You’ve got options: Which free software for academics is right for you?

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If you teach or learn with SAS software, you’ve probably noticed there’s more than one way to do it — and that’s a good thing. Between SAS OnDemand for Academics (ODA), SAS Viya for Learners (VFL), and our newly released SAS Viya Workbench for Learners (WFL), academics have an incredible range of free tools to run analytics from multiple angles: from code-free visualizations to advanced SAS + Python + R integrations.

But figuring out which platform to start with (and how they differ) can be tricky — especially if you’re helping a classroom of students get up and running quickly.

That’s where this Software Cheat Sheet comes in. It’s a digestible comparison of SAS’s academic learning environments — designed to help you decide which option best fits your goals, whether you’re an instructor adopting SAS for coursework or a student exploring predictive modeling, AI, or data storytelling.

How to Use the Cheat Sheet

Educators: Find your recommended pathway — from traditional SAS course integration to hybrid SAS + Python + R teaching.
Students: Choose your ideal environment based on your comfort level with code – and the graphical user interface you prefer.
Everyone: Quickly compare technical features like preloaded data sets, GitHub integration, and storage space.

How this Cheat Sheet Helps

SAS continues to expand its free academic ecosystem to meet learners where they are — whether that’s coding in JupyterLab, building dashboards in Visual Analytics, or experimenting with AI in SAS Model Studio. This cheat sheet helps you see that ecosystem at a glance and pick the right starting point for your journey.

Without further ado, here we go:

Recap: Ready to Explore?

Whether you’re building your first predictive model, introducing students to SAS programming, or leveraging shared Jupyter notebooks via GitHub, each of these academic tools gives you a powerful way to learn — for free.

Start by exploring the platform that fits your needs best, with these general recommendations:

SAS OnDemand for Academics (ODA): Great for traditional SAS programming – and easy-to-use software for many of the hand-on exercises in the free SAS courses found in the SAS Skill Builder for Students or the SAS Educator Portal.
SAS Viya for Learners (VFL): Ideal for low and no-code analytics, machine learning, and data storytelling with dashboards.
SAS Viya Workbench for Learners (WFL): Perfect for independent learners and advanced coders who want flexibility and modern SAS + Python + R integration.

Use our cheat sheet as your quick-start guide — and check out the links below for tutorials, videos, and examples that bring each environment to life. No matter which platform you choose, you’ll be part of a growing global community of educators and learners discovering what’s possible with SAS.

Helpful follow-up resources

SAS OnDemand for Academics (ODA)

SAS Viya for Learners (VFL)

SAS Workbench for Learners (WFL)

Other Helpful Links

SAS Academic Programs overview page
SAS Skill Builder for Students page
SAS Academic Programs for Educators page
SAS Communities

Please share your questions and comments below, if you have them!