PyMOL
PyMOL is a powerful molecular visualization system used by researchers, scientists, and educators to create high-quality 3D visual representations of proteins, nucleic acids, and other molecular structures. Originally developed by Warren Lyford DeLano and now maintained by Schrödinger, it's widely used in structural biology, biochemistry, and pharmaceutical research for analyzing and exploring complex molecular data. The software offers both open-source and commercial versions, with the commercial version providing additional features and support. PyMOL is essential for scientists who need to visualize molecular interactions, create publication-quality molecular graphics, and analyze structural data from X-ray crystallography, NMR, and cryo-electron microscopy.
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1 suggestionPyMOL does support Apple Silicon Macs, but currently only through Rosetta 2 translation rather than native Apple Silicon code. According to the official support documentation, PyMOL v3.0+ supports macOS 13.0+ including Apple Silicon (M1-M4) with Rosetta 2. The developers at Schrödinger have indicated that native Apple Silicon support is an eventual goal, but they're waiting for better conda-forge support for osx-arm64 and CI infrastructure improvements. Since this is an actively maintained commercial product with ongoing development, you should continue using the current version and watch for future updates that will likely include native Apple Silicon support.
Native version · Reported by in the community.
Sighting data is community-sourced — version availability and pricing should be verified with the developer.
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