vsearch ☆
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Description:
Versatile open-source tool for microbiome analysis
Type: Formula  |  Latest Version: 2.30.2@0  |  Tracked Since: Dec 12, 2025
Links: Homepage  |  formulae.brew.sh
Category: Other
Tags: bioinformatics metagenomics microbiome sequence-analysis cli
Install: brew install vsearch
About:
Vsearch is a versatile open-source tool designed for processing and analyzing nucleotide sequence data, primarily targeting microbiome research. It offers high-performance clustering, chimera detection, and OTU picking, serving as a fast and free alternative to proprietary software like QIIME.
Key Features:
  • Ultra-fast chimera detection and elimination using the UCHIME algorithm
  • Supports de novo and reference-based clustering for OTU picking
  • Multi-threaded processing for efficient handling of large datasets
  • Compatibility with standard FASTA and FASTQ file formats
Use Cases:
  • Processing 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing data for microbial community profiling
  • Filtering and quality control of high-throughput sequencing reads
  • Detecting chimeric sequences in metagenomic datasets
Alternatives:
  • USEARCH – Vsearch is a free and open-source alternative to USEARCH, offering similar functionality for clustering and chimera detection without the licensing restrictions of the free version.
  • QIIME 2 – While QIIME 2 is a comprehensive analysis pipeline, Vsearch is often used as a high-performance underlying engine or a lightweight standalone tool for specific sequence processing tasks.
Version History
Detected Version Rev Change Commit
Dec 12, 2025 11:38am 0 VERSION_BUMP 2ed0b7f2
Oct 3, 2025 5:20pm 0 VERSION_BUMP 60bdaf87
Sep 11, 2025 10:34pm 0 VERSION_BUMP 4576ed5d
Sep 26, 2024 1:38pm 0 VERSION_BUMP 764f6b03
Sep 26, 2024 12:57pm 0 VERSION_BUMP b277735c
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