[ras_west]

Some things that Wolfram Language does that maxima doesn't: machine learning, image processing, audio processing, time series analysis, user interface construction, build-in data, geo computation, natural language processing....

Maxima is just a computer algebra system- one small part of what Wolfram does.

[gmueckl]

Are Maxima's CAS algorithms comparable to Mathematica's? I have tried to used Sage and other systems in the past, but Mathematica has always been better at finding solutions for what I tried to do. But I have never used Maxima for real.

[reikonomusha]

Maxima is a serious CAS and can do serious work, but it’s a few decades behind the latest R&D. It can do algebra and calculus usefully.