ACL2 vs PVS
ACL2
acl2.orgPVS
pvs.csl.sri.comSide by side
| Figure | ACL2 | PVS |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 0 | 2 |
| Spec score · Formal Verification Tools | 7.8 (#14) | 8.3 (#4) |
| Documentation | Documentation is available online, as downloadable local manuals, through an Emacs browser, and at the ACL2 terminal with the :doc command. | The site provides system, language, and prover guides, tutorials, examples, and release notes, while noting that manuals may not cover newer features. |
| Purpose | ACL2 combines a Lisp-based programming language for formal models with a reasoning engine that can prove properties about those models. | PVS is a verification system combining a specification language, support tools, and a theorem prover. |
| Support | ACL2 users can get help through the acl2-help mailing list, which the site recommends to new users. | Support is offered through developer and bug-report email addresses, GitHub issues, Google Groups, and moderated mailing lists. |
Plans
In their own words
PVS
PVS is a mechanized environment for formal specification and verification, intended for work such as mathematical formalization and hardware or algorithm verification. Its language is based on typed higher-order logic and supports predicate subtypes, dependent types, and parameterized theories. The system combines predefined theories, a type checker, interactive theorem prover, symbolic model checker, utilities, libraries, documentation, and examples. Proof support includes induction, rewriting, simplification with decision procedures, abstraction, and symbolic model checking; command-line tools can re-prove theories and libraries in batch mode. PVS also integrates the Yices SMT solver, supports random testing during proofs, and includes PVSio for evaluation and animation. GNU or X Emacs provides the integrated interface, with Tcl/Tk displays for proof trees and theory hierarchies. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows and is self-hosted. Noncommercial use is listed at free. Sources are under GPL, but the Allegro runtime has a separate click-through license, and commercial users need a current PVS license or must contact SRI about licensing.