Comparison
OpenCryo vs. TMRW
A side-by-side for clinics weighing a storage provider that runs on OpenCryo against TMRW's bundled platform.
Two different models
TMRW is a capable platform built for fertility clinics. In its full form it is sold with TMRW's proprietary automated storage hardware and RFID-tagged labware on a hosted proprietary platform; a 2024 CryoLink launch also lets the software run on a clinic's existing tanks. TMRW operates its own offsite storage facilities, expanded in 2026 through a business combination with Reprotech, with your specimen records living inside their platform.
OpenCryo is software that any storage provider, clinic, collection service, or courier can run. The specimens sit wherever you choose and several organizations can work the same order without seeing each other's data. The custody record travels with the specimen, not an organization. A clinic using a storage provider on OpenCryo gets its own view of its patients' specimens and a patient portal under the provider's brand.
Capability by capability
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| Capability | OpenCryo | TMRW |
|---|---|---|
| Openness and data ownership | ||
| Data ownership and exit | The audit log exports to CSV, receipts and signed agreements are PDFs you keep, and the data model is published. The Business Source License permits free self-hosting, and you can change storage providers without losing custody history. A full one-click account export is on the roadmap. Roadmap: Q4 2026 | Not described in their public materials for clinics. TMRW's own FAQ describes a patient-side specimen ownership-transfer and disposition process, but no self-service data export tool, file format, or data-portability guarantee for clinics or patients is described. |
| Changing storage providers | A transfer between two organizations on OpenCryo carries the specimen, its labels, its agreements, and its complete custody history to the receiving organization. Independent OpenCryo instances are designed to exchange specimens the same way. Roadmap: Inter-instance federation: Q4 2027 | TMRW's Biorepository FAQ states that when a patient is moving specimens to a fertility clinic, "the TMRW team will help you coordinate the shipment, safely prepare your specimens for transfer, and track your specimens until they reach your fertility clinic," recommending "at least 30 days notice." Not described: what happens to a clinic's own digital records if the clinic itself stops using TMRW as a vendor. |
| Bringing existing records in | An import module for bringing in existing inventories from spreadsheets or other systems is on the roadmap. Roadmap: Q4 2026 | ivfOS "integrates with the clinic's EMR"; no import or export tool described. |
| Multi-provider patient journeys | A patient can collect at a clinic, ship with a courier, store at a facility, and later move to another clinic, with one continuous record shared across every organization involved, each seeing only its part. | A partner clinic's page (CCRM Fertility, a TMRW clinic partner) states: "Both CCRM's electronic medical record system and TMRW's software will reflect the real-time location of the inventory of all cryopreserved specimens," describing two synced systems rather than one shared record. Courier transport between TMRW's biorepositories and fertility clinics is handled by a partner, Cryoport Systems, under a 2024 partnership combining "Cryoport Systems' industry-leading expertise in logistics with TMRW's innovative Digital Specimen Management." |
| Multiple organizations | Built for many organizations on one instance: storage providers, clinics, couriers, and collection services each with isolated data, sharing only through orders. A clinic sees its own patients at the provider; the provider never exposes one clinic's patients to another. OpenCryo supports any number of locations from small single-site clinics to very large multi-site operations. | Not covered by the review of their public materials. |
| Open data model and protocol | Globally unique prefixed identifiers, a published data model, and a protocol specification under Apache 2.0, so a record created in one place is meaningful everywhere. | TMRW describes its labware and software collectively as a "proprietary RFID-enabled labware and integrated software management solution"; no published data model, protocol specification, or open standard is described. |
| Hosting and source code | OpenCryo Cloud (hosted) or self-hosted on your own infrastructure. The platform is licensed under the Business Source License, which permits free self-hosting and converts each version to a fully open license after four years; the protocol specification is Apache 2.0. Roadmap: Public source repository: Q4 2026 | TMRW hosts ivfOS on "Google Cloud Platform, Inc. ('GCP') to host and process Customer Data," describing it as a "cloud-based platform." No on-premise, self-hosting, or open-source option is described. |
| Integrations | A full REST API (the same one the apps use), payment webhooks, and a complex agreement and proposal form builder. EMR connectors forthcoming. Roadmap: Q2 2027 | ivfOS "integrates with the clinic's EMR, enabling seamless, real-time tracking and management of every specimen at the touch of a button." No public or partner API, webhook system, or bulk data export tool is described. |
| Day-to-day operations | ||
| Specimen identification | Every straw, vial, cane, canister, and tank is a container in one hierarchy with its own label. DataMatrix labels by default; QR, barcode, and RFID label types are supported. Hardware is yours to choose: OpenCryo does not bundle readers or tags. Staff are able to scan with the phones they have, with tight biometric security, or devices provided by the clinic. | TMRW's CryoBeacon is described as "the heart of TMRW's digital tracking system, linking up to eight cryodevices from a single patient to a unique RFID-enabled ID," alongside "a barcoded label" for "redundant linear barcode and alphanumeric labeling." ivfOS "assigns a unique identifier for each specimen." RFID hardware and labware are part of TMRW's proprietary offer. |
| Storage hierarchy | Configurable container types and nesting rules that match your actual equipment, from building and room down to tank, canister, cane, and position, plus shippers. Capacity and inventory rollups at every level. | TMRW's proprietary storage hardware includes the CryoRobot Select, described as "next-generation automated, highly secure storage with a complete digital chain of custody and advanced monitoring," which "replaces 20-25 traditional dewars" for "70% space savings," and the TMRW Vault, where "a single tank hold[s] as much as ten traditional dewars" and accommodates "up to 1,470 patients in one-third of the footprint." TMRW's 2024 CryoLink launch lets ivfOS run with "TMRW's automated storage platforms, TMRW's offsite storage facilities and/or traditional storage tanks currently used by fertility clinics." |
| Chain of custody and audit trail | An append-only audit log protected at the database level (updates and deletes are revoked), every event timestamped and attributed to a person, filterable and exportable to CSV. Every movement is recorded against the specimen in that log. | The ISO/IEC 27001 certification announcement quotes TMRW: "Our secure platform provides fertility clinics with a critical digital chain of custody for patient specimens that will be used in invitro fertilization (IVF)." TMRW's Biorepository FAQ states each handling step is "recorded and attached to each specimen's record" to ensure visibility, traceability, and accountability. Not described: whether the audit log is append-only, exportable, or editable. |
| Intake, release, dispatch, and destruction | Configurable step-by-step protocols run on the mobile app with a qualified performer and a separate qualified reviewer, dual signatures, and review queues. Destruction requires the client's signed authorization plus dual staff signatures. Roadmap: Q1 2027 | TMRW's CryoBeacon "works with lab witnessing products enabling RFID tracking from bench to storage and back"; no dual-signature or second-reviewer workflow is described. For disposition, patients "sign and notarize a Disposition Request" to discard specimens, or sign consent and transfer documentation to donate to individuals, families, or research. |
| Consent and documents | Agreement templates signed electronically during intake, with pre-signing directive questionnaires, two-signer agreements for partners, signed PDFs in the patient portal, and online authorization for transfers and destruction. Contracts for organizations go through OpenCryo's Proposals functionality. | TMRW's disposition process requires patients to "sign and notarize a Disposition Request" to discard specimens, or to sign consent forms to donate specimens to individuals, families, or research. No electronic agreement template, pre-signing directive questionnaire, or portal-delivered signed document is described in their public materials. |
| Patient portal | A white-label portal on your provider's domain: overview, stored vials, orders and receipts, billing and subscriptions, agreements, authorizations, test results, updates, and documents. Passkey or emailed magic-link sign-in. | TMRW's own "For Patients" page has no patient login, portal, or account-access feature; its calls to action route patients to a clinic or to Reprotech's storage services. Where a "Patient Portal" appears, such as on the CCRM Fertility partner page, it belongs to the clinic partner, not TMRW. |
| Billing | Configured per organization, not per platform. Checkout through Stripe, Authorize.net, Square, or Revolut; recurring storage subscriptions with renewal, failed-payment, and lapse handling (Stripe today); promotion codes; ACH; receipts. One-off charges recorded against the patient, and recurring billing through providers other than Stripe, are on the roadmap. Roadmap: Q3 2026 (one-off charges), Q4 2027 (non-Stripe recurring billing) | Under TMRW's direct-to-patient Biorepository storage program, patients are "charged annually to store specimens regardless of specimen quantity" and "pay in full in advance," with a discounted multi-year plan available; the patient "bears 100% of the cost of shipping." TMRW's own materials do not publish clinic-side pricing or invoicing terms. |
| Transport | Dispatch protocols for shippers (preflight checklist, seals, temperature logs), inter-organization transfers with custody preserved across the boundary, and live shipping quotes. A storage provider on OpenCryo can run its own pickup and delivery, and specialized cryogenic couriers run on OpenCryo as their own organizations, so either way the transport leg stays inside the same custody record. | Transport between TMRW's biorepositories and fertility clinics is handled by a partner, Cryoport Systems, under a 2024 "strategic partnership." For patient-initiated transfers, TMRW's FAQ states "the TMRW team will help you coordinate the shipment, safely prepare your specimens for transfer, and track your specimens until they reach your fertility clinic." |
| Equipment maintenance and validation | LN2 fill logs with consumption intelligence and anomaly detection, scheduled maintenance rounds, and IQ/OQ/PQ validation protocols with dual-signature review. | TMRW's "Overwatch" system performs "thousands of daily checks, with expert oversight to detect and alert clinics to environmental changes before they become a problem." Not described in their public materials: IQ/OQ/PQ terminology, fill-level thresholds, alarm setpoints, or a published validation protocol. |
| Services and assurance | ||
| Certifications | No third-party certifications yet. HIPAA-aligned controls are built in: protected health information is a separate permission from operational access, the audit log is append-only, backups are encrypted, and sign-in is passkey-based. Roadmap: SOC 2 Type 1 audit: Q3 2027 | TMRW lists "AICPA SOC 2 Type 2: Security, Availability, and Confidentiality Trust Criteria," "ISO 27001:2013," and "ISO 27018:2019," plus "ISO 13485 certification" on its About page; ivfOS is described sitewide as a "HIPAA-compliant, cloud-based platform." The CryoRobot Select holds FDA 510(k) clearance and a CE Mark; the TMRW Vault holds a CE Mark as a "Class IIa medical device." |
| Storage, courier, and audit services | OpenCryo is the software layer. Storage, transport, and inventory audits are performed by the organizations running it: a storage provider can offer pickup, transport, storage, and audits itself, or hand any leg to a cryogenic courier that is also on OpenCryo, and you choose which ones you work with. | TMRW and Reprotech announced (April 2026) that the combined company will "safeguard more than one million fertility specimens, partner with approximately 75% of fertility centers nationwide, support more than 50% of U.S. patient cycles, and operate eight offsite storage facilities." Transport is handled by a partner, Cryoport Systems, under a 2024 partnership, not by TMRW directly. |
TMRW statements in quotation marks are taken from TMRW Life Sciences' public site, FAQ, press releases, and named partner pages, as of September 4, 2026. "Described as" summarizes their materials without quoting them. "Not described" means our research checked that topic and found nothing in their public materials; it may still exist. "Not covered by the review of their public materials" means we did not research that topic.
Roadmap quarters are targets we are working toward, not commitments. We update this page as items ship.
What this means for a clinic choosing a storage provider
If you want a single vendor to own storage hardware, labware, and software, and you are comfortable with your records living in that vendor's platform, TMRW is a coherent bundle.
If you want to choose your storage provider, keep the option to change it, and give your patients a portal under that provider's brand while your clinic keeps its own view of every specimen, a provider running OpenCryo gives you that. Your data stays exportable, and the custody record is the same record whether the specimen is in your lab, in transit, or in the provider's tank.
Ask either vendor the same three questions: a) who can export the full specimen record? b) what happens to that record if we leave? c) who else can see our patients' data?
TMRW, ivfOS, CryoRobot, CryoBeacon, TMRW Vault, Overwatch, and CryoLink are trademarks of their respective owner, used here for identification only. This page reflects their public site, FAQ, and press releases as of September 4, 2026. If something here is out of date or wrong, email hello@opencryo.io and we will correct it.