Creating a tool that adds to the functionality of an existing toolbox

Hey all, I was wondering about how monetizing a matlab app could work for a situation like this one.

If you develop an app in matlab app designer that performs a useful function thats a good addition to an existing matlab toolbox, is there a way to earn money from that without a commercial license? I'm currently a student in internship and have been tinkering with a side project, I'm not even sure if its potentially useful in industry its been more of a interest based learning exericise during my off time. But i figured id ask about this sort of situation in case i find out it is potentially useful.

I understand matlab requires commercial licenses for software developed for use as a 3rd party application where the users dont need matlab installed. Im more wondering about a case where the software would primarily be used by someone who already has matlab installed, is there a way to earn some money for that?

I understand you can publish work on file share, I dont expect this to be worth much if anything, its been a good learning expierience regardless. But im a student with a fair bit of debt and thought this would be worth an ask, see if theres some system mathworks has where people can submit something for review thats potentially useful as added functionality for one of their existing toolkits, and throw the developer a few bucks if they determine it has value for the platform.

Thanks all, not close to doing something like that if it is available but curious to ask

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

The only kind of license that you can use to earn money with is the commercial license. That includes side issues such as the possibility of monetization of ads on a YouTube channel that gave free advice about matlab.

The conditions on the Student license are clear: it can only be used for coursework (or projects necessary for your degree.) It cannot even be used as the basis for publishing papers arising out of course work or thesis.

An Academic license on the other hand can be used as the basis for published papers, or grant-sponsored academic research, but not for monetization. (It is unclear what the Mathworks position is about internal chargebacks: if a university section that produces code for academic use is required by the university to get its internal funding by charging the academic department, with no outside funding involved, then I do not know how Mathworks would treat that.)