Real-time PCR has been adopted as the gold standard for nucleic acid target quantification in genomics research and is increasingly used for clinical analysis. However, there are some applications, such as precise measurement of copy number variation, low-abundance sequence detection, detection of rare mutations, including distinguishing rare sequences in tumours, and low-level gene expression analysis, where real-time PCR shows limitations. Digital PCR overcomes those limitations by enabling researchers to directly quantify nucleic acids, without the need for a standard curve, and provides higher precision than real-time PCR.