Magnetic beads have a smaller size compared to agarose beads, allowing for optimal antibody binding capacity without the risk of trapping antibodies inside a porous structure.
There is also no sample loss as magnetic beads eliminate the need for centrifugation, preventing the loss of bound materials during wash steps. It also preserves weak antibody-antigen bonds.
Magnetic beads also speed up the ChIP process by eliminating incubation and pre-clearing steps.
Despite being more expensive upfront, the smaller amount of magnetic beads required for ChIP experiments makes them more cost-effective in the long run compared to agarose beads.