Switching
WHONET alternative antibiogram software that runs in a browser, on a Mac or a locked-down PC
WHONET is good software, it is free, and it is the global default for a reason. Most US teams who look for an alternative hit one of three walls: a Mac, an IT department that will not approve a desktop install, or the analyst who configured it has left.
Try the builder on the sample data, or drop in your own CSV. It is parsed in your browser and never uploaded.
Short answer
WHONET is a free Windows desktop application for managing and analyzing microbiology laboratory data, developed by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. It does not run natively on a Mac. Antimicrobe is a paid, narrower alternative for US hospitals: it builds the cumulative antibiogram and empiric rankings from your lab CSV in any browser, with no install and no BacLink configuration.
What WHONET does that this does not
It is a full data management environment. It handles laboratory configuration in depth, expert interpretation rules, quality control analysis and submission to international surveillance programs. It runs offline, which matters in a great many places. And it costs nothing, which is not a small feature.
If your workflow depends on any of that, keep it. A tool that told you to abandon a free, capable, WHO-backed system would be selling rather than helping.
Does WHONET run on a Mac?
No. WHONET's own download page says the WHONET and BacLink software are designed for Microsoft Windows 10 and 11, and the legacy 5.6 release is kept for older Windows versions. There is no macOS build. On a Mac the realistic options are a Windows virtual machine, a shared Windows PC in the lab, or a tool that does not need an operating system at all because it runs in the browser.
That matters more in US hospitals than it used to. Stewardship pharmacists and infection preventionists increasingly work from managed laptops, and on Apple silicon Macs the old Boot Camp route to Windows is gone. A virtual machine means a Windows license, a support ticket and a security review for software that touches patient-level lab data.
The setup work that WHONET users rarely budget for
The software is free. The configuration is not. Before WHONET can analyze anything, someone has to define the laboratory: its antibiotic panels, organism codes, specimen types and locations. Then the lab data has to get in. WHONET ships with BacLink, which it describes as data import software for capturing and standardizing data from desktop applications, laboratory instruments and laboratory information systems, so nobody has to enter results twice.
The AHRQ nursing home antibiogram toolkit describes the path in practice: get the culture data from the lab electronically, convert that file to a text file, and convert the text file in BacLink for use in WHONET. It also points new users to the tutorials on the WHONET site, which need a free registration. None of that is unreasonable. It is simply a project, and it usually belongs to one person.
- Laboratory configuration: panels, organism codes, specimen types, locations
- A BacLink conversion format for your LIS export, maintained when the export changes
- Saved analysis definitions for each cut the committee asks for
- A person who knows all of the above, and a plan for when that person leaves
WHONET compared with a spreadsheet and with Antimicrobe
Most US hospitals choosing between these three are really choosing who does the work and how often it gets done. The table describes WHONET only from whonet.org and the AHRQ toolkit, read in September 2026.
| Question | WHONET | Excel by hand | Antimicrobe |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it costs | Free | Free software, 20 to 60 pharmacist hours a year | From $249 a month, published on the pricing page |
| Where it runs | Windows 10 and 11 desktop | Anywhere Excel runs | Any modern browser, Mac or Windows |
| Getting lab data in | Lab file to text, then BacLink conversion | Copy, paste and clean by hand | Upload the CSV export and map the columns once |
| First isolate per patient | Yes, as an analysis option | Only if someone builds the formula | On by default, before and after counts shown |
| Cells under 30 isolates | Configurable in the analysis | Manual | Marked automatically, never silently deleted |
| Unit, source and quarter cuts | Saved analyzes | A new sheet per cut | Filters on the same report |
| National and global surveillance submission | Yes, its core purpose | No | No |
| Works offline | Yes | Yes | No |
Where a browser tool changes the day
- No install, and no version drift between the two machines that have it
- No configuration project before the first number appears
- Cuts by source, unit and period as filters rather than as saved analyzes
- A shareable output with its rules printed on it, for a committee pack
- The same report re-runnable by whoever is on shift, not only by the person who set it up
Who should keep using WHONET
Keep it if your laboratory submits data to a national or international surveillance program built around WHONET, if you need to work offline, if you depend on its expert interpretation and quality control rules, or if there is genuinely no budget line for reporting software. Keep it too if it is configured, the person who configured it is still there, and the committee gets its report on time. Free and working beats paid and new.
Who a paid WHONET alternative is for
The teams that switch are usually US hospital pharmacy and stewardship groups rather than reference laboratories. A typical case is a 200-bed community hospital whose stewardship pharmacist inherited a WHONET setup, works on a Mac, and rebuilds the annual antibiogram in Excel because the BacLink format broke after an LIS upgrade. Another is a small health system that wants the same report for three facilities without three separate configurations.
For those teams the question is not free versus paid. It is whether the report gets produced once a year by one person, or whenever the P and T committee asks a new question by whoever is on shift. The Lab plan is $249 a month for one facility, and every limit is on the pricing page.
If you are weighing a full surveillance platform instead, our Sentri7 alternatives and competitors page compares the enterprise options, and the antimicrobial stewardship software features page lists exactly what is and is not included.
A realistic migration path
You do not have to move anything. WHONET already exports the fields needed here, and running both in parallel for one reporting period is the sensible way to check that the numbers agree. If they do not, the difference is almost always de-duplication or intermediate handling, and both are visible settings on this side.
Related reading: Sunquest LIS antibiogram software, Sensititre antibiogram software, BIOMIC V3 antibiogram software, getting the export out of your LIS, producing the cumulative report, CLSI M39 antibiogram rules, applied, Sentri7 alternatives and competitors, TheraDoc competitors and alternatives, antibiogram software for microbiology labs, VITEK 2 antibiogram software, MicroScan antibiogram software. The four steps from susceptibility testing data to an antibiogram cover the method end to end.
Questions
On this page's topic
Is WHONET free?
Yes. WHONET describes itself as a free desktop Windows application for managing and analyzing microbiology laboratory data. The real cost is the setup: laboratory configuration, a BacLink import format for your LIS export, and someone who maintains both. Antimicrobe is paid, from $249 a month, and replaces that setup work.
Does WHONET run on a Mac?
No. WHONET and BacLink are designed for Microsoft Windows 10 and 11, according to the WHONET download page, and there is no macOS version. Mac users run it in a Windows virtual machine or on a shared Windows PC, or use a browser-based tool such as Antimicrobe instead.
Can WHONET create an antibiogram?
Yes. Hospitals and nursing homes use WHONET to produce cumulative antibiograms, and AHRQ publishes a toolkit that walks through it. You need the lab data converted through BacLink first, then an analysis set up with the first isolate rule and the organisms and antibiotics you want to report.
Can I import a WHONET data file directly?
Export it to CSV with the seven fields we need and it loads. A native WHONET file importer is not part of the product.
Will the numbers match WHONET exactly?
They should, when the rules match. Check the de-duplication setting and the intermediate handling first, because those two account for most differences.
How is Antimicrobe priced compared with WHONET?
WHONET costs nothing to download. Antimicrobe plans are $249 a month for one facility, $749 a month for up to three facilities with unit cuts and quarterly trends, and $2,400 a month for up to twelve facilities. All plans and limits are published on the pricing page.
Is this endorsed by or affiliated with WHONET or the WHO?
No. Antimicrobe has no affiliation with the World Health Organization or the WHONET project, and describes them here only from their public documentation.
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