The pre-compiled versions for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux come with an installer and several packages, including VTK, matplotlib, and ImageMagick.

Similar to workflow systems, it allows the combination of loosely coupled resources, specialized libraries, and grid and Web services.

Similar to some visualization systems, it provides a mechanism for parameter exploration and comparison of different results.

But unlike these other systems, VisTrails was designed to manage exploratory processes in which computational tasks evolve over time as a user iteratively formulates and tests hypotheses.

A key distinguishing feature of VisTrails is its comprehensive provenance infrastructure that maintains detailed history information about the steps followed in the course of an exploratory task.