Categories
📚 Free Learning and Science Software
Academic software is often absurdly expensive, yet this is where open source is strongest — many of these tools were born inside universities and research institutes. This category covers spaced repetition, reference management, graphing, astronomy, GIS and kids programming, most of it usable entirely offline.
15 tools
KanjiWidget
Japanese kanji cards that sit on your desktop while you work
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Celestia
Leave the ground and fly to any planet, star or galaxy
- Open Source
- No Ads
- Offline
- No Sign-up
GCompris
Nearly two hundred learning activities for ages 2 to 10, with no ads and no in-app purchases
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Lichess
A chess site where every feature is free — no membership tier, no ads
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Cross-platform
JabRef
A reference manager that edits BibTeX directly — native ground for LaTeX
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Kiwix
The whole of Wikipedia on your disk, readable with no network at all
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
GeoGebra
Draw the function, drag a point, and the idea clicks
- No Ads
- Offline
- No Sign-up
- Cross-platform
GNU Octave
MATLAB's language, without the licence
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
JupyterLab
Code, results and explanation living in one document
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
QGIS
Professional GIS that replaces a licence costing thousands a year
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Radicand
sqrt(12) gives you 2√3, not 3.4641016
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Scratch
Build programs from blocks — a first programming language for kids
- No Ads
- Offline
- No Sign-up
- Cross-platform
Stellarium
A planetarium on your desktop, showing exactly what your eyes would see
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Anki
Spaced-repetition flashcards that lock knowledge into long-term memory
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Zotero
A free reference and research manager
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline