MATLAB vs. Wolfram Mathematica

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
MATLAB
Score 8.9 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
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
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
Ratings
16% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Customizable dashboards00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
MATLAB
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
9.9
Ratings
22% above category average
Drill-down analysis00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Formatting capabilities00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
MATLAB
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
9.3
Ratings
10% above category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
MATLAB
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
9.9
Ratings
20% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
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User Ratings
MATLABWolfram Mathematica
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.5
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
MATLABWolfram Mathematica
Likelihood to Recommend
Engineering, mathematical modeling, and machine learning are all fields where MATLAB will shine. It's fast, reliable, and relatively easy to use. MATLAB is the de facto standard when it comes to producing high-quality plots. If you need to deal with large data sets, and not take forever processing them, MATLAB may very well be the tool for you!
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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
  • Has robust and easy-to-use debugging tools that can help one identify problems in one's codes.
  • Rich, well-developed and efficient library of mathematical and statistical functions that one might need to develop models or perform statistical analysis.
  • A very active online user community that is a great resource in terms of seeking help when you hit a snag.
  • Great help literature (and sometimes videos too) on all tools making it possible for all to train themselves.
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  • Doing the analysis is very good, plotting the data, getting the insight from data using this is easy and output looks pretty good
  • Solving mathematical problems, with detailed solutions step by step (mainly calculus problems)
  • You can also query this knowledge engine in simple English. It has ability to interpret that and will give you answer accordingly
  • Nowadays, it provides API to use, so you can do image processing, video/audio using this
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Cons
  • MATLAB should have a full free version (without time limit) in order to be more accessible and thus have a greater user community.
  • The idea of having toolboxes to work directly with hardware (microcontrollers, single-board computers) is great, but one can tell it isn't updated very frequently and there isn't as much documentation available as with more common resources.
  • Our organization had a lot of trouble getting our network licenses to work properly and there wasn't any local service provider that could help us get it to work faster.
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  • 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.
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Usability
The best thing about MATLAB is the variety of research and development fields it supports. The reason for this rating is that it is best used for medical images enhancement and signal processing, it is also used for speech to text conversion. This tool server is best when the demand is for machine learning.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
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 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
The commands and coding language of MATLAB reads a lot more in plain English as opposed to all the periods and other special characters that are needed when typing in Python or Java. Additionally MATLAB has several different function packages that can solve all different categories of problems so you don't have to make a bunch of different code scrips from scratch.
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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."
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Return on Investment
  • MATLAB has made me a better coder. I can see the code behind inbuilt functions which helps me improve my own coding.
  • The various features offered in the software helped me to understand new topics in a relatively short span of time.
  • MATLAB has a rich forum and library which allows exchange of ideas and info with other users. This has certainly broadened my horizon.
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  • Mathematica is our "go to" environment for developing solutions for our clients, so I suppose you could say that it is solely responsible for our revenues. On occasion we do use other platforms but Mathematica is a core component of our offer to clients.
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