change in home and student licenses
https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/2182045-why-can-t-i-renew-or-purchase-add-ons-for-m…
"As of January 1, 2026, Perpetual Student and Home offerings have been sunset and replaced with new Annual Subscription Student and Home offerings."
So, Perpetual licenses for Student and Home versions are no more. Also, the ability for Student and Home to license just MATLAB by itself has been removed.
The new offering for Students is $US119 per year with no possibility of renewing through a Software Maintenance Service type offering. That $US119 covers the Student Suite of MATLAB and Simulink and 11 other toolboxes. Before, the perpetual license was $US99... and was a perpetual license, so if (for example) you bought it in second year you could use it in third and fourth year for no additional cost. $US99 once, or $US99 + $US35*2 = $US169 (if you took SMS for 2 years) has now been replaced by $US119 * 3 = $US357 (assuming 3 years use.)
The new offering for Home is $US165 per year for the Suite (MATLAB + 12 common toolboxes.) This is a less expensive than the previous $US150 + $US49 per toolbox if you had a use for those toolboxes . Except the previous price was a perpetual license. It seems to me to be more likely that Home users would have a use for the license for extended periods, compared to the Student license (Student licenses were perpetual licenses but were only valid while you were enrolled in degree granting instituations.)
Unfortunately, I do not presently recall the (former) price for SMS for the Home license. It might be the case that by the time you added up SMS for base MATLAB and the 12 toolboxes, that you were pretty much approaching $US165 per year anyhow... if you needed those toolboxes and were willing to pay for SMS.
But any way you look at it, the price for the Student version has effectively gone way up. I think this is a bad move, that will discourage students from purchasing MATLAB in any given year, unless they need it for courses. No (well, not much) more students buying MATLAB with the intent to explore it, knowing that it would still be available to them when it came time for their courses.
26 Comments
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MATLAB has lost its popularity — apparently not by coincidence. It seems that interest will continue to decline, accelerating MATLAB's demise.
MATLAB has fallen out of the top 20 for the first time!
I have some questions about the methodology of the TIOBE Index. I will not be the only person dabbling in multiple languages, just to name one weakness. I also noticed "(Visual) Basic" and "Visual Basic" both being in the list.
And the news article is hardly worthy of the name.
Oh god, yet another f*****g subscription service. I just wanted to purchase the home license, but this surprise majorly soured my opinion of Mathworks. Time to pruge Matlab from my pc.
I personally won't use anything from anybody that is an annual license...
Uggg. This will definitely get me going back to Python, especially for the hobbiest SDR side. At least give 3-years for that price. We're using it as fun here at home.
Wow this no longer about Innovation and help others grow!, It's such a shameful thing.
What a terrible decision by MathWorks. This will definitely drive away young people who are just getting started and make them choose other languages, and us veterans will have to look for other alternatives. Worst of all, they don’t even let you choose which add-ons you’d like to include from the 12 offered in the Home license (in my case, I’m not interested in machine learning or electrical topics; as a mechanical engineer, I’d like to be able to try out tools related to my field). I sincerely hope MathWorks reconsiders.
What I don't understand is that they seem to have removed all the toolboxes for people who hold perpetual licenses too!
I'm not seeing that, at least not yet. I have 2023 perpetual license with all my toolboxes. Is this just a 2025/26 thing?
when you say "with all my toolboxes" had you already purchased them?
I'm talking about purchasing the toolboxes for a perpetual license already purchased.
Very bad news... It is a pity there was no clear announcement for current Home users about that...
I understand (somewhat) the forces pushing seemingly all companies to subscription services. I'm sure that in a generation or so, no one will know of anything else, and only old-timers like me will bemoan the loss.
I would certainly not buy a home license under this pricing model. FYI, the Julia language seems like an even more attractive option than Python, for diehard MATLABers.
On the other hand, what about an extra Toolbox Home License? Is it also a yearly subscription service?
It is really a bad news.
I have a Machine Learning for MATLAB book and am planning to buy a Home License to refresh knowledge in this field. Then by next year, I must pay again in order to run my book's and my codes.
Toolboxes for Home licenses are now by subscription. :(
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