Tool profile
Castor: cost, fit and limits
Castor is a clinical trial platform made by Ciwit B.V. of Amsterdam that offers EDC, a clinical data management system, eCOA and ePRO, and eConsent for decentralized and hybrid studies. Its Catalyst tool uses AI to read source documents and propose values for a reviewer to confirm.
What to know first
Castor serves academic groups, biotech, MedTech and CROs, and says it has more than 900 customers and 19,000 studies. Prices are not printed. Every project follows a path from a form to a call, a protocol review and a demo to an itemized, fixed-scope proposal that the page says arrives within five business days. Catalyst is the AI piece: it extracts data from source documents and EHR records, and a person approves each value.
Castor at a glance
| Maker | Ciwit B.V. (Castor), Netherlands |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Free trial only |
| Entry price | Quote only |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI Clinical Trial Software in 2026, rank 4 of 11 |
| Website | castoredc.com |
Who Castor is best for
Teams choosing a hosting region
Castor runs on Azure in the EU, UK, Australia and the US, so a sponsor can match the region to a regulator or an ethics committee.
Decentralized trial teams
eConsent, eCOA and ePRO sit next to EDC, so participants can consent and report outcomes remotely under the same study record.
Sites tired of manual abstraction
Catalyst reads source documents and proposes eCRF values, which a reviewer confirms before the record is committed. That makes source data entry less manual for coordinators.
Castor plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed-scope study proposal | Quote within 5 business days | An itemized proposal after form, call, protocol review and tailored demo. Scope covers modules, integrations and services for one study. |
| EDC and CDMS | Quote | Electronic data capture and clinical data management for trials, with support listed as available 24/7 in 20+ languages. |
| eCOA, eConsent and DCT modules | Quote | Remote outcome capture and consent for decentralized and hybrid studies, bought with the study scope. |
| Catalyst | Quote | AI extraction of source data from uploaded documents and direct-to-patient record retrieval, with human review. |
Checked November 2026.
What Castor does
- Catalyst extraction
- The tool reads uploaded source documents and EHR data and proposes structured eCRF values. A reviewer confirms each result before commitment, and the home page cites a 0.8 percent change rate.
- Direct-to-patient records
- Catalyst can retrieve patient records directly, which supports studies where participants consent to share their own health data. The home page lists it as a use case.
- Optional app-level encryption
- EDC customers can switch on an extra encryption layer using libsodium ciphers, with keys held in a separate key management system. This adds protection for sensitive trials beyond standard encryption.
- Compliance documents
- The site links ISO certificates, GCP compliance documents and a GDPR and HIPAA assessment PDF, so a quality team can read them before a call.
- Professional services and academy
- Data management services and the Castor Academy training program are sold alongside the software. Courses and services help teams that are new to EDC build their first study correctly and learn the tool in a structured way.
How Castor handles your data
Castor's security statement says data is hosted on Microsoft Azure in the Netherlands and Ireland, London and Cardiff, New South Wales, and Virginia and California. It states ISO 27001 certification, encryption in transit and at rest with TLS 1.2 or newer, and twice-daily encrypted backups at a separate location. The privacy statement names Ciwit B.V. in Amsterdam and says Catalyst source documents may be kept up to 25 years where law requires. It does not say whether data trains AI models. No formal subprocessor list is given.
Where Castor falls short in practice
- No printed price. Tailored pricing means a budget needs the five-day proposal process, and there is no entry plan to compare with rivals. Compare it with printed prices at Ledidi or OpenClinica.
- AI training not addressed. The privacy statement describes human review and no fully automated decisions, but it is silent on training AI with customer or patient data. Ask for a written statement of how Castor uses customer data.
- Retention can be long. Catalyst source documents may be stored up to 25 years where regulation requires it, so contracts should state who holds and deletes them. Sponsors should state in the contract who deletes them and when.
Works with
Alternatives to Castor
Castor: common questions
How does Castor price a clinical study?
The pricing page lists no plans or amounts. It describes a process from an initial form to a call, protocol review, tailored demo and an itemized fixed-scope proposal, delivered within five business days when inputs are complete. Support is advertised as available 24/7 in 20+ languages.
Where does Castor host trial data?
The security statement lists Microsoft Azure in the EU (Netherlands and Ireland), the UK (London and Cardiff), Australia (New South Wales) and the US (Virginia and California). It also says backups are made twice daily and stored encrypted elsewhere. Choose the region in your order form, not afterward.
Does a person check Castor's AI extraction?
Yes. The home page says a human reviewer confirms each Catalyst result before it is committed to the record, and the privacy statement says Catalyst has human-in-the-loop review and makes no fully automated decisions affecting individuals. The home page reports a 0.8 percent change rate for values corrected by reviewers, a vendor figure.
Is Castor ISO 27001 certified?
The security statement says Castor is ISO 27001 certified, and the home page links ISO compliance certificates. Its hosting platforms hold ISO 27001, ISO 9001, HIPAA and NEN 7510 credentials. Ask for the current certificate with your contract. The home page also links a GDPR and HIPAA assessment PDF.
What are Castor's customer figures?
The home page claims more than 900 customers, 19,000 studies and 500 partners, and names testimonials from medical technology and digital health companies. These are vendor-stated numbers with no time frame, so treat them as marketing. The list of partners is not named on the pages we read.