48-Well Plate Tool

48-Well Plate Template & Plate Map Maker

Describe your layout — or ask for a blank template — and get a publication-ready 48-well plate figure: the 6 × 8 grid with rows A–F and columns 1–8, colour-coded groups and a legend.

Example 48-well plate figures

A blank template and a dose-series plate map, each a real render — click a card to load the prompt that drew it.

Blank template

Dose series map

What is a 48-well plate template?

A 48-well plate template is a figure of the 48-well culture plate grid — 6 rows lettered A to F and 8 columns numbered 1 to 8, with well A1 at the top left. Coloured by group with a legend it becomes a plate map that records which treatment, dose or control each well holds.

Key facts

A 48-well plate has 6 rows lettered A to F and 8 columns numbered 1 to 8.
It is built on the same 127.76 × 85.48 mm ANSI/SLAS footprint as a 96-well plate, so it fits the same plate readers.
A Corning 48 well is 11.0 mm across with about 0.95 cm² of growth area; Thermo Fisher lists 1.1 cm².
Corning recommends 0.19–0.285 mL of medium per well; Thermo Fisher gives 0.2–0.4 mL.

How does the 48-well plate maker work?

Describe the layout

Name each region by explicit ranges — blanks in column 1, vehicle in column 2, six doses in columns 3–8, rows A–F as replicates. The tool knows the 6 × 8 grid and its headers; a blank request gives an empty template.

Pick a style

The default is a flat publication plate — white background, one outline weight, a legend. Or choose grayscale print, pastel, dark slide, hand-drawn or 3D labware.

Refine and export

The figure opens in your workspace, where you can recolour groups, edit the legend on the canvas, regenerate with a changed layout and export in high resolution.

48-well plate dimensions, volumes and cell numbers

The footprint is standardized; the well figures below are the manufacturers' own, so two sources are given where they differ.

Dimension	Value	Source
Grid	6 rows (A–F) × 8 columns (1–8)	Plate convention
Footprint	127.76 × 85.48 mm	ANSI/SLAS 1-2004
Well diameter (bottom)	11.0 mm	Corning CLS-AN-209
Growth area per well	0.95 cm² (Corning); 1.1 cm² (Thermo Fisher)	Corning CLS-AN-209; Thermo Fisher
Total well volume	1.6 mL	Corning CLS-AN-209
Working volume	0.19–0.285 mL (Corning); 0.2–0.4 mL (Thermo Fisher)	Corning CLS-AN-209; Thermo Fisher
Seeding density	About 0.03 × 10⁶ cells per well	Thermo Fisher
Cells at confluency	About 0.12 × 10⁶ per well	Thermo Fisher
Well pitch	Not standardized — set by the manufacturer	ANSI/SLAS 4-2004 covers 96, 384 and 1536 wells only

Cell numbers depend on the cell line — treat the seeding and confluency figures as a starting point, and quote well dimensions from the datasheet of the plate you used.

48-well vs 24-well vs 96-well plates

The three formats share one footprint. Going from 24 to 48 to 96 wells roughly halves the growth area per well each step, trading cells per condition for conditions per plate.

Feature	24-well	48-well	96-well
Grid	4 rows × 6 columns	6 rows × 8 columns	8 rows × 12 columns
Row letters	A–D	A–F	A–H
Growth area (Corning)	1.9 cm²	0.95 cm²	0.32 cm²
Working volume (Corning)	0.38–0.57 mL	0.19–0.285 mL	100–200 µL
Typical use	Culture, transfection, imaging	Culture, small treatment screens	ELISA, qPCR, assays

Growth areas and volumes from Corning application note CLS-AN-209, flat-bottom plates.

Where are 48-well plate figures used?

A 48-well plate is the step between culture plates and assay plates, and its map usually records a treatment series.

Dose–response and toxicity series

Eight columns take a vehicle, a blank and six concentrations; six rows are the replicates — one map shows the whole design.

Protocols and SOPs

A plate figure in a protocol gives every operator the same layout, which is how transposed rows and swapped doses are avoided.

Methods figures

A colour-coded map with a legend states the layout in one panel, clearer than a paragraph of well ranges.

Common questions about 48-well plates

How many rows and columns does a 48-well plate have?

Six rows lettered A to F and eight columns numbered 1 to 8 — 6 × 8 = 48 wells. Wells run from A1 at the top left to F8 at the bottom right.

What is the surface area of a 48-well plate well?

About 0.95 cm² by Corning's figure and 1.1 cm² by Thermo Fisher's, with a Corning well 11.0 mm across at the bottom. The difference matters whenever results are normalised per unit of growth area, so use your plate's datasheet.

How much medium goes in a 48-well plate?

Corning recommends 0.19–0.285 mL per well (1.6 mL total well volume); Thermo Fisher gives 0.2–0.4 mL of growth medium.

How many cells should I seed in a 48-well plate?

Thermo Fisher's reference figure is about 0.03 × 10⁶ cells per well, reaching about 0.12 × 10⁶ at confluency. Adjust for your cell line's size and doubling time.

What are the dimensions of a 48-well plate?

The same 127.76 × 85.48 mm ANSI/SLAS 1-2004 footprint as a 96-well plate, so it fits the same readers and holders. The well spacing is not in the standard — ANSI/SLAS 4-2004 covers 96, 384 and 1536 wells — and is set by each manufacturer.

How should I describe a 48-well layout?

Give explicit ranges. "Blanks in column 1, vehicle in column 2, 0.1–30 µM in columns 3–8, rows A–F as replicates" places every group exactly; a count such as "six doses in sextuplicate" leaves the arithmetic to the model.