Difference between ATLAS.ti Web and Desktop (Windows & Mac)

Who this article is for

This article is intended for researchers, students, and professionals who want to understand the differences between ATLAS.ti Web and ATLAS.ti Desktop (Windows or Mac). It provides an overview of how both environments work and highlights some of the most relevant distinctions between them.

ATLAS.ti Web and Desktop: The basics

ATLAS.ti Web and ATLAS.ti Desktop are two environments for qualitative data analysis. Both allow researchers to organize, code, and analyze qualitative material such as documents and PDFs.

Projects can move between the two environments. You can export a project from ATLAS.ti Web and open it in ATLAS.ti Desktop, or export a desktop project and import it into the web version. This flexibility allows researchers to switch between environments depending on their workflow. You can see our page on How to export projects in ATLAS.ti Desktop and Web.

Licensing is also connected across the two environments. Licenses that provide access to ATLAS.ti Desktop also include access to ATLAS.ti Web. In addition, there are web-specific licenses available in the shop that provide access exclusively to the web environment. These web licenses are also offered as monthly subscriptions, which can be useful for short-term or flexible use.

A full overview of available features can be found on the comparison page: ATLAS.ti Web vs Desktop feature comparison

Collaboration and teamwork

ATLAS.ti Web includes built-in real-time collaboration. Project members can be invited directly to a project and work together simultaneously, with updates appearing instantly for all collaborators.

ATLAS.ti Desktop supports teamwork through project export and merging workflows. Team members work on separate project copies and combine their work later.

More information about teamwork in both environments can be found here: Teamwork in ATLAS.ti

Feature comparison highlights

Both environments share many core analytical features. Coding, quotations, memos, AI Tools and most of the analytical tools are available in both versions. However, some tools are specific to the desktop environment or to the web platform.

The full overview of differences in provided features can be found on the Comparison page here. Here is a list of some differences between ATLAS.ti Web and Desktop (Windows/Mac):

• ATLAS.ti Desktop includes advanced visualization features such as the Network Tool, which allows researchers to create conceptual maps and visualize relationships between codes, quotations, and concepts.
• Only the Desktop version supports multimedia analysis. Researchers can work with audio and video and audio documents and code segments of these files directly within the software. ATLAS.ti Web does not support media files. Desktop supports coding specific areas of images or PDFs using rectangle selections, while this option is not available in the web version.
• ATLAS.ti Web AI Tools are the same as in Desktop version, with the only limitation of the AI Summaries, which is a tool that is only available in Desktop..
• One distinctive capability is the Paper Search tool, which provides access to a large database of scientific publications that can be imported directly into a project.
• Only the Desktop allows importing code lists from spreadsheets, while the Web version currently does not support bulk code import.
• The Web environment replaces does not provide the Word Cloud tool, but instead offers the Concepts tool, which helps explore the commonly used concepts in your documents.
• AI Auto Transcription is only present in the Desktop version.

Interface and workflow

The two environments also differ slightly in their interface and workflow. ATLAS.ti Web runs directly in the browser and emphasizes accessibility and collaborative workflows. ATLAS.ti Desktop is a full software and offers a larger workspace with a wider range of tools available within the application. Because of these differences, preferences often depend on the type of project and research workflow.

To help you see the differences between ATLAS.ti Web and ATLAS.ti Desktop, the screenshots below show how similar tools appear in each environment.

For example, here is the Document Manager page in ATLAS.ti Web. You can see the tools panel on the left, the list of documents and options to filter and add documents.

And here is the Document Manager in ATLAS.ti Windows. The main tools are accessible from the top bar, and the Project Explorer on the left helps you quickly reach all the important elements in the project.

Choosing the right version

Both ATLAS.ti Web and ATLAS.ti Desktop provide powerful tools for qualitative analysis. The Web version is often preferred for collaborative work and browser-based access, while the Desktop version is more suitable for long-term projects, offers additional advanced tools and multimedia support.

If you are unsure which environment best fits your needs, you can try ATLAS.ti for free with our Free Trial and explore both versions to see which workflow works best for you.

When to contact support

Contact ATLAS.ti Support if:

• You are unable to open or import a project when moving it between ATLAS.ti Web and Desktop.
• A project export or import completes but the project content appears incomplete or corrupted.
• Your license should provide access to both environments, but one of them remains inaccessible.

If the issue cannot be explained by normal feature differences or licensing conditions, support can help review the situation and assist with resolving it.