Photograph of the Open Ephys acquisition board

The Open Ephys Acquisition Board is an open-source interface for acquiring up to 512 channels of extracellular electrophysiology data over a USB connection.

You can order an assembled Acquisition Board from Open Ephys Production Site. You can also order an Open Ephys Starter Kit, which contains everything you need to get started (except for electrodes and a computer).

Because all the designs are freely available, you can also build the Acquisition Board yourself. We estimate you’ll spend about 2-3 days of work and about $1000. Follow the instructions here to learn how to build your own board.

Besides the acquisition board, you will need these other components to start collecting data. If you already have all of the necessary parts in your lab, follow the Quickstart guide to learn how to start collecting data right away. Otherwise, we recommend reading through the sub-pages to help you decide which components to buy.

Key Specifications

  • 4 headstage connections (up to 2 64-channel headstages per connection)

  • Up to 512 channels

  • USB data transmission

  • 8 analog inputs

  • 8 digital inputs


Open Ephys logo
Quickstart Guide

Read this if you're just starting out.
A laptop
Software Guide

How to install compatible software.
A screwdriver
Assembly instructions

How to build it yourself.
Some books
Tutorials

Guided tours on a variety of topics.