Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

GNU Octave VS NetLogo

Compare GNU Octave VS NetLogo and see what are their differences

GNU Octave logo GNU Octave

GNU Octave is a programming language for scientific computing.

NetLogo logo NetLogo

NetLogo is a multi-agent programmable modeling environment that is used by many tens of thousands of students, teachers and researchers worldwide.
  • GNU Octave Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-08-07
  • NetLogo Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-23

GNU Octave features and specs

  • Free and Open Source
    GNU Octave is completely free to use and distribute. Its source code is available for anyone to inspect, modify, and enhance, providing transparency and community-driven improvements.
  • MATLAB Compatibility
    Octave aims to be mostly compatible with MATLAB, meaning that many scripts and functions written for MATLAB can run in Octave with little or no modification.
  • Extensive Documentation
    Octave has comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and a vast array of user-contributed content, easing the learning curve for new users.
  • Flexible Integration
    Octave can interface with various programming languages such as C, C++, Fortran, and Python, making it versatile for different types of projects and workflows.
  • Powerful Plotting Capabilities
    Octave includes features for generating high-quality plots and visualizations, which are essential for data analysis and presentation.

Possible disadvantages of GNU Octave

  • Performance
    In some cases, Octave may be slower than MATLAB, especially for highly optimized or proprietary algorithms that MATLAB handles more efficiently.
  • GUI and Toolboxes
    While Octave offers a graphical user interface, it is not as polished as MATLAB's. Additionally, the range and quality of toolboxes available in Octave can be more limited compared to MATLAB's extensive and well-supported toolboxes.
  • Community Support
    Although there is a supportive community around Octave, the user base and available support resources are smaller compared to MATLAB's extensive network of forums, user groups, and customer support.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While basic operations are straightforward, mastering advanced features and customizations in Octave can require a deeper understanding of its architecture and available functions.
  • Less Industry Adoption
    MATLAB is widely used in industry for research, engineering, and analytics. Octave, being an open-source alternative, lacks the same level of commercial adoption and institutional support, which can be a drawback in professional settings.

NetLogo features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    NetLogo offers a straightforward and intuitive graphical user interface, making it accessible to users with varying levels of programming experience.
  • Rich Learning Environment
    The platform includes a library of pre-built models across various domains, aiding in educational purposes and providing examples for users to learn from.
  • Agent-Based Modeling
    NetLogo excels in agent-based modeling, allowing users to simulate complex systems using simple agent rules, making it useful for research and educational projects.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    NetLogo is written in Java, which allows it to run on multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
  • Extensive Community Support
    The platform has a large user community and extensive documentation, including user manuals and forums that provide support and collaboration opportunities.

Possible disadvantages of NetLogo

  • Performance Limitations
    NetLogo can struggle with performance issues when handling very large numbers of agents or complex calculations, which may limit its use for very large-scale simulations.
  • Limited Graphics Capabilities
    The graphical output options in NetLogo can be somewhat limited and basic compared to other modern simulation tools.
  • Specialized Language
    NetLogo uses its own specialized programming language, which, while simple, may require users to learn new syntax and concepts.
  • Lack of Advanced Analytical Tools
    NetLogo lacks some of the advanced analytical and statistical tools available in other simulation environments, which might necessitate additional software for in-depth analysis.

GNU Octave videos

GNU Octave Ep. 1.5: What's different compared to MatLab!

NetLogo videos

NetLogo Model Review - Virus on The Network

More videos:

  • Review - PLTW CSP 4.1.3 and 4.2.1 - Introduction to NetLogo

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GNU Octave and NetLogo)
Technical Computing
79 79%
21% 21
Numerical Computation
80 80%
20% 20
3D
58 58%
42% 42
Math Solver
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare GNU Octave and NetLogo

GNU Octave Reviews

7 Best MATLAB alternatives for Linux
FreeMAT is a free and open-source software for numerical computation. It is used for rapid engineering, scientific prototyping, and data processing. It is similar to MATLAB and GNU Octave and supports its various functions.
Matlab Alternatives
Scilab is an open-source similar to the implementation of Matlab. The approximation techniques known as Scientific Computing is used to solve numerical problems. To achieve this, the team of Scilab developers made use of Solvers and algorithms to build the algebraic libraries. Scilab is one of the major alternatives to Matlab along with GNU Octave.
Source: www.educba.com
10 Best MATLAB Alternatives [For Beginners and Professionals]
GNU Octave an open-source alternative to MATLAB. It is interactive and powerful featuring everything you need in one place.
4 open source alternatives to MATLAB
GNU Octave may be the best-known alternative to MATLAB. In active development for almost three decades, Octave runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac—and is packaged for most major distributions. If you're looking for a project that is as close to the actual MATLAB language as possible, Octave may be a good fit for you; it strives for exact compatibility, so many of your projects...
Source: opensource.com
3 Open Source Alternatives to MATLAB
GNU Octave may be the best-known alternatives to MATLAB. In active development for almost three decades, Octave runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux alike, and is packaged for most major distributions. If you're looking for a project that is as close to the actual MATLAB language as possible, Octave may be a good fit for you; it strives for exact compatibility, so many of your...

NetLogo Reviews

We have no reviews of NetLogo yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NetLogo seems to be a lot more popular than GNU Octave. While we know about 15 links to NetLogo, we've tracked only 1 mention of GNU Octave. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

GNU Octave mentions (1)

  • everyday I get more certain that Algerian universities sucks...
    As for Matlab, I think you'll be just fine with using GNU Octave. Source: about 3 years ago

NetLogo mentions (15)

  • Why Is the Other Lane Always Faster? (2018)
    This is exactly the kind of problem NetLOGO is geared toward modelling and solving. It is very much like the LOGO (turtle graphics) you might have learned as a tween, but multi-agent, so you can model the behaviour of several types of cars (fast, slow, hesitant, etc), design a few multi-lane obstacles, and let 'r rip. There are 3D and 2D versions, but your problem will quite suit the 2D version. Check it out. I'd... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Is there a way to reduce level of detail in 2d TileMap?
    (Patches = Cells, Turtles = Agents) Https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/. Source: about 2 years ago
  • This round of Rock, paper and scissors
    Looks like it wad probably made in netlogo: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Deploying frontend + backend with NetLogo integration?
    My team has a simulation model in NetLogo that needs a separate UI (data with will flow back and forth between simulation and UI, largely in the form of csv files). How might this be set up in Azure? Any recommendations for UI frameworks (React+Flask, Vue+Express, etc.) or file [system log] storage? I am very new to development so any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Source: over 2 years ago
  • # Freelance
    I have a piece of code in NetLogo programming language that I am unable to run in NetLogo software (https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/) as I am facing some errors while doing so. If anyone can help me, we can discuss the budget. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing GNU Octave and NetLogo, you can also consider the following products

MATLAB - A high-level language and interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization, and programming

Wolfram Mathematica - Mathematica has characterized the cutting edge in specialized processing—and gave the chief calculation environment to a large number of pioneers, instructors, understudies, and others around the globe.

Autodesk Fusion 360 - Integrated CAD, CAM, and CAE featuring collaborative editing and cloud-based computation.

Scilab - Scilab Official Website. Enter your search in the box aboveAbout ScilabScilab is free and open source software for numerical . Thanks for downloading Scilab!

Sage Math - Sage is a free open-source mathematics software system licensed under the GPL.

SimScale - SimScale makes high-fidelity engineering simulation truly accessible. From anywhere. At any scale. In the cloud.