Gekko Timeseries and Modeling Software | Timeseries handling, and solving of large-scale economic models

Gekko Timeseries and Modeling Software is a free timeseries-oriented software package for timeseries data management, and for solving and analyzing large-scale timeseries-based models (e.g. economic models). It is recommended to use the Gekko 3.1.x version, cf. this overview page.

Gekko is timeseries-oriented, using time periods, frequencies, leads/lags, etc. to ease timeseries manipulations. Ideal for handling, analyzing and tracing timeseries data, and for data management programs that collect and prepare large amounts of timeseries data (including multidimensional data) from different sources (more).

Gekko has powerful modeling capabilities, and solves large dynamic models with lags/leads. Effects in a given model (including GAMS models) can be easily traced or decomposed. Ideal for economic models, but solves any system of simultaneous equations (more).

The Gekko command language is well-suited for timeseries operations, and programming in Gekko allows complex manipulations to be stated in a natural and compact way. Scalars, lists, maps, matrices, array-series, loops, conditionals, user defined functions, etc. are provided, too (more).

Some features



Stable

Gekko has been used for critical real-world applications since 2008.



Fast

Gekko performs well on large data management systems, or large-scale model solving.



Productive

Gekko is easy to use, and the command language is expressive and intuitive.



Talkative

Gekko interfaces to Excel, Python, R, GAMS, and file formats like .csv, .prn, .tsd, etc. Excel add-in available.



Organization

The development of Gekko is anchored by a steering commitee, guiding the software development.



Open

Gekko is open-source, using a modern and extensible platform (.NET). Gekko databanks are open-format.



Free

The use of Gekko is completely free of charge now and in the future.

Why Gekko?

Instead of Gekko, why not use for instance Python, or R, or GAMS, or MATLAB, or SAS, or Excel, or … ?

Software packages are typically aimed at some purpose, and this is reflected in, among other things, the underlying data structures and the syntax of the command language.

Since Gekko is timeseries-oriented, the syntax for handling and analyzing timeseries and timeseries-based models is concise and natural. Gekko does not try to do everything, but tries to focus on its strong points, while simultaneously providing good interfaces to other software packages.

Productive because domain-specific

Besides Gekko being free of charge, one compelling reason for using Gekko is productivity and ease of use. Gekko commands can be thought of as a domain-specific language (DSL) regarding timeseries data management and timeseries-based modeling. Gekko’s datastructures reflect this, and the timeseries domain focus makes Gekko commands well-suited for this purpose.

Compact and simple syntax

Other software packages can handle timeseries and timeseries-based models as well, but if the software is not natively timeseries-oriented, the data structures and language syntax often get complicated and unnatural to use for this purpose. Even simple things like printing/plotting percentage growth rates, or differences between two simulated model scenarios may be difficult or time-consuming.

Interfaces instead of multi-tool

Gekko does not try to be a multi-tool. For instance, it is not the plan to offer advanced statistics/econometrics in Gekko. Instead, Gekko focuses on what it does best, namely timeseries data management and timeseries modeling, while at the same time providing easy interfaces to other software packages (for instance Python or R for statistics/econometrics).