Comparison of numerical-analysis software
The following tables provide a comparison of numerical analysis software .
Applications
General
Creator
Development started
First public release
Latest stable version
Stable release date
Cost (USD )
License
Notes
ADMB
David Fournier, ADMB Project
1989
1990
13.1
December 23, 2022
Free
BSD 3-clause (aka new)
Automatic differentiation makes it well suited to complex minimization problems
Analytica
Lumina Decision Systems
1982 (Demos)
4.6
May 2015
Free (Analytica Free 101), $995 (professional), $2795 (enterprise)
Proprietary
A numerical modeling environment with a declarative and visual programming language based on influence diagrams .
Ch
SoftIntegration
1 October 2001
7.5.1
2 December 2015
$399 (commercial), $199 (academic), Free (student)
Proprietary
C/C++ based numerical computing and graphical plotting[ 1]
DADiSP
DSP Development
1984
1987
6.7 B02
17 January 2017
$1995 (commercial), $129 (academic), Free (student)
Proprietary
Numeric computations for science and engineering featuring a spreadsheet like interface.
Dyalog APL
Dyalog Ltd.
1981
1983
18.0
10 June 2020
Not free (commercial), Free (non-commercial)
Proprietary
A modern dialect of APL , enhanced with features for functional and object-oriented programming .
Euler Math Toolbox
René Grothmann
1987
1988
2022-02-10
10 February 2022
Free
GPL
Also a computer algebra system through interface with Maxima
Fityk
Marcin Wojdyr
2002
1.3.1
19 December 2016
$115 (1.x binaries), Free (source code and 0.x binaries)
GPL
interactive graphics, scriptable, specialized in curve fitting and peak fitting, 2D only
FlexPro
Weisang GmbH
n/a
1991
2019 (12.0.x)
2018
Not free (commercial), Free (academic)
Proprietary
Dynamic, interactive 2D/3D diagrams, programmable, VBA, high performances, multicore compatible, large data sets.
FreeMat
Samit Basu
2004
4.2
30 June 2013
Free
GPL
Codeless interface to external C , C++ , and Fortran code. Mostly compatible with MATLAB.
GAUSS
Aptech Systems
1984
21
8 December 2020
Not free
Proprietary
GNU Data Language
Marc Schellens
2004
1.0.2
15 January 2023
Free
GPL
Aimed as a drop-in replacement for IDL/PV-WAVE
IBM SPSS Statistics
Norman H. Nie , Dale H. Bent, and C. Hadlai Hull
1968
23.0
3 March 2015
Not free
Proprietary
Primarily for statistics
GNU MCSim
Frederic Y. Bois & Don Maszle
1991
1993
6.0.0
24 February 2018
Free
GPL
General simulation and Monte Carlo sampling software
GNU Octave
John W. Eaton
1988
1993
7.3.0
2 November 2022
Free
GPL
General numerical computing package with many extension modules. Syntax mostly compatible with MATLAB
IGOR Pro
WaveMetrics
1986
1988
8.00
May 22, 2018
$995 (commercial) $225 upgrade, $499 (academic) $175 upgrade, $85 (student)
Proprietary
interactive graphics, programmable, 2D/3D, used for science and engineering, large data sets.
imc FAMOS
imc Test & Measurement
1988
1989
2024 R2
April 29, 2024
Not free (commercial), Free (academic)
Proprietary
Solving differential equations, nonlinear approximations, Monte-Carlo calculations, engineering math, interactive plots, Python and R interface
J
Jsoftware
1989
1990
J9.5.1
20 December 2023
Free
GPL
online access to: J Application Library (JAL)
Julia
Jeff Bezanson , Stefan Karpinski , Viral B. Shah , Alan Edelman
2009
2012
1.11.2
2 December 2024
Free
MIT License
A fast,[ 2] [ 3] [ 4] high-level numerical computing language.
[ Note 1]
LabPlot
Stefan Gerlach, Alexander Semke, KDE
2001
2003
2.11.1
16 July 2024
Free
GPL-2.0-or-later
2D plotting, suitable for creation of publication-ready plots but also for data visualization and exploration, data import from many formats(ASCII, binary, HDF5, FITS, JSON, etc.), export to vector and raster images, data analysis (nonlinear curve fitting in 2D, FFT, smoothing, integration and differentiation, etc.), digitizing of raster images, live data plotting, support for different CAS like Maxima, Octave, R, etc.
LabVIEW
National Instruments
1985
1986
2016
August 2016
$1249 (commercial), $79.95 (student)
Proprietary
Graphical , and textual through formula nodes, mathscript and .m file scripts[ 5]
Maple
Maplesoft
1980
1982
2024 (6 March 2024; 13 months ago (2024-03-06 ) ) [±] [ 6]
14 March 2019
$2390 (commercial), $239 (personal), $99 (student)
Proprietary
Mainly a computer algebra system
Mathcad
Parametric Technology Corporation
1985
1986
15.0; Prime 4.0[ 7]
2 March 2015
$1195 (commercial), $99 (student)
Proprietary
Mathematica
Wolfram Research
1986
1988
14.2.0 (January 23, 2025; 2 months ago (2025-01-23 ) ) [±] [ 8]
13 December 2023
Free (Raspberry Pi [ 9] ), Free Cloud Access , $3320 (commercial), $399 (personal), $75/year (student)[ 10]
Proprietary
Also computer algebra system
MATLAB
MathWorks
late 1970s
1984
9.12 (R2022a)
15 March 2022
$2150 (standard), $500 (education), $149 (home), $49 (student)
Proprietary
Numerical computation and simulation with extended 2D/3D visualization. Emphasis on vectorised processing.
Maxima
MIT Project MAC and Bill Schelter et al.
1967
1982
5.47.0
31 May 2023
Free
GPL
Mainly a computer algebra system
MLAB
Civilized Software, Inc.
1970 (in SAIL), 1985 (in C)
1972 (on DEC-10), 1988 (on PCs), 1993 (on MACs)
2015
2015
$2250 (standard), $50 (student)
Proprietary
Numerical and Statistical computation for Scientific Applications, e.g. Chemical Kinetics. ODE Solving and Curve-Fitting. Symbolic Differentiation, Survival Analysis, Cluster Analysis, 2D/3D Graphics.
Origin
OriginLab
1991
2019b
24 April 2019
$1095 (std.)/$1800 (Pro) $550 (std., academic) $850 (Pro, academic) $69/yr. (Pro, student)
Proprietary
Integrated data analysis graphing software for science and engineering. Flexible multi-layer graphing framework. 2D, 3D and statistical graph types. Built-in digitizing tool. Analysis with auto recalculation and report generation. Built-in scripting and programming languages.
Perl Data Language
Karl Glazebrook
1996
c. 1997
2.080
28 May 2022
Free
Artistic License
Used for astrophysics, solar physics, oceanography, biophysics, and simulation. 2D plotting via PGPLOT, PLPlot bindings; 3D via GL.
PSPP
Ben Pfaff
1990s
1990s
1.2.0
6 November 2018
Free
GPL v.3 or later
FOSS statistics program, intended as an alternative to IBM SPSS Statistics.
[ Note 2]
R
R Foundation
1997
1997
4.3.2
31 October 2023
Free
GPL
Primarily for statistics, but there are many interfaces to open-source numerical software
SageMath
William Stein
2005
10.2
3 December 2023
Free
GPL
Programmable, includes computer algebra, 2D+3D plotting. Interfaces to many open-source and proprietary software. Web based interface HTTP or HTTPS
SAS
Anthony Barr , James Goodnight
1966
1972
10.2
10 July 2014
Not free
Proprietary
Mainly for statistics
SequenceL
Texas Multicore Technologies
1989
2012
2.4
10 February 2016
Free (Community Edition), $2495 (Professional Edition)
Proprietary
Functional programming language and tools.
[ Note 3]
S-Lang
John E. Davis
1992
2.3.0
18 September 2014
Free
GPL , Artistic License (1.x only)
Available as a standalone (slsh) and embedded interpreter (jed , slrn , ...)
Scilab
ESI Group
Was:Inria
1990
1994
2024.0.0
24 October 2023
Free
GPL
Programmable, direct support of 2D+3D plotting. Interfaces to many other software packages. Interfacing to external modules written in C, Java, Python or other languages. Language syntax similar to MATLAB. Used for numerical computing in engineering and physics.
Smath Studio
SMath LLC
(Andrey Ivashov)
2006
1.0.8348
11 September 2022
Free
Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs (CC-BY-ND)
Mathematical notebook program, similar to Mathcad , with support for Plugins (e.g. Maxima plugin available)
Sysquake
Calerga
1998
6.5
December 2019
free, $2500 (Pro, commercial), $1000 (Pro, academic)
Proprietary
interactive graphics
TK Solver
Universal Technical Systems, Inc.
late 1970s
1982
6.0.152
2020
$599 commercial, $49 (student)
Proprietary
Numerical computation and rule-based application development
VisSim
Visual Solutions
1989
10.1
January 2011
$495-$2800 (commercial) free view-only version $50-$250/free v3.0 (academic)
Proprietary
Visual language for simulation and Model Based Design . Used in business, science and engineering. Performs complex scalar or matrix based ODE solving with parametric optimization. Has 2D and 3D plotting, 3D animation, and state transition built in.
Yorick
n/a
n/a
n/a
9
January 2015
Free
GPL
Programmable, callable 2D+3D plotting. Language syntax similar to C. Interfacing to other software packages via C calls.
Operating system support
The operating systems the software can run on natively (without emulation ).
Language features
Colors indicate features available as
Standalone executables creation support
Symbolic computation support
OOP support
GUI creation support
Multi-dimensional arrays as primitive data type
Centralized extension library website
Can call code in other languages
Can be called from other languages
Analytica
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
COM , Excel
Excel , COM , .NET
Dyalog APL
Yes[ 11]
Yes
Yes[ 12]
Win32 , .NET , WPF , HTML/JS
Yes
Yes
COM , .NET , WebServices , Shared Libraries , DLLs , NAG , R , JavaScript [ 13]
COM , .NET , WebServices [ 13]
GNU Data Language
No
No
Yes
GUI Widgets since v.0.9 but still incomplete
Yes
No
C , Python
Python
GNU MCSim
Yes
No
No
XMCSim with TCL/TK and wish
No
No
C
R
GNU Octave
Yes with mkoctfile
Wrappers to SymPy
Yes[ 14]
Yes
Yes
Yes[ 15]
C , C++ , Fortran ,[ 16] Perl ,[ 17] Python , Tcl [ 18]
Java ,[ 19] Perl ,[ 17] C , C++ ,[ 20] Python
J
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
JavaScript
JavaScript , C , Python
imc FAMOS
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
Python, R, C++
.Net
Julia
Yes
Wrappers to SymPy , SymEngine and others
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
C , C++ , Python , R
LabVIEW
Professional System version
With add-on[ 21]
No
Yes
Yes
Yes[ 25]
Yes[ 30]
Maple
No
Yes
Yes[ 31]
Yes
Yes
Yes[ 32]
C , C# , Fortran
MATLAB ,[ 33] Excel ,[ 34] Visual Basic , Java , and C [ 35]
Mathematica
Yes[ 36]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes[ 37]
Java , .NET , C++ , Fortran , CUDA , OpenCL , R , Python , SQL , SPARQL , NodeJS , Julia
MATLAB
with extension[ 46]
with extension library[ 47]
Yes[ 48]
Yes
Yes
Yes[ 49]
.NET ,[ 51] Java ,[ 52] Excel [ 53]
Maxima
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Common Lisp
Common Lisp
MLAB
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
PDL
Yes[ 54]
No
Yes[ 55]
Yes[ 56]
Yes
Yes[ 57]
C via perlXS; C, Python, F77, etc. via Inline
Perl, C[ 58]
Python
Py2exe , Py2App, PyInstaller, cxFreeze, etc.
SymPy & others
Yes inherently object-oriented
Numpy
PyPI
C , C++ , Fortran , many others
C , C++ , Fortran , many others
R
No
Yes and extended via Ryacas package
Yes[ 59]
Via the tcltk library
Yes
Yes[ 60]
SageMath
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes[ 67]
Many languages[ 68] [ 69] [ 70]
Yes (any language that can call Python)
SAS
No
No
DS2 and SCL
Yes
No
No
No
TK Solver
with extension
No
Yes
with extension
Yes
Yes
.NET Excel
Unknown
Libraries
General
Creator
Language
First public release
Latest stable version
Cost (USD )
License
Notes
ALGLIB
Sergey Bochkanov
C++, C#, Python, FreePascal
2006
3.19.0, June 2022
Dual licensed
GPL/commercial
General purpose numerical analysis library. Cross-platform (Windows, *nix).
Armadillo
NICTA
C++
2009
3.900, 2013
Free
MPL
C++ template library for linear algebra; includes various decompositions and factorisations; syntax (API ) is similar to MATLAB .
GNU Scientific Library
GNU Project
C
1996
2.7, 1 June 2021
Free
GPL
General purpose numerical analysis library. Targets Linux, can be built on almost any *nix OS with Ansi C compiler.
ILNumerics
H. Kutschbach
C#, PowerShell
2007
1.3.14, August 2008
Non-free
Proprietary
aims .Net/mono, 2D/3D plottings (beta)
IMSL Numerical Libraries
Rogue Wave Software
C, Java, C#, Fortran, Python
1970
many components
Not free
Proprietary
General purpose numerical analysis library.
Math.NET Numerics
C. Rüegg, M. Cuda, et al.
C#, F#, C, PowerShell
2009
4.7.0, November 2018
Free
MIT/X11
General purpose numerical analysis and statistics library for the .NET framework and Mono , with optional support for native providers.
NAG Numerical Library
The Numerical Algorithms Group
C, Fortran
1971
many components
Not free
Proprietary
General purpose numerical analysis library.
NMath
CenterSpace Software
C#
2003
6.2, March 2016
$995
Proprietary
Math and statistical libraries for .NET framework
SciPy
scipy.org community
Python
2001
1.5.3, 17 October 2020
Free
BSD
Adds numerical programming abilities to Python language. Related to NumPy , and thus connected to prior Numeric and Numarray packages for Python
Operating-system support
The operating systems the software can run on natively (without emulation ).
See also
^ Julia allows direct calls of C functions (no wrappers needed). Designed for cloud parallel computing with LLVM just-in-time compilation (JIT) as a backend. Lightweight "green" threading (coroutines). Efficient support for Unicode. Shell-like abilities to manage other processes. Lisp-like macros and other metaprogramming facilities.
^ Abilities of PSPP include analysis of sampled data, frequencies, cross-tabs comparison of means (t-tests and one-way ANOVA); linear regression, logistic regression, reliability (Cronbach's Alpha, not failure or Weibull), and re-ordering data, non-parametric tests, factor analysis, cluster analysis, principal components analysis, chi-square analysis and more.
^ SequenceL delivers high performance on multicore hardware with ease of programming, and code clarity/readability. Designed to work with other languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, Fortran, Python, etc. Can be compiled to multithreaded C++ (and optionally OpenCL) code with no explicit indications from the programmer of how or what to parallelize. A platform-specific runtime manages the threads safely.
^ Once was supported
References
^ Ch Scientific Numerical Computing
^ "Julia in a Nutshell" , from the official Julia homepage. Accessed 2019-01-25.
^ Sai K. Popuri and Matthias K. Gobbert. A Comparative Evaluation of Matlab, Octave, R, and Julia on Maya . Technical Report HPCF-2017-03, UMBC High Performance Computing Facility, University of Maryland, U.S.A., 2017. Accessed 2019-01-25.
^ Jules Kouatchou; Basic Comparison of Python, Julia, Matlab, IDL and Java (2018 Edition)
Version 74. NASA Modeling Guru, Technical Report DOC-2676. Created on: 5-Feb-2018. Last Modified: 14-Sep-2018. Accessed 2019-01-25.
^ National Instruments . "Working with .m File Scripts in NI LabVIEW for Text Based Signal Processing, Analysis, and Math" . Retrieved April 3, 2017 .
^ "Maplesoft Media Releases" . www.maplesoft.com . Retrieved May 12, 2024 .
^ "PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0 | PTC" . Retrieved August 12, 2018 .
^ "Launching Version 14.2 of Wolfram Language & Mathematica: Big Data Meets Computation & AI" . Retrieved January 23, 2025 .
^ "Raspberry Pi now includes Mathematica and Wolfram Language for free" . The Verge . November 21, 2013. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023.
^ Mathematica License Pricing Options Wolfram.com, February 2024
^ "Dyalog APL Users Guide" (PDF) .
^ "An Introduction to Object Oriented Programming for APL programmers" .
^ a b "Dyalog APL Interface Guide" (PDF) .
^ "GNU Octave: Object Oriented Programming" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "Octave-Forge" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "Octave Wiki: OctaveFortran" . Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ a b "Octave Wiki: OctavePerl" . Archived from the original on December 22, 2005. Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "Octave Wiki: OctaveTcl" . Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "Octave Wiki: OctaveJava" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "Octave Wiki: CategoryExternal" . Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ National Instruments . "LabVIEW Application Builder" . Retrieved April 3, 2017 .
^ National Instruments . "LabVIEW Object-Oriented Programming" . Retrieved April 3, 2017 .
^ National Instruments . "NI GOOP Development Suite" . Retrieved April 3, 2017 .
^ National Instruments . "G# Framework" . Archived from the original on July 9, 2017. Retrieved April 3, 2017 .
^ National Instruments . "LabVIEW Tools Network" . Retrieved April 3, 2017 .
^ National Instruments (January 18, 2010). "Calling External Code From LabVIEW" . Retrieved April 3, 2017 .
^ National Instruments . "Call Perl and Python Scripts from LabVIEW" . Retrieved April 3, 2017 .
^ National Instruments . "Introduction to Scripting in Perl, Python and Tcl" . Retrieved April 3, 2017 .
^ "Lua for LabVIEW" . Retrieved April 3, 2017 .
^ National Instruments . "Calling LabVIEW VIs from Other Programming Languages" . Retrieved April 3, 2017 .
^ Maplesoft . "Object-Oriented Programming, Polymorphism, and More in Maple 9.5" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "Maple Application Center" .
^ "Maple: MATLAB Connectivity" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "Maple and Excel" .
^ Maplesoft . "OpenMaple API for VisualBasic and Java" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ Wolfram Research . "C Code Generation User Guide" . Retrieved May 19, 2011 .
^ library.wolfram.com
^ Wolfram Research . "Mathematica Link for Excel 3.2" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "Mathematica Link for LabVIEW 2.1" . Archived from the original on August 8, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ Haskell packages
^ "Unisoftware plus" . Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2011 .
^ MrMathematica website
^ Mathematica for ActivX
^ "Clojuratica" . clojuratica.weebly.com . 2013. Retrieved June 14, 2013 .
^ a b "Mathematica Symbolic Toolbox for MATLAB--Version 2.0" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ Mathworks . "MATLAB Compiler" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ Mathworks . "Symbolic Math Toolbox" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ Mathworks . "Object-Oriented Programming in MATLAB" . Archived from the original on July 19, 2017. Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "MATLAB File Exchange" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ Mathworks . "MEX-files Guide" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ Mathworks . "MATLAB Builder NE for Microsoft .NET Framework" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ Mathworks . "MATLAB Builder JA for Java language" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "MATLAB Builder EX for Microsoft Excel" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "Perlmonks" . Retrieved January 24, 2013 .
^ "O'Reilly tutorial" . Retrieved January 24, 2013 .
^ "PerlTK tutorial" . October 10, 1999. Retrieved January 24, 2013 .
^ "CPAN" . Retrieved January 24, 2013 .
^ "Calling Perl from C" . Retrieved January 24, 2013 .
^ R Development Core Team (April 13, 2011). "Object-oriented programming". R Language Definition . ISBN 978-3-900051-13-6 . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "CRAN: Contributed Packages" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ Hornik, Kurt (2011). The R FAQ . ISBN 978-3-900051-08-2 .
^ Bengtsson, Henrik; Jason Riedy. "CRAN: R.matlab package" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ Grothendieck, G.; Carlos J. Gil Bellosta. "rJython R package" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ Neuwirth, Erich. "CRAN: RExcelInstaller package" . Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "A simple and efficient access to R from Python" . Retrieved May 18, 2011 .
^ "R Interface Now Available in SAS/IML Studio" . Retrieved October 10, 2016 .
^ "Additional Packages" . Retrieved June 5, 2013 .
^ "Interpreter Interfaces" . Retrieved June 6, 2013 .
^ "C/C++ Library Interfaces" . Retrieved June 6, 2013 .
^ "Using Compiled Code Interactively" . Archived from the original on April 4, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013 .