Kx supports the use of our technology by researchers and instructors at universities and academic institutions by providing free access to kdb+/q on demand as well as a free IDE tool, Kx Developer, and an open-source machine learning toolkit for kdb+.

Kdb+/q is used by researchers in disciplines ranging from financial engineering, to biogenetics to astronomy. Kdb+ is also taught at a number of universities around the world.

Kdb+ plays well with others

Free, open-source, interfaces to common programming languages including Python, Matlab, R, Kafka and Julia, make it easy for researchers to perform statistical analytics on vast amounts of complex Big Data using kdb+ as an historical database platform.

For Python users, PyQ brings the Python programming language to the kdb+ database. It allows developers to integrate Python and q code seamlessly in one application. Another free tool for Python users is embedPy, which allows the kdb+ interpreter to manipulate Python objects and call Python functions.

Getting started with kdb+

Our 64-bit on demand version of kdb+ is free for non-commercial use, and is identical to the full enterprise version of kdb+. We also offer a free 32-bit version of kdb+ for non-commercial or academic use that students can install on their own computers. This version is a good way to get started with the language. Both versions are available on Linux, MacOS and Windows. Tips on how to install kdb+ are available here.

Tutorials, research papers and essential technical information is available here. We recommend you start with our two-hour series of getting started videos on the Kx Youtube channel. Please also join the kdb+ Personal Developers Google Group to contact other members of the kdb+ community.

Join our community

Kx runs Meetups in over 130 locations around the world. Check to see if there is a Meetup near you here.

If you are affiliated with an academic or research institution and would like to discuss ways to use kdb+ in your research, or for teaching, please contact us at academic@kx.com