Best Statistical Analysis Software

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From analyzing business intelligence data to predicting future trends, good software takes the guesswork out of interpreting your data. We put several options for statistical analysis software through their paces, finding IBM SPSS to be the best choice for most businesses. It’s actually quite simple to use without feeling limiting to advanced users. Get everything you need to make data-driven predictions and well-informed 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. 

Because of its versatility and wide range of use cases, it’s our favorite all-in-one statistical analysis software. If you have a lot of data or complex needs, Stata is the way to go.

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.

These Python integrations make machine learning easier than ever and you can even run Stat analyses right within Python. It works the other way, too. You can use any of Python’s packages within your Stata dashboard.

With Stata, you can set hundreds of thousands of variables, process text and binary data in one click, match, merge, append, and join data sets, manage numerous data sets at the same time, and even export or import data easier than ever.

To sweeten the deal, it comes with an incredibly broad and comprehensive range of statistical features to match your needs.

Whether you’re using standard statistical methods or looking to use more advanced tools, Stata offers the right combo of ease of use, versatility, and scalability to expand with you as you grow.

Its user-friendly interface is also customizable, and you can change the size of text, markers, and more to make it work how you work.

You can try Stata free for seven days before making any decisions. There are four different plans to choose from with various license types and agreements as well, including:

• 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 

Whether you have large data sets, small data sets, or something in between, SAS/STAT offers comprehensive and scalable business intelligence tools designed to help you make better decisions.

Plus, the company has more than 40 years of experience working in the analytics field developing statistical analysis software for businesses. So, you can rest easy knowing you’re working with a seasoned team of experts who really know their stuff.

Rather than relying on you to make sense of the data you have, SAS/STAT makes it easy to understand what you’re looking at in just a few seconds with charts, graphs, and interactive visuals.

Each visualization is customizable, making it easier than ever to see the information that matters most.

On top of that, you can dig deeper into those visuals and explore to discover new trends, details, insights, and more you wouldn’t otherwise know about.

To make things easier, there’s an entire library of pre-built statistical analyses and procedures you can use to inform your own procedures without having to start from scratch. Whether you’re looking to analyze data at the company-wide level or as granular as a specific location, employee, product, or SKU, the tool has everything you need to make it happen.

For example, users can instantly visualize data, determine outliers, spot trends, predict future outcomes, and identify correlations and opportunities. Plus, it connects with just about every data source you can imagine for automatic syncing as the latest data comes in.

All of the above work together to deliver clear insights that give you a leg up on your competitors.

While pricing isn’t available online, you can book a free live demo to learn more about how SAS/STAT works, if it’s right for you, and how much you can expect to pay for your custom deployment.

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

While SAS covers the entire gamut of statistical analysis, JMP (SAS’s younger sibling) focuses heavily on targeted customer segmentation and market research. It’s a hyper-focused solution that gives marketers, data engineers, and decision-makers a data-driven way to get to know their target markets.

At its core, JMP offers an easier and more efficient way to process, analyze, and visualize market data to give you a leg up on your competitors.

With numerous modules depending on your preferred deployment methods and needs, understanding the data you have, gathering new data, and making the most of it is easier than ever before.

The software specializes in turning data sets into something that makes sense and immediately triggers understanding. As highly interactive and visual software, it delivers deeper insights you’d otherwise be unable to see from raw data.

From quick-view dashboards, cause-and-effect diagrams, and model comparisons to data experiments, forecasting, and easy sharing, JMP gives you all the fuel you need to explore new markets and learn everything you need to know about potential customers at a glance.

You can even use interactive HTML to share analyses and visualizations with others who don’t have the software.

It also comes with other key features, including:

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

JMP pricing depends on a wide range of factors, including your region, industry, and needs. Quotes are completely custom based on your business, so you’ll need to reach out to see customized pricing.

After some digging, we found that there are two types of licenses: personal and corporate. The personal license starts at around $125 per month or $1500 per year. But there’s also a volume discount—the more licenses you purchase, the more discounts you’ll get.

Methodology for Choosing the Best Statistical Analysis Software

When researching and ranking statistical analysis tools, we looked at a wide range of factors to cover the entire category with the best picks for different situations.

Data Type

Data can come from virtually anywhere, including your website, social media, ecommerce platform, Google Analytics, a business intelligence tool, and literally thousands of other places. The best way to analyze that data depends on what you’re looking for and where it’s coming from.

Plus, some tools are more cost-effective but can only handle smaller data sets while other tools are hefty enough to manage even the most complex of data sets with millions of points.

We chose tools that cover a wide range of analytic methods to help you get to the information that matters most.

Because of that, we highly recommend choosing a tool that closely matches your data sources as well as the types of information you’re hoping to glean from the data you’re collecting.

As a final note, 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, business intelligence software may be a more cost-effective solution.

Ease of Use

While statistical analysis isn’t necessarily known for being easy, the right software can turn non-data scientists into analytically equipped users who know what’s going on. However, many tools are notoriously confusing and difficult to understand for the average user.

At best, they have a high learning curve that takes weeks or even a few months to conquer.

With that said, not all tools are a challenge to learn. Some are significantly simpler and easier than others, even if you have no experience.

To help make your decision easier, think carefully about who’s going to use the software. Are they actual data engineers? If so, ease of use may not be a critical factor since they have more hands-on knowledge of how these types of tools work.

Plus, they can easily handle programming languages and complex equations with ease.

If your target user is a business owner or someone else without a technical background, ease of use should play a key role in your decision. Choosing the wrong software for their skill level can leave them feeling frustrated and overwhelmed, resulting in them not adopting the software or using it to its full potential.

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.