In the last few years, 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 (see references). Below is a chart intended to capture many of the features that are important to ABM toolkit users.
Platform | Primary Domain | Supporting Organization | License | Programming Language | Operating System | User Support | GIS Capabilities | 3D Capabilities | Last Update | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Building agent-based market simulation models for price forecasting of real-world stocks and other securities | 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 | Up to 3 agent properties can be visualized in real-time using 2D graphics and color | (Version 1.6.0) [1] | |||
AnyLogic | Agent-based general purpose; also supports discrete event and system dynamics simulations. | 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 | supports both tile maps from free online providers and shapefile-based maps | [2] [3] | ||
Framsticks | 2D/3D simulations of (evolving) multi-agent systems and artificial life | 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 | [4] | |||
GAMA Platform | Modeling and simulation development environment for building spatially explicit agent-based simulations. | IRD/SU international research unit UMMISCO, France | 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 | (version 1.9.1) [5] | |||
MASON | General purpose; social complexity, physical modeling, abstract modeling, AI/machine learning | George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA | Academic Free License (open source) | Java | Cross-platform | Mailing list; documentation; Tutorials; third party extensions; reference papers; API | (Version 20)[6] | |||
NetLogo | Social and natural sciences; Help beginning users get started authoring models | Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA | GPL | NetLogo | Cross-platform | Documentation; FAQ; selected references; tutorials; third party extensions; defect list; mailing lists | (Version 6.3.0) [7] | |||
Repast | Social sciences | 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 | (Version 2.10.0) [8] | |||
Soar | General purpose AI; human performance modeling; learning (including explanation-based learning) | 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 | (Version 9.6.0) [9] | |||
StarLogo | Social and natural sciences; Educators; for students to model the behavior of decentralized systems; user friendly for K–12 students | 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 | [10] | |||
Swarm | General purpose agent based | Swarm Development Group | GPL | Java; Objective-C | Cross-platform | Wiki; tutorials; examples; documentation; FAQ; selected publications; mailing lists | [11] |