SageMath
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 11 math software by recommenders
Free open-source computer algebra system people use as an open alternative to Mathematica. Caveat: critics call it poorly integrated, a glue of separate projects.
Free open-source computer algebra system people use as an open alternative to Mathematica. Caveat: critics call it poorly integrated, a glue of separate projects.
19 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 84%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Go-to choice for algebra
“I would just use Wolfram Alpha or SageMath”
Comment from 1 May 2026 in “Ti-84 Evo” “If I need algebra I'll use Sage.”
Comment from 1 May 2026 in “Ti-84 Evo”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Poorly integrated set of separate projects
“it's just a Python glue on multiple smaller projects of different quality and poorly integrated”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Wolfram Compute Services” “not a bunch of tools glued together, poorly integrated, as you point out.”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Wolfram Compute Services”
Other math software people recommend
The four most recommended other math software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfram Mathematica | 103 | 55 | 65% | 12 | 21 yrs5 owners | — |
| Wolfram Alpha | 28 | 9 | 76% | 11 | — | Approved |
| SageMathThis page | 16 | 3 | 84% | 8 | — | Approved |
| SymPy | 13 | 7 | 65% | 8 | — | — |
| Maple by Maplesoft | 9 | 3 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
16 of the 19 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Sage is their theme which allows you to develop templates using blade and vite.”
“how other programs like QuickBooks and Sage can integrate with it”
“The core pipeline works; it is still in development.”
“I love the idea of Sage, and think an open-source state of the art CAS is essential in this day and age”
“after struggling with Sage and Co”
“Of these only Sage, Maxima and Woxi were capable of giving the expected answers.”
“I can build an intuition for the structure of the problem more easily than if I view the "raw" notation”
“basically Python with a ton of sophisticated math stuff built into it”
“this lets you pick what you like and also what you don't like”
“I would just use Wolfram Alpha or SageMath”
“If I need algebra I'll use Sage.”
“Sage is a nice effort, but it isn't Mathematica”
“I love the integration of SageMath to some of the examples there”
“Just the fact that one has to declare all variables before using them, makes it extremely annoying.”
“not a bunch of tools glued together, poorly integrated, as you point out.”
“it's just a Python glue on multiple smaller projects of different quality and poorly integrated”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.