How does Graphpad Prism compare to other scientific graphing programs?

You won't find huge differences in what the various scientific graphing programs do. Compared to the other programs, Prism makes it much easier to create column scatter (dot plot) graphs, survival plots, and ROC curves. But Prism cannot create three dimensional, ternary or polar plots. All the programs include some statistical analyses, but Prism performs more tests than the others, including one- and two-way ANOVA (including repeated measures), nonparametric comparisons, and survival analysis.

More important are the differences how the programs work. One distinction is that Prism helps you, and your coworkers, learn data analysis. Prism offers guidance when choosing a test and interpretation of the results, and comes with manuals that explain the principles of statistics and curve fitting. The other programs don't even attempt this.

Another major difference is that Prism links data to results and graphs. The other programs link data to graphs, but not analysis results. This is a huge advantage of Prism. If you make a mistake in data entry with Prism, go back and fix it. All analyses (even if chained for example first a transform, then a curve fit, then a normality test of the residuals) are recalculated. This also means that when you open a Prism file, you can track the choices used for every analysis. With other programs, you see the results but may have no idea how they were computed or which options were selected. But the real strength of the linking happens when you repeat the experiment. Simply duplicate the data table with its linked analyses and graphs (one click), and replace the data. You are done. Prism did all the analyses and made all your graphs automatically, and you didn't have to write any macros.

Graphpad Prism vs. statistics programs

Most statistics programs (SPSS, SAS, NCSS, STATA, etc.) are set up in a similar way. Each row in the data table is one case. Each column is one variable. You use the program to select subsets of the data and then perform statistical analyses by choosing one variable to compare, and other variables that define groups. Graphpad Prism is organized in a very different way. In most cases, Prism expects the different columns to represent different experimental treatments, not different variables.Graphpad Prism does not use the concept of grouping variables.

If you find most statistics programs cumbersome, and your needs are simple, you'll appreciate Graphpad Prism's straightforward approach. If you are used to using one of the larger statistics programs, and take advantage of the power it offers, you won't find Prism to be an acceptable replacement for it.

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