ColAI is an AI-powered colony counter app. It automatically counts bacterial, yeast and fungal colonies of any kind from a single photo of an agar plate or petri dish taken with your iPhone — no scanner, light box or manual clicking required.

How accurate is the colony counter?

In our internal evaluation ColAI reaches over 99% agreement with expert manual CFU counts, including on crowded plates where colonies touch or overlap.

Do I need special hardware or a colony counting machine?

No. ColAI works from an ordinary handheld phone photo — no colony counting machine, scanner or light box. If you can photograph the plate, ColAI can count it.

What types of colonies can it count?

Colonies of any kind — bacterial (such as E. coli), yeast and fungal — across different agar types, plate sizes and lighting conditions.

Is ColAI a free colony counter app?

ColAI is currently in a free private beta. Email beta@colai.bio with your lab and use case to request access.

How do I join the beta?

Email beta@colai.bio to request access. Tell us about your lab and how you plan to use ColAI, and we will reply with onboarding steps.

ColAI — AI Agar Plate Colony Counter | Count Colonies From an iPhone Photo

ColAI — AI Agar Plate Colony Counter ColAI is an AI-powered colony counter app that counts bacterial, yeast and fungal colonies of any kind from a single photo taken with your iPhone — no scanner, light box or manual clicking. It's a faster, more accurate alternative to manual colony counting and legacy colony-counting machines, reaching over 99% agreement with expert manual CFU counts. How it works

Snap a handheld iPhone photo of your agar plate or petri dish.

ColAI counts the colonies in seconds, even when they touch or overlap.

Review the annotated plate and export your CFU count.

The ColAI colony counter is currently in a private beta — email beta@colai.bio to request access.