WebMO FAQ

What is WebMO?

WebMO is a web-based interface to computational chemistry packages.

WebMO allows one to set up, run, and visualize chemical calculations from a web browser, smartphone, or tablet.

Ethane HOMO
Build Molecule
Ethane LUMO
Run Job
Ethane LUMO
Visualize Results

WebMO is the interface between users and the computational chemistry programs. WebMO lets users setup, run, and visualize computational chemistry calculations using the web browser on their computer. WebMO handles all the details of creating input files, submitting jobs, and interpreting output files.

Why Should I Use WebMO?

The goal of WebMO software is to promote the use of state-of-the-art computational chemistry in teaching and research.

WebMO accomplishes this goal by:

WebMO is ideal for:

Where is WebMO Installed? And How is it Accessed?

Webmo Architecture

WebMO is installed once on a server computer:
      Linux
      Windows
      Mac OS X
      Cloud
Local or cloud Linux servers are most common becasue they support the widest variety of computational chemistry software programs.

Computational chemistry programs (Gaussian, Mopac, Orca, Q-Chem, ...) are installed separately on the server.

WebMO is then accessed by multiple clients with their:
      Windows, Mac, or Linux web browsers
      iOS or Android phone/tablet apps

How Does WebMO Work?

WebMO is installed on a server computer. Computational chemistry programs are also installed on the server computer. Using WebMO's web-based management tools, the admin user configures WebMO to access these programs and creates WebMO user accounts.

A three dimensional structure is drawn by a user in a web browser using WebMO's 3-D editor powered by Javascript and HTML5. A computational engine is chosen, and job options are selected from dropdown menus. WebMO translates the user's molecular geometry and menu choices into an input file suitable for the selected computational chemistry program. The user submits the job, and when computing resources are available, WebMO runs the job on the server. After the job is complete, WebMO parses the output file and results are presented to the user as 3-D structures, tables, graphs, and animations on a webpage.

In addition, WebMO allows for importing existing structures, monitoring the progress of running jobs, job queuing, progress monitoring, importing previously computed output files for visualization, and administration of users and jobs, all from a web browser interface.

What are the Key Features of WebMO?

WebMO is easy and intuitive to use for novices, but offers power and flexibility for advanced users:

What Does WebMO Cost?

WebMO Basic is FREE. Thousands of chemists have downloaded and use WebMO Basic. WebMO Basic provides an integrated 3-D molecular editor for structure input, interfaces to run jobs on many popular computational chemistry programs, and graphical and text visualization of results.

Two commercial upgrades to WebMO Basic are available. WebMO Pro has features beyond WebMO Basic that support additional computational, visualization, and job management capabilities for serious education, research, or commercial users. WebMO Enterprise has features beyond WebMO Pro to support large numbers of users and cluster computers.

The WebMO App for iOS and Android portable devices is free. All app features are available for molecules with less than 10 atoms. Several features require an in-app purchase for larger molecules.

How Easy is it to Install WebMO?

WebMO installs with a user-friendly installation script that asks a few simple questions (computer name, location of perl, desired location of webmo directories). Setup is completed using the web browser interface to access WebMO's administrative tools (specifying computational engine binaries, setting up user accounts).

Pre-requisites include perl, a webserver, and any supported computational chemistry program, for which all instructions are provided on our Support pages. Installation typically takes 10-60 minutes, depending on the installer's computing background.

Can I Install WebMO on my Laptop or Desktop Computer?

Yes! However, since WebMO is server-based software, you may also need to install and/or configure some pre-requisite software: Apache webserver, Perl programming language, and desired computational engines. Our installation pages provide detailed instructions for these steps.

The procedure differs depending if your computer is running Windows, Mac OS, or Linux. Also, the procedure is more involved than running a simple installation program because you are setting up a webserver, computational engines, and WebMO.

Windows. There are two different approaches for installing WebMO on Windows:

Overall, the traditional Windows installation installs more like Windows, but it is more effort. The WSL installation runs many more engines and is easier to install. In the future, WebMO will be shifting away from the traditional Windows installation and toward the WSL installation on Windows computers.

Mac OS. Follow the Installation Instructions for Mac OS. Mac OS is a varient of unix, so WebMO runs on it! Mac OS includes Apache and Perl, but you will need to configure the webserver for local access. You will also need to install computational engines that have been compiled for Mac OS.

Linux. Follow the Installation Instructions for Linux. WebMO is written for Linux!

The result of the installation process is that your laptop or desktop computer is both a server and a client! WebMO is hosted by your local webserver and supplies web pages to your local web browser. WebMO accesses locally installed computational engines and stores the results on your local hard disk.