Both E-prime and MatLab are popular tools for presenting stimuli for fMRI, NIRS and behavioral experiments. Here are a comparison between them.
| E-Prime | MatLab + psychophysics toolbox | |
| price | ~$1000 | MatLab cost, $50-500 |
| easy to use | easy | moderate |
| need coding | no (most cases) | yes |
| flexibility | moderate | very |
| timing control | moderate | can be very accurate |
| connecting hardware | good | good |
| full screen | yes | can be |
