Is there a free version of GraphPad Prism?

No. GraphPad Prism has a 30-day free trial without a card, and after it ends the installation works as a free viewer that opens and prints existing files, but there is no permanently free version for editing or analyzing data. Annual plans start at $142 per year for students and $260 per year for academics.

What can I use instead of GraphPad Prism?

SciFig replaces the graphing side of Prism: SciFig DataChart turns a CSV or Excel table into an editable publication chart with in-chart t-tests, ANOVA and post-hoc marks, and SciFig adds the schematics and flowcharts around it. For the statistics themselves, JASP and jamovi are free and point-and-click; LabPlot is a strong free desktop grapher; R and Python give full control.

What is the best free graph software for scientists?

SciFig is the quickest route from a data table to a publication figure: SciFig DataChart generates 50 chart types from your CSV or Excel file, every element stays editable, and you export PNG, PDF, EPS or TIFF. Among desktop programs, LabPlot and Veusz produce high-quality plots, and R with ggplot2 offers unlimited control if you code.

How do I open a Prism file without Prism?

After the trial, Prism becomes a free viewer that opens and prints projects but cannot export or copy data. To get the numbers out, read the file directly: a .prism file opens like a zip archive with each data table stored as CSV, and a .pzfx file keeps its data tables in plain-text XML. Older .pzf files can only be opened by Prism.

Is there an open source alternative to GraphPad Prism?

Yes. JASP, jamovi, LabPlot, Veusz, SciDAVis, R and Python are all open source. JASP and jamovi cover most of Prism's statistics without code, LabPlot covers graphing and curve fitting, and R covers everything with code.

What is a good GraphPad Prism alternative for Linux?

SciFig runs in the browser, so SciFig DataChart works on Linux, Chromebooks and shared lab machines without installation. JASP, jamovi, LabPlot, Veusz, SciDAVis, R and Python also run on Linux as desktop software.

Is there an online GraphPad Prism alternative?

SciFig is an online alternative for the graphing side of Prism: upload or paste your table into SciFig DataChart in the browser, get the chart with in-chart statistics, and export it for your paper. jamovi also has a browser version for statistics.

Can SciFig open Prism project files?

SciFig works from your data table rather than the Prism project: export the table from Prism as CSV or Excel, or take the CSV tables stored inside a .prism file, then upload or paste it into SciFig DataChart. SciFig then builds the chart, runs the tests that fit your design and lets you edit every element.

Free GraphPad Prism Alternatives (2026): 8 Tools by Task

Name: SciFig
Author: SciFig

The best free GraphPad Prism alternatives depend on the task: JASP for statistics, SciFig (free to start) for figures.

JASP and jamovi cover the statistics, SciFig DataChart (free to start) and LabPlot turn a data table into publication graphs, and R gives full control if you code.

GraphPad Prism bundles three jobs into one license: running the statistics, turning result tables into publication graphs, and laying those graphs out as a scientific figure for a paper or slides. No single free tool replaces all three equally well, and that is why the most useful way to choose is by the job you actually do in Prism most weeks. This guide compares eight GraphPad Prism alternatives that are free to use or free to start, with what each one does, where it falls short, and how to move your data across.

Tip

"Prism" here means GraphPad Prism, the statistics and graphing software for scientists. Every tool below is free to use or free to start.

Quick Answer: Which Free Prism Alternative Fits Your Work?

Statistics with a Prism-like point-and-click feel: JASP or jamovi. Both are free, open source and run on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Publication graphs straight from your data table, plus the figure around them: SciFig. Upload your CSV or Excel sheet to SciFig DataChart (charts and graphs from your data) and get the plot with its statistical annotations; build the mechanism schematic or study flowchart in the same place.
Desktop graphing and curve fitting without code: LabPlot, with Veusz and SciDAVis as lighter options.
Maximum flexibility and reproducibility: R with ggplot2, or Python with SciPy and seaborn, if you are happy to write code.

Free GraphPad Prism Alternatives at a Glance

Free GraphPad Prism alternatives by task: JASP and jamovi for statistics, SciFig DataChart for graphs, SciFig AI Illustration and FlowChart for schematics, LabPlot, R (Figure generated with SciFig)

Tool	Best for	Statistics	Graphs	Coding needed	Platform
JASP	t-tests, ANOVA, regression, Bayesian tests	Broad, menu-driven	Standard statistical plots	No	Windows, macOS, Linux
SciFig	Graphs from your data table plus AI illustrations, flowcharts and vectorization, with a free publication license	SciFig DataChart: t-tests, ANOVA, non-parametric and post-hoc tests inside the chart	SciFig DataChart: 50 chart types from CSV/Excel, fully editable; exports PNG, PDF, EPS, TIFF and Python code	No	Browser
jamovi	Statistics with a spreadsheet view, SPSS-style	Broad, add-on modules	Standard statistical plots	No	Windows, macOS, Linux, browser
LabPlot	Scientific graphs and nonlinear curve fitting	Basic statistics and fitting	Highly customizable 2D plots	No	Windows, macOS, Linux
Veusz	Publication-quality vector plots	Minimal	Precise, scriptable layouts	Optional	Windows, macOS, Linux
SciDAVis	XY plots, error bars, routine fitting	Basic	Classic Origin-style plots	No	Windows, macOS, Linux
R + ggplot2	Any analysis, fully reproducible	Complete	Unlimited, code-defined	Yes	Windows, macOS, Linux
Python (SciPy, seaborn)	Custom pipelines and automation	Complete	Unlimited, code-defined	Yes	Windows, macOS, Linux

What GraphPad Prism Costs After the Trial

GraphPad Prism pricing after the trial: $142/year student, $260 academic, $520 corporate, $50/month, versus free Prism alternatives (Figure generated with SciFig)

Prism offers a 30-day free trial with no card, and after it ends the installation keeps working as a viewer that opens and prints existing files but cannot edit or export them. There is no permanently free version for editing or analyzing data. Current prices:

GraphPad Prism plan	Price
Annual Student	$142 per year
Annual Academic	$260 per year
Annual Corporate	$520 per year
Monthly (short projects)	$50 per month
Group, 5 academic seats	$1,300 per year

For a lab, that is a recurring line item for every person who needs to open, re-run or edit an analysis. It is also why students can lose the ability to edit or re-run their thesis analyses when a university license ends.

Why Researchers Look for a Prism Alternative

The reasons are remarkably consistent across lab forums and statistics communities:

The license outlives the budget. A student license ends at graduation, and a group subscription has to be renewed seat by seat.
Linux and shared machines. Prism runs on Windows and macOS only, so cluster or Linux workstations need something else.
Collaborators without a license cannot re-run or adjust your graphs.
The graph is only one panel of the figure. Prism lays out graphs, but the mechanism diagram, workflow or graphical abstract that sits next to them has to be drawn somewhere else.

Keep the task you need most in mind as you read the tools below.

The Best Free GraphPad Prism Alternatives

JASP

JASP is the closest free match to Prism's guided statistics. You load a data file, pick an analysis from the menu, and results update live as you tick options: independent and paired t-tests, one-way and repeated-measures ANOVA with post-hoc comparisons, non-parametric tests, correlation and regression, plus Bayesian versions of most of them. Output tables follow APA style. Its plots cover the standard statistical views well, but fine control over a publication graph is limited, so many people run the statistics in JASP and build the final figure elsewhere.

Best for: students and labs who mainly use Prism for hypothesis tests.

SciFig

SciFig covers the part of the Prism workflow that ends up in your paper: the graph and the scientific figure around it. Upload your CSV, TSV or Excel file, or paste the table, to SciFig DataChart (charts and graphs from your data), describe the plot, and the chart is calculated from every value in your data. Within the chart, SciFig DataChart runs the tests that fit the design, including t-tests and Welch's t-test, Mann–Whitney, one-way and Welch ANOVA, Kruskal–Wallis, paired t-test, Wilcoxon, Friedman and repeated-measures ANOVA, with matching post-hoc comparisons and significance marks. Dose-response curves fit 3PL or 4PL models, and standard curves, growth curves and enzyme kinetics have their own fits.

What Prism users usually notice next is editing. Change the palette, journal width, layout or any label, add or swap panels, and download PNG, PDF, EPS or 300-DPI TIFF from SciFig DataChart, together with the Python code that draws the chart. The rest of the figure lives in the same workspace: SciFig AI Illustration (AI scientific illustration) draws the mechanism or pathway schematic with every label editable, and SciFig FlowChart (flowcharts) builds study-design and workflow diagrams as native SVG.

Start free, no card required: 150 credits on day one (3 figures), daily check-in credits that grow with your streak (up to 150 a day), up to about 44 figures in your first month. A free one-page publication license PDF covers papers and commercial use, and your work stays yours.

Popular starting points: bar chart generator, box plot generator, scatter plot maker, Kaplan–Meier survival curve, volcano plot generator and forest plot generator. For dose-response or anything else, start from the AI chart generator.

Best for: researchers whose Prism time is mostly spent turning result tables into figures for papers, posters and slides.

See AI Scientific Figure Generation in Action

Watch how researchers create publication-ready scientific figures from text descriptions.

Explore the Tool

jamovi

jamovi offers the same breadth of point-and-click statistics as JASP, inside a spreadsheet you can edit directly, which feels familiar if you came from SPSS. Its module library adds mixed models, meta-analysis, power analysis and more, and every analysis can also be shown as R syntax, which helps when you later move to R. It runs on desktop or in a browser.

Best for: labs that want SPSS-style statistics and a gentle path toward R.

LabPlot

LabPlot is the strongest free desktop option for the graphing half of Prism. It handles XY plots with error bars, histograms, box plots and multi-panel worksheets, and it has a capable nonlinear curve-fitting engine with a built-in model library, so dose-response and binding curves are possible without code. It offers fewer statistical tests than JASP or jamovi.

Best for: curve fitting and highly customized 2D plots on any operating system.

Veusz

Veusz is a small, precise plotting program aimed at publication output. Graphs are built from nested widgets you can position exactly, the output is clean vector graphics, and documents can be scripted in Python. It does very little statistics, so pair it with JASP, jamovi or R.

Best for: exact vector layouts for journals.

SciDAVis

SciDAVis offers a classic worksheet-plus-graph workflow similar to older Origin versions: tables, XY and error-bar plots, and routine linear and nonlinear fitting. It is lightweight and dependable, though development is slower and biostatistics coverage is thin.

Best for: quick XY plots and fits on modest hardware.

R + ggplot2

R covers every statistical method Prism has and many it does not, and ggplot2 produces any graph you can describe. The cost is learning to code. Packages such as drc for dose-response and survival for Kaplan–Meier analyses replicate common Prism workflows, and scripts make every analysis reproducible.

Best for: anyone willing to invest in code for complete control.

Python (SciPy, statsmodels, seaborn)

Python matches R for analysis and suits labs that already automate instrument data. SciPy and statsmodels cover the tests, seaborn and matplotlib draw the graphs. Like R, it rewards the time spent learning it.

Best for: labs building automated analysis pipelines.

Which Free Alternative Replaces Each Prism Task

What you do in GraphPad Prism	Free alternative	Where SciFig fits
t-tests, ANOVA, multiple comparisons	JASP, jamovi	SciFig DataChart runs these tests inside the chart and marks significance
Bar, scatter and box plots with error bars	LabPlot, R	SciFig DataChart from your CSV or Excel table
Dose-response, IC50 and EC50 curves	LabPlot, R (drc)	SciFig DataChart fits 3PL or 4PL dose-response curves
Kaplan–Meier survival curves	R (survival), jamovi	SciFig Kaplan–Meier curve from duration and event columns
Publication-ready figure with schematic panels	Veusz plus a vector editor	SciFig AI Illustration and SciFig FlowChart in the same workspace

Many labs combine two tools: one for the statistics they report, and one for the figure that carries them.

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How to Move Your Data Out of Prism

Four steps to move data out of GraphPad Prism: open the project, export the table as CSV or Excel, tidy the columns, upload it to SciFig DataChart (Figure generated with SciFig)

You do not need a Prism license to get your numbers out:

Open the project in Prism while you still have a trial or license. The free viewer that remains afterwards can open and print projects but cannot export or copy data.
Export the data table as CSV or Excel. Without a working Prism, read the file directly: a .prism file opens like a zip archive and stores each data table as CSV, and a .pzfx file keeps its data tables in plain-text XML. Older .pzf files can only be opened by Prism.
Tidy the columns: one column per group or variable, with unique, non-empty headers. Formulas are read as their saved values.
Upload or paste the table into the tool you chose. In SciFig DataChart, upload the CSV or Excel file or paste it, then describe the graph.

None of the free alternatives open a Prism project with its analyses intact, so plan to re-run the tests once in the new tool and compare the results with your Prism output.

Where Prism Is Still Hard to Replace

Prism's strongest features are its curve-fitting depth and guided analysis: pick an equation and it fits the curve, compares models with an extra sum-of-squares F test or AICc, compares parameters between data sets, and updates results, graphs and layouts whenever the data change. R matches all of it with code; among point-and-click tools, LabPlot comes closest for fitting and JASP or jamovi for tests. Knowing this up front helps you decide which pair of tools to adopt.