Frequently asked questions about BioRender at Boston University

Below are some frequently asked questions about BioRender at Boston University. Click on each question to view the corresponding answer.

BU is subsidizing the cost of BioRender premium in 2025. The departmental cost of BioRender premium is $120 per user, which covers use from 1/13/2025 – 1/12/2026. At this time there is no plan to prorate cost for 2025. More info can be found under the
The free version of BioRender may be suitable for basic educational use. It has a limit of 5 figures, does not include permission to publish in journals, and has some other limitations outlined at https://biorender.com/pricing/. Free version users can create their own account and sign in at https://app.biorender.com/user/signin. BU premium users that have been granted access should use https://app.biorender.com/portal/boston-university, which will redirect to a BU Login page.

The BU BioRender Request website allows faculty and staff to request a BioRender Premium license at subsidized cost, either for themselves or for one or more other eligible individuals. There are video instructions on each relevant page, as well as in Help, which provide more information about the process.

  1. Log in using your BU credentials. You will be taken to a listing of requests you have already entered, if any.
  2. To initiate a new request, click on the 'New Request' button at the top of the "My Requests" page.
  3. Once you submit a request:
    1. The system will attempt to determine eligibility for all requested users. Eligible users includes active full- or part-time faculty and staff. Eligible users also includes active students, but only if they have been submitted by eligible faculty or staff who also will be paying for that student.
    2. If all users are eligible, the system will display directions for submitting an Internal Service Request (ISR) to BUMC IT, which can also be found here. These directions will also be emailed to the person submitting the request and the department finance admin.
    3. If the system cannot determine eligibility for all requested users, you will see a notification that the submission was successful but requires review. A help ticket will be automatically created. You will be contacted by someone from BUMC IT once eligibility has been determined. If there are eligible users in the request, you will be sent directions for submitting the ISR to the BUMC IT in SAP.
  4. Once the ISR is received, reviewed and approved, the system will send an email to all users listed for access as well as the requestor and department finance administrator, to let them know that access to BioRender Premium has been granted, and providing the URL for access.
  5. Users can then go to https://app.biorender.com/portal/boston-university and log in using their BU credentials.
Please note: The system is going to send some emails from "do_not_reply_biorender@bu.edu". We recommend adding that email to your safe sender list and keeping an eye on your clutter/junk folders.
BU users with BioRender premium access should use https://app.biorender.com/portal/boston-university to sign in. Instructions with this URL will be sent to all users, once their license is approved.
Yes, you can get a prorated refund to you or your lab's users by contacting BioRender support at support@biorender.com.
For those who previously created a BioRender account using their @bu.edu email address, any existing content will automatically merge when you sign in from the BU page (https://app.biorender.com/portal/boston-university). If you used a non-BU email account and want to merge materials, you can manually share content to your new BU account, and either leave the old account around or contact BioRender support to remove it at support@biorender.com.
In 2025 we do not expect to prorate license cost. E.g. the annual cost to departments per user will remain the same regardless of when a person signs up, with all active licenses ending on January 12, 2026. Signing up as close to January 1, 2025 as possible would maximize the duration of a department’s license. The renewal process would be announced before January 12, 2026.
If you would like to transfer a license to another user, e.g. if a person leaves the institution, please email bumchelp@bu.edu. Please be sure to include the BU Email of both the person that no longer needs the license and the new recipient of the license.
In early December, an email with renewal instructions will go to those who submitted requests for 2024. The cost to departments in 2025 will remain $120, the same as 2023 and 2024. BUMC IT subsidizes the rest of the cost.
If you had a BU subsidized premium license and didn't renew it, please contact support@biorender.com and request for your BU license to be removed, if you would still like to use BioRender basic or buy your own license.

If you lose access to your premium subscription through BU and do not renew at the premium level directly through BioRender, your account will be downgraded to BioRender Basic, the free plan. While on this plan your illustrations will still be visible; however, you will only able to open and edit the 5 most recent illustrations at a time. If you choose to delete those illustrations, more will become available.

If you later decide to re-subscribe to a premium plan, you will be able to open and edit as many illustrations as you would like without limitation.