Why use Stata statistical software?

Stata is a complete, integrated statistical package that provides everything you need for data analysis, data management, and graphics. Stata is not sold in modules, which means you get everything you need in one package. And, you can choose a perpetual license, with nothing more to buy ever. Annual licenses are also available.

Stata 12 adds many new features such as structural equation modeling (SEM), contrasts, ARFIMA, business calendars, chained equations for multiple imputation, contour plots, automatic memory management, importing and exporting of Excel files, and more. Find out more about these features at New in Stata 12.

Fast, accurate, and easy to use

With a point-and-click interface, an intuitive command syntax, and online help, Stata is easy to use, fast, and accurate (see certification results and FDA document compliance for details). All analyses can be reproduced and documented for publication and review.

Broad suite of statistical capabilities

Stata puts hundreds of statistical tools at your fingertips, from advanced techniques, such as survival models with frailty, dynamic panel data (DPD) regressions, generalized estimating equations (GEE), multilevel mixed models, models with sample selection, multiple imputation, ARCH, and estimation with complex survey samples; to standard methods, such as linear and generalized linear models (GLM), regressions with count or binary outcomes, ANOVA/MANOVA, ARIMA, cluster analysis, standardization of rates, case–control analysis, and basic tabulations and summary statistics.

Complete data-management facilities

Stata’s data-management commands give you complete control of all types of data: you can combine and reshape datasets, manage variables, and collect statistics across groups or replicates. You can work with byte, integer, long, float, double, and string variables. Stata also has advanced tools for managing specialized data such as survival/duration data, time-series data, panel/longitudinal data, categorical data, multiple-imputation data, and survey data.

Explore all of Stata’s capabilities.

Publication-quality graphics

Stata makes it easy to generate publication-quality, distinctly styled graphs, including regression fit graphs, distributional plots, time-series graphs, survival plots, and contour plots. You can write scripts to produce hundreds or thousands of graphs in a reproducible manner and export them to EPS or TIF for publication, to PNG for the web, or to PDF for viewing. Or, with the integrated Graph Editor you click to change anything about your graph or to add titles, notes, lines, arrows, and text.

You can choose between existing graph styles or create your own.

Responsive and extensible

Stata is so programmable that developers and users add new features every day to respond to the growing demands of today's researchers. With Stata’s Internet capabilities, new features and official updates can be installed over the Internet with a single click. Many new features and informative articles are published quarterly in the refereed Stata Journal. Another great resource is Statalist, an independent listserver where more than 4,500 Stata users exchange over 1,500 postings and 50 programs each month.

Matrix programming—Mata

Though you don’t need to program to use Stata, it is comforting to know that a fast and complete matrix programming language is an integral part of Stata. Mata is both an interactive environment for manipulating matrices and a full development environment that can produce compiled and optimized code. It includes special features for processing panel data, performs operations on real or complex matrices, provides complete support for object-oriented programming, and is fully integrated with every aspect of Stata. Learn more about Mata.

Cross-platform compatible

Stata will run on Windows, Mac, and Unix computers (including Linux); however, our licenses are not platform specific. You can install your Stata license on any of the supported platforms. Stata datasets, programs, and other data can be shared across platforms without translation.

You can also quickly and easily import datasets from other statistical packages, spreadsheets, and databases.

Complete documentation and other publications

Stata comes with 21 volumes of documentation containing more than 9,000 pages of information that include calculation formulas, detailed examples, and references to the literature. The documentation comes in PDF form with every copy of Stata and printed volumes are available either separately or as a set. Our website is a great resource for information about Stata, including answers to frequently asked questions.

You can read informative articles about statistics and new Stata features in the quarterly Stata Journal. The Stata News is a quarterly publication containing announcements of new releases and updates, training schedules, new books, Conferences and Users Group meetings, new products, and other announcements of interest to Stata users. Stata Press also publishes books about using Stata and about statistical topics for professional researchers of all disciplines.

You can read the offical Stata blog, Not Elsewhere Classified (NEC), at http://blog.stata.com. NEC will keep you up to date about all things related to Stata. That includes product announcements from StataCorp and from others, service announcements such as on-site and public training, timely tips and comments, and news and advice related to the use of Stata. The articles appearing in the blog are individually signed. NEC is written by the same people who develop Stata, support Stata, and sell Stata. NEC is informal but useful, and even entertaining.

Technical support and learning resources

Excellent technical support is free to registered users of Stata. See what our customers are saying about our technical support.

Stata provides hands-on public training courses, customized on-site training courses, and online training through NetCourses. In NetCourses, you can learn about Stata at your office, home, or school; working at your own pace; and at a reasonable cost. Courses topics range from getting started to advanced usage, programming, and statistics. See what participants say about our NetCourses.

You can also participate in short courses sponsored by Stata or third parties in various locations. Conferences and Users Group meetings, held in many places around the world, provide opportunities to meet other users and learn from the experts, including the developers of Stata.

Widely used

Stata is distributed in more than 150 countries and is used by professionals in many fields of research. See what research professionals say about Stata. Our distributors offer services such as basic technical support and training. Find your distributor.

Affordable

Stata offers several purchase options to fit your budget. Contact a sales representative to find out more about our affordable options.

Note to U.S. customers: Stata is Section 508 compliant.

We have lots more we can show you, including a full sample session that includes both the input and the output. See the sample session, for Mac, for Unix, or for Windows.