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R vs Python: catalog facts
R	Python
Free Free software, supported by donations to the R Foundation.	Free Free and open source under the Python Software Foundation Licence, a permissive licence.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Broad set of statistical methods and graphics Runs on Windows, macOS and many Unix platforms	Readable syntax that makes it the usual first language and easy to return to The standard library covers a lot without any third-party packages
Downloads are spread across CRAN mirrors rather than a single page The language has quirks that take time to learn for programmers from other languages	Much slower than compiled languages for CPU-heavy work The global interpreter lock limits threading, though recent versions are addressing it
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-2.0-or-later	License: Python-2.0
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

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