Free alternatives to expensive research software

Open-source and free tools that replace SPSS, Stata, MATLAB, NVivo, EndNote and more. Picked for students, PhD researchers and academics working on a budget.

MATLAB alternatives SAS alternatives SPSS alternatives Stata alternatives E-Prime alternatives Mathematica alternatives MAXQDA alternatives NVivo alternatives

All 37 tools Browse categories →

Typst

Writing & typesetting

Modern markup-based typesetting system

Stars: ★ 56.7k
Licence: Apache-2.0
Updated: 3 days ago

Alternative to Overleaf Premium

Julia

Numerical computing

Fast, high-level language for technical computing

Stars: ★ 49.2k
Licence: MIT
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to MATLAB

NumPy

Numerical computing

The fundamental package for array computing in Python

Stars: ★ 33k
Licence: BSD-3-Clause
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to MATLAB

Overleaf Community Edition

Writing & typesetting

Self-hostable collaborative LaTeX editor

Stars: ★ 18.3k
Licence: AGPL-3.0
Updated: 1 month ago

Alternative to Overleaf Premium

Zotero

Reference management

Free tool to collect, organise, cite and share research

Stars: ★ 15.7k
Licence: AGPL-3.0
Updated: 4 days ago

Alternative to EndNote, Mendeley

JupyterLab

Data science & workflows

Web-based notebooks for code, data and narrative

Stars: ★ 15.4k
Licence: BSD-3-Clause
Updated: 3 days ago

Alternative to MATLAB, Mathematica

LanguageTool

Writing & typesetting

Open-source grammar, style and spell checker

Stars: ★ 15.2k
Licence: LGPL-2.1
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to Grammarly

SciPy

Numerical computing

Algorithms for scientific computing in Python

Stars: ★ 15.1k
Licence: BSD-3-Clause
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to MATLAB

statsmodels

Statistics

Statistical models and tests for Python

Stars: ★ 11.7k
Licence: BSD-3-Clause
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to Stata, SAS

Spyder

Numerical computing

Scientific Python IDE with a MATLAB-like layout

Stars: ★ 9.4k
Licence: MIT
Updated: 4 days ago

Alternative to MATLAB

Orange

Data science & workflows

Visual programming for data mining and machine learning

Stars: ★ 5.7k
Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: 6 days ago

Alternative to SPSS Modeler

RStudio Desktop

Statistics

Popular open-source IDE for R and Quarto

Stars: ★ 5.1k
Licence: AGPL-3.0
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to SPSS, Stata

JabRef

Reference management

Open-source reference manager built around BibTeX

Stars: ★ 4.8k
Licence: MIT
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to EndNote, Mendeley

LibreOffice

Writing & typesetting

Free office suite from The Document Foundation

Stars: ★ 4.5k
Licence: MPL-2.0
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to Microsoft Office

LimeSurvey

Surveys & experiments

Open-source online survey platform

Stars: ★ 3.8k
Licence: GPL-2.0
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey

TeXstudio

Writing & typesetting

Feature-rich desktop editor for LaTeX documents

Stars: ★ 3.7k
Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to Overleaf Premium

SageMath

Numerical computing

Open-source mathematics system built on Python

Stars: ★ 2.6k
Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to Mathematica, Maple

PsychoPy

Surveys & experiments

Build behavioural experiments with a GUI or Python

Stars: ★ 2.1k
Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: 3 days ago

Alternative to E-Prime

QuPath

Image analysis

Open-source software for bioimage and digital pathology analysis

Stars: ★ 1.5k
Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to Imaris

jsPsych

Surveys & experiments

JavaScript library for running experiments in the browser

Stars: ★ 1.2k
Licence: MIT
Updated: 6 days ago

Alternative to E-Prime

Fiji (ImageJ)

Image analysis

ImageJ distribution with batteries included for scientific imaging

Stars: ★ 1k
Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: 13 days ago

Alternative to Imaris

JASP

Statistics

Point-and-click statistics with classical and Bayesian tests

Stars: ★ 1k
Licence: AGPL-3.0
Updated: 2 days ago

Alternative to SPSS, GraphPad Prism

jamovi

Statistics

Spreadsheet-style statistics app built on R

Stars: ★ 790
Licence: AGPL-3.0
Updated: 4 days ago

Alternative to SPSS, Stata

QualCoder

Qualitative analysis

Qualitative data analysis for text, images, audio and video

Stars: ★ 694
Licence: LGPL-3.0
Updated: 2 days ago

Alternative to NVivo, ATLAS.ti

GNU Octave

Numerical computing

Scientific programming language largely compatible with MATLAB

Stars: ★ 666
Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: 17 days ago

Alternative to MATLAB

LabPlot

Plotting & graphing

Data visualisation and analysis from KDE

Stars: ★ 487
Licence: GPL-2.0
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to Origin, GraphPad Prism

OpenSesame

Surveys & experiments

Graphical experiment builder for the social sciences

Stars: ★ 281
Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: 11 days ago

Alternative to E-Prime

KoboToolbox

Surveys & experiments

Data collection for field research, online and offline

Stars: ★ 186
Licence: AGPL-3.0
Updated: 2 days ago

Alternative to Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey

SciDAVis

Plotting & graphing

Scientific data analysis and visualisation

Stars: ★ 145
Licence: GPL-2.0
Updated: 25 days ago

Alternative to Origin

Scilab

Numerical computing

Numerical computation software with a Simulink-like modeller

Stars: ★ 111
Licence: GPL-2.0
Updated: 3 days ago

Alternative to MATLAB

CATMA

Qualitative analysis

Web-based text annotation and analysis for the humanities

Stars: ★ 104
Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: 4 days ago

Alternative to NVivo, MAXQDA

Taguette

Qualitative analysis

Free and open-source tool for qualitative research

Stars: ★ 88
Licence: BSD-3-Clause
Updated: 21 days ago

Alternative to NVivo, ATLAS.ti

GNU PSPP

Statistics

Free program for statistical analysis of sampled data, modelled on SPSS

Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: 17 days ago

Alternative to SPSS

gretl

Statistics

Econometrics package with a menu interface and scripting

Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to Stata

KNIME Analytics Platform

Data science & workflows

Free, open-source platform for visual data workflows

Licence: GPL-3.0
Updated: 10 months ago

Alternative to SPSS Modeler, SAS

Maxima

Numerical computing

Long-running computer algebra system

Licence: GPL-2.0
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to Mathematica, Maple

R

Statistics

The open-source language and environment for statistical computing

Licence: GPL-2.0
Updated: today

Alternative to SPSS, Stata

Collections All collections →

Best free SPSS replacements5 tools

Every tool in the directory that we list as an alternative to SPSS, from point-and-click apps to R.

Point-and-click statistics and analytics6 tools

Analyse data through menus or visual workflows instead of writing code.

Thesis writing kit7 tools

Reference managers, LaTeX and Typst editors, grammar checking and an office suite for writing up.

Python research stack5 tools

Core Python libraries and editors for numerical work, statistics and notebooks.

Research tools for Mac29 tools

Tools in this directory with a native macOS version.

Runs in the browser10 tools

Tools you can use from a web browser, including self-hostable survey and writing platforms.

Categories All categories →

Numerical computing (8)Statistics (7)Writing & typesetting (5)Surveys & experiments (5)Qualitative analysis (3)Data science & workflows (3)Reference management (2)Plotting & graphing (2)Image analysis (2)

Why free research software? More →

Licences for SPSS, Stata, MATLAB and NVivo can cost students and early-career researchers hundreds of pounds a year, and university site licences usually end the day you graduate or change institution.

Open-source tools keep working after you leave, run on your own laptop, and make your analysis easier for others to reproduce, because anyone can install the same software for free.

Every tool here is free to use. Most are fully open source; where a tool is free but not open source, or has paid tiers, the listing says so.

Free alternatives to expensive research software

All 37 tools Browse categories →

Typst

Julia

NumPy

Overleaf Community Edition

Zotero

JupyterLab

LanguageTool

SciPy

statsmodels

Spyder

Orange

RStudio Desktop

JabRef

LibreOffice

LimeSurvey

TeXstudio

SageMath

PsychoPy

QuPath

jsPsych

Fiji (ImageJ)

JASP

jamovi

QualCoder

GNU Octave

LabPlot

OpenSesame

KoboToolbox

SciDAVis

Scilab

CATMA

Taguette

GNU PSPP

gretl

KNIME Analytics Platform

Maxima

R

Collections All collections →

Categories All categories →

Why free research software? More →

ResearchAlts Weekly