Comparison of agent-based modeling software


The agent-based modeling community has developed several practical agent based modeling toolkits that enable individuals to develop agent-based applications. More and more such toolkits are coming into existence, and each toolkit has a variety of characteristics. Several individuals have made attempts to compare toolkits to each other. Below is a chart providing an overview of platforms that have their own Wikipedia page and is intended to capture many of the features that are important to ABM toolkit users.

Comparison of ABM software

Primary DomainSupporting OrganizationLicenseProgramming LanguageOperating SystemUser SupportGIS Capabilities3D CapabilitiesLast Update
Building agent-based market simulation models for price forecasting of real-world stocks and other securitiesAltreva; Utrecht, Netherlands; free evaluation version available for research and experimentation No programming skills required. An adaptive form of genetic programming is used to create trading rules. Users can select functions to be used in the genetic programming engine.WindowsFAQ, documentation, tutorial, examples, forum, email support Up to 3 agent properties can be visualized in real-time using 2D graphics and color
Agent-based general purpose; also supports discrete event and system dynamics simulations.The AnyLogic Company; Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, USA; Free Personal Learning Edition availableJavaLinux, macOS, WindowsDemos; training; online community; ask a question; online help; tutorials; consulting services: supports both tile maps from free online providers and shapefile-based maps
2D/3D simulations of multi-agent systems and artificial lifePoznan University of Technology, Poznan, PolandDepends on module: GPL/LGPL/ProprietaryFramScript Cross-platformEmail developer; tutorials; manual; FAQ; forums; API; documentation; selected publications; examples
Modeling and simulation development environment for building spatially explicit agent-based simulations.IRD/SU international research unit UMMISCO, France v3.0GAML for simulations, Java for extensionsWindows; Linux; *nix; Mac OS Xtutorials; manual; FAQ; forums; documentation; selected publications; examples
General purpose; social complexity, physical modeling, abstract modeling, AI/machine learningGeorge Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
JavaCross-platformMailing list; documentation; Tutorials; third party extensions; reference papers; API
Social and natural sciences; Help beginning users get started authoring modelsNorthwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USANetLogoCross-platformDocumentation; FAQ; selected references; tutorials; third party extensions; defect list; mailing lists
Social and natural sciencesArgonne National Laboratory, University of Chicago; Lemont, Illinois, USAJava ; Python ; Visual Basic,.Net, C++, J#, C# Cross-platformDocumentation; mailing list; defect list; reference papers; external tools; tutorials; FAQ; examples
General purpose AI; human performance modeling; learning John E. Laird, Clare Bates Congdon, Mazin Assanie, Nate Derbinsky and Joseph Xu; Division of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USASoar 1 to 5 in Lisp; Soar 6 in C; Java, C++, TCLCross-platformDocumentation; FAQ; selected publications; defect list; third party extensions; mailing list; contact authors; tutorial; examples; wiki
Social and natural sciences; Educators; for students to model the behavior of decentralized systems; user friendly for K–12 studentsMitchel Resnick, Eric Klopfer, and others at MIT Media Lab and The MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Cambridge, MA, USA – Clearthought Software License, Version 1.0StarLogo Cross-platformMailing list; tutorials; FAQ; bug list; documentation; developer contacts
General purpose agent basedSwarm Development GroupJava; Objective-CCross-platformWiki; tutorials; examples; documentation; FAQ; selected publications; mailing lists