Applikon vs Eppendorf vs Sartorius Ambr: Bench Bioreactor Comparison

Key differences at a glance

• Applikon (Getinge): single-vessel bench, 150 mL – 20 L, glass autoclavable or AppliFlex ST single-use, my|Control (small) and ez2-Control (PD) controllers on the same BioXpert web/mobile software.
• Eppendorf: BioFlo 120 entry-level (250 mL – 40 L), BioFlo 320 advanced (up to 8 vessels per controller), SciVario twin (two-vessel modular), all supporting glass and BioBLU rigid-wall single-use vessels with DASware Control data acquisition.
• Sartorius Ambr: high-throughput parallel scale-down — Ambr 15 (10–15 mL, 24 or 48 vessels) and Ambr 250 HT (100–250 mL, 12 or 24 vessels), single-use polymer vessels, robotic liquid handling, Ambr Software Suite for DoE.
• Best for one vessel at a time: Applikon my|Control or Eppendorf BioFlo 120.
• Best for a 24-condition DoE in one campaign: Sartorius Ambr 15 or Ambr 250 HT.

Side-by-side comparison

Values reflect the vendors' current published product-line specifications and publicly listed used-market capital estimates from LabX, EquipNet, and Labexchange. New-system list prices for all three vendors are quote-only. Your vendor's current datasheet takes precedence. See the bioreactor sizing guide for the working-volume and geometry framework upstream of vendor choice.

Applikon (Getinge) in detail

Applikon Biotechnology — now a Getinge company — sells single-vessel bench bioreactors from about 150 mL to 20 L, split across two hardware tiers that share the same BioXpert web-based software. The my|Control is the small-vessel controller for 50 mL to 3 L work; the ez2-Control is the PD-grade controller for 1–20 L. Both accept the autoclavable glass Applikon Bio vessel family and the gamma-irradiated single-use AppliFlex ST vessels, so a lab can start on glass at 250 mL and progress to single-use at 15 L without changing the software front-end.

How it works

The my|Control and ez2-Control are compact tabletop controllers built around Applikon's modular gas and pump architecture. The ez2-Control ships with four peristaltic pumps and up to six mass flow controllers, supports adaptive PID and cascade control, and connects to sensors, load cells, and off-gas analysers via a USB and Modbus bus. The glass Applikon Bio vessels use a head-plate design with side-inserted probes on standard PG13.5 ports, a top-driven magnetically or mechanically coupled shaft, and a choice of impellers (2× Rushton for microbial or 2× marine for shear-sensitive cell culture). The AppliFlex ST single-use vessels are 3D-printed rigid-wall bags at 500 mL, 3 L, and 15 L nominal working volume, which allows non-standard port layouts and inserts for prototype work — a design freedom the fixed-catalogue Eppendorf BioBLU and Sartorius Ambr vessels do not offer. BioXpert is a browser-based front-end (with a companion mobile app) that runs on Windows, macOS, or a tablet and connects to any my|Control or ez2-Control on the LAN.

When Applikon wins

Applikon wins when a lab needs modular value: one software stack, one training curve, and a controller line that spans 250 mL to 20 L with both glass and single-use options. The my|Control and ez2-Control controllers share the same BioXpert user interface, so a scientist trained on my|Control can operate ez2-Control without retraining. Applikon is the affordable European bench bioreactor in academic labs, small CDMOs, and industrial R&D groups that want glass-first flexibility without vendor lock-in on disposables. The Getinge acquisition brought stronger service coverage and a clear scale-up pathway to the AppliFlex STR pilot single-use bioreactor at 40–1,000 L, which sits alongside Biostat STR, HyPerforma, and Xcellerex in the pilot market.

Eppendorf in detail

Eppendorf sells the broadest bench bioreactor portfolio of the three vendors, spanning three overlapping product families. The BioFlo 120 is the entry-level bench controller (250 mL to 40 L). The BioFlo 320 is the advanced bench controller with a 15-inch touchscreen and support for up to eight vessels per controller. The SciVario twin is a modular two-vessel PD workhorse. All three accept glass autoclavable vessels and the BioBLU c (cell culture) and BioBLU f (microbial) rigid-wall single-use vessels.

How it works

The BioFlo 120 uses a universal drive that switches between direct-drive and magnetic drive to serve both microbial and mammalian cultures without a hardware change. Its onboard touchscreen runs a self-contained recipe engine; DASware Control adds off-board data logging, DoE, and OPC UA integration. The BioFlo 320 keeps the universal drive but upgrades the sensor bay to native Mettler Toledo ISM digital input for pH, DO, biomass, and turbidity, and supports a multi-vessel configuration in which one control cabinet drives up to eight vessels (glass or BioBLU) with independent recipes. The SciVario twin is a bay-drawer chassis that hosts two vessels per unit and can be stacked, offering a middle ground between a single BioFlo 320 and a full Ambr platform. All three families support the BioBLU c single-use vessels for cell culture (65 mL to 40 L) and BioBLU f single-use vessels for microbial fermentation (65 mL to 3.75 L), with optical DO and pH ports for gamma-compatible sensor patches. Eppendorf publishes application notes covering CHO cell culture in BioBLU 10c single-use vessels and biosimilar CHO scale-up from DASGIP parallel to BioFlo 320, which is where the BioFlo 320 usually earns its keep.

When Eppendorf wins

Eppendorf wins on breadth per controller. The BioFlo 320 covers 400 mL to 40 L on a single unit and mixes glass and BioBLU single-use vessels — so one asset serves early screening, late PD, and small-batch clinical supply. Eppendorf's BioBLU rigid-wall single-use vessels are a genuine differentiator: most competitors use bag-based single-use vessels, but the BioBLU rigid-wall design keeps the impeller geometry closer to a glass vessel, which simplifies scale-down/scale-up modelling between glass and single-use runs on the same controller. The SciVario twin is a well-fitted middle option for a PD group that needs two-vessel parallelism without paying for the eight-vessel BioFlo 320 configuration or the throughput of an Ambr platform. If you value one control cabinet serving many pipelines, Eppendorf is the vendor to shortlist.

Sartorius Ambr in detail

The Sartorius Ambr 15 Cell Culture and Ambr 250 HT systems (originally TAP Biosystems, acquired by Sartorius in 2013) are the reference automated parallel bioreactor platforms for early- and late-phase process development. Ambr 15 runs 24 or 48 single-use 10–15 mL polymer vessels under a robotic liquid handler on a fully enclosed deck; Ambr 250 HT runs 12 or 24 single-use 100–250 mL vessels with the same robotic architecture. Sartorius also sells traditional bench bioreactors under the Biostat B-DCU brand, but when buyers compare Sartorius to Applikon and Eppendorf on bench and PD scale, the Ambr line is what they typically mean.

How it works

Each Ambr vessel is a single-use polymer well with an integrated 4-blade pitched impeller, gas sparger, and optical pH and DO sensor patches. Foundational physical characterisation by Nienow, Rielly, Brosnan et al. (2013, Biochemical Engineering Journal) reported mixing times of 5–42 s and energy dissipation rates near the impeller comparable to a 3 L bench bioreactor, which established the Ambr 15 as a valid scale-down platform for CHO. Rameez, Mostafa, Miller and Shukla (2014, Biotechnology Progress) demonstrated reproducibility and agreement with conventional 3 L bench bioreactors on growth, viability, and titer. For the Ambr 250, Xu et al. (2017, Biotechnology Progress) published a hydrodynamic and process-equivalence characterisation against 5 L and 1,000 L bench and pilot bioreactors. Sandner, Pybus, McCreath and Glassey (2019, Biotechnology Journal) formalised the scale-down model qualification methodology for both Ambr 15 and Ambr 250 platforms; Manahan et al. (2019, Biotechnology Progress) qualified the Ambr 250 HT against two commercial-scale (>10,000 L) mAb processes using PCA and univariate equivalence. The robotic liquid handler executes feed additions, sampling, and base additions programmed in the Ambr Software Suite, with BioPAT Process Insights adding real-time analytics.

When Ambr wins

Ambr wins whenever a programme needs to run more parallel conditions than a rack of single-vessel bench bioreactors can practically deliver. A single Ambr 15 run at 48 conditions replaces about 24 pairs of 3 L bench bioreactors, cuts calendar time from months to weeks, and removes most of the operator variability. For CHO clone selection, media screening, feed strategy design, and DoE on process parameters, Ambr 15 is the industry-default and has been for over a decade. Ambr 250 HT extends the same paradigm to late-phase process characterisation with liquid volumes that support meaningful metabolomics and glycan sampling. Ambr is also the tightest scale-down model for a Biostat STR pilot line — both share Sartorius scale-up mathematics and the Biostat STR is the reference platform in most major CDMO fleets, so an Ambr 250 process transfers cleanly to a Biostat STR at 500–2,000 L.

Pros and cons

Applikon (my|Control, ez2-Control, AppliFlex ST)

Eppendorf (BioFlo 120 / BioFlo 320 / SciVario twin)

Sartorius Ambr 15 & Ambr 250 HT

Which vendor should you choose?

Pick based on the dominant constraint: number of parallel conditions, vessel format, sensor ecosystem, or scale-up target.

Real-world use cases

How process teams typically converge on one vendor for a specific problem.

Cost and lifecycle considerations

All three vendors sell into the "quote-only" new-market and none publish list prices, so the best public reference is the used-equipment market. LabX, EquipNet, Bimedis, and Labexchange list a fairly consistent used-market band for each product. A used Eppendorf BioFlo 120 3 L is USD 11,000–13,000; a used BioFlo 320 3 L is USD 19,000–30,000, with DUAL configurations closer to USD 29,000. A used Eppendorf SciVario twin (two vessels) lands around USD 48,000. A used Applikon ez2-Control 3 L controller sits around USD 13,000 (vessel extra). A used Ambr 250 HT 12-way workstation was recently listed on EquipNet at approximately USD 150,000 — a factor of five to ten above a comparable single-vessel bench system.

The recurring-cost story flips the same way. Autoclavable glass Applikon Bio and Eppendorf Univessel vessels have effectively no per-batch consumable cost beyond calibration standards, seals, and O-rings. BioBLU c/f and AppliFlex ST single-use vessels add USD 400–1,500 per vessel depending on size and integrated sensors. Ambr 15 and Ambr 250 single-use vessels carry the highest per-condition consumable cost of any bench platform, offset by the throughput multiplier: 24 Ambr 250 vessels per campaign at a fully allocated consumable cost roughly matches or beats 24 separate BioBLU 250 or ez2-Control runs once operator labour is included. See our scale-up calculator for the kLa- and P/V-based scale-down mathematics that ties Ambr 250 back to a 5 L bench and a 2,000 L pilot vessel.

Used-market capital figures reflect LabX, EquipNet, Bimedis, and Labexchange listings sampled 2026. New-market list prices are quote-only from all three vendors. Ambr 15 new pricing is not publicly disclosed; the ~USD 500k–1M figure is widely reported industry hearsay and should be verified with a vendor quote.

Vendor landscape

Each of the three vendors covers a specific band of the bench and PD bioreactor market. Cross-shopping the three usually happens at the "1–8 vessels for late PD" middle ground; the ends of the range (single-vessel small-lab work and 24–48 parallel automated screening) are less contested.

Applikon / Getinge platform

• Applikon my|Control: compact single-vessel benchtop controller for 50 mL – 3 L; browser-based BioXpert software; five-unit-per-metre bench footprint.
• Applikon ez2-Control: PD-grade single-vessel controller for 1–20 L glass or single-use vessels; adaptive PID; four pumps and up to six mass flow controllers.
• Applikon AppliFlex ST: gamma-irradiated single-use rigid-wall bioreactor vessels at 500 mL, 3 L, and 15 L nominal working volume with a customisable 3D-printed design.
• Applikon Bio: autoclavable glass benchtop vessels covering the same 250 mL to 20 L range; Rushton or marine impellers.

Eppendorf platform

• Eppendorf BioFlo 120: entry-level bench controller (250 mL – 40 L); universal drive; onboard touchscreen and DASware Control off-board data logging.
• Eppendorf BioFlo 320: advanced bench controller (400 mL – 40 L); native Mettler Toledo ISM digital sensor input; up to eight vessels per controller.
• Eppendorf SciVario twin: modular two-vessel PD workhorse with bay-drawer expandability; Mettler ISM and Hamilton Arc digital sensors.
• Eppendorf BioBLU c / f: rigid-wall single-use bioreactor vessels (100 mL – 40 L cell / 65 mL – 3.75 L microbial).

Sartorius platform

• Sartorius Ambr 15 Cell Culture: 24 or 48 single-use 10–15 mL parallel vessels; robotic liquid handling; fluorescence pH and DO sensor patches.
• Sartorius Ambr 15 Fermentation: microbial variant of Ambr 15 with sparger and higher agitation for E. coli, Pichia, and yeast strain screening.
• Sartorius Ambr 250 HT: 12 or 24 single-use 100–250 mL parallel vessels; BioPAT Viamass capacitance and BioPAT Process Insights options.
• Sartorius Biostat B-DCU: conventional single-vessel to six-unit bench bioreactor tower for GMP-adjacent PD (Sartorius's answer to ez2-Control and BioFlo 320).

Related calculators and tools

Related articles

Resources and references

• Nienow AW, Rielly CD, Brosnan K, Bargh N, Lee K, Coopman K, Hewitt CJ (2013). The physical characterisation of a microscale parallel bioreactor platform with an industrial CHO cell line expressing an IgG4. Biochemical Engineering Journal 76:25–36. — foundational hydrodynamic characterisation of the Ambr 15 platform, establishing mixing time and energy dissipation for use as a scale-down of a 3 L bench bioreactor.
• Rameez S, Mostafa SS, Miller C, Shukla AA (2014). High-throughput miniaturized bioreactors for cell culture process development: Reproducibility, scalability, and control. Biotechnology Progress 30(3):718–727. — Ambr 15 reproducibility and equivalence to conventional 3 L bench bioreactors on CHO growth, viability, and titer.
• Xu P, Clark C, Ryder T, Sparks C, Zhou J, Wang M, Russell R, Scott C (2017). Characterization of TAP Ambr 250 disposable bioreactors, as a reliable scale-down model for biologics process development. Biotechnology Progress 33(2):478–489. — Ambr 250 HT equivalence to 5 L bench and 1,000 L pilot scale when kLa is matched.
• Sandner V, Pybus LP, McCreath G, Glassey J (2019). Scale-Down Model Development in ambr systems: An Industrial Perspective. Biotechnology Journal 14(4):e1700766. — scale-down model qualification methodology for Ambr 15 and Ambr 250 systems from an industrial-user perspective.
• Manahan M, Nelson M, Cacciatore JJ, Weng J, Xu S, Pollard J (2019). Scale-down model qualification of ambr 250 high-throughput mini-bioreactor system for two commercial-scale mAb processes. Biotechnology Progress 35(6):e2870. — qualification of Ambr 250 HT against two commercial-scale mAb processes using PCA and univariate equivalence testing.

Further reading

• Applikon ez2-Control Bioreactor System (Getinge). Vendor specifications for the PD-grade bench controller.
• BioFlo 320 Bioprocess Controller (Eppendorf). Vendor specifications for the multi-vessel advanced bench controller.
• Ambr 250 High Throughput System (Sartorius). Vendor specifications for the 12- and 24-way parallel single-use PD workstation.
• Scale-Up Success for Cell Cultures in Single-Use Benchtop Bioreactors (BioProcess International, Getinge Applikon sponsored, 2021). Industry case study covering AppliFlex ST scale-up.