 The software is made available as free software under the terms of the GNU General Public License.The name “Gwyddion” is that of a prominent god of Welsh Mythology, see "Gwydion"

It is created for the analysis of height fields and other 2D (image) data.While it is primarily intended for data originating from scanning probe microscopy techniques (like AFM, MFM, STM, SNOM/NSOM), it may also be used for the analysis of profilometry data, for instance.