PCR instruments can be divided into several categories: ordinary PCR machine, gradient PCR machine, in situ PCR, real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR machine, etc according to the purpose of DNA amplification and the standard of detection.

Fluorescence quantitative PCR system is divided into single-channel, dual-channel and multi-channel. When only one fluorescent probe is used for labeling, a single channel is selected; when there are multiple fluorescent labels, a multi-channel is used. A single channel can also detect multiple fluorescent labels and target gene expression products, because only one target gene amplification amount can be detected at a time, and multiple amplifications are required to detect the amount of different target gene fragments. Multi-channel is conducive to multiple PCR, realizing the function of detecting multiple target genes at one time.

The real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR machine consists of a fluorescence quantitative system and a computer, which is used to monitor the fluorescence of the circulation process. It is mainly used in clinical medical testing, biomedical research and development, food industry, scientific research institutions, etc.