Navigating the Landscape of Public RNA-Seq Databases

An interactive guide, gathered by Lucas VHH TRAN, updated September 11, 2025.

Welcome, Researcher!

The world of transcriptomic data is vast and complex. This interactive guide is designed to help you quickly identify the most relevant public RNA-Seq databases for your work. Use the filters below to narrow down your options based on data type, biological focus, and more. You can also click on the bars in the chart to explore different categories. Each card provides a snapshot of a database's key features and a direct link to its resource.

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Database Landscape Overview

Database Explorer

Programmatic Access & Tools

For bioinformaticians, direct programmatic access is crucial. The R/Bioconductor project and NCBI provide powerful command-line and scripting tools to search, download, and process data from these repositories efficiently.

GEOquery

Download and parse GEO data directly into R.

TCGAbiolinks

Search and prepare TCGA data from the GDC portal.

recount3

Access analysis-ready data from the Recount3 project.

SRA Toolkit

Efficiently download raw FASTQ files from the SRA.