforms that won’t fit your needs. By the end, you’ll know exactly which tool to use for your next submission.

1. Figshare

Figshare is one of the oldest and most widely recognised generalist open research platforms, and often the first stop for researchers looking for alternatives to Zenodo. Launched in 2011, it now hosts over 8 million research items across every academic discipline, with more than 2 billion total downloads to date. Unlike Zenodo, Figshare gives you unlimited public storage for most file types, and lets you publish individual figures, posters, or raw datasets instead of requiring full project bundles.

One of the biggest advantages Figshare holds is its integration with most major journal submission systems. When you submit a paper to Elsevier, Springer Nature, or Wiley, you can link directly to your Figshare dataset without re-uploading files. You also get real time download statistics broken down by country and institution, which many researchers use for grant reporting and career progression reviews.

Key differences between Figshare and Zenodo include:

• Unlimited public storage for all file sizes under 5TB per item
• Automatic DOI assignment for every individual file, not just full projects
• Optional paid private storage for work in progress
• Built in altmetrics tracking for all published items

This platform works best for researchers across all disciplines who want maximum visibility for their work. It is particularly good for early career researchers who need to publish small outputs like conference posters or presentation slides that don’t fit traditional journal formats. The only real downside is that private storage costs can add up quickly for large teams working on long term projects.

2. Dryad Digital Repository

Dryad is purpose built specifically for research data associated with published academic papers, making it one of the most focused alternatives on this list. Unlike generalist platforms, Dryad was created by a coalition of research journals and universities to standardise data publishing for the life and environmental sciences. Every dataset uploaded to Dryad goes through basic curation checks to ensure files are usable and properly documented.

One of the most unique things about Dryad is their data preservation guarantee. All items uploaded to Dryad are stored for at least 100 years, with multiple redundant backups across three continents. This is a formal written guarantee, something very few open research platforms offer. For researchers submitting data that will be cited in long running studies or climate research, this level of permanence is non negotiable.

Feature	Dryad	Zenodo
Default preservation period	100 year written guarantee	No formal minimum guarantee
Curation checks	Required for all submissions	Only for large community collections
Accepted fields	Life, environmental, earth sciences	All disciplines

Dryad is not a good fit if you want to host preprints, code, or creative work. But if you are publishing biological, ecological, or environmental data, this is the gold standard. Most top journals in these fields now recommend or require authors to use Dryad for supporting data submissions.

3. Open Science Framework (OSF)

The Open Science Framework, or OSF, is built for full project lifecycle management rather than just final publication. This means you can use the same platform to plan experiments, collaborate privately with your team, store raw working data, and eventually publish the final outputs publicly. Over 2 million researchers currently use OSF for active research projects.

Unlike Zenodo, OSF lets you create versioned project folders that update as your work progresses. You can set different access permissions for different team members, add comment threads to individual files, and connect directly to lab notebooks and analysis tools. For teams working across multiple institutions, this removes almost all of the friction that comes with shared research storage.

When considering OSF over Zenodo, remember these core differences:

1. OSF supports unlimited private project storage for academic users
2. You can publish partial project snapshots at any stage of work
3. Full audit logs track every change made to files or data
4. Integration exists with 100+ common research tools

OSF works best for active research teams rather than researchers just looking to publish finished work. It has a steeper learning curve than simple file repositories, but the time you save on project coordination will usually make up for the initial setup work.

4. Harvard Dataverse

Harvard Dataverse is an open source, community run repository platform used by over 70 universities and research institutions worldwide. Unlike commercial platforms, no single company owns or operates Dataverse, which means there are no hidden paywalls, advertising, or changes to terms of service driven by profit goals.

You can use the main Harvard hosted Dataverse instance for free, or your university may run its own private Dataverse installation for affiliated researchers. All items get permanent DOIs, standard metadata, and are preserved for the long term in university archive systems. Dataverse is particularly popular in the social sciences, economics, and political science.

Use Case	Dataverse	Zenodo
Social science survey data	Excellent support	Basic support only
Institutional hosting	Free self hosted option	No self hosting available
User support	Community run	Central support team

The biggest downside of Dataverse is that it has an outdated user interface that many new researchers find confusing. It also does not support very large files well, with a hard 2GB limit per individual upload. For small to medium structured datasets however, it remains one of the most trusted open options available.

5. Mendeley Data

Mendeley Data is part of the wider Mendeley academic ecosystem, which means it integrates seamlessly with the reference manager, paper reader and collaboration tools that 10 million researchers already use daily. If you already use Mendeley for your reference library, this platform will feel instantly familiar.

You get 10GB of free private storage, unlimited public storage, and automatic metadata extraction from most common research file types. The platform also runs automated checks for common data formatting errors, and will suggest improvements before you publish your dataset publicly. All published items get a permanent DOI and are indexed by all major academic search engines.

Standout features of Mendeley Data include:

• One click import from Mendeley reference library
• Automated data validation checks
• Private collaboration folders for lab groups
• Direct linking to Elsevier journal submissions

Keep in mind that Mendeley is owned by Elsevier, which is a point of concern for many researchers who prefer non commercial open science tools. That said, for researchers already working within the Mendeley ecosystem, this is easily the most convenient alternative to Zenodo available today.

6. Code Ocean

Code Ocean is built specifically for computational research code, scripts and reproducible analysis workflows. Where most general repositories just store static files, Code Ocean lets other researchers run and modify your code directly in the cloud without needing to install any software or dependencies.

This solves one of the biggest unspoken problems with academic code sharing: 70% of published research code cannot be run successfully by other researchers, usually due to missing dependencies or undocumented setup steps. Code Ocean captures the full computing environment, so anyone can reproduce your results with exactly one click.

When comparing Code Ocean to Zenodo for code sharing:

1. Code runs directly in the browser with no local setup
2. Full environment capture including operating system and libraries
3. Automated reproducibility testing before publication
4. Built in version tracking for code changes

Code Ocean is not a good fit for raw data, preprints or other non computational work. But if you are publishing code alongside a paper, this platform is years ahead of every general research repository. Most top computer science, bioinformatics and physics journals now recommend Code Ocean for code submissions.

7. Pangaea

Pangaea is the leading open research repository for earth system science, environmental research and geology. It has been operating since 1995, and hosts over 4 million datasets from polar research, oceanography, climate science and field ecology.

Unlike general platforms, Pangaea employs specialist curators who understand the specific standards and metadata requirements for earth science data. All submissions are checked for completeness, formatted correctly for long term preservation, and indexed in specialised discipline search engines that most general repositories will never appear in.

Feature	Pangaea	Zenodo
Specialist curation	All submissions reviewed	No specialist review
Discipline discovery	Top ranked for earth science	General discovery only
Maximum file size	Unlimited for approved projects	50GB per item

If you work in any earth or environmental science field, your work will get far more visibility on Pangaea than it ever will on a general repository. Most major funding bodies for climate research now require grant recipients to publish final data through Pangaea where appropriate.

8. Preprints.org

Preprints.org is focused entirely on preprint publication, making it the best alternative for researchers who primarily used Zenodo to share draft papers before peer review. It is run by MDPI, and currently hosts over 400,000 preprints across every academic discipline.

Unlike Zenodo, Preprints.org has a lightweight moderation process that usually approves submissions within 24 hours. You get a permanent DOI, automatic indexing in Google Scholar, and built in tools for public comment and peer review on your preprint. You can also submit updated versions of your paper at any time, with clear version tracking between drafts.

Key advantages for preprint authors:

• Average 24 hour turnaround for submission approval
• Built in open peer review tools
• Direct transfer to over 300 partner journals
• No storage limits for preprint documents

This platform is not designed for data or code sharing, so you will still need a separate repository for supporting materials. But if your main use for Zenodo was preprint publishing, Preprints.org will almost always give you faster approval and better visibility for your work.

9. DASH Harvard

DASH, the Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard repository, is one of the oldest and most respected institutional open access repositories in the world. While it is hosted at Harvard, anyone can submit work to DASH regardless of their institutional affiliation.

DASH specialises in long term preservation of scholarly work, with formal commitments to maintain all submitted items in perpetuity as part of the university library archive. All items get permanent handles, standard metadata, and are prioritised in academic search results. Many researchers choose DASH for important work that they want guaranteed to remain available for future generations.

When choosing DASH over Zenodo:

1. All items are preserved as part of a university library archive
2. No commercial ownership or risk of service termination
3. Full open access with no paywalls of any kind
4. Professional library staff manage preservation

The main downside of DASH is that it has very strict submission requirements, and all items go through a formal review process before publication. This is not a good platform for quick uploads or draft work, but for final published outputs it is one of the most trusted places to host academic work online.

10. SciELO Preprints

SciELO Preprints is the leading open research platform for researchers working in Latin America, Africa, Southern Europe and other global regions often overlooked by northern hemisphere academic platforms. It is run by the non profit SciELO network, and prioritises multilingual support and equitable access for researchers worldwide.

Unlike most major repositories which operate almost entirely in English, SciELO supports submission in 12 different languages, and actively promotes work from researchers in low and middle income countries. All submissions get permanent DOIs, full indexing, and are available free of charge for anyone around the world.

Feature	SciELO	Zenodo
Supported languages	12 languages	English primary only
Regional focus	Global south priority	European focus
Governance	International academic network	Single institution run

For researchers working outside of North America and Western Europe, SciELO will usually give your work far more relevant visibility than European hosted platforms like Zenodo. It is also the best option for any researcher looking to support equitable, community governed open science infrastructure.

At the end of the day, there is no single perfect replacement for Zenodo, and that’s a good thing. The growth of open research platforms means you can pick a tool built for your discipline, your project type, and your long term goals instead of forcing your work into a one size fits all system. For most general use cases, Figshare or OSF will work great. If you work in the life sciences, choose Dryad. For code and computational work, Code Ocean will save you hours of frustration.

Don’t just pick the first platform you hear about. Take 15 minutes to test upload a small sample file, check the preservation policy, and read user reviews before you commit your research. If you found this guide helpful, share it with your lab group or department so other researchers don’t waste time struggling with platforms that don’t fit their needs.