MODELTEST: A tool to select the best-fit model of nucleotide substitution

© 1998-2008 David Posada

Current version is 3.7.

ModelTest has been superceded by jModelTest (available at this web site). You are encouraged to use the latter!!

MODELTEST is program for the selection the model of nucleotide substitution that best fits the data. The program chooses among 56 models, and implements three different model selection frameworks: hierarchical likelihood ratio tests (hLRTs), Akaike information criterion (AIC), and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). The program also implements the assesment of model uncertainty and tools for model averaging and calculation of parameter importance, using the AIC or the BIC. To use ModelTest you will need PAUP*.

Operative systems
Executables are provided for macintosh and windows. Source code and a makefile are provided for compilation in any OS with a C compiler.

Links
These are some useful links related to Modeltest:

MTgui: a windows and linux interface for modeltest. By Paulo Nuin.
MrModeltest : a version of Modeltest modified for its use with MrBayes. By Johan Nylander.
Instructions for running Modeltest on Windows. By Bevan Weir
FindModel : web server to choose among 28 nucleotide models with the AIC at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Citation
Posada D and Crandall KA 1998. Modeltest: testing the model of DNA substitution. Bioinformatics 14 (9): 817-818.

See also: Posada D and Buckley TR. 2004. Model selection and model averaging in phylogenetics: advantages of the AIC and Bayesian approaches over likelihood ratio tests. Systematic Biology 53: 793-808

Modeltest registration form

Before download this program, I ask users to register. This allows me to inform about bugs and updates in a more efficient way. Indeed, users will be able to unregister at any time, and email addresses will not be used for any purpose other than to inform about this program.

Disclaimer: These programs are free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. These programs are distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Correspondence about this program should be addressed to David Posada at

This document last modified Wednesday December 30, 2009

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