# PlotStudio AI | Agentic Analytics for Academic Research

> An agentic analytics platform built for research. Specialised AI agents plan, code, execute, and interpret analyses on the researcher's own machine — producing defensible, reproducible results suitable for papers, theses, grants, and peer review.

PlotStudio AI is built for work that has to survive peer review. Rather than returning a chart and a paragraph, it writes real R and Python for every step, shows the researcher the code, gates execution behind a statistical plan they approve in advance, and exports a reproducibility package a supervisor or reviewer can trace line by line. Analysis runs locally, so data never leaves the researcher's device — the only workable approach for IRB-governed, NHS, or GDPR special-category data.

## What Makes It Research-Grade

### Local Execution

- All analysis runs on the researcher's own machine; data is never uploaded
- Makes the tool viable for patient records, clinical trial data, and other special-category data that cannot lawfully be sent to a cloud service
- API calls are made directly from the user's environment
- Optional private deployment (Azure / bring-your-own-environment) for institutional data sovereignty

### Human-in-the-Loop Plan Approval

- Every analysis is gated behind a plan the researcher reviews before any code runs
- The plan states methods, assumptions, statistical thresholds, and what counts as success
- An approved, frozen plan functions as a pre-registration and an audit trail
- Review depth is configurable: Off, Plan, Detailed, or Research Protocol

### Skills — Encoded Field Methodology

- A researcher or lab encodes how their field does analysis once: required steps, thresholds, forbidden shortcuts, reporting conventions, references
- The engine then plans, codes, and interprets every subsequent analysis that way
- The domain expert writes the skill; the engine runs it — no generic defaults
- Skills are shareable, so methodology spreads across a lab or department

### R and Python

- Runs R natively alongside Python — clinical, epidemiology, and biostatistics work is R-native, and Python-only tools are disqualified in those fields
- Supports the methods academic work actually requires: survival analysis, Cox proportional hazards, mixed-effects models, regression, ANOVA, multiple-comparison correction
- Domain intelligence across 12 specialisations, including IV/2SLS, GARCH, and Cox PH

### Transparent, Auditable Analysis

- Agents generate and execute real code, with visible chain-of-thought reasoning
- Self-correcting execution with plots, tables, and datasets produced live
- The researcher can read, defend, and hand over every step — nothing is a black box

### Data Profiling

- Immediate data-quality assessment: Clean, Usable, or Needs Cleaning
- Automated cleaning plans the researcher approves before they run
- Handles the messy reality of research data, including REDCap and clinical-system exports

### Analysis Pages

- Permanent, structured analysis documents that accumulate across many questions
- Integrated code, reasoning, and results in one reproducible record
- Fully exportable and citable

### Export and Reproducibility

- One-click PDF reports with formatted visualisations and LaTeX
- Export as a reproducible Jupyter Notebook
- Reproducibility packages a supervisor, reviewer, or collaborator can re-run

## Who It Is For

- PhD students, postdocs, research fellows, and principal investigators
- Clinical, medical, and health researchers working with patient or special-category data
- Epidemiologists, biostatisticians, and public-health researchers
- Researchers in psychology, economics, bioinformatics, engineering, and the social sciences
- Labs standardising analysis methodology across a group

## Key Pages

- [PlotStudio AI](https://www.plotstudio.ai): Product overview
- [Download](https://www.plotstudio.ai/download): Free credits, no credit card required
- [Pricing](https://www.plotstudio.ai/pricing): BYOK and managed-credit tiers
- [Research Partners](https://www.plotstudio.ai/research-partners): Co-author a field-specific Skill and case study
- [Enterprise](https://www.plotstudio.ai/enterprise): Private deployment and institutional data sovereignty
- [Guides](https://www.plotstudio.ai/guides): How-to documentation
- [Resources](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles): Article library
- [Blog](https://www.plotstudio.ai/blog): Original writing from the team

## Background Reading

- [What Is Agentic Analytics?](https://www.plotstudio.ai/what-is-agentic-analytics): The category PlotStudio AI defines
- [Can You Trust AI Data Analysis?](https://www.plotstudio.ai/can-you-trust-ai-data-analysis): On verification and rigor
- [Why AI Agents Fail at Data Analysis](https://www.plotstudio.ai/why-ai-agents-fail-at-data-analysis): Common failure modes
- [The Emotional Trust Gap in AI Analytics](https://www.plotstudio.ai/blog/the-emotional-trust-gap-in-ai-analytics): Why researchers distrust AI tools
- [What We Learned Building AI Agent Data Analytics](https://www.plotstudio.ai/blog/what-we-learned-building-ai-agent-data-analytics): Engineering notes

## Comparisons

- [PlotStudio AI vs Julius AI](https://www.plotstudio.ai/blog/julius-ai-vs-plotstudio-ai): Head-to-head on the same data
- [ChatGPT vs PlotStudio, Same Question Same Data](https://www.plotstudio.ai/blog/chatgpt-vs-plotstudio-same-question-same-data): Side-by-side comparison
- [Julius AI Alternatives](https://www.plotstudio.ai/julius-ai-alternatives): Category overview
- [ChatGPT Code Interpreter Alternative](https://www.plotstudio.ai/chatgpt-code-interpreter-alternative): For data that cannot be uploaded
- [AI Data Analyst](https://www.plotstudio.ai/ai-data-analyst): Category overview

## Demonstrations

- [The Effortless Academic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VKYuU6nsBo)
- [Analyzing 4,240 Patient Records with PlotStudio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps0ZMSOy2-s)
- [I Tried Agentic Analytics with PlotStudio AI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl-FmhsB48s)
- [How to Use AI to Build a Data Analyst Portfolio Project (2026)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc6hntGNyeY)
- [Public datasets and downloadable notebooks](https://github.com/ar5labs/plotstudio-ai-demo): Six real analyses with reproducible notebooks

## Recent Articles

- [Correlation Analysis Software: How to Choose in 2026](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/correlation-analysis-software): Compare correlation analysis software by statistics, profiling, reproducibility, privacy and outputs, with a quick-pick table for researchers.
- [Survival Analysis Sample Size Calculator: A 4-Step Method](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/survival-analysis-sample-size-calculator): Learn the survival analysis sample size calculator method: pick a hazard ratio, compute events with Schoenfeld, convert to subjects, and check it in R.
- [Searchable Analysis Reports: What They Are and How to Build Them](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/searchable-analysis-reports): What a searchable, reproducible analysis report contains, how to check AI-assisted results, and how PlotStudio AI keeps code, statistics and charts searchable.
- [10 Best ANOVA Test Software Tools for Researchers in 2026](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/anova-test-software): Compare the best ANOVA test software for 2026, from GraphPad Prism and SPSS to JASP, jamovi, R, and PlotStudio AI. See features, costs, and how to choose.
- [How to Make a Kaplan-Meier Curve in Excel, Step by Step](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/how-to-make-a-kaplan-meier-curve-in-excel): Learn how to make a Kaplan Meier curve in Excel: build the life table with formulas, convert it to step data, and plot the survival curve.
- [Data Analysis Provenance: What to Record and How](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/data-analysis-provenance): Data analysis provenance explained for researchers: what to record, how it differs from lineage, and how to make every result traceable to its code and data.
- [Cross Platform Analytics: How Researchers Join Data Safely](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/cross-platform-analytics): Learn what cross platform analytics is, the five problems that break joins, architecture choices, and how to verify results before you report them.
- [7 Best AI Agents for Data Analysis in 2026, by Use Case](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/ai-agent-for-data-analysis): Compare 7 tools that work as an AI agent for data analysis, from PlotStudio AI to Power BI Copilot, with pricing, limits, and a build-or-buy guide.
- [Data Analysis Audit Trail: What to Record and How](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/data-analysis-audit-trail): What a data analysis audit trail must contain, how reviewers and supervisors test it, and a minimum viable version you can build before your thesis deadline.
- [Econometrics Software: How Researchers Should Choose](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/econometrics-software): Learn how econometrics software handles IV, fixed effects, GARCH, and survival models, and how to choose tools for privacy and reproducibility.
- [5 Best SPSS Alternatives You Can Try for Free on Mac or PC](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/spss-alternatives): Compare 5 SPSS alternatives, from jamovi, JASP, R and PSPP to AI analysis, with prices, Mac support and who each tool suits.
- [Domain-Specific Statistics: Why Your Field's Methods Matter](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/domain-specific-statistics): What domain-specific statistics means, where generic defaults fail (clinical trials, omics, psychology), and how to make field methods repeatable and reviewable.
- [Survival Analysis Software Compared for Researchers](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/survival-analysis-software): Compare survival analysis software by methods, validation, reproducibility, privacy, usability, licensing, and research fit.
- [SAS Survival Analysis: Kaplan-Meier and Cox in 6 Steps](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/sas-survival-analysis): SAS survival analysis in six steps: prep data, run PROC LIFETEST for Kaplan-Meier curves, fit Cox models in PROC PHREG, and read every output table.
- [Private AI on Azure: A Researcher's Setup Guide](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/private-ai-on-azure): How to run private AI on Azure for sensitive research data: private endpoints, DNS, Entra ID, abuse monitoring, GDPR duties, and when local analysis is the better fit.
- [Research Report Generator: What It Is and How to Choose One](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/research-report-generator): A research report generator turns data into auditable analyses. Learn how agentic analytics differs from chatbots, key features to evaluate, and tips
- [Best AI for Research: 6 Tools Matched to Each Task](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/best-ai-for-research): Compare the best AI for research: six tools for finding papers, reviewing literature, and analyzing your own data, with free options and a budget stack.
- [Research Data Partnerships: Setting Them Up and Analyzing the Data](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/research-data-partnerships): How to build a research data partnership: agreements, legal basis, approvals, FAIR provenance, and how to analyze shared sensitive data without losing control.
- [10 Python Reporting Tools for Research Workflows](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/python-reporting-tools): Compare 10 Python reporting tools for dashboards, reproducible reports, automation, collaboration, and enterprise publishing, with practical guidance.
- [How to Do Survival Analysis with R: Kaplan-Meier and Cox](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/survival-analysis-with-r): Learn survival analysis with R step by step: prepare data, build Surv() objects, plot Kaplan-Meier curves, run log-rank tests, and fit Cox models.
- [Export Data to Jupyter: Datasets, Notebooks and Reviewers](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/export-data-to-jupyter): Export data to Jupyter the right way: write a clean CSV, convert or execute the notebook, and hand reviewers a package that reruns. Includes sensitive-data cautions.
- [ChatGPT for Data Analysis: What It Does Well](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/chatgpt-for-data-analysis): Discover how ChatGPT for data analysis speeds up tasks like cleaning, summarizing, and visualizing data—plus where it still struggles.
- [5 Best Data Analysis AI Tools, Free and Paid, Compared](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/data-analysis-ai): Compare the 5 best data analysis AI tools, free and paid, with a step-by-step guide to analyzing your own spreadsheet or CSV file.
- [Azure VNet Analytics: Tools, Flow Logs and Research Use](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/azure-vnet-analytics): Azure VNet analytics explained for researchers: flow logs, Traffic Analytics, Network Insights, costs, the 2027 NSG retirement and reproducible analysis.
- [10 Research Data Analysis Tools for Researchers](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/research-data-analysis-tools): Compare 10 research data analysis tools for statistical depth, reproducibility, privacy, ease of use, pricing, and ideal research workflows.
- [7 Best AI Tools for Research: Find, Read, Verify, Analyze](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/ai-tools-for-research): Compare 7 AI tools for research, from Elicit and Consensus to NotebookLM and PlotStudio AI. See what each does, who it suits, and what it costs.
- [Survival Analysis: What It Is, Models, and How to Apply It](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/survival-analysis): Learn what survival analysis is, how censoring works, and when to use Kaplan-Meier, log-rank, and Cox models, with a worked example you can follow.
- [Research Tools for Data Collection: 10 Practical Picks](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/research-tools-for-data-collection): Explore 10 research tools for data collection, with practical guidance on surveys, mobile fieldwork, offline capture, privacy, and analysis workflows.
- [Clinical Trial Data Analysis: A Practical Primer](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/clinical-trial-data-analysis): A practical primer on clinical trial data analysis covering estimands, survival and mixed models, missing data, multiplicity, and reproducible workflows.
- [Secure Finance Analytics: 5 Controls for Reproducible Agentic Research](https://www.plotstudio.ai/articles/secure-analytics-for-finance): See how finance researchers can pair agentic analytics with local execution, reproducible code, and governance aligned with NIST, BIS, FSB, DORA, and the...