| Software | NVivo | ATLAS.ti | Taguette | Dedoose | MAXQDA |
| Availability for Penn Community | Site license for Penn community through Penn Libraries Virtual Machine or on Library computers | No | Free and open source | No; Subscription based but relatively low cost | No |
| Our Services | Consultations and group training | Consultations and group training | Consultations | Consultations and some training | No |
| Pros | Supports mixed methods data analysis; auto-coding; limited social media scraping; works well with survey data | Auto-coding; data visualization tools; collaboration focused; includes Interrater reliability | Free & open software; easy to navigate | Real-time collaboration; web-based; calculates interrater operability | Supports mixed methods data analysis |
| Cons | macOS version is limited especially for data analysis; complicated interface | Fewer visualization options than other software; survey data can be challenging to work with | No visualization; focused on tagging/coding | Complicated interface | Complicated interface |
| Collaboration | NVivo Server allows real-time collaboration but requires own installation. Can merge multiple projects into one project master file. | Can merge multiple projects into one project master file; ATLAS.ti cloud allows collaboration (not available through Penn Libraries). | Add collaborators and do real-time work on server or self-hosted option. | Team members can collaborate on one project | Can merge multiple projects into one project master file. |
Other options:
Comparison matrix adapted from New York University's Choosing QDA Software. This LibGuide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Additional comparisons
Dueling QDAS (webinar hosted by IASSIST, an international data professionals organization)
