MATLAB vs. Wolfram Mathematica

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
Mathematica
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Wolfram's flagship product Mathematica is a modern technical computing application featuring a flexible symbolic coding language and a wide array of graphing and data visualization capabilities.
$1,520
per year
Pricing
MATLABWolfram Mathematica
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
Standard Cloud
$1,520
per year
Standard Desktop
$3,040
one-time fee
Standard Desktop & Cloud
$3,344
one-time fee
Mathematica Enterprise Edition
$8,150.00
one-time fee
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
MATLABMathematica
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscounts available for students and educational institutions. The Network Edition reduce per-user license costs through shared deployment across any number of machines on a local-area network.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
MATLABWolfram Mathematica
Considered Both Products
MATLAB
Chose MATLAB
Apart from Matlab, I used Matematica for some of my integral evaluations. Mathematica is also a "clean" and easy-to-use software that solves symbolic math problems (even better than Matlab for symbolic math). I also used Anaconda and Spyder for my career so far.
Chose MATLAB
Those are expensive than MATLAB and their GUI is not great along with editor. However, they have more libraries set as compared to Matlab. However, the place where MATLAB adds value is its user community as well as its support and we can find solutions to any problem with …
Chose MATLAB
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 …
Mathematica
Chose Wolfram Mathematica
We selected Wolfram Mathematica as it offers lot of functionality that other products like MATLAB or sageMath do not have. And it also has advantages on the feature that it does share in common with other tools like sageMath, MATLAB etc. It is more powerful than MATLAB. It …
Chose Wolfram Mathematica
MATLAB is an excellent tool, but it can't handle analytic manipulations in algebra, calculus and differential equations. MATLAB is superior when it comes to a less steep learning curve. In terms of using only one tool for analytic and numerical calculations, Mathematica wins. …
Chose Wolfram Mathematica
The ability to manipulate algebraic expressions, nested lists, and data structures in Mathematica was unequalled when I first did the comparison. Since then, I've stuck with Mathematica mostly because it's "the tool I know."
Top Pros
Top Cons
TrustRadius Insights
MATLABWolfram Mathematica
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

MATLAB and Mathematica are both software businesses can use to handle complex calculations and computing.  MATLAB is a predictive analytics tool that helps businesses create insights and predictions from business data.  In contrast, Mathematica is a Data Discovery and Visualization tool, which helps glean useful information from existing business data.  Both MATLAB and Mathematica are most popular with mid-sized businesses and large enterprises that have large amounts of data to use for predictive analytics or data discovery.

Features

MATLAB and Mathematica can both be used to generate useful insights from business data, but they also have some standout features that set them apart from each other. 

MATLAB is a data oriented product that specializes in predictive analytics.  Businesses can utilize MATLAB’s proprietary programming language to predict business outcomes based on data collected in other applications. Many developers will feel comfortable using MATLAB quicker than other options, as it can be edited using external editors like emacs that many users are already familiar with. MATLAB also provides many packages that extend its use at no additional charge to the user.

Mathematica can be used to perform complex mathematical functions on data quickly and easily.  Syntax for Mathematica is simple enough that users will be able to write functions without much experience with the product, so training requirements are minimal compared to other tools for writing simple functions. Mathematica is an ideal software for handling calculus equations and acting as a scientific calculator.

Limitations

MATLAB and Mathematica both help users get the most out of their business data, but they also have some limitations that are important to consider.

MATLAB offers a robust programming language, but it can be difficult to learn for new users.  Businesses should expect MATLAB users to need some training in order to get the most out of the tool.  Additionally, while MATLAB is an ideal tool for predictive analytics, it is weaker for complex functions including problems like differential equations.  

Mathematica is a strong tool for handling complex equations and functions, but it is less flexible compared to MATLAB.  Packages that extend the features of Mathematica exist, but they can’t be accessed for free, unlike MATLAB.  Additionally, Mathematica is not supported by external editors, so users will have to adjust to the interface provided by Mathematica.

Pricing

Individuals can purchase MATLAB at a flat rate, but businesses must reach out to the vendor for exact pricing information.  Different pricing is provided depending on whether your organization is commercial or academic in nature.

Mathematica offers individual licenses starting at $144.00 per month.  Pricing information for teams and businesses is provided by the vendor upon request.

Features
MATLABWolfram Mathematica
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
MATLAB
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
9.9
6 Ratings
16% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings9.84 Ratings
Customizable dashboards00 Ratings9.94 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings9.96 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
MATLAB
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
9.9
9 Ratings
21% above category average
Drill-down analysis00 Ratings9.98 Ratings
Formatting capabilities00 Ratings9.98 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings9.97 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings9.99 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
MATLAB
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
9.3
8 Ratings
11% above category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings9.97 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings9.97 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.95 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings8.95 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
MATLAB
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
9.9
9 Ratings
19% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings9.99 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings9.98 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings9.98 Ratings
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MATLABWolfram Mathematica
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User Ratings
MATLABWolfram Mathematica
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(53 ratings)
9.9
(9 ratings)
Usability
9.9
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.5
(7 ratings)
9.5
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
MATLABWolfram Mathematica
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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Wolfram
We are the judgement that Wolfram Mathematica is despite many critics based on the paradigms selected a mark in the fields of the markets for computations of all kind. Wolfram Mathematica is even a choice in fields where other bolide systems reign most of the market. Wolfram Mathematica offers rich flexibility and internally standardizes the right methodologies for his user community. Wolfram Mathematica is not cheap and in need of a hard an long learner journey. That makes it weak in comparison with of-the-shelf-solution packages or even other programming languages. But for systematization of methods Wolfram Mathematica is far in front of almost all the other. Scientist and interested people are able to develop themself further and Wolfram Matheamatica users are a human variant for themself. The reach out for modern mathematics based science is deep and a unique unified framework makes the whole field of mathematics accessable comparable to the brain of Albert Einstein. The paradigms incorporated are the most efficients and consist in assembly on the market. The mathematics is covering and fullfills not just education requirements but the demands and needs of experts.
Mathematica is incompatible with other systems for mCAx and therefore the borders between the systems are hard to overcome. Wolfram Mathematica should be consider one of the more open systems because other code can be imported and run but on the export side it is rathe incompatible by design purposes. A better standard for all that might solve the crisis but there is none in sight. Selection of knowledge of what works will be in the future even more focussed and general system might be one the lossy side. Knowledge of esthetics of what will be in the highest demand in necessary and Wolfram is not a leader in this field of science. Mathematics leves from gathering problems from application fields and less from the glory of itself and the formalization of this.
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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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Wolfram
  • It allows straightforward integration of analytic analysis of algebraic expressions and their numerical implemented.
  • Supports varying programmatic paradigms, so one can choose what best fits the problem or task: pure functions, procedural programming, list processing, and even (with a bit of setup) object-oriented programming.
  • The extensive and rich tools for graphical rendering make it very easy to not just get 2D and 3D renderings of final output, but also to do quick-and-dirty 2D and 3D rendering of intermediate results and/or debugging results.
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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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Wolfram
  • Should include more libraries and functions.
  • Should include more functions that can be used in Machine Learning.
  • Should include more functions that can be used in Data Science.
Read full review
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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Wolfram
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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Wolfram
Wolfram Mathematica is a nice software package. It has very nice features and easy to install and use in your machine. Besides this, there is a nice support from Wolfram. They come to the university frequently to give seminars in Mathematica. I think this is the best thing they are doing. That is very helpful for graduate and undergraduate students who are using Mathematica in their research.
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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.
Read full review
Wolfram
We have evaluated and are using in some cases the Python language in concert with the Jupyter notebook interface. For UI, we using libraries like React to create visually stunning visualizations of such models. Mathematica compares favorably to this alternative in terms of speed of development. Mathematica compares unfavorably to this alternative in terms of license costs.
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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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Wolfram
  • Easy to solve huge mathematical equations, so it saved time there
  • Doing analysis and plotting graphs is also another plus point
  • Learning is very slow, and it took lot of time to learn its scripting language
Read full review
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