6

Is there a way to obtain a free BARON or Knitro license? I am doing academic research and I really need these global optimization solvers (Knitro is not necessarily for global optimization, although it is pretty strong in many problems in global optimization)...

Oguz Toragay
  • 8,652
  • 2
  • 13
  • 41
independentvariable
  • 3,980
  • 10
  • 36
  • 2
    What types of problem are you trying to globally optimize? New for 9.x, Gurobi solves (at least attempt to) non-convex quadratics in objective and/or constraints, to global optimality. That includes bilinear expressions as special cases of non-convex quadratics. – Mark L. Stone Jul 12 '20 at 01:27

3 Answers3

9

You can use BARON and Knitro for free from the NEOS Server. Also, you have the following options:

  • If you are in the first year of graduation, you can apply for a one-year free graduate student license of AMPL which includes both solvers.
  • If you are an individual with a CMU or UIUC email address or related to sponsors of the CAPD you can have a free academic license.
Oguz Toragay
  • 8,652
  • 2
  • 13
  • 41
  • Thanks for your answer. Is there any way to obtain an academic API for MATLAB, etc? I think sending models to the server repeatedly is not too practical at the research. – independentvariable Feb 21 '20 at 01:49
  • Yes, some universities support academic license for Matlab as well. Check with your university's IT department to see whether they have such a service or not. – Oguz Toragay Feb 21 '20 at 01:51
  • 3
    If you cannot get free access to MATLAB, you might check whether GNU Octave would work for you. It is open source and tries to be compatible with MATLAB. – prubin Feb 21 '20 at 21:40
  • My university does not have MATLAB API for these solvers. We only have thme via GAMS. I really need the API since I wrote hundreds of line codes in MATLAB and I can't change the whole code. But I am also now aware that there is no much options I have ... :) – independentvariable Feb 22 '20 at 18:26
  • 1
    @independentvariable, maybe page 12 and the provided link to the codes in http://www.optimization-online.org/DB_FILE/2007/01/1559.pdf can be helpful. – Oguz Toragay Feb 22 '20 at 18:56
  • @OguzToragay To interface BARON with MATLAB, you must download both BARON and the MATLAB/BARON interface zip archive. The Optimization Firm provides BARON for free for problems up to 10 variables. For larger problems, you will need a BARON license. No license is required for the MATLAB/BARON interface for any size. – independentvariable Feb 22 '20 at 22:28
  • @independentvariable, you are right, comments is deleted. – Oguz Toragay Feb 22 '20 at 22:35
  • @independentvariable "No license is required for the MATLAB/BARON interface for any size". Sort if true, but you will be limited to 10 variables in what you can solve, via MATLAB or otherwise... And actually, there are other limits "This code can handle problems with up to 10 variables, 10 constraints, and 50 nonlinear operations" That 50 nonlinear operations might be limiting factor for many models. – Mark L. Stone Feb 24 '20 at 03:21
6

You can also download our Octeract Engine - it's free for students and academic staff and solves a superset of the problem types that BARON and KNITRO do (global optimality for non convex problems + trigonometric & nonsmooth & discontinuous problems).

Nikos Kazazakis
  • 12,121
  • 17
  • 59
5

You can download a 1 month trial licence of Knitro from Artelys website and ask for an extension if needed. Artelys also offers free licenses for teaching programs.

Nicolas Omont
  • 51
  • 1
  • 1