gnuplot — The Complete Guide: Free, Precise Scientific Plots for Reports and Papers
gnuplot is a scientific plotting tool driven by commands and scripts. It is long-standing, light and very stable, and is used behind the scenes by many programs — for example Maxima and Octave. Its strength: a precise plot that can be reproduced exactly from a short script.
gnuplot
gnuplot Project
Publication-quality plotting driven from scripts.
Get it from the vendorWhat it is used for
- Plots from data files — output files from calculation software, sensor logs and CSV.
- Curve fitting — the fit command for any function, with error estimates.
- 3D plots and colour maps — surfaces and contour lines.
- High-quality export — PDF, SVG, PNG and also LaTeX, so the fonts in the plot match the document.
- Automation — one script produces the same plots for every new project.
Who it suits
People who produce many similar plots from data files and want full control. If you prefer a graphical interface, LabPlot or SciDAVis is simpler. Inside Python code, matplotlib is the natural choice (Python).
LabPlot
KDE
Data analysis and scientific plotting in a graphical interface — a free alternative to Origin, with curve fitting and FFT.
Get it from the vendorSciDAVis
SciDAVis (open-source project)
Scientific data analysis and publication-quality plotting — tables, curve fitting and Python scripting.
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Python
Python Software Foundation
The language behind most modern engineering computation, and its full ecosystem.
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Maxima
Maxima Project
Computer algebra — analytical solving, differentiation and integration, simplification and matrices.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
gnuplot is a small, precise tool that engineers and scientists have relied on for decades. Completely free, for every operating system.