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SciPy VS MATLAB

Compare SciPy VS MATLAB and see what are their differences

SciPy logo SciPy

SciPy is a Python-based ecosystem of open-source software for mathematics, science, and engineering. 

MATLAB logo MATLAB

A high-level language and interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization, and programming
  • SciPy Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-26
  • MATLAB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-30

We recommend LibHunt MATLAB for discovery and comparisons of trending MATLAB projects.

SciPy features and specs

  • Comprehensive Library
    SciPy provides a wide range of scientific and technical computing tools, including modules for optimization, integration, interpolation, eigenvalue problems, algebraic equations, differential equations, statistics, and more.
  • Interoperability
    SciPy is built on top of NumPy, which means it naturally dovetails with other scientific computing libraries in the Python ecosystem, facilitating ease of integration and use in conjunction with libraries like Matplotlib and Pandas.
  • Active Community
    SciPy boasts a large, active community of developers and users, which provides extensive documentation, forums, and regular updates and improvements to the library.
  • Open-source
    Being an open-source library, SciPy promotes collaboration and adaptation, allowing users to contribute to its development and modify its tools to suit specific needs.

Possible disadvantages of SciPy

  • Complexity
    For beginners in scientific computing or programming, the comprehensive nature of SciPy can be overwhelming due to its broad range of functionalities and somewhat steep learning curve.
  • Performance Limitations
    Being a high-level library, SciPy may not be as performant as low-level implementations or specialized tools for very demanding computational tasks or large-scale data processing.
  • Dependency on NumPy
    While SciPy's reliance on NumPy ensures compatibility and ease of use within the Python ecosystem, it also means that its performance and limits are tied to those of NumPy.
  • Windows Limitations
    Some functions and modules of SciPy may not work as efficiently or might encounter compatibility issues when run on Windows operating systems compared to Unix-based systems.

MATLAB features and specs

  • Versatility
    MATLAB is versatile and can be used across a wide range of applications, including engineering, data analysis, robotics, and image processing.
  • Built-in Functions
    MATLAB comes with a vast library of built-in functions and toolboxes that simplify complex mathematical computations and data visualization tasks.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The software offers an intuitive and user-friendly graphical interface that makes it accessible even for those who are not experts in programming.
  • Excellent Visualization
    MATLAB provides high-quality, customizable plots and graphs that facilitate the clear and effective presentation of data.
  • Strong Community and Support
    Users can benefit from extensive documentation, community forums, and customer support from MathWorks, which aids in troubleshooting and learning.
  • Integration Capabilities
    MATLAB integrates well with other programming languages like C, C++, and Java, and supports interfaces to SQL databases.

Possible disadvantages of MATLAB

  • Cost
    MATLAB is expensive to license, making it less accessible for small businesses, individual professionals, and students without institutional access.
  • Memory Usage
    MATLAB can be very memory-intensive, which could be a limitation when dealing with large datasets or running on devices with limited computational resources.
  • Speed
    Although MATLAB is efficient for rapid prototyping, it is generally slower in execution speed compared to compiled languages like C or Fortran, particularly for heavy computations.
  • Proprietary Nature
    Being a proprietary software, MATLAB does not offer the same level of transparency and flexibility that open-source alternatives provide.
  • Learning Curve
    For some new users, especially those who have no prior experience with numerical computing environments, it might have a steep learning curve.
  • Limited Cross-Platform Compatibility
    While MATLAB supports multiple operating systems, not all features and toolboxes are available on each platform, potentially limiting its utility in diverse environments.

Analysis of MATLAB

Overall verdict

  • Yes, MATLAB is considered a good tool by many professionals and academics, especially in fields that require numerical computation and data analysis.

Why this product is good

  • MATLAB offers a vast collection of built-in functions and toolboxes for various applications like signal processing, image processing, machine learning, and more.
  • The environment is user-friendly and has excellent documentation, making it easier for beginners to learn.
  • It provides robust support for matrix operations, which is beneficial for linear algebra tasks and scientific computations.
  • MATLAB integrates well with languages like C/C++, Python, and Java, allowing for flexible development options.

Recommended for

  • Engineers and scientists performing complex mathematical calculations and simulations.
  • Students and educators in academic settings who require a reliable tool for teaching and learning mathematical concepts.
  • Researchers and data analysts looking to rapidly prototype algorithms and visualize data.
  • Professionals dealing with industries like aerospace, automotive, communications, and finance where rigorous data analysis is required.

SciPy videos

Numerical Computing With NumPy Tutorial | SciPy 2020 | Eric Olsen

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Land on Vector Spaces: Practical Linear Algebra with Python | SciPy 2019 Tutorial | L Barba, T Wang

MATLAB videos

Matlab Review Part 1

More videos:

  • Review - The Complete MATLAB Course: Beginner to Advanced!
  • Tutorial - Complete MATLAB Tutorial for Beginners

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to SciPy and MATLAB)
Data Science And Machine Learning
Technical Computing
8 8%
92% 92
Data Science Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Numerical Computation
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare SciPy and MATLAB

SciPy Reviews

25 Python Frameworks to Master
SciPy provides a collection of algorithms and functions built on top of the NumPy. It helps to perform common scientific and engineering tasks such as optimization, signal processing, integration, linear algebra, and more.
Source: kinsta.com
Top 8 Image-Processing Python Libraries Used in Machine Learning
Scipy is used for mathematical and scientific computations but can also perform multi-dimensional image processing using the submodule scipy.ndimage. It provides functions to operate on n-dimensional Numpy arrays and at the end of the day images are just that.
Source: neptune.ai
Top Python Libraries For Image Processing In 2021
SciPy is primarily used for mathematical and scientific computations, but sometimes it can also be used for basic image manipulation and processing tasks using the submodule scipy.ndimage.At the end of the day, images are just multidimensional arrays, SciPy provides a set of functions that are used to operate n-dimensional Numpy operations. SciPy provides some basic image...

MATLAB Reviews

25 Best Statistical Analysis Software
MATLAB is an exceptional choice for individuals seeking to perform advanced statistical analysis and data visualization. Its high-level programming environment and comprehensive range of tools enable users to efficiently process, analyze, and visualize their data.
7 Best MATLAB alternatives for Linux
MATLAB is a programming language and numeric computing environment. It is used for solving mathematical problems and displaying the result graphically. MATLAB is a paid tool, they provide a free trial for one month.
15 data science tools to consider using in 2021
Developed and sold by software vendor MathWorks since 1984, Matlab is a high-level programming language and analytics environment for numerical computing, mathematical modeling and data visualization. It's primarily used by conventional engineers and scientists to analyze data, design algorithms and develop embedded systems for wireless communications, industrial control,...
The 16 Best Data Science and Machine Learning Platforms for 2021
Description: MathWorks MATLAB combines a desktop environment tuned for iterative analysis and design processes with a programming language that expresses matrix and array mathematics directly. It includes the Live Editor for creating scripts that combine code, output, and formatted text in an executable notebook. MATLAB toolboxes are professionally developed, tested, and...
Matlab Alternatives
Matrix Laboratory also known as MATLAB is a high-level programming language. It provides an interactive environment to perform computations in various fields such as mathematics, sciences and engineering streams. The results can be visualized and generated as reports for further analysis. Matlab is the pioneer in combining these things. A team of professionals develop the...
Source: www.educba.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, SciPy seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 17 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

SciPy mentions (17)

  • Intro to Ray on GKE
    The Python Library components of Ray could be considered analogous to solutions like numpy, scipy, and pandas (which is most analogous to the Ray Data library specifically). As a framework and distributed computing solution, Ray could be used in place of a tool like Apache Spark or Python Dask. It’s also worthwhile to note that Ray Clusters can be used as a distributed computing solution within Kubernetes, as... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Video Generation with Python
    Python has become a popular programming language for different applications, including data science, artificial intelligence, and web development. But, did you know creating and rendering fully customized videos with Python is also possible? At Stack Builders, we have successfully used Python libraries such as MoviePy, SciPy, and ImageMagick to generate videos with animations, text, and images. In this article, we... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Beginning Python: Project Management With PDM
    A majority of software in the modern world is built upon various third party packages. These packages help offload work that would otherwise be rather tedious. This includes interacting with cloud APIs, developing scientific applications, or even creating web applications. As you gain experience in python you'll be using more and more of these packages developed by others to power your own code. In this example... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Understanding Cosine Similarity in Python with Scikit-Learn
    SciPy: a library used for scientific and technical computing. It has a function that can calculate the cosine distance, which equals 1 minus the cosine similarity. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • PSA: You don't need fancy stuff to do good work.
    Python's pandas, NumPy, and SciPy libraries offer powerful functionality for data manipulation, while matplotlib, seaborn, and plotly provide versatile tools for creating visualizations. Similarly, in R, you can use dplyr, tidyverse, and data.table for data manipulation, and ggplot2, lattice, and shiny for visualization. These packages enable you to create insightful visualizations and perform statistical analyses... Source: about 2 years ago
View more

MATLAB mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of MATLAB yet. Tracking of MATLAB recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing SciPy and MATLAB, you can also consider the following products

NumPy - NumPy is the fundamental package for scientific computing with Python

Wolfram Mathematica - Mathematica has characterized the cutting edge in specialized processing—and gave the chief calculation environment to a large number of pioneers, instructors, understudies, and others around the globe.

Pandas - Pandas is an open source library providing high-performance, easy-to-use data structures and data analysis tools for the Python.

GNU Octave - GNU Octave is a programming language for scientific computing.

Matplotlib - matplotlib is a python 2D plotting library which produces publication quality figures in a variety...

Scilab - Scilab Official Website. Enter your search in the box aboveAbout ScilabScilab is free and open source software for numerical . Thanks for downloading Scilab!