Origin (data analysis software)
Origin is a proprietary computer program for interactive scientific graphing and data analysis. It is produced by OriginLab Corporation, and runs on Microsoft Windows. It has inspired several platform-independent open-source clones like SciDAVis.

Graphing support in Origin includes various 2D/3D plot types.

Data analyses in Origin include statistics, signal processing, curve fitting and peak analysis. Origin's curve fitting is performed by a nonlinear least squares fitter which is based on the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm.

Origin imports data files in various formats such as ASCII text, Excel, NI TDM, DIADem, NetCDF, SPC, etc. It also exports the graph to various image file formats such as JPEG, GIF, EPS, TIFF, etc. There is also a built-in query tool for accessing database data via ADO.

Features

Origin is primarily a GUI software with a spreadsheet front end. Unlike popular spreadsheets like Excel, Origin's worksheet is column oriented.  Each column has associated attributes like name, units and other user definable labels.  Instead of cell formula, Origin uses column formula for calculations.

Recent versions of Origin have introduced and expanded on batch capabilities, with the goal of eliminating the need to program many routine operations. Instead the user relies on customizable graph templates, analysis dialog box Themes which save a particular suite of operations, auto recalculation on changes to data or analysis parameters, and Analysis Templates™ which save a collection of operations within the workbook.

Origin also has a scripting language (LabTalk) for controlling the software, which can be extended using a built-in C/C++-based compiled language (Origin C). Other programming options include an embedded Python  environment, and an R Console plus support for Rserve.

Origin can be also used as a COM server for programs which may be written in Visual Basic .NET, C#, LabVIEW, etc.

Origin project files (.OPJ) can be read by the open-source library liborigin.

There is also a free component (Orglab) maintained by Originlab that can be used to create (or read) OPJ files. A free Viewer application is also available.

Editions and support
Origin is available in two editions, the regular version Origin and the pricier OriginPro. The latter adds additional data analysis features like surface fitting, short-time Fourier Transform, and more advanced statistics.

Technical support is available to registered users via e-mail, online chat, and telephone.
A user forum is also available.

There are a few version types that have been offered from Origin and OriginPro as personal, academic, government and student versions. However, the student version is not available for Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Laos.

History
Origin was first created for use solely with microcalorimeters manufactured by MicroCal Inc. (acquired by Malvern Instruments in 2014) The software was used to graph the instruments data, and perform nonlinear curve fitting and parameter calculation.

The software was first published for the public in 1992 by Microcal Software, which later was renamed to OriginLab Corporation, located in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Release history
 2019/10/25 Origin 2020. Mini toolbar for 2d graphs, 10x faster import of large text file, enhanced database import, 5x faster scatter plot with large data. New graph types such as density dots, color dots, sankey and alluvial diagram, pie and doughnut charts, dendrogram, population pyramid, before-after plot and kite diagram, Copy and Paste plot, Copy and Paste HTML or EMF table, etc. New Apps such as 2D Peak ANalysis, Piper Diagram, Import NMR Data, Marginal Abatement Cost Curve, Video Data Explorer, Neural Network Fitting, Word Connector, Soil and Rock Classification Diagrams, and LeCroy Connector.
 2019/04/24 Origin 2019b. HTML and Markdown reports.  Web Data Connectors for CSV, JSON, Excel, MATLAB. Rug Plots, Split Heatmap Plot. Validation Reports using NIST data. New Apps for Quantile Regression, 2D Correlation, Isosurface Plot, etc.

2018/10/26  Origin 2019. Data Highlighter for data exploration, Windows-like search from Start menu, Conditional formatting of data cells, Violin plot, New apps like Stats Advisor, Image Object Counter, Design of Experiments, etc.
 2018/4/24  Origin 2018b. Matrices embedded in workbook, Worksheet/matrix data preview, Dynamic graph preview in analysis, Distributed batch processing on multi-core CPU (app).
 2017/11/9  Origin 2018. Cell formula, Unicode, Bridge chart, changed to a more compact file format (OPJU).
 2016/11/10 Origin 2017. Trellis Plot, Geology fill patterns, JavaScript support from Origin C.
 2015/10/23 Origin 2016. First version to support Apps in Origin, also added R support.
 2014/10 Origin 2015  added graph thumbnail previews, project search, heat map, 2D kernel density plot and Python support.
 2013/10 Origin 9.1 SR0 added support for Piper diagram, Ternary surface plot etc.
 2012/10 Origin 9 with high performance OpenGL 3D Graphing, orthogonal regression for implicit/explicit functions
 2011/11 Origin 8.6, first version in 64bit
 2011/04 Origin 8.5.1
 2010/09 Origin 8.5.0
 2009/10 Origin 8.1
 2009/08 Origin 8 SR6
 2007/12 Origin 8 SR1
 2007/10 Origin 8
 2006/01 Origin 7.5 SR6
 2003/10 Origin 7.5
 2002/02 Origin 7.0
 2000/09 Origin 6.1
 1999/06 Origin 6.0
 1997/08 Origin 5.0
 1995/02 Origin 4.1
 1994/07 Origin 3.5
 1993/08 Origin 2.9
 1993/?? Origin 2

Alternatives and clones

Similar proprietary software includes:
 SigmaPlot
 GraphPad Prism
 IGOR Pro
 MagicPlot
 Plotly – Plotting library and styling interface for R, Python, MATLAB, Julia, and Perl. 
 JMP (statistical software)
 QtiPlot
 STATISTICA

Open-source projects inspired by Origin:
 SciDAVis, a fork of QtiPlot
 LabPlot, project merged with SciDAVis
 Veusz, Qt based, similar to SciDAVis, well maintained
 SciGraphica, dormant since 2005

Other open-source graphing and data analysis software:
 gnuplot, script-driven plotting
 R, statistics
 Fityk, data vizualisation and fitting
 Matplotlib, a plotting library for the Python (programming language)
 QSoas, a command-driven data analysis and fitting program
 SageMath, an interface for Matplotlib and other plotting software