App comparison

Add up to 4 apps below to see how they compare. You can also use the "Compare" buttons while browsing.

Software categories Blog & research About us

GetApp offers objective, independent research and verified user reviews. We may earn a referral fee when you visit a vendor through our links.

Our commitment

Independent research methodology

Our researchers use a mix of verified reviews, independent research, and objective methodologies to bring you selection and ranking information you can trust. While we may earn a referral fee when you visit a provider through our links or speak to an advisor, this has no influence on our research or methodology.

Learn more

How GetApp verifies reviews

GetApp carefully verified over 2.5 million+ reviews to bring you authentic software experiences from real users. Our human moderators verify that reviewers are real people and that reviews are authentic. They use leading tech to analyze text quality and to detect plagiarism and generative AI.

Learn more

How GetApp ensures transparency

GetApp lists all providers across its website—not just those that pay us—so that users can make informed purchase decisions. GetApp is free for users. Software providers pay us for sponsored profiles to receive web traffic and sales opportunities. Sponsored profiles include a link-out icon that takes users to the provider’s website.

Learn more

MATLAB

Programming and numeric computing platform

Last updated: April 2025

Table of Contents

MATLAB - 2025 Pricing, Features, Reviews & Alternatives

All user reviews are verified by in-house moderators and provider data by our software research team. Learn more

Last updated: April 2025

What is MATLAB?

MATLAB is a programming and numeric computing platform, which enables businesses and educational institutions to create models, develop algorithms, analyze data sets, and more. Professionals can use the live editor to create scripts and enhance code with hyperlinks, images, and headings.

Key features of MATLAB include data visualization, signal processing, a drag-and-drop interface, and application sharing. Developers can publish live scripts in HTML, LaTeX, Microsoft Word, or PDF formats. Engineers can also analyze, organize and clean data sets from several sectors such as climatology, medical research, and more.

MATLAB allows businesses to build applications with standard components such as buttons, checkboxes, and drop-down lists

Starting from

203.63

Per year

Alternatives with better value for money

MATLAB’s pros and cons based on 2,095 verified reviews

To identify what users like and dislike about MATLAB, our data scientists apply advanced modeling techniques to our proprietary reviews data. We've sorted the resulting list of pros and cons based on the percentage of users who expressed positive sentiment toward the given topic in their reviews.

To determine these pros and cons insights, we analyzed responses from 2,095 verified reviews

Comprehensive engineering tools

99% of reviewers feel positive about MATLAB's engineering tools. Reviewers appreciate the extensive set of toolboxes that cater to various engineering disciplines, making it essential for both students and professionals. They find it useful for solving complex problems, simulating circuit designs, and performing numerical computations, which are crucial in engineering education and practice.

See related user reviews

“Its all-encompassing feature-rich set of toolboxes for all areas of the sciences and engineering, amassed by decades of use by scientists and engineers of the community.”

Pancham Kamdar

Student

“it is an excellent engineering software, its numerous features demonstrate how diverse the tool is. And its application in the most diverse branches of engineering.”

andre luiz dias

Versatile modeling capabilities

97% of reviewers feel positive about MATLAB's modeling capabilities. Reviewers indicate that MATLAB offers a wide range of tools for creating mathematical models, from simple linear regressions to complex 3D models. They value its ability to integrate with Simulink for designing control systems and appreciate its utility in various fields, including environmental processes, electrical systems, and predictive modeling.

See related user reviews

“The features that it offers are out of this world, from advanced algebras to geometry to system modeling, it offers a complete set of features for any kind of engineering job.”

Victor Bojica

CTO

“What I like most about MATLAB is its wide variety of tools that allow you to perform everything from simple linear regressions to designing complex mathematical models.”

Juan David Barajas

Master student

Robust simulation features

94% of reviewers feel positive about MATLAB's simulation features. Users think that MATLAB, particularly with Simulink, provides powerful simulation capabilities for various engineering applications. They find it helpful for developing and fine-tuning models, simulating real-life systems, and performing complex computations, which are essential for research and academic projects.

See related user reviews

“I also used it to quickly develop, simulate (using the Simulink toolbox add-on), graphically observe and fine tune the performance of a PID controller which was much easier and quicker than manually calculating and plotting the solutions.”

Muhammad Alli

Engineering technician

“What I like most about matlab is its ability to simulate real life systems and that is in the industry, more than anything that allows to know and verify the characteristics of it in a detailed manner, and with a very high degree of reality .”

Cesar Juso

ESTUDIANTE INGENIERIA DE SISTEMAS

Advanced mathematical calculations

94% of reviewers feel positive about MATLAB's mathematical calculations. Some users report that MATLAB's extensive library of mathematical functions and algorithms simplifies complex calculations. They find it valuable for engineering tasks, numerical analysis, and data processing, making it a preferred tool for both academic and professional use.

See related user reviews

“The library of this software contains a bunch of complex and useful mathematical functions and algorithms which helps the users to achive their mathematical programming needs.”

Udara Nilupul

Accounting Assistant

“MATLAB software is the superb software that consists of high level technical computing languages that facilitates the software engineers and other users for simple and complex calculations.”

James Warfield

Software Engineer

Effective problem-solving tool

93% of reviewers feel positive about MATLAB's problem-solving capabilities. Reviewers appreciate MATLAB's wide range of functions and specialized libraries that facilitate the resolution of complex problems in mathematics, engineering, and science. They find it particularly useful for solving differential equations, optimizing algorithms, and handling large data sets.

See related user reviews

“Matlab is a very powerful tool that offers a wide range of features for solving complex problems in many fields, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering and many others.”

Hercilin Novaldi Bikalou

Student

“MATLAB is a tool with a wide range of functions and specialized libraries for solving problems in general, the positive points to highlight would be that it facilitates the resolution of complex problems in areas of mathematics, engineering and science, in my opinion almost more for the area of complex problems related to constructions.”

Gonzalo Alvarez

Civil engineer

High Cost Concerns

78% of reviewers feel negative about MATLAB's value for money/pricing. Some reviewers feel the software is expensive compared to other options. Reviewers appreciate the free trial. Some reviewers find student pricing reasonable, but others report high costs for individuals and small businesses. Users think the high cost of licenses and toolboxes is a significant drawback.

See related user reviews

“Cost is a problem, considering there are many resources in this area, ie, R, Python,Eventhough i say its user friendly, it still rather complex to use, when I suggest my college i need to explain at least for an hour. and we cannot perform all the types of analysis.”

Muhammet Doğan

Research Assistant

“Certain add-ons require that you also have, or purchase another set of, add-ons which can quickly bring up the price and discourage users from purchasing it.”

Haitham Abu Ghazaleh

Associate Professor

High memory requirements

73% of reviewers feel negative about MATLAB's memory requirements. Users think that MATLAB consumes a significant amount of memory and processing power, making it challenging to run on lower-end computers. They report that the software's large size and high resource demands can slow down their systems, especially when handling complex computations or large data sets.

See related user reviews

“It is a giant expensive software and as a student or professional, a customer might not even require 5% of the total capacity. As this software comes in a total package, the installation process is tricky, takes a huge amount of memory of your computer, so you have to buy high-end processors for swift operations, and takes a lot of time to start.”

Abdul Fattah

Sr. Officer - Quality Assurance

“The online version has severe bugs when graphing and the dowloaded version is about 24GB which takes up massive space on laptops and is almost impossible to download on chromebooks and smaller memory devices.”

Rashid Chatani

Teaching Assistant

Challenging error handling

71% of reviewers feel negative about MATLAB's error handling. Some users say that identifying and resolving errors in MATLAB can be difficult and time-consuming. They find the error messages often unclear and not very helpful, which complicates debugging and troubleshooting, especially for beginners.

See related user reviews

“When we make mistakes in typing commands in editor or command window, It is difficult to find the error in our lines.”

Hemanandan Jeevaratnam

Student

“So it is difficult to memories all those keywords when solving problems. And if we get an error in our code I think it is somewhat difficult to debug. And the other thing is the time it takes to give us the answer.”

Surendrika Nethmini

Student

Slow performance speed

70% of reviewers feel negative about MATLAB's performance speed. Reviewers indicate that MATLAB can be slow to execute commands and load large datasets, particularly on less powerful computers. They experience lag and sluggish performance during complex computations, which can hinder productivity and efficiency.

See related user reviews

“I experience some lag when I do some simple mathematical calculation in my android. Though I use the mobile application less number of times I feel this problem(lag) when I use it.”

Krishna Chaitanya

Student

“Using matlab on a low end PC is quite slow or noticeable lags are detected , and this can be a turn off for me sometimes and this made me use cloud computing with other languages like python until i got a good PC . ”

Boluwatife Owoade

Data Analyst/Scientist intern

Inconsistent version management

59% of reviewers feel negative about MATLAB's version management. Users report issues with compatibility between different versions of MATLAB, which can cause older scripts and functions to become obsolete. They find the frequent updates and changes in functionality frustrating, as it requires continuous adaptation and can disrupt their workflow.

See related user reviews

“Also the newer versions of the software may not support some library functions from the older version and it can be a hassle to find the library for the newer version.”

Eslam Eslam

Electrical Engineer

“For example, you have coded with Matlab 2 years ago, now you want to run it with an updated Matlab, but it does not work since some of the functions you used in that version of Matlab are not valid in the new version.”

Honari Kalateh

Research Associate

MATLAB's key features

GetApp's analysis of 157 verified user reviews collected between July 2021 and October 2024 identified MATLAB's most critical features and how it performs according to users.

Data Visualization

4.5

Reviewers appreciate MATLAB's data visualization capabilities for making complex data more understandable through graphs and charts. They highlight the extensive selection of plotting functions, including 2D and 3D visualizations, and the ability to customize visual elements. Users value the interactive capabilities like zoom and pan, and the integration with other MATLAB functionalities. They also mention the ease of importing data from various databases and the usefulness of built-in tools for creating detailed and precise visual representations. Of the 80 MATLAB users who gave detailed accounts of their use of Data Visualization, 99% rated this feature as important or highly important.

See related user reviews

“Data in tabular form is a bit complicated and difficult to understand but when the same data is represent in form of graphs and charts, it becomes quite easy even for a non technical person to understand and get meaningful information from it. Data visualization tool/app of Matlab helps us to plot different charts and graph that with the option to write our custom code or modify the existing code.”

Nitish Ranjan

Automation Engineer

“I harness its powerful data visualization capabilities. Using functions like plot and scatter, I create compelling visuals for in-depth data analysis. MATLAB's interactive features enhance my ability to explore and present data with precision.”

KANISHKA FERNANDO

ENGINEER

Mathematical Modeling

4.7

Reviewers highlight MATLAB's robust mathematical modeling capabilities, emphasizing its tools for numerical simulations, parameter tuning, and system optimization. They appreciate the wide range of mathematical functions and toolboxes, including Simulink for dynamic system modeling. Users find it valuable for solving differential equations, optimization problems, and statistical modeling. They also mention the ability to visualize and analyze model outputs within the same environment, making it a powerful tool for engineering and scientific research. Of the 77 MATLAB users who gave detailed accounts of their use of Mathematical Modeling, 97% rated this feature as important or highly important.

See related user reviews

“Mathematical modeling tools in MATLAB such as simulink signal processing blocks and math tool enables me to model and validate complex systems.”

Felix Obite

PhD Researcher

“ Mathematical modeling in MATLAB empowers users to express, simulate, and analyze complex systems across diverse domains, utilizing its numerical computation, symbolic math, and specialized toolboxes for optimization, control, and PDEs. ”

Redouane eddahbi

engineer

Graphical Data Presentation

4.6

Users report that MATLAB excels in graphical data presentation, offering a variety of tools for creating visually appealing and informative visualizations. They appreciate the customization options for plots, including 2D and 3D visualizations, and the ability to add annotations and modify formatting. Reviewers find the interactive capabilities, such as zooming and exporting high-quality graphics, enhance their data exploration and presentation. They also note the integration with other MATLAB tools for comprehensive data communication. Of the 59 MATLAB users who gave detailed accounts of their use of Graphical Data Presentation, 97% rated this feature as important or highly important.

See related user reviews

“I think MATLAB's graphical data presenting features are quite strong and simple to use. I can easily make interesting and useful visual representations of my data using MATLAB's broad plotting and visualization features. I can successfully express complicated data trends and patterns because to the ability to edit charts, add annotations, and change formatting. Line plots, scatter plots, bar graphs, and 3D visualizations are just a few of the many possibilities MATLAB offers to help me present my data in an understandable and precise way. My data exploration and presentation are also improved by the capability to interact with plots, zoom in on particular regions, and export high-quality graphics. My analysis' visual impact is significantly increased by MATLAB's graphical data presentation features, which makes it a powerful tool for data visualization and communication.”

Joseph Mwaura

Senior Developer

“Matlab provides a variety of tools and functions for graphical data presentation, enabling users to create visually appealing and informative visualizations of their data. Here are some key features and capabilities in MATLAB for graphical data presentation:Plotting functions customization options, 3D visualization, geographic mapping, data visualization appsInteractive features, exporting and sharing.”

Emilio Ramirez

Director comercial

Design Analysis

4.5

Reviewers indicate that MATLAB is highly effective for design analysis, providing tools for simulation, system behavior examination, and design optimization. They value the integration of numerical computation, optimization methods, and simulation models, which facilitate detailed analysis and decision-making. Users appreciate the ability to visualize and analyze results using plots and charts, and the extensive function library that supports various engineering disciplines. They also mention the convenience of debugging and testing within the same environment. Of the 51 MATLAB users who gave detailed accounts of their use of Design Analysis, 88% rated this feature as important or highly important.

See related user reviews

“Design Analysis is fully supported in MATLAB. I use it all the time to analyze my design, and run a simulation on it. It helps me to review my design and modify it if needed. ”

Zahra Alisha

Electrical Engineer

“MATLAB is a great tool when it comes to analysing system responses as well. Whether it's structural analysis eg mode of vibrations and advanced modelling of complex structural designs factoring earthquake to modelling parameter response of the created control block to understand system stability and response time is a great advantage in MATLAB.”

Shankhaneel Basak

Student

Reporting/Analytics

4.4

Reviewers highlight MATLAB's reporting and analytics capabilities for generating comprehensive reports and extracting meaningful insights. They appreciate the prebuilt functions for statistical analysis, machine learning, and signal processing, as well as the ability to automate report generation. Users find the integration with data visualization and modeling tools enhances their analytics workflow. They also value the ease of creating sharable reports and the ability to communicate findings effectively for informed decision-making. Of the 71 MATLAB users who gave detailed accounts of their use of Reporting/Analytics, 86% rated this feature as important or highly important.

See related user reviews

“Data of different types like statistical, mathematical or scientific, etc. can be analyzed using interactive tools, and Report Generation is an awesome feature to produce prebuilt and customizable reports. It can be automated to generate a single report from results and figures of MATLAB code.”

Mir Fida Nadeem

Web Developer

“Reporting and Analytics in MATLAB are appreciated for their ability to provide data-driven insights, automate repetitive tasks, and create structured reports that assist in informed decision-making.”

Jeffrey BlueJack

Director

3D Imaging

4.3

Users report that MATLAB's 3D imaging capabilities are impressive, allowing for detailed and realistic visualizations of 3D data. They appreciate the wide range of tools for surface reconstruction, volumetric rendering, and spatial analysis. Reviewers find it useful for understanding complex structures and spatial relationships, and value the support for various file formats and integration with other imaging programs. They also mention the ability to manipulate and explore data from different perspectives, making it a valuable tool for scientific and engineering applications. Of the 38 MATLAB users who gave detailed accounts of their use of 3D Imaging, 79% rated this feature as important or highly important.

See related user reviews

“For my study, Technical Medicine, it is important that certain structures in the body can be displayed in 3D. Matlab makes this possible, which helps to learn about the physics of alle the structures and tissues in the body. ”

Sam Been

Student

“Matlab is the best software for 3D imaging analysis. It can analyze spatial occupation matrices significantly faster than other competing software.”

Gilbert Rahme

postdoctoral research associate

All MATLAB features

Features rating:

4.6

(2K)

Data Mining

3.8

(4)

Statistical Analysis

4.6

(71)

Statistical Simulation

4.5

(89)

Modeling & Simulation

4.6

(43)

2D Drawing

4.3

(81)

Regression Analysis

4.5

(88)

Reporting & Statistics

4.3

(110)

Forecasting

4.4

(49)

Presentation Tools

4.3

(129)

Data Discovery

4.5

(22)

Time Series Analysis

4.3

(60)

AI/Machine Learning

4.4

(46)

Data Management

4.5

(64)

Statistical Process Control

4.3

(43)

File Storage

4.2

(42)

Collaboration Tools

4.0

(72)

Design Management

4.0

(19)

Document Management

4.1

(36)

Survival Analysis

4.2

(30)

Search/Filter

4.1

(58)

Customizable Dashboard

4.1

(41)

Electrical

(0)

Mechanical

(0)

MATLAB awards

MATLAB alternatives

MATLAB

4.6

(2K)

Starting from

203.63

Per year

Free trial

Free version

Ease of Use

4.0

Features

4.6

Value for Money

4.2

Customer Support

4.2

AnswerRocket

4.6

(15)

visit website

Starting from

75000

Per year

Free trial

Free version

Ease of Use

4.3

Features

4.4

Value for Money

4.4

Customer Support

4.8

Datadog

4.6

(315)

visit website

Starting from

Per month

Free trial

Free version

Ease of Use

4.3

Features

4.5

Value for Money

4.1

Customer Support

4.3

Alteryx Designer

4.8

(100)

visit website

Starting from

No pricing info

Free trial

Free version

Ease of Use

4.4

Features

4.7

Value for Money

4.2

Customer Support

4.4

MATLAB pricing

Starting from

203.63

Per year

Flat Rate

Pricing details

Subscription

Free trial

Free plan

Pricing range

view pricing plans

User opinions about MATLAB price and value

Value for money rating:

4.2

Of 299 reviews that provide robust commentary on MATLAB's price and value, 22% mention it in a positive light.

Some users say MATLAB offers different licensing options for official and educational use, with varying costs and features. Some reviewers feel the software is expensive compared to other available options, but they appreciate its efficiency in mathematical modeling and data analysis. Reviewers appreciate the availability of a free trial, which allows users to explore the software before committing to a purchase. Some reviewers find the student and home user pricing reasonable, but others report that the cost is still high for individual users and small businesses. Users think the high cost of licenses and additional toolboxes can be a significant drawback, especially when there are free alternatives like Python and R. Reviewers indicate that the software's cost can be justified by its powerful features and extensive application areas, but the need for high-end hardware and additional purchases for specific add-ons can add to the overall expense. Some users report that while MATLAB is a valuable tool, its pricing strategy may not be suitable for all, particularly in regions with limited resources.

Check .

To see what individual users think of MATLAB's cost and value, check out the review excerpts below.

“That is the major difference. While pricey, Matlab is worth every penny we pay for it considering the analysis speed, and the low memory requirement to analyze gigabytes worth of 3D images.”

Gilbert Rahme

postdoctoral research associate

“As a user who heavily utilizes MATLAB in my job, I can attest that the price of obtaining and maintaining a MATLAB license may be extremely exorbitant, particularly for lone users or small businesses.”

Joseph Mwaura

Senior Developer

“The other issue still lies with the cost, the cloud version is only usable if you have an active subscription, plus there are many other plugins that require additional purchasing.”

Jordan Benzon

Electrical Engineer

MATLAB integrations (35)

Integrations rated by users

We looked through 2,095 user reviews, to identify which products are mentioned as MATLAB integrations, and what is the users perception.

Microsoft Excel

Integration rating: 4.3 (7)

“Being able to handle different programs and converge the information to one makes everything go in sync ”

Camilo Alberto Suta Rojas

Aux

GitHub

Integration rating: 4.5 (2)

“To integrate code development and helps to many people work with code versioning.”

Jorge Chevez

IT Consultant

COMSOL Multiphysics

Integration rating: 4.0 (2)

“I need to connect my simulations to Matlab optimization toolbox to tune and improve my designs and performance.”

Ayman Negm

Instructor

IBM SPSS Statistics

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

“There are times that I have to recheck whether I am doing the right thing or not.”

Ivan Harris Tanyag

Researcher

Azure Cosmos DB

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

“For my work as a data scientist, the interface between Azure Cosmos DB and MATLAB is quite helpful. My data activities have been completely transformed by the seamless integration between these two platforms because I work with large-scale data analysis and modeling. I can now quickly access and modify data saved in Azure Cosmos DB within MATLAB thanks to the connectivity. As a result, there is no need for complicated data transfers, and I can work with real-time, highly scalable data in a comfortable setting. I can retrieve and examine data utilizing MATLAB's potent computational and analytical tools thanks to the integration's comprehensive querying capabilities. The integration also makes it possible for me to use MATLAB's sophisticated machine learning and AI capabilities on data stored in Azure Cosmos DB, creating new opportunities for data-driven insights and decision-making. Overall, the combination of MATLAB and Azure Cosmos DB has increased my productivity, streamlined my data workflows, and given me the ability to fully realize the potential of my projects including data analysis and modeling.”

Joseph Mwaura

Senior Developer

Ansys Fluent

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

“While simulating matlab programs are used to set boundaries and other critical conditions.”

Biswajit Mohapatra

CAE

ThingSpeak

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

“Given that the platform is created by same vendor the compatibility is almost perfect, letting visualize data the same way as MATLAB.”

Anonymous Reviewer

Design Engineer

Proteus

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

“Proteus PCB design tool is also one of the important tools for Electrical engineers.”

Bed Bed

Engineer

Virtual Storage Platform One

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

“You can process data gathered by IIoT devices and train machine learning algorithms ”

Anonymous Reviewer

Design Engineer

Tableau

Integration rating: 4.5 (4)

Wing Python IDE

Integration rating: 4.7 (3)

Microsoft Power BI

Integration rating: 4.0 (2)

Arduino IDE

Integration rating: 3.5 (2)

Enterprise Architect

Integration rating: 4.0 (1)

Notepad++

Integration rating: 3.0 (1)

PTC Mathcad

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

SolidWorks Premium

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

AutoCAD

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

MF License Center

Integration rating: 3.0 (1)

Scilab

Integration rating: 4.0 (1)

MongoDB

Integration rating: 4.0 (1)

MATLAB support options

Typical customers

Freelancers

Small businesses

Mid size businesses

Large enterprises

Platforms supported

Web

Android

iPhone/iPad

Support options

Chat

Training options

Documentation

Live Online

Webinars

MATLAB reviews

Overall rating

4.6

Positive reviews

Rating breakdown

Value for money
Ease of use
Features
Customer support
Likelihood to recommend8.48/10

Rating distribution

1.3K

660

Pros

“It has a huge built-in library for functions and tools, so it is simple to utilize Matlab when used properly. More importantly, it has a great GUI tool that can make great applications with ease.”

Carol V.

Research Assistant

“MATLAB is super great as it is so intuitive to use. Literally used it in so many of my courses like Orbital Mechanics and Compressible flow.”

Cloency C.

Self-Employed

“MATLAB is great for quick prototyping and data analysis. It is easy to learn and has great online support and help documentation.”

Max H.

Sales/IT Associate

Cons

“The main downside is that MATLAB needs to make their GUI more minimalist, it's 2020 already. The other thing that I miss is an option to add semicolon automatically after every line.”

Mirza R.

Research Assistant

“Matlab is not easily translatable to learning other languages, and it is often the poorer choice when compared to other languages if matrix manipulation is not the goal.”

Rachel O.

Student

“Sometimes new versions of MATLAB will cause previous code to no longer work, which can be very frustrating.”

Lyndsey A.

Neuroscience Graduate Student

Read all reviews

MATLAB FAQs

Q. What type of pricing plans does MATLAB offer?

MATLAB has the following pricing plans:
Starting from: $203.63/year
Pricing model: Subscription
Free Trial: Available

These products have better value for money

Q. Who are the typical users of MATLAB?

MATLAB has the following typical customers:
Freelancers, Large Enterprises, Mid Size Business, Public Administrations, Small Business

Q. What languages does MATLAB support?

MATLAB supports the following languages:
English

Q. Does MATLAB offer an API?

No, MATLAB does not have an API available.

Q. What other apps does MATLAB integrate with?

MATLAB integrates with the following applications:
ThingSpeak, Innoslate, Valispace, MongoDB, Vertica, OnScale Solve, COMSOL Multiphysics, Tableau, Spotfire, Azure Cosmos DB, EASA, Microsoft Power BI, Neo4j Graph Database, codebeamer

Q. What level of support does MATLAB offer?

MATLAB offers the following support options:
Chat