PlateCounter automatically quantifies bacterial colonies, bacteriophage plaques, and callus growth in petri dish images — giving you consistent, reproducible results in seconds, not minutes.
Every researcher who has spent 30 minutes counting dots on a photo knows the problem. PlateCounter was built to replace that.
Manually counting even a moderate experiment (20–40 plates) takes hours. That time is better spent on analysis.
Different researchers, different thresholds. Manual counts vary by up to 15% between analysts, making replication difficult.
Numbers jotted on paper or typed into spreadsheets by hand create audit gaps and are prone to transcription errors.
No calibration required. Works with your existing camera or phone.
Use any camera or smartphone. Upload one image or a whole batch — JPG, PNG, TIFF, and RAW are all supported.
PlateCounter locates the dish boundary, counts colonies or plaques, and measures average diameter in millimetres — all automatically.
Click to add or remove individual detections, then export a fully labelled Excel file with counts, sizes, dates, and plate IDs.
Designed around real laboratory workflows, not generic image analysis.
Detect and count bacterial colonies or bacteriophage plaques with consistent, reproducible thresholds. Manual correction tools for overlapping or edge colonies.
Monitor plant tissue culture across timepoints. Calculates coverage area in mm², browning score, and flags contamination automatically.
Average colony or plaque diameter is calculated in millimetres using the known petri dish diameter as a reference — no manual calibration needed.
One-click export to a labelled .xlsx file containing counts, sizes, dates, QR plate IDs, and per-image thumbnails. Ready for statistical analysis.
Print a QR code on each dish and PlateCounter reads it automatically. Results are linked to your plate IDs without manual data entry.
Upload a full experiment in one go. Plates are processed in parallel and results assembled in order — useful for time-course or dose-response experiments.
See how automated analysis compares to the traditional approach
PlateCounter was developed inside an active microbiology and plant science laboratory. It was designed to solve the counting challenges we faced ourselves: inconsistent results between analysts, time-consuming manual workflows, and fragile paper-based record keeping.
Every feature exists because a researcher needed it. The sensitivity controls, manual correction tools, QR plate tracking, and Excel export were all shaped by real experimental workflows — not imagined ones.
Log in to PlateCounter and process your first experiment in under a minute.