Gnuplot
A portable command-line graphing utility for plotting mathematical functions and data in 2D and 3D.
ProprietaryBy The gnuplot contributors
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About Gnuplot
Gnuplot is a command-line graphing utility for plotting mathematical functions and data in 2D and 3D. It was created so scientists and students could look at functions and data interactively. It is also used for scripted, non-interactive output and as the plotting engine inside programs such as Octave.
Plots can be shown in interactive windows through Qt, wxWidgets or X11. They can also be written straight to files, including PostScript, PDF, PNG, SVG and LaTeX, or to HTML5 for the web. Version 6.0 is the current stable series, and the project has been in development since 1986.
Strengths
- Many 2D and 3D plot types
- Output to PDF, PNG, SVG, PostScript, LaTeX and HTML5
- Scriptable for non-interactive and batch use
- Under active development, with releases in 2026
Limitations
- Command-driven, so there is a learning curve compared with point-and-click charting
- Distributed under its own license rather than a standard OSI license
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree to use; the source is copyrighted but freely distributed.
- License
- Proprietary (gnuplot license)
- Developer
- The gnuplot contributors
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Scientists, students and engineers who plot data from scripts or the command line
- Categories
- Learning tools, Developer tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Sources