NanoDrop Microvolume Spectrophotometer Instruments

*Lowest detection limit is 0.2 ng/µL with 10 mm cuvette.
**Instrument is delivered with English software and help. Language packs can be downloaded from our website

The Thermo Scientific NanoDrop One/One^C Spectrophotometer is a compact, stand-alone UV-visible spectrophotometer for measurement of highly concentrated samples without the need for dilution across a wide variety of analytes. A glove-compatible touchscreen offers easy access to preloaded software applications and enables purity and concentration assessments in seconds. Built-in Thermo Scientific Acclaro Sample Intelligence technology helps identify and correct for the contaminants present.

The compact Thermo Scientific NanoDrop Eight Spectrophotometer measures eight samples at a time in less than 20 seconds. It is an ideal choice for pharma/biotech and academic researchers needing a higher throughput capacity for measuring nucleic acid and protein samples. NanoDrop Eight software identifies sample contaminants and reports true sample concentration with the built-in Thermo Scientific Acclaro Sample Intelligence technology.

The affordable Thermo Scientific NanoDrop Lite Plus Microvolume Spectrophotometer enables any lab to easily assess purified DNA, RNA, and protein concentrations and purity ratios. While this entry-level unit offers fewer features than our premium models, it delivers the same fast, accurate, reliable measurements synonymous with the NanoDrop platform. The easy-to-use, affordable package is a great option for teachers and researchers.

In addition to UV-Vis absorbance, another technology often used to quantify nucleic acids or proteins is fluorometry, in which samples are stained with a fluorescent dye highly specific to the analyte of interest. Invitrogen Qubit Fluorometers use this method to quantify DNA, RNA, and protein.

Which is better? It depends on your application and the needs of your laboratory. If you need sample qualification or purity ratios, you’ll want a NanoDrop spectrophotometer. If you have very dilute or difficult-to-process samples, you’ll want a Qubit fluorometer. In some circumstances, you may want both.

The table shows key differences between the two technologies. For a more comprehensive comparison, see our RNA/DNA quantification page.

Category	NanoDrop spectrophotometers	Qubit fluorometers
Technology	UV-Vis absorbance	Fluorescence
Key advantages	Fast and simple. Allows for direct quantification of samples without dilution or sample preparation. Identifies and corrects for contaminants, including RNA in DNA samples and vice versa.	Sensitive. Accurate for very dilute or difficult-to-process samples. Specific. Can distinguish between dsDNA and ssDNA or microRNA and total RNA. Assays kits contain reagents specific to many common analytes.
Time to results	Seconds	Minutes
dsDNA quantitation range	0.2–27,500 ng/µL*	0.005–4,000 ng/µL †
Sample qualification (purity)	Calculates standard purity ratios. Acclaro Sample Intelligence technology identifies and corrects for contaminants such as protein or guanidine.	Assays are relatively tolerant of common contaminants but do not identify or quantify them.

*dsDNA quantitation range for NanoDrop One/One^C instrument is 2.0 ng/µL with pedestal and 0.2 ng/µL with cuvette.

^†Qubit HS and 1X dsDNA Assay kits can quantify samples as dilute as 0.005 ng/µL, while the Qubit 1X dsDNA BR Assay kit can measure samples as concentrated as 4,000 ng/µL, depending on sample volume.

If you need both highly sensitive nucleic acid or protein quantitation and assessments of sample purity, you will want to use both a NanoDrop spectrophotometer and a Qubit fluorometer in your lab.

For example, if your lab workflow includes qPCR assays, you will need accurate template quantitation and contaminant identification to comply with MIQE guidelines, required by many scientific journals. As shown in the video, insufficient template can lead to inaccurate results. Using a combination of a NanoDrop spectrophotometer and a Qubit fluorometer can give you a more complete picture of input RNA quantity, purity, and integrity.