Symbolica
Shares rank 6 of 11 math software by recommenders
Recommended as a fast, programmable symbolic math library usable from Rust or Python without learning a bundled language. Critics say its license restricts use.
Recommended as a fast, programmable symbolic math library usable from Rust or Python without learning a bundled language. Critics say its license restricts use.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Big improvement over earlier version
“it is insane how much nicer it is to use now”
Comment from 7 Jun 2026 in “Symbolica 2.0: Programmable Symbols for Python and Rust” “This is truly a huge leap forward”
Comment from 6 Jun 2026 in “Symbolica 2.0: programmable symbols for Python and Rust”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Restrictive license limits use
“I hate this kind of licenses that restrict you from using the full power of your device.”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Symbolica 2.0: Programmable Symbols for Python and Rust” “Integrating Symbolica would be awesome, but our licenses are incompatible at the moment.”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Symbolica 2.0: Programmable Symbols for Python and Rust” “the license system might prevent it from reaching the same level of adoption”
Comment from 7 Jun 2026 in “Symbolica 2.0: Programmable Symbols for Python and Rust” - Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Symbolica 2.0: Programmable Symbols for Python and Rust”
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 |
| SageMath | 16 | 3 | 84% | 8 | — | Approved |
| SymPy | 13 | 7 | 65% | 8 | — | — |
| SymbolicaThis page | 7 | 2 | 78% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The Academia Tier is realy a bit annoying”
“Integrating Symbolica would be awesome, but our licenses are incompatible at the moment.”
“Non-professionals can use it for free without core restrictions.”
“I hate this kind of licenses that restrict you from using the full power of your device.”
“the absolutely awful license”
“using an entire Symbolica Atom will introduce a large amount of overhead”
“the license system might prevent it from reaching the same level of adoption”
“it is insane how much nicer it is to use now”
“is much faster, can be used in rust or python (so no obscure bundled language to learn)”
“This is truly a huge leap forward”
“the great thing of what they are doing is that they are setting new ARC-AGI records”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.