MATLAB vs. Simulink

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
MATLAB
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
MatLab is a predictive analytics and computing platform based on a proprietary programming language. MatLab is used across industry and academia.
$49
per student license
Simulink
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
MathWorks offers the Simulink product family including the Simscape physical modeling suite, simulation, validation, and testing tool set, a 3D animation module, signal processing toolbox for wireless communication, control systems, and event-based monitoring, to aid in the design of complex systems.N/A
Pricing
MATLABSimulink
Editions & Modules
Student
$49
per student license
Student
$49
per student suite license
Home
$149
perpetual license
Education
$250
per year
Education
$500
perpetual license
Standard
$860
per year
Standard
2,150
perpetual license
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
MATLABSimulink
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
MATLABSimulink
Considered Both Products
MATLAB
Chose MATLAB
I selected MATLAB against the other programs because it has a very powerful console and a very simple way to program functions and scripts, instead of having to make a whole project and loose a lot of time performing things that MATLAB make ir for you.
Simulink
Chose Simulink
Simulink has a more efficient pack of features. Is a very simple software to use and understand, and it is a quick option to provide fast and simple solutions.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
MATLABSimulink
Small Businesses
IBM SPSS Modeler
IBM SPSS Modeler
Score 7.8 out of 10
Autodesk Inventor
Autodesk Inventor
Score 8.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Posit
Posit
Score 9.1 out of 10
Navisworks
Navisworks
Score 8.8 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM SPSS Modeler
IBM SPSS Modeler
Score 7.8 out of 10
Navisworks
Navisworks
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
MATLABSimulink
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(53 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.9
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.5
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
MATLABSimulink
Likelihood to Recommend
MathWorks
MATLAB really does best for solving computational problems in math and engineering. Especially when you have to use a lot of functions in your solving process, or if you have a nonlinear equation that must be iteratively solved. [MATLAB] can also perform things like integration and derivation on your equations that you put into it.
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MathWorks
Thanks to the Simulink program, an electrical and electronics engineer can easily design and have information about the system before applying it. After performing the calculations mathematically, it can be tested with this correct program. One of the biggest advantages of the simulation program is that it gives results close to real results. It is also possible to find many training videos.
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Pros
MathWorks
  • It has a very user friendly library which helps users learn this software fairly quickly in a short span of time.
  • The graphical user interface provided by the software is really good.
  • The code that a person writes allows options for debugging.
  • One can visualize the flow of control of their code inside MATLAB.
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MathWorks
  • Control system design for continuous and discrete systems. The control systems toolbox includes many pre-built blocks for common functions, signals and plant models that help you analyse input vs. output responses.
  • Greatly responsive and easy to use graphic based environment ideal for the easy representation of processes using signals that go from one block into another. Most engineering and scientific models including systems of equations can be translated to a Simulink model.
  • Many pre-built toolboxes allow you to save time and facilitate access to create models applicable to many areas of science/engineering like fluid mechanics, robotics, decision making and embedded or electrical systems.
  • Simulink comes bundled within the standard MATLAB package and most of its coding features/packages are compatible and can be used within the Simulink development environment.
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Cons
MathWorks
  • MatLab is pricier than most of its competitors and because of this reason, many organizations are moving towards cheaper alternatives - mostly Python.
  • MatLab is inefficient when it comes to performing a large number of iterations. It gets laggy and often crashes. Python is better in this regard.
  • There is a limited number of hardware options (mostly NI) that can be connected directly to the data acquisition toolbox.
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MathWorks
  • Simpler codification data
  • Better layout of document usage
  • Option of codification manual
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Usability
MathWorks
MATLAB is pretty easy to use. You can extend its capabilities using the programming interface. Very flexible capabilities when it comes to graphical presentation of your data (so many different kinds of options for your plotting needs). Anytime you are working with large data sets, or with matrices, MATLAB is likely to be very helpful.
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MathWorks
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
MathWorks
The built-in search engine is not as performing as I wish it would be. However, the YouTube channel has a vast library of informative video that can help understanding the software. Also, many other software have a nice bridge into MATLAB, which makes it very versatile. Overall, the support for MATLAB is good.
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MathWorks
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
MathWorks
How MATLAB compares to its competition or similar open access tools like R (programming language) or SciLab is that it's simply more powerful and capable. It embraces a wider spectrum of possibilities for far more fields than any other environment. R, for example, is intended primarily for the area of statistical computing. SciLab, on the other hand, is a similar open access tool that falls very short in its computing capabilities. It's much slower when running larger scripts and isn't documented or supported nearly as well as MATLAB.
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MathWorks
Control blocks and more detailed algorithms can be run in Matlab Simulink. Simulation and PCB drawing of electronic circuit boards are performed in Proteus.
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Return on Investment
MathWorks
  • MATLAB helps us quickly sort through large sets of data because we keep the same script each time we run an analyzation, making it very efficient to run this whole process.
  • The software makes it super easy for us to create plots that we can then show to investors or clients to display our data.
  • We are also looking to create an app for our product, and we will not be able to do that on MATLAB, therefore creating a limiting issue and a new learning curve for a programming language.
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MathWorks
  • Reduced investment to achieve desired outcomes in research projects.
  • Opened the doors for our students to experiment with previously unknown engineering methods.
  • Fostered the adoption of model-based design by a great portion of our faculty, especially in more technical areas.
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