Machinations vs Insight Maker
Machinations makes the economy or system you are designing visible: resources, rules and feedback in one diagram that economists, designers and collaborators can inspect, Play and question together.
Machinations and Insight Maker at a glance
Insight Maker and Machinations both let people build and run models in the browser. Insight Maker is a web-based tool for system dynamics and agent-based models; Machinations draws resource systems as diagrams of nodes and rules for teams to Play and discuss. They overlap on stocks and flows and differ in vocabulary and focus.
Side by side
| Decision factor | Machinations | Insight Maker |
|---|---|---|
| Modeling workflow | Visual resource-flow diagrams where nodes and connections make system structure and relationships explorable. | Web-based modeling of stocks, flows, variables and links, with agent-based modeling available alongside system dynamics. |
| A strong fit when | You want a team to understand how resources, incentives and feedback shape an economy or complex system, using a visual model they can build, Play and discuss together. | You want to build and share a system dynamics or agent-based model in the browser, for study or teaching. |
| Explore model behavior | Step, Interactive Play and Forecasts let teams inspect a diagram and compare repeated Plays. | Run a model in the browser and read its results as charts and tables. |
| Visual language | Nodes and two connection types, resource connections and state connections, are the core vocabulary. Resources flow through them, and feedback loops emerge from how they connect. | Stocks, flows, variables and links drawn on a canvas, plus agents and states for agent-based models. |
| AI and integrations | An AI agent can build a diagram from a plain-language prompt or from uploaded files, including an Insight Maker XMILE export. Claude, ChatGPT and other AI tools can build, edit and Play diagrams through the Machinations MCP connector, and Google Sheets import/export depends on the plan. | Models can be shared publicly and exchanged in the XMILE format; confirm the current import and export options with Insight Maker. |
| Pricing and licensing | See current Machinations plans on the pricing page; plan terms and Credit allowances can change. | Insight Maker is offered online with account-based access; confirm its current plans and terms with Insight Maker. |
Based on each vendor’s public information. Capabilities vary by edition and version, so confirm current details with the vendor.
Who should choose which
Where Machinations may fit
Consider Machinations when the model is about how resources are produced, converted, stored and spent under rules, and a cross-functional team needs to Play it and compare outcomes. An Insight Maker model exported as XMILE can be uploaded for the AI to read and turn into a starting diagram. Monte Carlo Forecasts, which Play a model many times to show the range of possible outcomes, run on Machinations’ cloud servers.
Where Insight Maker may fit
Consider Insight Maker when you want to build a system dynamics model of stocks, flows and variables, or an agent-based model, in the browser, and to share it with others through a link.
How to decide
Check which vocabulary fits your question: equations over stocks, flows and variables, or resources moving through nodes under rules. Check who will open the model and what they need to do with it. Moving a model across, even with the AI reading the export, is a rebuild in the new tool’s language, so check the result against the original. Validate parameters and boundaries against the real system whichever tool you use.
How this comparison was made
This compares published product descriptions as they stood on the review date. It is not an independent performance benchmark, and capabilities vary by edition, configuration and version.
- Insight Maker: the vendor’s public product information (“Insight Maker website and help pages”).
- Machinations: What is Machinations? and Play modes.
Reviewed 26 October 2026.
Try Machinations on your own system
Model the resources and rules you care about, Play the diagram and explore what could happen next.
- ISO 27001 certified
- SSO & SAML
- GDPR compliant
- Trustpilot verified
- Red Herring Top 100
- Dealroom Rising Star