EViews vs gretl
EViews
eviews.comgretl
gretl.sourceforge.netSide by side
| Figure | EViews | gretl |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $59.95/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 6 | 1 |
| Spec score · Statistical Analysis Software | 8.9 (#5) | 8.5 (#14) |
| Bayesian analysis | Yes | Yes |
| Data import formats | Excel, Access, R, SAS Transport, SPSS, Stata, Tableau, ASCII text/binary, HTML, ODBC | XML, CSV, Excel, Gnumeric, OpenDocument, Stata, SPSS, EViews, JMulTi, RATS 4 and PC-Give |
| Deployment | desktop | desktop |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | The EViews feature list describes COM automation, integration with MATLAB, R, and Python, and a Microsoft Excel add-in. | The site lists data and results exchange with GNU R, GNU Octave, Python, Julia, Ox and Stata, plus parallelization via MPI. |
| Platforms | EViews 14 University Edition is offered for Windows and Mac; the EViews 14 demo is Windows 64-bit only and unavailable for Macs. | The download page links to packages for Windows and macOS, and Debian and Fedora packages for Linux; it also provides source packages for compiling. |
| Regression models | Yes | Yes |
| Scripting support | Yes | Yes |
| Statistical tests | Yes | Yes |
| Support | Single-user support covers installation, registration, and moving a license; it excludes business consulting and help with modeling or econometric theory. | Users can seek help through the gretl-users mailing list and submit bug reports and feature requests through the SourceForge Tracker system. |
Plans
EViews
- Academic Single-User License$700 a month
- Commercial Single-User License$2,450 a month
- EViews 14 Student Version LiteFree
- EViews 14 University Edition$59.95 a month
- EViews 14 Academic Single-User License$700, paid once
- EViews 14 Commercial Single-User License$2,450, paid once
In their own words
EViews
EViews is desktop software for statistical, time-series, forecasting and modeling work, presented through an object-oriented interface. It provides data management, econometric and statistical analysis, forecasts, simulations, graphs and tables, with support for regression models, statistical tests, scripting and Bayesian analysis. Import formats include Excel, Access, R, SAS Transport, SPSS, Stata, Tableau, ASCII text and binary, HTML and ODBC. EViews 14 adds JDemetra+ seasonal adjustment, Facebook Prophet, quantile ARDL estimation and outlier detection. Its listed integrations include COM automation, MATLAB, R, Python and a Microsoft Excel add-in; downloadable add-ins, user objects and libraries can extend it. EViews runs on Windows and macOS, but the 30-day EViews 14 demo is limited to physical Windows computers and is unavailable for Mac. Student Version Lite is free, but cannot save workfiles or export data to other formats and needs internet access at least once every 10 days to launch. Listed licenses include academic and commercial single-user options.
gretl
gretl is a free, open-source desktop package for econometric analysis, available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It includes statistical tests and regression models, with estimators such as least squares, maximum likelihood, GMM, and regularized methods including LASSO, Ridge, and elastic net. Time-series tools cover ARIMA, GARCH-type models, VARs, VECMs, unit-root and cointegration tests, and the Kalman filter. It also supports panel-data estimators and limited dependent-variable models, including probit and dynamic panel methods based on GMM. Users can script in hansl and export models as LaTeX tables or equations. Data formats include CSV, Excel, OpenDocument, Stata, SPSS, EViews, and others. gretl exchanges data and results with GNU R, GNU Octave, Python, Julia, Ox, and Stata, and supports machine learning via LIBSVM and mixed time-series frequencies via MIDAS. It is distributed under the GNU GPL, which permits redistribution and modification. The maker notes its statistical-method coverage is less comprehensive than GNU R's.