The use of computers to assist in the identification of plant-parasitic nematodes is a relatively recent innovation in nematode taxonomy and their further development requires different programs to be adequately assessed. Three procedures, matching, modified Gower's coefficient and a statistical technique, were compared using a small desk top microcomputer. The results from all three procedures were statistically highly correlated in their ranking of species but the time taken by the matching procedure was less than a third of that using the statistical procedure. Where a large fast mainframe computer is available the statistical procedure may be the best technique but for a small microcomputer it is suggested that either the matching or the modified Gower's coefficient would suffice.