Best Statistical Analysis Software

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

From analyzing business intelligence data to predicting future trends, we put dozens of the best statistical analysis tools to the test. We compared dozens of critical features, including ease of use, graphic quality, data source options, and available integrations. Along the way, we found IBM SPSS to be the best choice for most businesses. It’s dead simple to use without feeling restrictive for advanced users and comes with everything you need to make data-driven predictions plus educated business decisions.

The Best Statistical Analysis Software for Most

All the data you have is useless if you don’t know what it means, which is one of the (many) reasons statistical analysis software is crucial for data-driven businesses.

IBM SPSS is an industry leader in statistical analysis software for beginners, intermediate users, professional statisticians, and anyone who falls somewhere in between. Rather than one software that does it all, IBM SPSS is a family of offerings with different products and modules designed to help with specific types of projects so you get everything you need without the overwhelm of features you’re never going to use.

The Best Statistical Analysis Software Options to Consider:

1. IBM SPSS – Best statistical analysis software for most
2. Minitab – Best for colleges and universities
3. Stata – Best all-in-one statistical analysis solution
4. SAS/STAT – Best for business intelligence and scalability
5. JMP – Best for targeted customer segmentation and market research 

When It Makes Sense to Invest into Statistical Analysis Software

Whether you’re a business pro, a statistician, or anyone looking to find correlations, analyze variance, regression, and other kinds of complex data manipulation or analysis, statistical analysis software is a smart move.

It’s particularly important if you’re interested in gleaning deep company insights, dealing with large volumes of data, or looking to predict future outcomes and potential scenarios based on different variables.

There are also numerous industries that rely on statistical analysis software, including research-based development, healthcare, and higher education.

From identifying historical trends, predicting future trends, and organizing your research to analyzing thousands of health-related data points to save lives, the right software helps you make sense of the data you have and turn it into something you can use.

If you’re struggling to make sense of the data you have or you’re dealing with thousands of data points, spreadsheets and basic tools aren’t going to cut it. Instead, you should invest in statistical analysis software.

It’ll help you make better decisions and reduce costs while speeding up the analysis process regardless of how much data you’re working with.

#1 – IBM SPSS – Best Statistical Analysis Software for Most

IBM SPSS (Statistical Product and Service Solution) is one of the most widely-used statistics programs thanks to its incredibly easy-to-use interface. According to IBM’s website, 81% of reviewers thought SPSS was user-friendly, making it a good choice for beginners.

But don’t let it’s beginner-friendliness fool you—it packs a lot of punch and is a great fit for experts, too.

At its core, it helps users analyze data and make sense of it so they can actually use it to make data-driven decisions, uncover new opportunities, predict future trends, and boost productivity.

IBM takes a somewhat modular approach to statistical analysis, so you can pick and choose what you need (and what you don’t). As such, you’re not stuck paying for a bunch of features you’re never going to use.

There are three different tools to choose from, including SPSS Statistics, SPSS Modeler, and SPSS Modeler in Cloud Pak for Data.

The statistics tool helps businesses of all sizes uncover deep data insights so they can make better business and research decisions faster than ever. Whether your needs are simple or complex, the statistics module comes with dozens of features, like decision trees, regression, forecasting, and the ability to uncover missing values.

SPSS Modeler is an intuitive drag-and-drop data science tool with built-in machine learning features designed to make the analysis process faster. It comes with dozens of complete algorithms, models, and applications you can dive into out of the box.

It’s visual-heavy interface makes it easier than ever to get more done in less time.

The SPSS Modeler in Cloud Pak for Data is a containerized AI platform that runs on the cloud so you can access it and use it from anywhere with an internet connection. It’s also available as an on-premise or public cloud edition.

There are also dozens of other SPSS products you can mix and match to create a customized statistical analysis platform for your business, research project, or university.

Pricing for IBM’s most popular statistical analysis modules starts at:

• SPSS Statistics – $99 per user per month
• SPSS Modeler – $499 per user per month

Both options include a free 30-day trial to try it out before you invest to see if it’s right for you and your team.

#2 – Minitab – Best for Colleges and Universities

Minitab is one of the best statistical tools available online, but it’s particularly economical for colleges and academic institutions. Today, more than 4000 educational institutions around the world use it to create and analyze data.

Students, instructors, and institutions can rent several Minitab modules, including Statistical, Express, and Workspace, with special discounts that make it an incredibly economical choice. With it, users can easily discover patterns and hidden relationships between variables from present and past data. 

As such, students walk away with the ability to make data-driven decisions and uncover trends they otherwise may not have been able to. It’s a win-win for students and their future employers.

Not only that, but your institution can use it to analyze trends among your students that you can then use to boost enrollment, save money, and empower your marketing team. So, it’s not just an excellent choice for your students—it’s a great choice for your business as well.

With Minitab, you can analyze small and large data sets alike plus automate statistical calculations and the creation of graphs. As a result, you and your students can focus more on data analysis rather than wasting time on repetitive tasks that offer no benefit to the end-user.

Aside from its power, it’s also customizable. Users can easily customize toolbars, menus, profiles, and other preferences to make the software work how they work.

With the software’s wide range of basic and advanced statistical tools, users can execute commands through both the graphical user interface (GUI) and scripted commands. As such, Minitab is a great choice for beginners, entry-level students, experienced students, and expert users who want to carry out complex analyses.

Minitab offers numerous tools you and your students can use, so you never have to pay for things you don’t need.

Minitab offers a free 30-day trial, after which users have the option to choose between a single-user license and a multi-user license with deep rental discounts for students, instructors, and educational institutions.

• Single-User License – $1652 per unit annually 
• Multi-User License – Price on request

Discounts aren’t mentioned online, so you’ll have to contact Minitab’s sales team to learn more.

#3 – Stata – Best All-In-One Statistical Analysis Software

Stata is a comprehensive statistical solution designed for data scientists in a variety of fields, including medical, economics, finance, behavioral science, and marketing. It’s suitable for data manipulation, exploration, visualization, and statistical analysis.

The software has a graphical UI and command-line structure and is accessible for users with and without coding knowledge. 

Furthermore, it also has some graphics customizations, permitting users to customize graphic elements like the size of the markers, text, and margins.

In addition to extended regression, generalized, and choice models, Stata also offers thousands of built-in Bayesian models and helps users understand time-invariant features. It also invokes Python packages (Pandas, TensorFlow, etc.) for passing data and visualization.

Key Features

• User-friendly interface
• Python integration for analysis and machine learning
• Plenty of statistical features from standard methods
• Advanced tools to handle functional data
• Cluster analysis
• Allows full control over data

Pricing

Stata offers a seven-day free trial on request. Currently, the company offers four plans:

• Business
• Government/Nonprofit
• Education
• Student

Prices are determined based on license type that includes single user, multiple users, and site license and will differ depending on the plan you choose.

#4 SAS/STAT – Best for Business Intelligence and Scalability 

SAS/STAT offers comprehensive and scalable statistical analysis tools to meet expanding means. It includes techniques for small data sets and modern methods for analyzing data with missing values, as well as high-performance statistical modeling tools for large data tasks.

Users can instantly visualize data, determine outliers, spot trends, predict future outcomes, and identify correlations and opportunities, allowing them to gain a competitive advantage over others. A centralized repository feature makes model integration easier.

It has predictive modeling based on mined data to calculate probable and possible outcomes, along with more than 100+ built-in statistical analysis procedures that suit specialized needs.

Key Features

• Descriptive and predictive modeling
• Open, code-based model development
• Visual data exploration and discovery
• Flexible deployment options
• Distributed, in-memory analytical processing
• 24/7 technical support

Pricing

Users will have to contact SAS/STAT to receive a free trial of the software and a personalized pricing quote.

#5 JMP – Best for Targeted Customer Segmentation and Market Research 

The smaller sibling of SAS, JMP, is the best option for companies and government sector scientists and engineers to carry out targeted customer segmentation and market research. 

It provides them the necessary insights to shape and preprocess their data faster and in a more effective manner.

The software includes quick-view dashboards and model comparison and averages to provide useful information to project managers and executive stakeholders and choose the best cross-validation and fitness, respectively.

It uses neural networks for easy data handling and learns difficult cases. Users can do experiments to gain deeper insights into possible opportunities and execute better forecasting and modeling with its Time Series platform.

JMP users can also use interactive HTML to share their analysis with those who don’t have the software.

Key Features

• Custom designing
• Capability and categorical response analysis
• Cause-and-effect diagrams
• Data visualization
• Time Series analysis
• Easy collaboration and quality control
• Risk data attributes

Pricing

The pricing for JMP software will vary depending on your country and sector. Users have to contact the company to get a customized quote.

Based on our research, though, the company has two types of licenses: personal and corporate. The personal license comes at $125 per month or $1500 per year, but the more licenses you purchase, the more discounts you’ll get.

Methodology for Choosing the Best Statistical Analysis Software

You have to consider many factors before choosing the right statistical analysis software based on your requirements and what you want to do with your data. 

To help you determine the right choice for you, we‘ve compiled a list of factors:

Data Type

Every software offers different ranges of statistical theorems and algorithms, but you may not need them all. If you deal with large amounts of data, it would be better to invest in a tool designed to handle large data sets speedily. 

In short, the software you choose should perform the exact kind of data analysis you need.

Moreover, you should consider investing in statistical analysis software if you’re handling complicated sets of quantitative data. If you have less demanding analysis needs or deal with simple data sets, a business analytics tool would be a much better fit.

Ease of Use

Statistical analysis isn’t easy – you know it, we know it. On top of that, most of the software tools can be confusing and difficult to understand by the average user, with some having a higher learning curve.

To avoid making the wrong choice, you should determine who’ll be using the software and their level of experience with statistics. 

For instance, expert data scientists can easily handle programming languages and complex equations. Novice users, however, may feel overwhelmed using software with a similar format and would prefer something with a menu-based interface.

Graphics Quality

Data visualization is an integral part of statistics, which is why several statistical software offers a wide range of data visualization options. Consider the following questions to determine the quality of graphics you require:

• Do you want your statistical analysis software to produce visual graphics right away?
• Do you want interactive or static visualization?
• Will you output the graphics to another program? If yes, can the software export the graphics in the form you commonly use?

If data visualization is a crucial prerequisite for your needs, you should look into the potential software’s graphical output capabilities.

Integration Possibility

You should also look into the integration and interoperability capabilities of prospective statistics software as your business may need more than one solution to address its analytical needs efficiently. Think of the following questions:

• Does the new solution blend well with the other software you currently use?
• Does the prospective software support the databases, frameworks, and file formats of your existing solutions?

You can narrow down your options based on your answers.

Summing Up

Choosing the best statistical analysis software will depend on the kind of data you’re looking to analyze and the features you require. You should also have the technical know-how and drive to gain the deepest insights from your data.

This guide will help you determine the best software for your statistical analytics needs, and you’re sure to find the right match for your business here.