About SEM Software
There are several main points to be made about the software programs that can be used for performing SEM.
(1) There are quite a few software programs currently available for performing structural equation modeling. The first of the widely used programs of this sort was LISREL, which as of this writing is in its eighth generation. A number of other programs are also available including EQS, Amos, CALIS (a module of SAS), SEPATH (a module of Statistica), and Mplus. There is also a module in R, which is available for free.
(2) New users of SEM inevitably wish to know which of these programs is best. One point in this regard is that most of these programs are updated fairly frequently, making any description I might give of the limitations of a program potentially out of date. Another point to make is that different individuals prefer different features. Some want the software that will allow them to get started most quickly, others want the software with the most capabilities, still others want the software that is freely available to them.
(3) My thoughts about software is that the different packages serve different users. Currently, in this website I try to provide information for multiple types of users and, therefore, provide examples in several different languages. Here I give a brief description of some different languages and their characteristics.
(6) Amos. Amos is a popular package with those getting started with SEM. I often recommend folks start learning SEM using the free student version of Amos simply because it is such a good teaching tool. It has the most useful manual for beginning users of SEM as well. What it lacks at present: (1) limited capacity to work with categorical response variables (e.g. logistic or probit forms) and (2) a limited capacity for multi-level modeling. Amos does have a Bayesian component now, which is helpful. That said, at the moment, it is a pretty limited Bayesian implementation and leaves the more advanced options out.
(7) Mplus. Mplus is a command-based package that is typically used by more advanced users. It has quite a few more features, but takes quite a bit more time to learn how to use. Importantly, it is not easy to learn SEM on your own through Mplus. The manual requires that you already know a lot about statistics and SEM principles.
(8) winBUGS. winBUGS is a free software package for Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation using Bayes theorem. More can be found about this advanced application method under the Bayesian tab.