# Calira Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is Calira the right Laboratory Information Management System solution for you? Explore 183 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/206878/Bookkit/reviews --- Calira 4.4 (183) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/206878/Bookkit/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Reviews of Calira Ease of use 4.2 Customer Service 4.4 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews NM Nia M Molecular Biology technicianResearch, 5,001 - 10,000 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “being able to integrate your bookings into your work calendar such as outlook with automatic updates makes this software an invaluable tool for research“ December 9, 2021 KA Khush Bakhat A scholar Pharmaceuticals, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “According to my personal experience, please align the options systematically on main page. so that no one get confuse after booking. when i used it for first time, i couldn't understand how to edit and change the booking setup.“ December 9, 2022 MS MOHD Sukor S Research FellowResearch, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “It makes the lab management - booking, approval, and track record easier.“ July 28, 2022 Adrian S Research Associate Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing, 1,001 - 5,000 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “The only downside but I really hope it will be implemented in the near future is that it currently has no solution for inventory management, so I have to rely to alternative products“ October 20, 2021 PR Philip R PhD StudentPharmaceuticals, 5,001 - 10,000 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “The fact I can select to book machines via the machine name or the room they're in allow a lot of ease when booking items that i'm not entirely sure their name or where they are within the University.“ December 8, 2021 JC Jackie C Lab ManagerHigher Education, 5,001 - 10,000 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “The inability for users to edit their own bookings AFTER completion.“ June 30, 2022 RA Radwan A PhD StudentChemicals, 10,001+ employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “You could manage lab slots, instruments, and spaces, helping to save time, especially for the NMR uses.“ December 8, 2021 PR Philip R PhD StudentPharmaceuticals, 5,001 - 10,000 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “We can only book for 4 hours at a time - I'm not sure if this is set by the University or Clustermarket.“ December 8, 2021 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 183 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Adrian S. Research Associate Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Best Lab Management Solution " October 20, 2021 5.0 Pros This product is a great lab management tool. Many nice features for instrument management, many different roles/access level to instruments and easy to deploy/scale. I highly recommend. Cons The only downside but I really hope it will be implemented in the near future is that it currently has no solution for inventory management, so I have to rely to alternative products Review Source Response from Clustermarket October 22, 2021 Many thanks for the positive feedback, Adrian! GR Gilbert R. Postdoctoral research fellow Research Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "A customizable program for instrument and personnel management that is a must for research." October 20, 2021 5.0 Streamline equipment and personnel management in one software, improving efficiency across the board. Pros The ease of use of this software, easy implementation across all staff members, customizable nature, and the online nature of the data are all amazing pros for this software. Cons There really isn't anything I dislike about this software. Very easy to use and a great addition to our research group! Alternatives considered [SuperSaaS](https://www.capterra.com/p/87751/SuperSaaS-Appointment-Schedule/) Reason for choosing Calira Clustermarket had a better interface and was much easier to use. Switched from [Google Docs](https://www.capterra.com/p/160756/Google-Docs/)[Google Drive](https://www.capterra.com/p/161425/Drive/) Clustermarket is a much easier interface to use in our opinion, runs smoother, and is designed to be used by researchers. Review Source Response from Clustermarket October 25, 2021 Thank you very much for the positive feedback, Gilbert! CJ Callum J. Facility Manager Nanotechnology Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Works well for managing a small number of users but becomes more difficult as our user base grows." December 8, 2021 3.0 5/10 Pros 1\. This is a good way to manage equipment bookings. 2. This is reliably way to ensure we are complying with most of the university regulations. Cons 1\. Hard to manage covid-19 restrictions - e.g. limited number of people allowed in each lab. There is no feature to help with this. 2. Users can book multiple equipment and lab spaces simultaneously. Currently, I am forced to spend lots of admin time daily checking and re-arranging people that have "double-booked". If they have double-booked, we cannot reliably say how many people were in that specific lab at that time. 3. It would be nice if I could track consumable usage/costs on top of equipment bookings for each user. For instance, some users will use very expensive consumables (e.g. gold deposition). 4. It would be good to incorporate a feature for users to request training on specific equipment/labs on top of this booking software. 5. One of the tabs on the left could be labelled "Rules" where the admin can list the equipment/lab/bookings rules. 6. There should a clearer hierarchy showing which setting overrule similar settings elsewhere. For instance, booking hour settings in a group overrule the booking hour settings given to an individual user. 7. It would be good if there was a way to confirm whether a user has had training on the equipment and submitted a risk assessment before being allowed to book the equipment. Review Source Response from Clustermarket December 10, 2021 Thank you very much for taking the time to share your feedback, Callum. We have shared this with our product development team. EM Emily M. Centre Coordinator Higher Education Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great software package for academic institutions" September 3, 2020 5.0 Pros We use Bookit to book equipment internally across all our research platforms, including high-spec and day-to-day equipment. They have a great offer for academic institutions and we have found the system easy to use for lab administrators and users. I would also note that the customer service provided has been great, they are very responsive and open to making updates to the system when we have suggestions. The updates provided have allowed for a sophisticated and robust set of permissions available to tightly control bookings on heavily used equipment. We also have plans to start charging some external users for access to some equipment and Bookit is equipped to manage this. Cons The reporting provided is comprehensive in that all data can be easily exported into a csv file and manipulated into your own reports. However, I think lab managers/administrators would benefit from some quick reporting directly in the system (e.g. usage of equipment across a facility or over time). Switched from [QReserve](https://www.capterra.com/p/165001/QReserve/) Predominantly due to the cost as both systems offered similar functionality (although Bookit have developed a lot since we switched). We were paying a licence fee to use QReserve but Clustermarket is free for academic institutions to use, and as we are charity funded, minimising costs is very important. Review Source Response from Clustermarket September 16, 2020 Thanks for the positive feedback, we appreciate it. We will continue collecting user feedback for any upcoming new features or relevant updates in the platform! SD Sateria D. Research Associate II Research Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Awesome support from ClusterMarket Bookit Employees" March 24, 2021 5.0 We enjoy using bookit especially during the pandemic, we needed to control for social distancing and this software helped us do just that. Users rarely need to be taught how to use the software, so the user interface is exceptional. Pros The software is easy to use! The support is awesome! Cons Sometimes there are more than one way to influence settings in the system, via user settings or instrument settings or group settings. Alternatives considered [Google Calendar](https://www.capterra.com/p/213340/Google-Calendar/) Reason for choosing Calira Easier and more similar to FBS - our former product Review Source Response from Clustermarket April 23, 2021 Thanks for the great feedback - we're glad to hear you are happy with our software and support! AQ Adolfo Q. Facility Manager Higher Education Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Fantastic booking system" February 11, 2021 5.0 We had many issues with our previous booking system. Difficult to use, not easy for people with little experience working with spreadsheets and confusing most of the times. Our department has been using Bookkit for a month and, so far, all the users are really happy with it. It is a clear step forward that is helping everyone using our facility. Pros The most important feature is how easy it is to use, not only as a researcher/user, but also as an administrator. The software is clean, clear and allows you to create a booking system that will be of help for anyone using it. Cons There is nothing specially wrong. I was trying to personalize the web to use the colours of the department and that is something that you (probably) cannot change. It is a minor (minuscule) issue. Switched from [Google Docs](https://www.capterra.com/p/160756/Google-Docs/) Complains from the users about the previous booking system. Review Source Response from Clustermarket March 26, 2021 Thanks for the positive feedback Adolfo! It's great to hear our system is working well for you. FM Filippo M. Researcher Research Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Amazing management software for your research institution" October 15, 2020 4.0 It is the best management software I have tried for booking instruments, rooms and spaces for research institutions... and I evaluated quite a few for the institute I am working in. It can easily handle more than 100 users and over 200 different equipments/spaces! AMAZING SOFTWARE! Pros Extremely flexible customisation for specific instruments. It can handle large number of users with different policies. Very advanced options to manage external bookings. Easy to administer. Cons Not easy to make multiple or repetitive bookings. Sometimes it is not extremely responsive during bookings. Switched from [TeamUp](https://www.capterra.com/p/150357/Teamup/) TeamUp was allowing the users to cancel past events! It was not possible to personalise calendars for different instruments/spaces. Bookkit is far the way better, basically incomparable! Review Source Response from Clustermarket October 19, 2020 Thanks a lot for the great feedback Filippo! We are really happy hear you enjoy using Bookkit. VR Verified Reviewer School Technical Manager Research Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Fantastic software for managing research labs" August 18, 2020 5.0 We used it to manage space and occupancy of it during the pandemic and restarting the labs. the customer support was excellent and they set up what we needed straight away. Further queries have been resolved immediate no matter how small the query way. All the researchers have had a positive experience of using the system and we have had no complaints. We have used this for over 500 researchers and the feedback has been excellent. Pros I particularly like the way the information is displayed, it makes it very easy to see what to book and how to book it. Far better than other platforms I have looked at Cons I have not found anything that I would fault it with to be honest, especially compared to similar products on the market Reason for choosing Calira Because their home page indicated they could help manage labs during a pandemic and the rep got back to me immediately and offer an video meeting to assist Switched from [LabCup](https://www.capterra.com/p/156754/LabCup/) This was far more user friendly and we received better support Review Source Response from Clustermarket August 25, 2020 Thank you very much for the lovely review! We are very glad to hear Bookkit is so useful to your lab and researchers. We look forward to continue supporting you! Dr. Rudra M. Marie Curie ES Researcher Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Clustermarket for lab and cleanroom equipment book" December 8, 2021 5.0 Pros Easy access to registered labs and upcoming bookings Cons Selecting the hours of booking is sometimes not possible from the home screen. Review Source Response from Clustermarket December 10, 2021 Thank you for your feedback Dr. Rudra! Shane B. Post-Doctoral Scientist Research Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "A confusing and slow booking system." March 11, 2022 3.0 Its ok. Its very confusing to navigate and the look of the system is poor. Pros Not really anything that jumps out. The server is relatively fast. Cons The interface is confusing. Unless you are shown, its hard to select which instrument to book and you can only book for that week. Review Source Response from Clustermarket May 25, 2022 Thanks for sharing your feedback, Shane! We are always looking for ways to improve our system, it would be great to have a chat to discuss these problems in more detail - please don't hesitate to contact us via the website or by replying to this email. KL Kathie L. Research Support Coordinator Higher Education Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Bookkit for the win" October 26, 2020 4.0 Due to the pandemic we needed an option to replace the antiquated paper & pen sign in sheet option for reserving shared/departmental equipment. I was quickly able to offer up an easy to use system and the price was right: FREE! Pros The was an easy to roll out product. Customer support is excellent; they are quick to respond to an inquiry, and equally fast is a resolution. I provided Clustermarket/Bookkit staff an Excel list of our equipment, with the important details for each, and in a very short time (a day) we were up and running. It saved me a lot of time. All the pertinent information regarding a piece of equipment (including an owner's manuals and helpful documentation) is conveniently located in one place and is accessible to all users. End users have not complained about the new system. Control options for admins are sufficient and, again, easy to use. Cons I wish the mobile interface was better; the GUI needs a little help. I've been told they are working on that. Review Source Response from Clustermarket November 5, 2020 Thanks a lot for the feedback Kathie. As you've mentioned we are already working on improving the mobile-friendliness of the platform and will notify all our users as soon as any new features are released! MSS MOHD Sukor S. Research Fellow Research Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Superb Lab management software" July 28, 2022 5.0 fantastic! Pros It makes the lab management - booking, approval, and track record easier. Cons a few things could be improved: 1. create phone apps 2. assign trainer automatically/selecting option upon booking by an untrained user. 3. one click the approval page as an option for booking request Review Source Response from Clustermarket August 1, 2022 Thank you very much for your feedback! Your suggestions have been shared with our product development team. CD Chantelle D. Assistant Lab Manager Research Used the software for: 2+ years ### "ClusterMarket for lab managers" July 27, 2022 4.0 Pros I find it very easy to use and the new features that are being added makes it even more user friendly Cons Trying to get our lab users on board with using it Review Source Response from Clustermarket August 1, 2022 Thank you very much for the feedback, Chantelle! PS Priyanka S. Research Fellow Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Best software for managing multiple users for multiple instruments " December 8, 2021 5.0 Pros Its user friendly and can be used for multiple instruments at once. We use Bookit in our organization which makes it quite easy for multiple users to book instruments at the same time. Cons Honestly, I cannot think of any. It was quite easy to get it integrated in our organization Review Source Response from Clustermarket December 10, 2021 Thank you very much for your feedback, Priyanka! LL Leanne L. Laboratory Manager Research Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Great for implementing controls due to Covid" October 15, 2020 5.0 Overall it is very user friendly and easy to use. Pros The software comes with many features including assigning research groups their own equipment (which they can also be responsible for via the roles of instructors and technicians), it allows charging for the use of the equipment easily, and can place in time restrictions for reopening our lab due to Covid measures. The update recently that allows multiple admin users and viewing other labs/organisations in one makes it much more user friendly and allows for more flexibility. Cons I feel like multiple bookings could be made easier. Currently users have been block booking for the whole week but then that all falls under "one" booking even if it is across multiple days. Would be nice if bookings that last for longer than 24 hours be separated into separate bookings, so that when we run a report for Covid reasons, they come up as "completed". Reason for choosing Calira Bookkit was more widely used in our college and more user friendly than iris. Review Source Response from Clustermarket October 19, 2020 Hey Leanne - thanks for the great feedback. We are constantly working on improving the system and will take your comments into account! AP Anil P. Researcher 5 Research Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "User of Cluster market" October 20, 2021 4.0 I had a good experience scheduling and editing existing reservations through cluster market. Pros Easy to use app on the computer. Lets book multiple slots for several days at a time. Cons Mobile compatabilty can be improved. Notifications and integration to google calendars can be advantageous. Review Source Response from Clustermarket October 25, 2021 Thanks for the feedback Anil! We are shortly updating our platform which will improve the mobile friendliness. We are able able to integrate with Google Calendar - feel free to get in touch with our team who will support you. JMC Jesus Maria C. Academic Leader Research Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Covid measures in a research institute" October 15, 2020 4.0 We loved how easy was to implement it and we have started to explore other possiblities (external service, costings). Pros We had to implement the whole booking system for the research institute under the new covid 19 measures. It took us less than a day to place all infrastructure and all users. We run a transition period from the previous system (excel sheets) to the new and in one week we were all using it. Cons I don't have a the moment anything that I don't like yet. Maybe confirmation of bookings could be done on multiple events at once, but it is something very minor. Reason for choosing Calira Other products offered only a trial time and then payment for the service had to follow. Bookkit has services that are on the scale of the academic laboratories (we don't have high budgets. Also service was impressive, I was contacted within 24 h with helpful advise on how to setup the system and if I wanted I only needed to fill up an excel sheet, incredible! Review Source Response from Clustermarket October 19, 2020 Hi Jesus, thanks a lot for the positive feedback. It's great to hear you enjoy using our system and are happy with the customer support! NA Narjes A. Postdoc Research Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "User friendly " December 21, 2021 4.0 Pros It is user friendly but could be improved to make the access easier Cons List of softwares difficult to find . You can make us access our lab easier and book for the machine. Do you have iOS or android application Review Source Response from Clustermarket May 25, 2022 Thank you for the feedback - we have shared this with our product development team. PR Philip R. PhD Student Pharmaceuticals Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Philip Ragan Clustermarket review" December 8, 2021 4.0 Very pleasant. Easy to use and very user friendly. Pros I think the software is very user friendly. The fact I can select to book machines via the machine name or the room they're in allow a lot of ease when booking items that i'm not entirely sure their name or where they are within the University. Cons We can only book for 4 hours at a time - I'm not sure if this is set by the University or Clustermarket. Review Source Response from Clustermarket December 10, 2021 Thanks for your feedback, Philip! Any booking restrictions you are experiencing would have been implemented by your lab admin. DO Daniel O. PhD Student Biotechnology Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Clustermarket review" December 8, 2021 4.0 Good to schedule use of instruments in the lab. Pros Easy to use and good value for the money. Cons The user interface is less user friendly than labagenda for example. Looks a bit from the era of windows windows 7. Review Source Response from Clustermarket December 13, 2021 Many thanks for your feedback, Daniel! Our team is currently working on updating our UI which will make using the system much easier. MG Miriam G. Research Assistant Education Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Easy to use" December 8, 2021 5.0 It is user friendly, easy to use Pros It is a practical tool to add all equipment in our lab. Cons I have no complains. So far everything has worked well. Review Source Response from Clustermarket December 10, 2021 Thank you for your feedback, Miriam! RK Refik K. Research Fellow Pharmaceuticals Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Research group" December 8, 2021 5.0 Pros Very easy to use and implement across the entire research unit Cons Can be a bit tricky to use on the mobile but no problem with the desktop version Review Source Response from Clustermarket December 13, 2021 Thanks for your feedback, Refik! Our team is currently working on updating our UI as well as the mobile experience which will make using the system much easier. ZP Zulay P. Specialist Technician Research Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Bookkit is a very nice product." October 15, 2020 5.0 Bookkit is a very nice product, so useful to manage the usage of shared equipment of our research center. Is a very friendly platform, with a large number of options to customize the services according to the needs of each laboratory. Their customer support are really efficient. Pros The feature that I really find useful is that we are able to manage different laboratories, with different users on the same platform. Cons I would like to have more options to customize the schedule of equipments. For example, set more than one time-block at the day where the equipment will be out of service. Reason for choosing Calira We are a research institution and we use Bookkit in Academy mode. We have not found another product that offer as so many services at not cost. Review Source Response from Clustermarket October 19, 2020 Thanks for the positive feedback Zulay! We appreciate it and are happy to hear you enjoy using Bookkit - we will continue improving the system to make the overall user experience better. JK Jad K. Graduate Assistant Research Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Good and practical" October 21, 2021 4.0 Pros Instrument management (reservations) is very useful and beneficial for smooth running of the lab Cons Sometimes there are too many steps to reserve or request and equipment. Review Source Response from Clustermarket October 25, 2021 Thanks for your input, Jad! We will shortly be updating our platform to improve the user experience. KI Kenzo I. Postdoc Research Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Very useful and free tool to manage shared equipments in the laboratory " October 20, 2021 5.0 Very useful tool, better than any other calendar system I have used so far (google cal, outlook cal, iLab) Pros It has all the features I need to manage the shared equipments in our lab. Cons I wish if I could change the default setting for new users. I always have to change several parameters manually. Reason for choosing Calira I heard from my colleague and tried, and liked it. Review Source Response from Clustermarket October 25, 2021 Thank you very much for your feedback! We have forwarded your comments to our development team. Similar Products Featured ## Related categories [Laboratory Information Management System](https://www.capterra.com/laboratory-information-management-system-software/)