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Tools

137 tools across 16 categories, all pulled as BioContainer / public images on first use. This page is auto-generated from registry/tools/ by scripts/gen_docs.py.

Most-used tools · citations in 2021–2025

Ranked by how many papers cited each tool's canonical reference in the last 5 full years — a rough proxy for current adoption. Counts are a lower bound on real use (not everyone cites), and older tools have had longer to accrue totals. Source: Europe PMC.

# Tool Category Cites 2021–2025 Total
1 deseq2 deg 52,954 73,988
2 star rnaseq_align 29,334 42,990
3 starsolo single_cell 29,334 42,990
4 bowtie2 alignment 25,726 44,452
5 mafft comparative_genomics 19,382 31,681
6 edger deg 19,299 33,699
7 bwa alignment 18,432 37,459
8 bwa_samtools alignment 18,432 37,459
9 fastp qc 17,472 20,593
10 subread rnaseq_align 15,722 21,908
11 bedtools alignment 13,669 23,251
12 bcftools variant_calling 10,602 12,329
13 samtools alignment 10,602 12,329
14 minimap2 alignment 10,300 12,728
15 iqtree comparative_genomics 9,889 11,566

Note: 5 tools show n/a because their registry PMID points to an unrelated paper (author/year mismatch); those references are pending correction. Counts are shown only for PMIDs whose author + year match the cited work.

alignment (7)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
bedtools 2.31.1 quay.io/biocontainers/bedtools:2.31.1--h13024bc_3 Quinlan & Hall 2010, PMID 20110278 23,251 13,669
bowtie2 2.5.1 staphb/bowtie2:2.5.1 Langmead & Salzberg 2012, PMID 22388286 44,452 25,726
bwa 0.7.19 quay.io/biocontainers/bwa:0.7.19--h577a1d6_1 Li & Durbin 2009, PMID 19451168 37,459 18,432
bwa_mem2 2.3 quay.io/biocontainers/bwa-mem2:2.3--he70b90d_0 Vasimuddin 2019, PMID 31355760 n/a n/a
bwa_samtools 0.7.19 quay.io/biocontainers/mulled-v2-fe8faa35dbf6dc65a0f7f5d4ea12e31a79f73e40:f45ad9036aa41bb10f875a330fa877d8869018a1-0 Li & Durbin 2009, PMID 19451168 37,459 18,432
minimap2 2.31 quay.io/biocontainers/minimap2:2.31--h118bc1c_0 Li 2018, PMID 29750242 12,728 10,300
samtools 1.23.1 quay.io/biocontainers/samtools:1.23.1--ha83d96e_0 Danecek 2021, PMID 33590861 12,329 10,602

assembly (16)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
abyss 2.3.10 quay.io/biocontainers/abyss:2.3.10--h4a2768f_3 Jackman 2017, PMID 28232478 487 311
canu 2.3 quay.io/biocontainers/canu:2.3--h3fb4750_2 Koren 2017, PMID 28298431 5,891 3,937
flye 2.9.6 quay.io/biocontainers/flye:2.9.6--py313h7fbb527_1 Kolmogorov 2019, PMID 30936562 4,760 3,977
hifiasm 0.25.0 quay.io/biocontainers/hifiasm:0.25.0--h5ca1c30_0 Cheng 2021, PMID 33526886 5,797 5,045
masurca 4.1.4 quay.io/biocontainers/masurca:4.1.4--ha5bb246_1 Zimin 2017, PMID 28130360 363 224
medaka 2.2.2 quay.io/biocontainers/medaka:2.2.2--py312h3050eb1_0 Oxford Nanopore Technologies, https://github.com/nanoporetech/medaka n/a n/a
megahit 1.2.9 quay.io/biocontainers/megahit:1.2.9--h2e03b76_1 Li 2015, PMID 25609793 6,760 5,259
nextdenovo 2.5.2 quay.io/biocontainers/nextdenovo:2.5.2--py311hc29ee83_7 Hu 2024, PMID 38671502 377 303
nextpolish 1.4.1 quay.io/biocontainers/nextpolish:1.4.1--h3952c39_7 Hu 2020, PMID 31778144 994 913
pilon 1.24 quay.io/biocontainers/pilon:1.24--hdfd78af_0 Walker 2014, PMID 25409509 7,548 5,190
racon 1.5.0 quay.io/biocontainers/racon:1.5.0--h21ec9f0_2 Vaser 2017, PMID 28100585 2,530 1,934
raven 1.8.3 quay.io/biocontainers/raven-assembler:1.8.3--h5ca1c30_3 Vaser & Sikic 2021, PMID 38217213 376 319
shasta 0.14.0 quay.io/biocontainers/shasta:0.14.0--h9948957_0 Shafin 2020, PMID 32686750 429 371
spades 4.3.0 staphb/spades:4.3.0 Prjibelski 2020, PMID 32559359 2,539 2,213
unicycler 0.5.1 quay.io/biocontainers/unicycler:0.5.1--py312hdcc493e_5 Wick 2017, PMID 28594827 6,936 5,374
verkko 2.3.2 quay.io/biocontainers/verkko:2.3.2--hb0edd9e_0 Rautiainen 2023, PMID 36797493 320 279

assembly_qc (8)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
bandage 0.9.0 staphb/bandage:0.9.0 Wick 2015, PMID 26099265 2,243 1,637
busco 6.1.0 quay.io/biocontainers/busco:6.1.0--pyhdfd78af_1 Manni 2021, PMID 34320186 5,893 5,188
checkm2 1.1.0 quay.io/biocontainers/checkm2:1.1.0--pyh7e72e81_1 Chklovski 2023, PMID 37500759 1,118 799
compleasm 0.2.9 quay.io/biocontainers/compleasm:0.2.9--pyhdfd78af_0 Huang & Li 2023, PMID 37758247 279 216
genovi 0.4.3 staphb/genovi:0.4.3 Cumsille et al. 2023, PMID 37014908 87 72
gfastats 1.3.11 quay.io/biocontainers/gfastats:1.3.11--h077b44d_0 Formenti 2022, PMID 35799367 1,469 1,196
merqury 1.3 quay.io/biocontainers/merqury:1.3--hdfd78af_1 Rhie 2020, PMID 32928274 3,900 3,369
quast 5.3.0 staphb/quast:5.3.0 Mikheenko 2018, PMID 29949969 1,209 973

comparative_genomics (14)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
abricate 1.4.0 staphb/abricate:1.4.0 Seemann T, ABRicate, https://github.com/tseemann/abricate n/a n/a
cafe5 5.1.0 quay.io/biocontainers/cafe:5.1.0--h5ca1c30_1 Mendes et al. 2021, PMID 33325497 n/a n/a
diamond 2.2.2 quay.io/biocontainers/diamond:2.2.2--he361c42_0 Buchfink 2021, PMID 33828273 4,184 3,505
fastani 1.34 staphb/fastani:1.34 Jain et al. 2018, PMID 30504855 4,300 3,505
fasttree 2.2.0 quay.io/biocontainers/fasttree:2.2.0--h7b50bb2_1 Price 2010, PMID 20224823 11,440 6,433
iqtree 2.4.0 staphb/iqtree2:2.4.0 Minh et al. 2020, PMID 32011700 11,566 9,889
mafft 7.526 staphb/mafft:7.526 Katoh & Standley 2013, PMID 23329690 31,681 19,382
mash 2.3 quay.io/biocontainers/mash:2.3--hb105d93_10 Ondov 2016, PMID 27323842 2,525 1,766
muscle 5.3 quay.io/biocontainers/muscle:5.3--h9948957_3 Edgar 2022, PMID 36379955 751 594
panaroo 1.8.0 quay.io/biocontainers/panaroo:1.8.0--pyhdfd78af_0 Tonkin-Hill 2020, PMID 32698896 1,037 868
roary 3.13.0 staphb/roary:3.13.0 Page et al. 2015, PMID 26198102 4,547 3,111
scoary 1.6.16 quay.io/biocontainers/scoary:1.6.16--py_2 Brynildsrud 2016, PMID 27887642 571 406
skani 0.3.2 quay.io/biocontainers/skani:0.3.2--h79ce301_0 Shaw & Yu 2023, PMID 37735570 155 114
trimal 1.5.1 quay.io/biocontainers/trimal:1.5.1--h9948957_0 Capella-Gutierrez 2009, PMID 19505945 9,562 6,235

deg (3)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
deseq2 1.50.2 quay.io/biocontainers/bioconductor-deseq2:1.50.2--r45ha27e39d_0 Love 2014, PMID 25516281 73,988 52,954
edger 4.8.2 quay.io/biocontainers/bioconductor-edger:4.8.2--r45h01b2380_0 Robinson 2010, PMID 19910308 33,699 19,299
limma_voom 3.66.0 quay.io/biocontainers/bioconductor-limma:3.66.0--r45h01b2380_0 Law 2014, PMID 24485249 5,117 2,935

enrichment (4)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
clusterprofiler 4.18.4 quay.io/biocontainers/bioconductor-clusterprofiler:4.18.4--r45hdfd78af_0 Wu 2021, PMID 34557778 9,664 8,864
enrichr 1.3.1 quay.io/biocontainers/gseapy:1.3.1--py311heb3b1e3_0 Kuleshov 2016, PMID 27141961 8,698 6,175
gseapy 1.3.1 quay.io/biocontainers/gseapy:1.3.1--py311heb3b1e3_0 Fang 2023, PMID 36426870 852 693
topgo 2.62.0 quay.io/biocontainers/bioconductor-topgo:2.62.0--r45hdfd78af_0 Alexa & Rahnenfuhrer 2010, https://bioconductor.org/packages/topGO/ n/a n/a

epigenomics (8)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
bismark 0.25.1 quay.io/biocontainers/bismark:0.25.1--hdfd78af_0 Krueger & Andrews 2011, PMID 21493656 4,296 2,459
deeptools 3.5.6 quay.io/biocontainers/deeptools:3.5.6--pyhdfd78af_0 Ramirez et al. 2016, PMID 27079975 6,899 5,154
homer 5.1 quay.io/biocontainers/homer:5.1--pl5321hc52dbad_1 Heinz et al. 2010, PMID 20513432 11,442 6,411
macs3 3.0.4 quay.io/biocontainers/macs3:3.0.4--py310h5a5e57a_0 Zhang et al. 2008, PMID 18798982 15,567 8,561
methylkit 1.36.0 quay.io/biocontainers/bioconductor-methylkit:1.36.0--r45ha27e39d_0 Akalin et al. 2012, PMID 23034086 1,692 1,018
methylpy 1.4.7 quay.io/biocontainers/methylpy:1.4.7--py39h0ae133c_0 Schultz 2015, PMID 26030523 559 225
picard 3.4.0 quay.io/biocontainers/picard:3.4.0--hdfd78af_0 Broad Institute, https://broadinstitute.github.io/picard/ n/a n/a
tobias 0.17.3 quay.io/biocontainers/tobias:0.17.3--py39hff726c5_1 Bentsen et al. 2020, PMID 32848148 597 529

func_annot (10)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
antismash 8.0.4 antismash/standalone:8.0.4 Blin 2023, PMID 37140036 1,659 1,409
dbcan 5.2.9 quay.io/biocontainers/dbcan:5.2.9--pyhdfd78af_0 Zhang 2018, PMID 29771380 1,698 1,353
dram 1.5.0 quay.io/biocontainers/dram:1.5.0--pyhdfd78af_0 Shaffer 2020, PMID 32766782 901 781
eggnog_mapper 2.1.15 quay.io/biocontainers/eggnog-mapper:2.1.15--pyhdfd78af_0 Cantalapiedra 2021, PMID 34597405 3,499 2,925
funannotate 1.8.17 quay.io/biocontainers/funannotate:1.8.17--pyhdfd78af_5 Palmer & Stajich 2020, funannotate (Zenodo) n/a n/a
gecco 0.10.3 quay.io/biocontainers/gecco:0.10.3--pyhdfd78af_1 Larralde 2021, GECCO (bioRxiv 10.1101/2021.05.03.442509) n/a n/a
gtdbtk 2.7.2 quay.io/biocontainers/gtdbtk:2.7.2--pyhdfd78af_0 Chaumeil 2022, PMID 36218463 1,547 1,217
interproscan 5.59_91.0 quay.io/biocontainers/interproscan:5.59_91.0--hec16e2b_1 Blum 2021, PMID 33156333 1,761 1,654
kofamscan 1.3.0 quay.io/biocontainers/kofamscan:1.3.0--hdfd78af_2 Aramaki 2020, PMID 31742321 1,454 1,237
pfam_scan 1.6 quay.io/biocontainers/pfam_scan:1.6--hdfd78af_5 Mistry 2021, PMID 33125078 4,934 4,535

metagenomics (10)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
bracken 3.1 quay.io/biocontainers/bracken:3.1--h9948957_0 Lu et al. 2017, PMID 28655956 n/a n/a
humann3 3.9 quay.io/biocontainers/humann:3.9--py312hdfd78af_0 Beghini et al. 2021, PMID 33944776 1,771 1,562
kneaddata 0.12.4 quay.io/biocontainers/kneaddata:0.12.4--pyhdfd78af_0 McIver et al. 2018, PMID 31616210 n/a n/a
kraken2 2.17.1 quay.io/biocontainers/kraken2:2.17.1--pl5321h077b44d_0 Wood et al. 2019, PMID 31779668 5,146 4,364
krona 2.8.1 staphb/krona:2.8.1 Ondov 2011, PMID 21961884 1,393 768
lefse 1.1.2 quay.io/biocontainers/lefse:1.1.2--pyhdfd78af_0 Segata et al. 2011, PMID 21702898 11,429 7,376
maxbin2 2.2.7 quay.io/biocontainers/maxbin2:2.2.7--h503566f_8 Wu 2016, PMID 26515820 2,120 1,598
metabat2 2.18 quay.io/biocontainers/metabat2:2.18--h38e344b_2 Kang 2019, PMID 31388474 2,979 2,525
metaphlan4 4.2.4 quay.io/biocontainers/metaphlan:4.2.4--pyhdfd78af_0 Blanco-Miguez et al. 2023, PMID 36823356 1,083 847
sourmash 4.9.4 quay.io/biocontainers/sourmash:4.9.4--hdfd78af_0 Brown & Irber 2016, sourmash (JOSS 10.21105/joss.00027) n/a n/a

proteomics (9)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
comet 2026.01.1 quay.io/biocontainers/comet-ms:2026011--h9ee0642_0 Eng 2013, PMID 23148064 1,305 741
fragpipe ⚠️ deprecated 22.0 fcyu/fragpipe:22.0 Yu et al. 2020, PMID 33338430 n/a n/a
maxquant ⚠️ deprecated 2.4.14.0 quay.io/biocontainers/maxquant:2.4.14.0--hdfd78af_0 Cox & Mann 2008, PMID 19029910 12,826 5,690
msconvert 3.0.24238 chambm/pwiz-skyline-i-agree-to-the-vendor-licenses:latest Chambers et al. 2012, PMID 23051804 3,272 2,078
msfragger ⚠️ deprecated 4.1 fcyu/msfragger:4.1 Kong et al. 2017, PMID 28394336 2,077 1,651
msgf_plus 2024.03.26 quay.io/biocontainers/msgf_plus:2024.03.26--hdfd78af_0 Kim 2014, PMID 25358478 905 449
openms 3.5.0 quay.io/biocontainers/openms:3.5.0--h78fb946_0 Rost 2016, PMID 27575624 513 321
percolator 3.9 quay.io/biocontainers/percolator:3.9--h0f90025_0 Kall et al. 2007, PMID 17952086 1,996 931
xtandem 15.12.15.2 quay.io/biocontainers/xtandem:15.12.15.2--h4464bbb_11 Craig & Beavis 2004, PMID 14976030 1,938 323

qc (9)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
cutadapt 5.2 quay.io/biocontainers/cutadapt:5.2--py312hfabe715_2 Martin 2011, doi:10.14806/ej.17.1.200 n/a n/a
fastp 1.3.6 quay.io/biocontainers/fastp:1.3.6--h43da1c4_0 Chen 2018, PMID 30423086 20,593 17,472
fastqc 0.12.1 quay.io/biocontainers/fastqc:0.12.1--hdfd78af_0 Andrews S, 2010 (Babraham Bioinformatics) n/a n/a
filtlong 0.3.1 quay.io/biocontainers/filtlong:0.3.1--h077b44d_0 Wick 2021 (github.com/rrwick/Filtlong) n/a n/a
multiqc 1.35 quay.io/biocontainers/multiqc:1.35--pyhdfd78af_1 Ewels 2016, PMID 27312411 8,254 6,543
nanoplot 1.47.1 quay.io/biocontainers/nanoplot:1.47.1--pyhdfd78af_0 De Coster 2023, PMID 37171891 622 459
seqkit 2.13.0 quay.io/biocontainers/seqkit:2.13.0--he881be0_0 Shen 2016, PMID 27706213 2,637 2,208
seqtk r93 quay.io/biocontainers/seqtk:r93--0 Li, seqtk (github.com/lh3/seqtk) n/a n/a
trimgalore 0.6.11 quay.io/biocontainers/trim-galore:0.6.11--hdfd78af_0 Krueger 2015, https://github.com/FelixKrueger/TrimGalore n/a n/a

repeat (3)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
earlgrey 7.2.6 quay.io/biocontainers/earlgrey:7.2.6--hc52dbad_0 Baril 2024, PMID 38577785 185 129
repeatmasker 4.1.7 dfam/tetools:1.89 Smit 2015 (repeatmasker.org) n/a n/a
repeatmodeler 2.0.5 dfam/tetools:1.89 Flynn 2020, PMID 32300014 3,195 2,804

rnaseq_align (8)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
hisat2 2.2.2 quay.io/biocontainers/hisat2:2.2.2--h503566f_0 Kim 2019, PMID 31375807 11,302 9,746
htseq 2.1.2 quay.io/biocontainers/htseq:2.1.2--py311h483b626_2 Anders 2015, PMID 25260700 17,232 9,300
kallisto 0.52.0 quay.io/biocontainers/kallisto:0.52.0--h13ff97a_0 Bray 2016, PMID 27043002 8,010 5,338
rsem 1.3.3 quay.io/biocontainers/rsem:1.3.3--pl5321h077b44d_12 Li & Dewey 2011, PMID 21816040 16,480 9,518
salmon 2.4.1 quay.io/biocontainers/salmon:2.4.1--hfa8f182_0 Patro 2017, PMID 28263959 10,005 7,575
star 2.7.11b quay.io/biocontainers/star:2.7.11b--h43eeafb_0 Dobin 2013, PMID 23104886 42,990 29,334
stringtie 3.0.3 quay.io/biocontainers/stringtie:3.0.3--h29c0135_0 Pertea 2015, PMID 25690850 10,338 7,746
subread 2.1.1 quay.io/biocontainers/subread:2.1.1--h577a1d6_0 Liao 2014, PMID 24227677 21,908 15,722

single_cell (9)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
bustools 0.45.1 quay.io/biocontainers/bustools:0.45.1--h6f0a7f7_0 Melsted 2019, PMID 31073610 122 108
cellranger 9.0.1 litd/docker-cellranger:v9.0.1 Zheng et al. 2017, PMID 28091601 5,838 4,132
harmony 2.0.0 quay.io/biocontainers/harmonypy:2.0.0--py310hd766df8_1 Korsunsky 2019, PMID 31740819 8,090 6,797
kb_python 0.28.2 quay.io/biocontainers/kb-python:0.28.2--pyhdfd78af_2 Melsted 2021, PMID 33795888 333 312
monocle3 1.4.26 quay.io/biocontainers/r-monocle3:1.4.26--r44h9948957_0 Cao et al. 2019, PMID 30787392 430 373
scanpy 1.12.2 ghcr.io/hope9901/bioflow-scanpy:1.12.2 Wolf et al. 2018, PMID 29409532 6,990 5,691
scrublet 0.2.3 quay.io/biocontainers/scrublet:0.2.3--pyh5e36f6f_1 Wolock 2019, PMID 30954476 2,287 1,874
seurat 5.5.1 satijalab/seurat:5.5.1 Hao et al. 2024, PMID 37231261 4,025 2,901
starsolo 2.7.11b quay.io/biocontainers/star:2.7.11b--h43eeafb_0 Dobin et al. 2013, PMID 23104886 42,990 29,334

struct_annot (10)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
augustus 3.5.0 quay.io/biocontainers/augustus:3.5.0--pl5321h9716f88_9 Stanke 2008, PMID 18218656 2,034 1,276
bakta 1.12.0 quay.io/biocontainers/bakta:1.12.0--pyhdfd78af_0 Schwengers 2021, PMID 34739369 986 797
braker3 3.1.1 teambraker/braker3:v3.1.1 Gabriel 2024, PMID 38866550 526 376
dfast 1.4.1 quay.io/biocontainers/dfast:1.4.1--h7f5d12c_0 Tanizawa 2018, PMID 29106469 1,038 768
glimmerhmm 3.0.4 quay.io/biocontainers/glimmerhmm:3.0.4--pl5321h503566f_10 Majoros 2004, PMID 15145805 1,527 966
liftoff 1.6.3 quay.io/biocontainers/liftoff:1.6.3--pyhdfd78af_0 Shumate & Salzberg 2021, PMID 33320174 778 677
prodigal 2.6.3 quay.io/biocontainers/prodigal:2.6.3--h577a1d6_11 Hyatt 2010, PMID 20211023 9,372 5,543
prokka 1.14.6 staphb/prokka:1.14.6 Seemann 2014, PMID 24642063 14,770 9,782
snap 2017-03-01 quay.io/biocontainers/snap:2017_03_01--h7b50bb2_0 Korf 2004, PMID 15144565 2,583 1,451
trnascan_se 2.0.13 quay.io/biocontainers/trnascan-se:2.0.13--pl5321hab16a5f_0 Chan 2021, PMID 34417604 1,458 1,229

variant_calling (9)

Tool Version Image Citation Total cites Cites 2021–2025
bcftools 1.24 quay.io/biocontainers/bcftools:1.24--h487d631_1 Danecek 2021, PMID 33590861 12,329 10,602
deepvariant 1.10.0 google/deepvariant:1.10.0 Poplin 2018, PMID 30247488 1,242 976
delly 2.5.1 quay.io/biocontainers/delly:2.5.1--h3752d28_0 Rausch 2012, PMID 22962449 1,940 1,091
ensembl_vep 116.0 quay.io/biocontainers/ensembl-vep:116.0--pl5321h2a3209d_0 McLaren 2016, PMID 27268795 6,391 4,495
freebayes 1.3.10 quay.io/biocontainers/freebayes:1.3.10--hbefcdb2_0 Garrison & Marth 2012, arXiv:1207.3907 n/a n/a
gatk4 4.6.2.0 quay.io/biocontainers/gatk4:4.6.2.0--py310hdfd78af_1 McKenna 2010, PMID 20644199 16,862 8,020
glnexus 1.4.1 quay.io/biocontainers/glnexus:1.4.1--h40d77a6_0 Yun 2021, PMID 33399819 191 166
snpeff 5.4.0c quay.io/biocontainers/snpeff:5.4.0c--hdfd78af_0 Cingolani 2012, PMID 22728672 9,555 5,432
vcftools 0.1.17 quay.io/biocontainers/vcftools:0.1.17--pl5321h077b44d_0 Danecek 2011, PMID 21653522 12,172 7,484