MATLAB
4 free alternatives
Top pick:GNU OctaveLicense: Open source
Saves $940 USD a year
Math & scientific computing
Do numerical computing, symbolic math, modeling and simulation.
Paid apps and their free alternatives
Open one to see every alternative, ranked.
Wolfram Mathematica
3 free alternatives
Top pick:SageMathLicense: Open source
Saves $1,960 USD a year
Free math & scientific computing tools
Every free tool in this category, by name.
Filter alternatives
9 alternatives
GNU Octave
Free numerical computing environment with a MATLAB-compatible language, plotting and a graphical interface.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Status: Unknown- M: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Runs most scripts; some toolbox functions and newer syntax are missing
- MAT: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Reads and writes MAT files; some MATLAB object types such as tables do not carry over
- CSV: opens and saves, full fidelity
- XLSX: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Through the io package from Octave Forge
This replaces MATLAB
Julia
Free, fast programming language for numerical and scientific computing with built-in arrays and a large package registry.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Status: Unknown- MAT: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Through the MAT.jl package
- CSV: opens and saves, full fidelity. Through the CSV.jl package
- XLSX: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Through the XLSX.jl package
This replaces MATLAB
Maxima
Free computer algebra system descended from Macsyma, with symbolic algebra and calculus and the wxMaxima notebook interface.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Status: Verified- CSV: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Through the numericalio package
This replaces Wolfram Mathematica
Python
Free general-purpose language with NumPy, SciPy, pandas and statsmodels for statistics, numerical computing and plotting.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Status: Unknown- DTA: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Through pandas read_stata and to_stata
- CSV: opens and saves, full fidelity
- XLSX: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Through pandas with openpyxl
- SAV: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Through pyreadstat
- MAT: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Through scipy.io for older files and h5py for v7.3 files
QGIS
Open-source geographic information system for viewing, editing, analyzing and publishing spatial data and maps.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Status: UnknownThis replaces Autodesk Civil 3D
SageMath
Free open-source mathematics system built on Python that combines algebra, calculus, number theory and plotting in one interface.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
- Web
Status: Unknown- CSV: opens and saves, full fidelity. Through Python
- XLSX: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Through pandas and openpyxl
This replaces Wolfram Mathematica
Scilab
Free numerical computation software with a matrix language, plotting and the Xcos block-diagram editor.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Status: Unknown- M: opens only, partial fidelity. A translator converts MATLAB scripts to Scilab code
- MAT: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Loads and saves MAT files for common data types
- CSV: opens and saves, full fidelity
- XLSX: opens only, partial fidelity. Imports Excel sheets
This replaces MATLAB
SymPy
Free Python library for symbolic mathematics, covering algebra, calculus, equation solving and code generation.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Status: Unknown- WL: opens only, partial fidelity. Can parse Wolfram Language expressions but not run code
- CSV: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Through Python's csv module or pandas
- XLSX: opens and saves, partial fidelity. Through pandas
This replaces Wolfram Mathematica
Weasis
Open-source DICOM viewer for CT, MR and other medical images with PACS and DICOMweb connections, 3D and reporting tools.
License: Open source- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Status: UnknownThis replaces OsiriX MD
Paid apps with no free alternative yet
No free tool ranks Strong for these yet. Each page says what a free version would need.
ENERCALC SEL
License: PaidNo free option listed yet
OsiriX MD
License: Paid1 partial free option listed
StructurePoint spColumn
License: PaidNo free option listed yet