Editing SAS (software) (section)

===Comparison to other products===
{{See also|Comparison of statistical packages}}

In a 2005 article for the ''[[Journal of Marriage and Family]]'' comparing statistical packages from SAS and its competitors [[Stata]] and [[SPSS]], Alan C. Acock wrote that SAS programs provide "extraordinary range of data analysis and data management tasks," but were difficult to learn and use.<ref name="Acock"/> SPSS and Stata, meanwhile, were both easier to learn but had less capable analytic abilities, though these could be expanded with paid (in SPSS) or free (in Stata) add-ons. Acock concluded that SAS was best for [[power user]]s, while occasional users would benefit most from SPSS and Stata.<ref name="Acock">{{cite journal|pages=1093–1095|title=SAS, Stata, SPSS: A Comparison |journal=Journal of Marriage and Family |doi=10.1111/j.1741-3737.2005.00196.x|volume=67|issue=4 |date=November 2005 | last=Acock |first=Alan C}}</ref> A 2014 comparison by the [[University of California, Los Angeles]], gave similar results.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/mult_pkg/compare_packages.htm |title=Compare Packages |publisher=University of California, Los Angeles |access-date=12 January 2014 |archive-date=12 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112080108/http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/mult_pkg/compare_packages.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Competitors such as [[Revolution Analytics]] and [[Alpine Data Labs]] advertise their products as considerably cheaper than SAS's. In a 2011 comparison, Doug Henschen of ''[[InformationWeek]]'' found that start-up fees for the three are similar, though he admitted that the starting fees were not necessarily the best basis for comparison.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.informationweek.com/software/information-management/low-cost-options-for-predictive-analytics-challenge-sas-ibm/d/d-id/1099191?page_number=1 |title=Low-Cost Options For Predictive Analytics Challenge SAS, IBM |first=Dough |last=Henschen |work=InformationWeek|date=July 26, 2011 |access-date=January 12, 2014}}</ref> SAS's business model is not weighted as heavily on initial fees for its programs, instead focusing on revenue from annual subscription fees.<ref>{{cite news|title=SAS revenue up 12% in 2011|work=The News & Observer |location= Raleigh, North Carolina |date=January 20, 2012 |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/01/20/1790587/sas-revenue-up-12-in-2011.html|last=Ranii|first=David |access-date=January 12, 2014}}</ref><ref name="SoftBus">{{cite web|last=Turchin|first=Brian|title=SAS Profile -- Going Its Own Way |url=http://www.cabnr.unr.edu/gf/apst650/sassoftbusiness.pdf|publisher=Software Business Online|access-date=2014-04-10|archive-date=2015-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923195653/http://www.cabnr.unr.edu/gf/apst650/sassoftbusiness.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>