Orange
Visual data mining and machine learning from the University of Ljubljana, free under the GPL
Quick Overview
| Company | University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Computer and Information Science |
|---|---|
| Category | Statistical Software |
| Headquarters | Ljubljana, Slovenia |
| Founded | Not stated |
| EU Presence | Yes - Slovenia (EU) |
| Data Location | Runs on your own computer; the pages we read describe no hosted service |
| Open Source | GNU General Public License 3.0 or later |
| GDPR Compliant | Yes |
| Self-Hosting | Desktop install on your own computer |
| Main Features | Visual programming with widgets, interactive data visualisation, decision trees, hierarchical clustering, heatmaps, t-SNE, add-ons for text mining, networks, time series and spectra |
| Pricing | Free. The Orange license page states it is free software under GPL 3.0 or later. |
| Best For | Teachers and analysts who prefer building workflows visually over menus or code |
| Replaces | IBM SPSS Statistics (data mining and modelling use) |
Detailed Review
Orange is a component-based program where users place widgets on a canvas and connect them into a workflow. The Orange license page says it is developed at the Bioinformatics Laboratory, Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Orange 3.40.0 is listed from 8 May 2026. We read the Orange home and license pages and the university faculty pages on 5 November 2026.
Who develops Orange?
The University of Ljubljana develops Orange together with the open-source community, according to the Orange license page. The site footer reads Copyright University of Ljubljana, and the faculty pages give Večna pot 113, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The home page also names Revelo, a University of Ljubljana spin-off, for custom Orange widgets and applications.
What does Orange do instead of SPSS menus?
Orange replaces menus with a visual canvas and lists decision trees, hierarchical clustering, heatmaps, MDS and t-SNE. Add-ons cover text mining, network analysis, fairness, time series, spectra and gene expression.
IBM SPSS Statistics lists decision trees and neural networks in its predictive add-on.
How is Orange licensed?
Orange is free software under the GNU General Public License version 3.0 or later, and the documentation is under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence. Add-ons may carry their own licence terms.
Orange widgets and canvas build on Qt, which is distributed under GPL 3.0 as well as LGPL 2.1.
Limitations to Consider
Orange is oriented to data mining and machine learning, and the pages we read do not list classical report tables for survey statistics the way IBM SPSS Statistics does. The university pages describe the institution, not an Orange support contract, so commercial help goes through Revelo. Add-ons may have different licences.
Who Should Use Orange
Students, teachers and data analysts who want to explore data and test models visually. Users of classical test menus should start with JASP and add KNIME for workflows.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Free under the GPL
- Visual workflow canvas, no code needed
- Developed at a Slovenian university
- Add-ons for text, networks, time series and spectra
- Documentation under Creative Commons
Cons
- Data mining focus, not classical tables
- No support plan on the pages we read
- Add-ons may have other licences
- Pages read describe the university, not a company
Alternatives to Orange
Other European statistical software worth comparing before you decide:
See all European statistical software or compare them directly against IBM SPSS Statistics (data mining and modelling use) on our alternatives page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The Orange license page says it is free software under the GNU General Public License, version 3.0 or later.
The Bioinformatics Laboratory of the Faculty of Computer and Information Science at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, together with the open-source community.
No. The Orange home page says no coding is needed; users place widgets on a canvas and connect them.