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Software for students

A list of free and discounted software available to students

Find software by category:

 

Antivirus software

Trellix

  • What to use it for: Installing antivirus software is a requirement for use of the University's data network. We provide free Trellix antivirus software free to staff and students.
  • Free or paid: Free to Cambridge staff and students
  • Where can I get it: Download Trellix software

 

Academic tools

Endnote

  • What to use it for: Commercial reference management software package, used to manage bibliographies and references
  • Free or paid: Free to Cambridge staff and students
  • Where can I get it: Download from Academia

Mendeley Resource Manager

Panopto

  • What to use it for: Lecture recording, screencasting, video streaming, and as video content management software,
  • Free or paid: Free to Cambridge staff and students
  • Where can I get it: Find out more about Panopto

Zotero

 

Accessibility tools

ColorVeil

  • What to use it for: Reading tool. ColorVeil is an app that allows you to put a colour filter over your screen. Many people find this reduces eye strain, and can help with dyslexia and visual Stress
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download on the east-tec website

 

Audio and video recording

Adobe Audition CC

  • What to use it for: Record, edit, and create audio content
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Audacity

  • What to use it for: Open-source digital audio editor and recording application software
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download from Audacity

Camtasia 

  • What to use it for: Camtasia is a screen recording and video editing software, particularly useful for webinars and video tutorials
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

RODE Connect

ShareX

VLC

 

Data and statistics

ATLAS.ti 23 Windows and Mac

  • What to use it for: ATLAS.ti 23 is a powerful workbench for the qualitative analysis of larger bodies of textual, graphical, audio, and video data.
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download from Academia

Avogadro

  • What to use it for: Advanced molecule editor and visualizer designed for cross-platform use in computational chemistry, molecular modeling, bioinformatics, materials science, and related areas
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download from Avogadro website

BioRender

  • What to use it for: BioRender is an online, web-based application used to create, edit, and collaborate on scientific diagrams, and illustrations.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

COMSOL

  • What to use it for: COMSOL is simulation software. It is used in engineering, manufacturing, and scientific research for modelling and simulating physics-based problems.
  • Free or paid: Chargeable
  • Where can I get it: Find out more on the Engineering department website

Cambridge Structural Database System

Graphpad Prism

  • What to use it for:  GraphPad Prism is a software program utilized in scientific research for statistical analysis and data visualization.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

IBM SPSS

  • What to use it for: Statistical software suite developed by IBM for data management, advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, and criminal investigation.
  • Free or chargeable: A discounted version is available for staff and students
  • Where can I buy it: Buy a licence from Academia

JASP

JMP

NI Labview

  • What to use it for: LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment engineers use to develop automated production, validation, and research test systems.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

NVIVO

  • What to use it for: NVivo is a computer software program that allows researchers to manage, analyze, and visualise qualitative data and documents systematically and individually.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Mathworks Matlab

  • What to use it for: MATLAB is a programming and numeric computing platform for engineering and scientific applications. You can use it for algorithm development, data analysis, visualisation, and numeric computation.
  • Free or paid: Free, the University has a campus-wide license
  • Where can I get it: Find out how to access on the Engineering website

Snapgene

  • What to use it for: SnapGene is a software program used for designing and documenting molecular biology experiments. Plan, visualise, and document DNA cloning and PCR.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

 

File management

7-Zip

  • What to use it for: Open-source file archiver for compressing and uncompressing files
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download from the 7 Zip website

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC

  • What to use it for: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is a free PDF viewer and a widely used software that allows you to open, view, print, comment, and annotate PDF documents
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

WinSCP

  • What to use it for: File manager, SSH File Transfer Protocol
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download WinSCP

 

Mapping and spatial data tools

ArcGIS

  • What to use it for: cloud-based mapping and analysis solution. Use it to create maps, analyse data, and share and collaborate.
  • Free or paid: Free, the University has a campus-wide license for ArcGIS Online (excluding StreetMap Premium North America).
  • Where can I get it: Go to https://unicamb.maps.arcgis.com/.  Select the 'University of Cambridge' and then sign in with your University IT account. Contact the Service Desk for instructions if you need to work offline.

QGIS

  • What to use it for: Geographic information system software
  • Free or paid: Free and chargeable versions
  • Where can I get it: Download from QGIS

 

Multimedia and graphics

Adobe Acrobat Pro

  • What to use it for: Create, edit, convert, protect, and manage PDF documents.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Adobe After Effects CC

  • What to use it fo: 2.5D animation software used for animation, visual effects, and motion picture compositing.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise All Apps

  • What to use it for: The Creative Cloud All Apps plan has over 20 creative apps, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, InDesign and Acrobat Pro. You also get templates, cloud storage and thousands of fonts from the Adobe Fonts library.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Adobe Illustrator CC

  • What to use it for: Vector graphics editor and design software. Create and edit graphics that are scalable without losing quality, such as logos, icons, illustrations, and web graphics
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Adobe InDesign CC

  • What to use it for: Desktop publishing and layout application for creating books, magazines, and brochures, as well as print and digital publications.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Adobe Lightroom for Teams

  • What to use it for: Organise, edit, and share photos.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Adobe Photoshop CC

  • What to use it for: Image and photo editing. Crop photos, adjust photo composition and correct lighting.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Adobe Premiere Pro CC

  • What to use it for: Professional video editing software
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Articulate 360

  • What to use it for: A software suite used for creating, managing, and delivering online learning experiences
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

GIMP

Gstreamer

Horos

Inkscape

 

Printing

PaperCut Print Deploy Client

 

Productivity

Citrix Workspace

  • What to use it for: Citrix Workspace is a service that provides secure access to your virtual apps, desktops, web and SaaS apps from a web browser or Citrix Workspace app.
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download from the Citrix website

Google Chrome

  • What to use it for: Web browser
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download Chrome

Google Workspace

  • What to use it for: Workspace is Google's collaborative online work environment. This includes Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Google Docs. University staff and students also have access to Google Workspace for Education Plus. 
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Find out more about Google Workspace

LibreOffice

  • What to use it for: LibreOffice is a free and open-source office suite used for creating and editing documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download from the LibreOffice website

Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Teams

MobaXterm

  • What to use it for: Remote desktop solution which provides businesses with networking tools
  • Free or paid: Mixture of free and chargeable
  • Where can I get it: Find out more on the Mobaxterm website

Mozilla Firefox

Slack

  • What to use it for: Slack is a workplace messaging tool through which you can send messages and files
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download from Slack

 

Programming and web development

Adobe Dreamweaver CC

  • What to use it for: Create, code and manage dynamic websites easily with a smart, simplified coding engine.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Notepad++

  • What to use it for: Open-source text and source code editor
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download from Notepad++

Oracle Java

  • What to use it for: Programming language and development platform
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download Oracle Java

PuTTY

PyCharm

  • What to use it for: PyCharm is an integrated development environment (IDE) specifically designed for Python programming.
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download from the Jet Brains website

Python

R

  • What to use it for: Programming language and environment for statistical computing and data visualization.
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download from the R Project website

Rstudio

Slik Subervsion

Visual Studio Code  

  • What to use it for: Visual Studio Code is a source-code editor that can be used with a variety of programming languages. 
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Download from the Visual Code website

XCode  

 

Writing and editing tools

Adobe FrameMaker for Teams

  • What to use it for:  Writing and editing large or complex technical documents. Publishing to PDF and HTML5.
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

Adobe InCopy CC

  • What to use it for: InCopy lets copywriters and editors style text, track changes and make simple layout modifications to a document while designers work on the same document simultaneously in Adobe InDesign CC.
  • Free or chargeable: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

BasicTeX

  • What to use it for: BasicTeX is a lightweight installation package for macOS that provides the core tools needed to write and compile TeX and LaTeX documents. 
  • Free or paid: Free
  • Where can I get it: Tex Users Group website

Grammarly

  • What to use it for: Grammarly is a writing assistant tool that can help improve the quality of written text. It helps with spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, and style. 
  • Free or paid: Available at a discounted cost for students
  • Where can I get it: Buy a licence from Academia

TeXShop

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