Superconducting
The world's largest superconducting quantum computing platform. Free cloud access, open-source Qiskit SDK, and 100+ organizational partners in the IBM Quantum Network.
About IBM Quantum
IBM launched the IBM Quantum Experience in 2016, becoming the first company to offer public cloud access to real quantum hardware. Since then, IBM has released a steady cadence of increasingly powerful systems: the 27-qubit Falcon in 2019, the 127-qubit Eagle in 2021, the 433-qubit Osprey in 2022, and the milestone 1,121-qubit Condor in 2023. The current flagship system for production workloads is IBM Heron r2, a 156-qubit processor using direct CNOT gates that achieve median two-qubit fidelity above 99.9%.
IBM's superconducting qubits are transmon-type: small Josephson junction circuits cooled to millikelvin temperatures in dilution refrigerators. IBM arranges these on a heavy-hex lattice, a 2D connectivity graph where each qubit connects to at most three neighbors. This sparse connectivity limits native SWAP-free routing but allows longer coherence times and lower error rates than denser topologies.
The primary SDK for IBM hardware is Qiskit, an open-source Python framework that spans circuit construction, transpilation, execution via the Sampler and Estimator primitives, and post-processing. Qiskit Patterns provides a structured programming model for near-term algorithms: map, optimize, execute, and post-process. For hybrid workloads, Quantum Serverless extends Qiskit jobs into a classical-quantum compute cluster model.
Hardware Specifications
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Current systems | IBM Heron r2 (156q), IBM Heron r1 (133q), IBM Eagle (127q), IBM Condor (1121q, research only) |
| Qubit technology | Superconducting transmon qubits |
| Two-qubit gate fidelity | Up to ~99.9% on best qubit pairs (Heron r2) |
| Coherence time (T1/T2) | 100–500 microseconds |
| Connectivity | Heavy-hex lattice (not all-to-all) |
| Two-qubit gate time | ~100–400 nanoseconds |
| Throughput metric | CLOPS (up to ~340K circuit layer operations/sec on Heron r2) |
| Cloud access | IBM Quantum Platform, IBM Cloud (pay-per-use) |
| Primary SDK | Qiskit (open source, Python) |
| Supported SDKs | Qiskit, PennyLane-qiskit plugin, Cirq (via transpilation), OpenQASM 3 |
156 qubits
IBM's current flagship processor. The Heron r2 improves on the original 133-qubit Heron with direct CNOT gates and median two-qubit fidelity above 99.9%. IBM's recommended system for production algorithm workloads requiring the best gate quality.
127 qubits
The 127-qubit Eagle systems are available on the free Open Plan (10 min/month). Introduced in 2021, Eagle was the first quantum processor to surpass 100 qubits. Multiple Eagle systems remain the primary free-tier hardware.
1,121 qubits
A 2023 research milestone demonstrating IBM's fabrication scale. Condor is a proof-of-concept for large-scale integration and is not a primary production system. Its achievement informed subsequent architectural decisions for Heron.
27 qubits
The workhorse of earlier IBM Quantum generations. 27-qubit Falcon systems have served millions of user jobs and remain useful for small-scale experiments and educational circuits. Some are still accessible via IBM Quantum.
Use Cases
Qiskit's chemistry modules and the Estimator primitive enable variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) calculations for molecular ground-state energies at scales approaching chemical accuracy.
Heavy-hex lattice connectivity maps well to 2D lattice problems in condensed matter physics, making IBM hardware a strong fit for Hubbard model and spin-chain simulations.
Quantum amplitude estimation offers a quadratic speedup over classical Monte Carlo for pricing derivatives and estimating risk, a use case IBM has actively demonstrated with financial partners.
QAOA on IBM hardware with Qiskit Patterns delivers structured approaches to MaxCut, portfolio optimization, and logistics problems using the Sampler primitive.
Parameterized quantum circuits implemented via Qiskit Machine Learning integrate with classical ML pipelines for classification, generative modeling, and kernel methods.
IBM's Estimator primitive has built-in zero-noise extrapolation (ZNE) and probabilistic error amplification (PEA), making IBM hardware ideal for near-term error mitigation experiments.
Getting Started
Go to quantum.ibm.com and sign up with a free IBM account. The Open Plan gives you 10 minutes of quantum compute time per month on 127-qubit Eagle systems at no cost. No credit card required.
pip install qiskit qiskit-ibm-runtime qiskit installs the core SDK for circuit construction and transpilation. qiskit-ibm-runtime provides the client for authenticating with IBM Quantum and submitting jobs via the Sampler and Estimator primitives.
from qiskit_ibm_runtime import QiskitRuntimeService
QiskitRuntimeService.save_account(
channel="ibm_quantum",
token="YOUR_API_TOKEN", # from quantum.ibm.com account page
set_as_default=True,
)
Your API token is found on your IBM Quantum account page. Running save_account stores it locally so you do not need to pass it on every run.
from qiskit import QuantumCircuit
from qiskit_ibm_runtime import QiskitRuntimeService, SamplerV2 as Sampler
service = QiskitRuntimeService()
backend = service.least_busy(operational=True, simulator=False, min_num_qubits=2)
qc = QuantumCircuit(2)
qc.h(0)
qc.cx(0, 1)
qc.measure_all()
sampler = Sampler(backend)
job = sampler.run([qc], shots=1024)
result = job.result()
print(result[0].data.meas.get_counts())This selects the least busy available IBM Quantum backend and submits a Bell state measurement. Results come back as bitstring counts.
IBM Quantum Learning at quantum.cloud.ibm.com offers free structured courses covering Qiskit basics, quantum algorithms, and error mitigation. Labs within the courses run directly against IBM hardware using your account's compute time.
Pricing
IBM Quantum offers multiple access tiers from a generous free plan to premium institutional membership. Most learners start with the Open Plan at no cost.
Free (10 min/month)
Free access to 127-qubit Eagle systems. Each account receives 10 minutes of quantum compute time per month. No credit card required. Best for learning and small experiments.
View details →Free educational access
IBM Quantum Learning provides free courses, guided labs, and limited hardware access tied to course exercises. No account needed to read materials; IBM account needed to run circuits.
View details →Academic / commercial membership
100+ universities and companies have priority access to IBM's full system fleet, including Heron and premium systems, via the IBM Quantum Network. Apply through IBM.
View details →Per second of runtime
Access IBM Quantum hardware via IBM Cloud with a pay-per-use model billed per second of quantum runtime. Suited for production workloads and teams needing repeatable, scalable access.
View details →Learning Resources
Hello World with Qiskit
Submit your first circuit to IBM Quantum hardware
Getting Started with Qiskit
Primitives, transpilation, and IBM Runtime walkthrough
VQE with Qiskit
Variational quantum eigensolver using the Estimator primitive
IBM Quantum Computing Certification
Prep guide for the IBM Certified Associate Developer (Qiskit) exam