What LINDO Systems does

LINDO Systems, Inc. is a privately held Chicago-based software vendor founded in 1981 that develops mathematical optimization solvers used by enterprises, academic institutions, software developers, and consulting firms. Its product family is built on a shared core of industrial-grade algorithms covering linear, nonlinear (including global optimization for non-convex models), integer, and stochastic programming, with proprietary components such as a Global solver that guarantees global optimality, a Barrier/Interior Point solver, and Multistart capabilities. The portfolio is delivered through three core interfaces: What'sBest!, an Excel add-in for spreadsheet-based modeling; LINGO, a standalone set-based modeling environment; and LINDO API, an embeddable solver library available across Windows, Linux, MacOS, ARM, and Android with bindings for Python, Julia/JuMP, R, MATLAB, and ODBC data sources.

The company monetizes primarily through one-time perpetual software licenses (priced $195–$4,995 per single user, with volume discounts up to 30%) supplemented by tiered upgrade fees, optional solver add-ons (Barrier, Nonlinear, Global, Stochastic), negotiated site licenses for organizations with 20+ users, discounted educational licenses, and runtime licenses for ISVs embedding LINDO into third-party applications. Go-to-market is hybrid: a product-led model with free limited-capacity downloads, a sales-led model for enterprise and site licenses (1-800-441-2378), and channel partners/distributors for international markets. Customer base is reported as thousands of companies worldwide, with Solver Suite reportedly used at over half the Fortune 500; named customers historically include P&G, Bridgestone/Firestone, Efes, the U.S. government (CNA, START treaty analysis), the National Cancer Institute, and Bangkok Dusit Medical Services.

LINDO has operated continuously without external venture or private equity funding since 1981 with a lean 11–50 person organization. Recent strategic emphasis has been on expanding platform reach (ARM/Apple Silicon, Android), modern developer interfaces (Python, Julia, R, MATLAB, REST API, Docker), and integration with VS Code, including a LINGO Copilot AI-assisted code-completion extension. Educational channels — INFORMS student competition sponsorship, free research licenses, and large user-contributed models libraries — form a sustained pipeline for both academic adoption and long-term enterprise customer cultivation.

Name

LINDO Systems

Legal name

LINDO Systems, Inc.

Website

https://lindo.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

LINDO Systems is a privately held Chicago-based software firm (founded 1981) that builds mathematical optimization solvers (linear, nonlinear, integer, stochastic, global) delivered via its LINGO modeling environment, What'sBest! Excel add-in, and LINDO API library, serving enterprises, academic institutions, and developers globally through perpetual licenses and an international distributor network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mathematical Optimization Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Other Computer Related Services (541519)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

iBPMS (Intelligent BPM Suites) & Process Automation Suites (HDAEAHAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) & BI (HDAEAMAG), LLMOps & Generative AI Platforms (Prompt/Agent Orchestration, RAG) (HDAEANAD)

Keywords

• Mathematical optimization software
• Linear programming solvers
• Nonlinear programming tools
• Excel optimization add-in
• Operations research software

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Software Licenses (Perpetual): LINDO generates primary revenue through perpetual software licenses for LINGO, What'sBest!, and LINDO API products. Customers purchase once and own the license, with optional maintenance/support contracts.
2. Capacity Upgrades: Customers can upgrade to larger capacity versions of the same product, paying the price difference within 60 days or difference plus $25 after 60 days.
3. Software Options/Add-ons: Additional solver options (Barrier, Nonlinear, Global, Stochastic) can be added to base versions for expanded model-solving capabilities.
4. Site Licensing: Commercial and educational site licenses negotiated on a case-by-case basis, typically for organizations with more than 20 users.
5. Runtime Licenses: Discounted runtime licenses for users of turnkey optimization applications created by third-party developers using LINDO products.
6. Educational Licenses: Discounted educational licenses for students and educational institutions, restricted to educational instruction and research. Six-month renewable research licenses available at no charge.
7. Software Updates: Update fees apply when new releases are issued: 20% of standard license price for previous release, increasing by 10% for each additional release gap.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

LINDO Systems develops and sells mathematical optimization software, providing a family of solvers for linear, nonlinear, integer, stochastic, and global programming problems. Customers access these solvers through three product interfaces: What'sBest! (Excel add-in), LINGO (modeling environment with a set-based modeling language), and LINDO API (embeddable solver library for developers), plus a bundled Solver Suite entry-level package. The software is used for production planning, transportation, finance, portfolio allocation, capital budgeting, blending, scheduling, inventory, and resource allocation decisions.

Product overview

LINDO Systems offers a portfolio of mathematical optimization software centered on three core products: What'sBest! (Excel add-in), LINGO (standalone modeling environment), and LINDO API (embeddable solver library). All three share the same underlying solvers for linear, nonlinear, integer, stochastic, and global optimization. What'sBest! targets Excel users who want to build optimization models directly in spreadsheets. LINGO provides a comprehensive modeling language with set-based capabilities for large-scale models. LINDO API gives developers programmatic access to embed optimization into custom applications. The Solver Suite bundles all three products at entry-level capacity. The company also offers VS Code extensions including a LINGO Language extension and LINGO Copilot AI assistant.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• LINGO: Comprehensive optimization modeling software for linear, nonlinear, and integer programming with set-based modeling language
• What'sBest!
• LINDO API
• Solver Suite

Products and services

• What'sBest! 20 Excel add-in that lets users build linear, nonlinear, and integer optimization models directly within spreadsheet cells using standard Excel equations in a free-form layout. Targets analysts who prefer to model optimization in Excel.
• LINGO 22 Comprehensive optimization modeling software with a set-based modeling language supporting summations and subscripted variables, providing a full-featured environment for building and editing large-scale optimization problems plus built-in fast solvers. Targets modelers building LP/NLP/IP and stochastic programs.
• LINDO API 16 Powerful library of optimization solvers and mathematical programming tools for creating custom optimization applications, allowing developers to embed LINDO solvers into user-written applications with support for Python, R, Julia/JuMP, and MATLAB bindings and connections to external solvers including COPT, CLP, HIGHS, and IPOpt.
• Solver Suite Bundle including introductory versions of LINDO, LINGO, LINDO API, and What'sBest! in a single package for learning and applying mathematical optimization. Marketed as used at over half the Fortune 500.

Quantifiable outcome

• PDSS system using LINDO achieved up to 15% savings over previous manual purchasing methods
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

AI capability4 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• OpalyticsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 June 2017LINDO partnered with Opalytics to deploy analytics applications, combining LINDO's optimization solvers with Opalytics' cloud-based analytics platform.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• FICO Xpress Optimization: FICO's commercial optimization suite including Xpress Solver, Xpress Mosel modeling language, and Xpress Insight. Direct competitor to the full LINDO product family (solver, modeling language, visualization).
• Frontline Solvers: Vendor of the Excel-based "Solver" add-in used by millions for spreadsheet optimization. Closest direct competitor to LINDO's What'sBest! product in the Excel-based linear/nonlinear modeling space.
• MOSEK: Commercial solver specializing in large-scale conic and linear optimization with strong performance in second-order cone programming. Overlaps with LINDO API particularly for industrial-scale nonlinear and conic problems.
• GAMS (GAMS Development): Developer of the GAMS modeling system and associated optimization solvers. Comparable to LINGO for high-level algebraic modeling of large-scale LP, MIP, and NLP problems across academia and industry.
• Gurobi Optimization: Leading commercial optimization solver vendor offering state-of-the-art MIP, LP, and NLP solvers with multi-language APIs (Python, C++, .NET, Java, MATLAB). Closest direct competitor to LINDO API with generally superior performance benchmarks.
• AMPL Optimization: AMPL provides a modeling language and solver-agnostic platform for mathematical optimization, competing with LINDO's LINGO product on algebraic modeling. Long-standing player in the academic and enterprise OR market.
• IBM CPLEX: IBM's enterprise optimization solver (formerly ILOG CPLEX) supporting LP, MIP, QP, and CP. Competes head-to-head with LINDO API in large-scale enterprise optimization deployments, often bundled with broader IBM data and AI platforms.

Emerging players

• Cardinal Operations (COPT): Developer of the COPT solver, which LINDO API explicitly supports as an external solver backend. Direct competitor in high-performance MIP and LP solving with rapidly improving benchmark rankings.
• Hexaly (formerly LocalSolver): Hybrid mathematical optimization solver combining exact and heuristic methods for combinatorial and nonlinear problems. Emerging competitor targeting large-scale industrial optimization workloads similar to LINDO API.
• Google OR-Tools: Google's open-source optimization suite covering VRP, CP-SAT, LP, and graph algorithms. Free alternative that competes with LINDO API at the developer layer, especially among cost-sensitive Python users.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/playlist?list=PL1-q71aVvtoSft-YlewFMLnceLyb3r_Mc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about LINDO Systems