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ChemDoodle 2D vs ChemCanvas: catalog facts
ChemDoodle 2D	ChemCanvas
Best for: Chemists and students drawing structures for papers and teaching	Best for: Students and chemists drawing structures and reactions without a ChemDraw licence
Paid Commercial software that the developer describes as affordable.	Free Free and open source under GPL-3.0-or-later.
macOS	Windows, Linux
Built specifically for drawing chemical structures Publishing and cheminformatics features in one app All 3 strengths for ChemDoodle 2D Built specifically for drawing chemical structures Publishing and cheminformatics features in one app Part of a wider set of related chemistry tools	Reads and writes SMILES, Molfile, MRV and CDXML Exports to PDF, PNG and editable SVG All 4 strengths for ChemCanvas Reads and writes SMILES, Molfile, MRV and CDXML Exports to PDF, PNG and editable SVG Fetches structures from PubChem Many packaging options on Linux
Commercial license Specialised for chemistry rather than general drawing	No macOS build Supports fewer file formats than commercial chemistry suites
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Not open source	Open source
License not stated	License: GPL-3.0-or-later
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for ChemDoodle 2D ichemlabs.com Catalog checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for ChemCanvas ksharindam.github.io/chemcanvas Catalog checked October 1, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.