Helix

Scientific data analysis, simplified.

Organize, analyze and visualize scientific data, from raw numbers to publication-ready graphs. Helix is a free, open-source and private alternative to GraphPad Prism for macOS.

Three engines do the work: a fast data grid built for Helix, R, the reference for statistics (through webR, R compiled to WebAssembly), and Plotly for the graphs. Everything runs on your Mac.

Download

Get the latest version from the Releases page:

• Helix_…_aarch64.dmg for Macs with Apple Silicon (M1 and later)
• Helix_…_x64.dmg for Macs with an Intel processor

Requires macOS 13.3 (Ventura) or later. Open the DMG and drag Helix into the Applications folder. Helix is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens like any other app.

When a new version is out, Helix tells you (Helix › Check for Updates…): download it and replace the old one.

What Helix does

Each table holds its own analyses and graphs. Change a value, and every result and figure that uses it updates at once.

Tables

Five table types, each offering the analyses and graphs that fit it:

• Column: groups side by side (control, doses, treatments)
• XY: a response against a dose, a time or a concentration
• Grouped: groups across rows (time points, genes), with replicates
• Multiple Variables: one row per subject, one column per variable
• Contingency: counts of outcomes

And a spreadsheet that feels like one:

• Copy and paste with Excel or Numbers, fill down, find, resize columns, keep the titles visible as you scroll
• Name each row (a mouse, a patient, a gene): the names follow into results and graphs
• Exclude a value from the analyses without deleting it

Analyses

• Guided: an assistant asks which data sets to analyze, whether they are paired and whether they follow a normal distribution (or checks it for you with Shapiro-Wilk), then runs the right test
• Every number comes from R, the reference for statistics
• Two groups: unpaired, Welch, paired and ratio t tests, Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon
• More groups: one-way and repeated-measures ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, Friedman, with multiple comparisons (Tukey, Bonferroni, Dunn)
• Grouped data: two-way ANOVA (ordinary, repeated measures, Scheirer-Ray-Hare) and multiple t tests with Holm or FDR correction
• Curves: 4PL dose-response (EC50, Hill slope), one-site binding, lines and polynomials
• Clear results: the exact test that ran, whether it is significant, every statistic, multiple comparisons and descriptive statistics, ready to copy
• Analyses follow the data: rename a column and they follow it, edit a value and they run again

Graphs

• Ready for a paper by default
• Statistics on the graph: significance stars or P values from your analyses, regression lines with their confidence band and equation, fitted dose-response curves with their EC50
• Colors that work: 15 palettes from the scientific literature (Okabe-Ito, Paul Tol, Viridis, Batlow…), colorblind-friendly ones first, each reversible; or make your own, kept on your Mac
• Style every series: color, point shape, dashed lines, fill patterns; and the whole graph: fill opacity, outlines, error bars (thickness, caps, color, direction)
• Style single points: click or drag over them to change their color, shape or size, or show their name; on a volcano plot, find genes by name
• Match: give a graph the look of another one, choosing what it takes
• Lay it out: move the legend and notes, resize by dragging an axis or typing a size, set each axis's range and step, white or transparent background
• Export as PNG or JPG at 150, 300 or 600 DPI, at their true printed size, or as SVG; or copy and paste into Keynote, PowerPoint or Word

Projects

• A native Mac app: real menus and shortcuts, light and dark mode, your accent color, resizable sidebar and inspector
• Undo and redo everything, across the whole project
• Several projects at once, each in its own window; the ones still open when you quit come back at the next launch
• Open projects: a Helix file (.hlx) is plain JSON, described in FILE-FORMAT.md, so your data are never locked in

Try it: Help › Sample Project opens a made-up preclinical study, from mice to patients, with every kind of table and most analyses and graphs (also here).

Privacy

Helix works entirely on your Mac: your data never leave it, and there is no telemetry in the app. Its only connection is a daily check on GitHub for a newer version.

Building from source

You need Node.js 24 or later, Rust, and the Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install).

npm ci            # install
npm run dev       # run Helix with live reload
npm test          # check every analysis and graph against their reference results
npm run build     # build the two DMGs

Building the two DMGs needs both Mac targets for Rust, once: rustup target add aarch64-apple-darwin x86_64-apple-darwin.

License

Helix is free software: you can redistribute it and modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later. It comes with no warranty.

© 2026 mickaphd · helix-desktop.com

Helix is free and always will be. If it saves you time, you can buy me a coffee ☕

Acknowledgments

Helix stands on the shoulders of R and webR, which bring R to the app, Plotly.js for the graphs, Phosphor Icons for its icons, and Tauri and React for the app itself. See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md for all of them and their licenses.

GraphPad Prism is a trademark of GraphPad Software, LLC. Helix is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by GraphPad Software.