Comparison of agent-based modeling software
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The agent-based modeling (ABM) 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 (e.g. [1][2]). 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
Platform |
Supporting Organization | License | Programming Language | Operating System | User Support | GIS Capabilities | 3D Capabilities | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Altreva; Utrecht, Netherlands | Proprietary; free evaluation version available for research and experimentation (some limitations but no expiration) | 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. | Windows | FAQ, documentation, tutorial, examples, forum, email support | Unknown | Yes Up to 3 agent properties can be visualized in real-time using 2D graphics and color | July 20, 2020 (Version 1.6.0) [3] | |
| The AnyLogic Company; Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, USA | Proprietary; Free Personal Learning Edition available | Java | Linux, macOS, Windows | Demos; training; online community; ask a question; online help; tutorials; consulting services | Yes: supports both tile maps from free online providers and shapefile-based maps | Yes | November 20, 2024[4][5] | |
| Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland | Depends on module: GPL/LGPL/Proprietary | FramScript (similar to JavaScript) | Cross-platform | Email developer; tutorials; manual; FAQ; forums; API; documentation; selected publications; examples | Yes | Yes | June 23, 2025 (version 5.3) [6] | |
| IRD/SU international research unit UMMISCO, France | GNU GPL v3.0 | GAML (GAma Modeling Language) for simulations, Java for extensions | Windows; Linux; *nix; Mac OS X | tutorials; manual; FAQ; forums; documentation; selected publications; examples | Yes | Yes | July 3, 2025 (version 2025.06.4) [7] | |
| George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA | Open source (Academic Free License) |
Java | Cross-platform | Mailing list; documentation; Tutorials; third party extensions; reference papers; API | Yes | Yes | September 3, 2019 (Version 20)[8] | |
| Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA | GNU GPL | NetLogo | Cross-platform | Documentation; FAQ; selected references; tutorials; third party extensions; defect list; mailing lists | Yes | Yes | October 23, 2025 (Version 7.0.1) [9] | |
| Argonne National Laboratory, University of Chicago; Lemont, Illinois, USA | BSD | Java (RepastS, RepastJ); Python (Repast4Py); Visual Basic, .Net, C++, J#, C# (Repast.net) | Cross-platform | Documentation; mailing list; defect list; reference papers; external tools; tutorials; FAQ; examples | Yes | Yes | July 2, 2024 (Version 2.11.0) [10] | |
| 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, USA | BSD | Soar 1 to 5 in Lisp; Soar 6 in C; Java, C++, TCL | Cross-platform | Documentation; FAQ; selected publications; defect list; third party extensions; mailing list; contact authors; tutorial; examples; wiki | Unknown | Unknown | July 28, 2017 (Version 9.6.0) [11] | |
| Mitchel Resnick, Eric Klopfer, and others at MIT Media Lab and The MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Cambridge, MA, USA | Free (closed source) – Clearthought Software License, Version 1.0 | StarLogo (an extension of Logo) | Cross-platform | Mailing list; tutorials; FAQ; bug list; documentation; developer contacts | Unknown | Unknown | November 27, 2018 [12] | |
| Swarm Development Group | GNU GPL | Java; Objective-C | Cross-platform | Wiki; tutorials; examples; documentation; FAQ; selected publications; mailing lists | Unknown | Unknown | 2005 [13] |