A review of user-friendly freely-available statistical analysis software for medical researchers and biostatisticians

Figures & data

Table 1 Summary of strengths and weaknesses of each of the reviewed programs.

Software	Strengths	Weaknesses
JASP	Provides all basic statistical tests, a wide range of descriptive statistics, good visualization techniques, and various advanced statistical methods (regression, mixed models, machine learning-based methods, factor analyses, survival analysis, structural equation modeling, time series analyses, power analyses, meta-analyses, and others) The program is better than others in conducting exploratory factor analysis. Includes multiple statistical methods commonly used in medical research, such as sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and survival analyses.	The program does not import files with the extension (xlsx), which requires the author to save his data file in CSV format. Limited ability to customize table.
Jamovi	offers all the basic statistical tests, a wide range of descriptive statistics (but less than JASP), good visualization techniques (not as good as JASP), and various advanced statistical methods (regression, mixed models, machine learning-based methods, factor analyses, structural equation modeling, time series analyses, power analyses, meta-analyses, and others (some not seen in JASP, such as polychoric and tetrachoric correlations). Includes multiple statistical methods commonly used in medical research, such as sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and survival analyses.	Limited ability to customize tables and figures.
BlueSky Statistics	Offers all the basic statistical tests, a wide range of descriptive statistics, good visualization techniques, and various advanced statistical methods (regression, mixed models, machine learning-based methods (less than JASP), factor analyses, structural equation modeling, time series analyses, sample size and power analyses, and others (some not seen in JASP, such as polychoric and tetrachoric correlations). Include some of statistical methods commonly used in medical research, such as survival analyses (more than those available in Jamovi and JASP) Enables researcher to create a design for his experiment with many options. Offers a broad range of commands on many distributions	Some advanced statistical methods are only available in the paid version. Using the software is a little more complicated compared to JASP and Jamovi.
Epi Info	Provides many basic statistical tests, many descriptive statistics, good visualization techniques, and some advanced statistical techniques (regression). Good customization of some charts compared to JASP and Jamovi. Ability to construct surveys. Sample size calculations.	The interface is different from that seen in the other programs mentioned, and may be more difficult to use. Less advanced statistical methods compared to JASP, Jamovi and BlueSky statistics. unlike regression, survival analysis is not provided in the visual dashboard gadgets.
PSPP	It provides some basic statistical tests, descriptive statistics, some visualization techniques, and some advanced statistical methods (regression, factor analysis, some machine learning-based methods).	Less advanced statistical methods compared to JASP, Jamovi and BlueSky statistics. Less basic statistical techniques and visualization methods. Common statistical methods in medical research (such as sensitivity, specificity, etc.) are not available.
Statistics Kingdom	Offers many basic statistical tests, descriptive statistics, some visualization techniques, and some advanced statistical methods (regression, principal components analysis, some machine learning-based methods). Sample size calculation and power analysis. Web based (easy access and no need to use device space) Provides a comprehensive textual explanation of the results of inferential statistics	Importing data may take some time. Less advanced statistical methods compared to JASP, Jamovi and BlueSky Statistics. Common statistical methods in medical research (such as sensitivity, specificity, etc.) are not available.
SOFA Statistics	Provides some basic statistical tests, some descriptive statistics, and some visualization techniques. Helps the researcher determine the appropriate statistical test to use. Good textual explanation of the results of inferential statistics	Absence of many basic and advanced statistical methods (less than all the programs mentioned). Common statistical methods in medical research (such as sensitivity, specificity, survival analysis, etc.) are not available.
G*Power	The best software for sample size calculation and power analysis.	Only for sample size calculation and power analysis.

Table 2 Summary of graphical capabilities of each software.

Software	Graphical features
JASP	Provides a wide range of graphics and may be the best for visualization compared with the other mentioned software. Descriptive graphical features include distribution plots, bar plots, interval plots, pie plots, dot plots, pareto plots, Likert plots, box plots, scatter plots, and more. The Flex Plots option allows the software to automatically generate descriptive graphs suitable for different data types. Graphs are easily editable. Provides graphical options for testing the assumptions of basic and advanced statistical methods (e.g., normality plots in parametric and nonparametric statistics, residual plots in regression, Kaplan-Meier curves and censoring plots in survival analysis, forest plots in meta-analyses, time series plots, path and scree plots in factor analyses, Bland-Altman plot in reliability, and much more).
Jamovi	Provides a wide range of graphics and is comparable to JASP; however, the latter offers more graphical options and better editing capabilities. Descriptive graphical features include distribution plots, bar plots, pie plots, dot plots, box plots, scatter plots, and more. The Flex Plots option allows the software to automatically generate descriptive graphs suitable for different data types. Provides graphical options for testing the assumptions of basic and advanced statistical methods (e.g., normality plots in parametric and nonparametric statistics, residual plots in regression, forest plots in meta-analyses, Kaplan-Meier curves in survival analysis, scree plots in factor analysis, Bland-Altman plot in reliability, and more).
BlueSky Statistics	Provides a wide range of graphics and is comparable to JASP and Jamovi; however, JASP offers more graphical options and a lot better editing capability. Descriptive graphical features include distribution plots, bar plots, pie plots, line plots, box plots, scatter plots, map plots, and more. Provides graphical options for testing the assumptions of basic and advanced statistical methods (e.g., residual plots in regression, Kaplan-Meier curves in survival analysis, scree plots in factor analysis, Bland-Altman plot in reliability, ROC curve’s comparison, and more). However, the options available in JASP are more and easier to apply compared to them.
Epi Info	It provides multiple types of graphics, but not as many as the aforementioned programs. However, compared to them, the software provides the best capability for editing the graphs. Descriptive graphical features include bar plots, pie plots, line plots, pareto plots, scatter plots, map plots, and more. However, the aforementioned packages provide more options. Testing the assumptions of different statistical methods graphically is not available as in the aforementioned program.
PSPP	Very limited descriptive graphical options (bar plot, scatter plot, and histogram). Furthermore, testing the assumptions of statistical methods graphically is not available.
Statistics Kingdom	Provides multiple types of graphics, but not as much as JASP, Jamovi, or BlueSky Statistics. Descriptive graphical features include bar plots, pie plots, line plots, box plots, scatter plots, and more. Provides very good and detailed graphics for testing the assumptions of basic and advanced statistical methods (e.g., normality plots in parametric and nonparametric statistics, residual plots in regression, Kaplan-Meier curves in survival analysis, scree plots in factor analysis, and more). This feature is provided here in better quality compared to all the other software mentioned.
SOFA Statistics	Limited descriptive graphical options (bar plot, scatter plot, histogram, line plot, area plot, box plot, and pie plot). However, the software provides good capability for editing the graphs. Provides good graphical options for testing the assumptions of basic statistical methods (e.g., normality and distribution plots).

Fig. 1 JASP descriptive graphical output for numerical data.

Fig. 2 Jamovi descriptive graphical output for numerical data.

Fig. 3 BlueSky Statistics descriptive graphical output for numerical data.

Fig. 4 Epi info descriptive graphical output for numerical data (box plot isn’t available).

Fig. 5 Statistics kingdom descriptive graphical output for numerical data.

Fig. 6 PSPP descriptive graphical output for numerical data (stratification is not available).

Fig. 7 SOFA Statistics descriptive graphical output for numerical data.

Fig. 8 Kaplan-Meier Curves with risk table for acute myeloid leukemia patients with and without maintenance therapy (Jamovi).

Fig. 9 Kaplan-Meier Curves with risk table for acute myeloid leukemia patients with and without maintenance therapy (JASP).

Fig. 10 Kaplan-Meier Curves with risk table for acute myeloid leukemia patients with and without maintenance therapy (BlueSky Statistics).

Fig. 11 Kaplan-Meier Curves (risk table isn’t available) for acute myeloid leukemia patients with and without maintenance therapy (Statistics kingdom).