Macintosh graphing, visualization, and modelling / SEM software

Last update 11/5/2024. This page is not frequently updated; if our listing date is old, check the last software update before buying to make sure it is still supported. Publishers sadly keep taking money for software long after it's been abandoned. I have started removing the current version information as it's often out of date.

Easy to use graphing / graphics / statistics software

PublishPlot

Price: $10
Software updated: 2023 when we last checked in April 2024

PublishPlot is back! Available in the Mac App Store. It’s designed to quickly make publication-quality plots from tables of data, and was created by a professor and editor.

DataGraph

Price: variable, $30/year to $120 perpetual; on Apple Store
Software updated 9/2023 when we checked in April 2024.

David Adalsteinsson wrote DataGraph in Cocoa for VisualDataTools.com; it grew out of DataTank and shares underlying graphics code, but is limited to two-dimensional graphing. The design is “simple and powerful,” with publication-quality output. DataGraph reads in CricketGraph files; it creates animations and can be called from Automator or the command line. Newer versions work with R and can handle over 200,000 points.

Kaleidagraph

Price: $250 (academic $175); crossgrades $125; upgrades $75
Listing updated: 2/25/2022

Kaleidagraph does data analysis and graphing; published by Synergy Software. Kaleidagraph can easily tabulate, normalize, and combine data sets, compare theoretical expressions with measured data points, and make publication-quality graphs. While the name dates back to the 1990s, the current version has brand new code.

Reverse graphics: getting data from charts

Engauge Digitizer

Via GitHub. Free. Listing updated: 2/25/2022

"...converts an image file showing a graph or map, into numbers. The numbers can be read on the screen, and written or copied to a spreadsheet." Can remove gridlines, match points, trace curves, match axes, handle a wide variety of graph types, and has other nifty features. Linux, OS X, and Windows versions; it’s on the Mac App Store.

Engauge Digitizer takes images in PNG, JPG, and TIF format and recovers the data points from graphs, possibly to be used in new graphs. Work can be saved in DIG format for later editing. Engauge Digitizer has numerous special features to make data more accurate and easier to obtain; it’s pretty impressive.

Other graphics and visualization

ndCurveMaster

Price: €289
Last update to software and listing: October 2024

ndCurveMaster is a curve-fitting tool for fitting complex data and finding the best curve line. It automates nonlinear regression equations with an unlimited number of inputs; it can do linear, polynomial, and nonlniear curve fitting. It has heuristic techniques and data analysis (ANOVA, p, collinearity detection) with overfitting and multicollinearity tests. It generates results quickly to Excel or Python. The 2D version is free, able to use a single independent variable.

ImageTank

Listing updated 11/5/24.

ImageTank grew out of DataTank, and is a newer, more modern program from VisualDataTools.com. The software is clearly Mac-focused; it already has a simple command line utility. It can view images and do complex image processing.

PublishPlot

Price: $10
Listing updated January 2021. Software updated January 2021.

PublishPlot was created to turn any collection of data (in flexible plain-text formats) into publication-quality plots, written by a former journal editor.

The program allows for error bars, annotations (with labels, arrows, and shapes), easy scaling with conserving relative sizes, customizing of any part of the chart, calculation of means, standard deviations, and quartiles (with standard deviation error bars or box-and-whisker graphics), data transformations (including fits and spline interpolations), and simple data editing. All aspects of the plot are sized relative to the plot size itself, rather than with absolute sizes.

The software is quite surprisingly fast on our Mini 8,1, though the user interface takes some getting used to. Data to be imported has to be saved in tab-delimited format and, ideally, altered in a text editor such as BBEdit or Brackets.

Available from the Mac App Store, and now conforming with all modern standards after a seven-year hiatus.

MagicPlot

Free student version, $390 perpetual.
Listing updated: 11/12/2018. Software updated: January 2021

MagicPlot is used for scientific and engineering data analysis, graphing, nonlinear curve fitting, and multi-peak fitting. The Pro version program has publication quality customizable plots with multiple axes, text table import with previews, data manipulation, FFT, integration, differentiation, histograms, and other statistics, with multiple undos (some of these features are on the free student version as well).

The software is relatively easy to use and nicely featured, but as a Java program, does not use standard Mac open/close dialogue boxes, so finding files may be hard depending on your file structure. The system is simple enough — fill a table with data, add formulas if desired, choose the type of table you want, and select a large number of options from the dialogue boxes which appear next. It takes a short time to get acquainted but is far easier to learn than many graphing programs; basic statistics are provided. The program can guess the most appropriate fit line, but lets users choose a method if desired.

pro Fit

Price: $95; upgrade, $55
Software and listing updated October 2024

pro Fit is a data analysis and plotting software package from QuantumSoft. Dave [not me] wrote: "...it has an extensive Applescript dictionary, ability to handle large data sets well (I've done graphs with hundreds of thousands of points), can be extended by writing plug ins or adding formulas that you create, does great curve fitting. I consider it much more feature complete than Kaliedagraph and far more intuitive than Igor Pro. They have excellent customer support, usually getting back to you within 24 hours if you have a bug report or feature request." We have observed that ProFit is frequently updated which indicates it is well supported (2010).

“pro Fit is a Macintosh (Mac OS) application for data/function analysis, plotting, and curve fitting. It is used by scientists and engineers to analyze their measurements and the mathematical models they use to describe them. Scientists or students can define any mathematical function and use it to model their data, finding by linear or nonlinear curve fitting the function parameters that best describe their observations. Moreover, they can use a number of tools for the mathematical and statistical analysis of functions and data sets, and they can produce aesthetically pleasing graphical representations for their scientific reports.”

Version 6.1 changes: now Universal Binary; new tool for multidimensional curve fitting; revamped rendering engine for plots with native Core Graphics, PDF, and PostScript support; additions to the scripting language; more. Version 6.2: Python support, extended fitting, more data processing, higher performance.

Powerful omnibus software that takes some getting used to

Graphviz

Configurations: PPC, Universal; current versions from Leopard to Mountain Lion
Current Version: 2.62
Software last updated: 2019
Listing updated: March 2020

Graphviz is an open source drawing package. Prepare for a steep learning curve but it may be worth it if you have graphs you do frequently; not what I'd suggest for the occasional one-off though, especially since it is really designed for Linux and must be installed via MacPorts or Homebrew.

Nice but pricey

DataDesk / Data Desk DP / Data Desk DDRP

Price: $495 normal (DataDesk Pro), academic $295 (Academic Data Desk), $30 student—full versions, no annual fees.
Listing updated: 2/23/2020 • last software update, 2020
Published by DataDescription

An exploratory data analysis package, DataDesk was originally developed by Cornell professor Paul Velleman, once a student of Bell Labs’ famed John Tukey. (800) 573-5121.

The Mac version is at parity with the Windows version. The strength and weakness of DataDesk is its visual environment:

While it implements many traditional statistics techniques suitable for data from planned experiments and sample surveys, Data Desk’s true strength is its powerful tools for data exploration. ... speed and linked views make Data Desk unsurpassable for exploring any set of data. ... Select points in one plot or table and see those points highlight instantly in all other plots. Modify a data value or parameter and see all relevant plots and table update immediately...

Dick Furnas wrote:

DataDesk is superb for exploratory data analysis. A student version is bundled with several textbooks Velleman has been involved in. DataDesk was originally developed for the Mac and makes splendid use of drag and drop, clickable, live interfaces and everything a Mac user might wish for (you can lasso points in a graph and the data values from the underlying data tables will be highlighted, and vice/versa).

Data Desk DDRP was recently added as an upgrade from Data Desk 8, for $39 (for a single license) with upgrades from versions 6 and 7 as well (for $149 and $99, respectively). It includes a data and story library, writes out R or Python commands so any table can be reproduced, and imports from Excel (including relations).

Igor Pro

Price: Several; around $995
Current Version: 8
Listing updated: March 2020

Igor Pro is a charting and data analysis program published by WaveMetrics, Inc. “IGOR Pro is an interactive software environment for experimentation with scientific and engineering data and for the production of publication-quality graphs and page layouts.” IGOR's data files are cross-platform. Analysis includes curve fitting, peak analysis, signal processing, and descriptive statistics. As of version 6, Igor Pro is a Universal Binary, and expanded statistics are available, along with built in FIR and IIR filtering.

JMP

A highly capable data visualization and discovery package which is very speedy and has a friendly Mac-like interface, JMP is covered on the main page.

Stata

Stata, the fine Mac-focused Swiss-army-knife statistics package started including SEM (structural equation modeling) with version 12. Stata details.

Specialty tools

Graphical Analysis

Current version: 4.10
Price: Free!
Software last updated in 2020? Listing updated: 3-11-2020

From Vernier Solutions, Graphical Analysis creates charts and graphs from sensor data (e.g. sensors purchased from Vernier). It lets you “create and print graphs, data tables, text, FFTs, and histograms. Perform automatic curve fits, and add models with adjustable parameters to your graphs. Calculate statistics, tangents, integrals, and interpolations.” It allows collection from Vernier sensors, which is probably why it's free. Data can be shared with Logger Pro and LabQuest 2 or entered manually.

Grapher / Graphing Calculator

Configurations: OS 7-9, PowerPC depending on version
Price: Comes with MacOS

This software was made available free of charge by Apple with the first PowerPC systems to show off the awesome power of the 60 MHz PowerPC 601 chips (which in some ways were quite speedy, but most people probably found themselves wishing for a Quadra). They have continued on, in various forms, through to OS X, and can actually do a number of useful things. Steve Martin of the University of Melbourne suggested its inclusion, noting that the new verison of Grapher allows importing sets of points and includes sample files. This only works for graphing functions.

gnuplot

Configurations: PPC
Current Version: 4.1
Price: free

gnuplot is the Mac version of the open source scientific plotting software. It is available online from many sources.

Magic Maps

Configurations: 10.7 or later
Price: $40 (Mac App Store)
Version: 1.4.12
Listing updated: Jan 2017
Software Updated: Dec 2016

From Evan Miller, Magic Apps is a tool for analyzing time-series data on a map. Maps; states and countries automatically change color to match values, with customization for the colors and numeric ranges (colors can also be set for text fields). Data can be entered manually or via various file formats; built in templates are provided, and KML and ESRI files can be imported. A timeline shows historical averages and totals with a "play" feature to show changes by period. There are mathematical and geographical functions included, with CSV output.

Matplotlib

Free - open source - for Mac OS X
Latest version: 1.3.1
Report updated: July 2014

Matplotlib is a pure python plotting library with the goal of making publication quality plots using a syntax familiar to matlab users. The library uses Numeric for handling large data sets and supports a variety of output backends. The program was originally written by John D. Hunter, who died of cancer in 2012 at the age of 44.

OmniGraphSketcher

Configurations: Universal Binary; up to Snow Leopard; iPad version available
Current version: 3.8.4
Price: Shareware, $80 educational, now open source
Listing updated: January 2017
Software updated: Unknown

An amazingly quick and easy to use program for drawing instant, readable scatterplots and for drawing graphs by hand (without data). Written by Robin Stewart (graphsketcher.com).

Prism

GraphPad’s Prism is an excellent platform for graphing, providing the usability of graphing software with many advanced statistical capabilities. Numerous graph types are available along with flexible regression curving. See our main Mac statistics software page (listed under GraphPad).

VVI Graph Builder

Price: $45 direct, $20 through App Store
Last update for Sequoia, when we last checked in November 2024

Lance Bland, the developer, wrote: "In addition to all the standard features, Vvidget includes advanced features such as floating ticks, curves that can extend beyond the graph frame or can be truncated and literally hundreds of tunable parameters. 3D types rotate in real time and even the graph labels can be rotated in their own plane, independent of the main graph rotation. Data can be inserted through a list of numbers or by point and click methods." The same developer provides software such as QuadraticLab for other math functions. The software appears to be under very active development.

Others

Grace is a WYSIWYG 2D plotting tool for the X Window System that runs on “practically any version of Unix-like OS.”

Ctioga is no longer available; use Ctioga2.

Related pages

See our related pages on commercial and free software.

Abandoned Mac graphing and data visualization software

See the dead zone. I apologize if I moved your software there prematurely.

Sponsored by Toolpack Consulting

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