Penn Engineering MATLAB
Where can I use MATLAB?
Important: Before getting started, you will need an active SEAS account. If you don't have one, you can request one on the SEAS Accounts website. If you are already able to receive emails sent to your-pennname@seas.upenn.edu, then you have an active SEAS account and do not need to request one.
MATLAB is available in the CETS-managed computer labs. MATLAB is also available in the Virtual PC lab. Penn Engineering students are automatically eligible for access to Penn's annually purchased MATLAB. Other students can find instructions for access from their respective school or Penn Software Licensing. All of the toolboxes available in Penn's campus license are installed in Penn Engineering's labs.
MATLAB Online is also available to users with current eligible licenses:
Does the Mathworks portal access cost anything when being used for teaching only?
No! Please email cets@seas.upenn.edu with the course(s) you will be teaching along with any non-student TA PennIDs associated with your course so we can update their free access to our campus MATLAB portal. CETS will review this access annually.
Which toolboxes are included in our campus license?
Penn's MATLAB site license is fully loaded and all licenses (student and research) support installing all the available toolboxes.
Note: The Data Acquisition Toolbox is only available in a 32-bit Windows version.
Are there open source alternatives to MATLAB?
- GNU Octave is a high-level interpreted language, primarily intended for numerical computations. It provides capabilities for the numerical solution of linear and nonlinear problems, and for performing other numerical experiments. It also provides extensive graphics capabilities for data visualization and manipulation. Octave is normally used through its interactive command line interface, but it can also be used to write non-interactive programs. The Octave language is quite similar to MATLAB so that most programs are easily portable. Octave is already installed on CETS-managed Linux systems.
- SageMath is an online open source alternative to MATLAB.
What are the eligibility requirements?
Access to Penn's campus MATLAB portal is available for purchase through CETS from PEFS. These are the eligibility requirements:
- For most use cases: Faculty and staff researchers can purchase access to Penn's Single Sign-On (SSO) MATLAB portal for their research group or research assistants. A Penn budget code is required to purchase Portal access and/or additional licenses. The current access fee is $275/user or license and all licenses/access are renewed annually in August (licenses expire on 9/1). Penn's MATLAB portal access allows one to download and install MATLAB on multiple computers. This is the standard experience, MathWorks names them individual licenses now. We do not accept or process purchase orders or any other form of payment.
- SEAS has two additional types of MATLAB licenses available for research
users to purchase for scenarios that warrant their use: a
designated license and a network concurrent
license. All license types and portal access will work with Windows,
Unix/Linux, or Mac.
- The designated license type will eventually be discontinued (tentatively in 2025/2026). The locally hosted license is tied to the computer's Host ID (MAC Address) and operating system. It may be useful when a computer needs MATLAB without being connected to the internet (i.e The computer is running an older, unsafe operating system in order to support old hardware, like a microscope). Designated licenses may also be helpful for an offline computer or lab that doesn't require users to log in. Contact CETS if you think this will be useful or have additional questions.
- The network concurrent floating license remains important to support research labs using clusters. These licenses are served from a license server run by CETS and require a network connection to check out. This option allows you to share a number of licenses with a larger number of people or computers. MATLAB automatically checks the licenses out and back in, and our networked server keeps track of how many licenses are available. Networked licenses are also convenient because they work with any version of MATLAB without having to generate a new license file. Please use the MATLAB request form below to provide CETS with the information required for a network concurrent license. Please note that when purchasing network licenses, MATLAB Portal Access is automatically provided to the person who is the technical installer.
- With general MATLAB portal access or use of aforementioned license types, you are essentially renting a part of the license from CETS. Therefore, you must renew this access per user annually. Since the cost of MATLAB is shared among all of the licensed users, and the price Mathworks charges us changes over time, the prices to rent this access to our campus license will likely change every year. These prices help cover the cost of renewal, software updates upon request and installation help for machines with uncommon configurations.
- This access to MATLAB covers academic research only. MATLAB may be subject to export restrictions. Review the license before use for commercially funded research, external consulting or international travel. All MATLAB users are responsible to use this software in accordance with the license restrictions.
Please check the Mathworks web site for complete MATLAB system requirements.
How do I get a MATLAB access or one of the alternative license types if I don't have it?
Faculty and Researchers
Email cets@seas.upenn.edu with the respective Penn IDs of any researchers that require access along with a SEAS fund number to relay to Purchasing (PEFS) for the respective annual chargeback fee.
Teaching only: Please email CETS with the courses you will be teaching along with any non-student TA Penn IDs associated with your course so we can update their free access to our campus MATLAB portal.
If the MATLAB portal access does not provide adequate licensing, please use the form below to request designated or concurrent licenses (which will be discontinued at the end of year 2025):
MATLAB Request Form (PennKey required)
Note: You must have a SEAS budget code and SEAS account to acquire MATLAB research access through CETS.
Penn Engineering Students
Penn Engineering offers free Student MATLAB access to all currently enrolled Engineering students with these restrictions:
- The software may only be used for academic coursework and research.
- No commercial research is permitted.
Eligible Penn Engineering Students can view setup and configuration information here:
Penn Engineering MATLAB Student License Information (PennKey required)