Anyone working with microRNAs knows the problem: there are a lot of databases and analysis tools, and it isn’t always obvious which one fits your research question. Plus, every year new tools are released that facilitate the functional analysis of microRNAs. That’s why we reworked our overview of web-based microRNA tools. It is now live with a new design.

The biggest change is the structure. Instead of a simple list, the tools are now grouped by common research questions. These cover target prediction, experimentally validated miRNA-mRNA target interactions, pathway analysis, sequence and nomenclature, tissue expression, disease associations, small RNA-seq data analysis and data visualisation. This takes you straight from your question to the right tool.

The page covers more than 20 curated databases and tools, including miRDB, DIANA-TarBase, miRTargetLink 2.0, the Human miRNA Tissue Atlas, DIANA-miTED and miRDeep2. Each tool comes with a short description and a direct link, and all entries were checked in October 2026. There’s also a new free PDF cheat sheet that sums up the key tools for everyday lab use.

One more thing: miRBase v23.1 has been released. miRBase is the central reference for miRNA sequences and nomenclature, so changes there directly affect annotation, data analysis and how comparable results are. We’ll soon share a summary of the main changes and what to look out for.

Explore the toolbox: https://www.tamirna.com/microrna-web-tools-target-prediction-databases-tamirna/

If you are missing your favorite web-based tool for microRNA analysis, please let us know in the comments!