ANNOUNCEMENT: COMSOL RENEWAL 2026 – 2029

The Cambridge University 35 seat COMSOL Licence, managed by the Engineering Department, will be due for renewal early in 2026.  ICS are negotiating with COMSOL.

COMSOL have provided 2 renewal proposals:

• 30 Seat, Floating Network COMSOL licence – to include 297 modules –  £75,000 +VAT (£90,000 inc VAT). If ALL seats are committed the cost per seat will be £3,000 inc VAT. Based on the current number of seat owners (35 seats) this could result in some seats being shared both with availability and cost.

 

• 40 Seat, Floating Network COMSOL licence – to include 376 modules – £85,000 +VAT (£102,000 inc VAT). If ALL seats are committed the cost breakdown per seat would be £2,550 inc VAT. Based on the current number of seat owners (35 Seat owners) this licence may be at risk of not being fully committed. NB: Engineering will need to include a small buffer in seat cost if all of the COMSOL seats are not committed to ensure the full cost of the licence renewal will be covered.

 

Whilst the contract subscription charge is an annual payment arrangement, seat holders can pay for their seats annually or for the full 3 year contract duration, dependent on available funding. This would be a fixed cost and would not increase over the 3 year term. NB: Purchasing a COMSOL seat is a 3 year commitment as we are required to commit to a 3 year contract!

• As per previous years you would be able to add as many end users to your seat as you would like but the seat can only be used by one person at any given time.
• The licence would again include 3 training sessions – 2 x Introductory sessions and 1 x bespoke.
• ICS would again retain 1 x COMSOL seat to be utilised for those requiring short term access – the cost for this will be determined by which of the above proposals is selected for purchase.

The COMSOL Multiphysics Campus-wide licence is cost effective for those who utilise this software across the University. As way of a comparison; to purchase a 1 year academic licence with 3 modules the cost  would be £5,076. A perpetual academic licence with 3 modules attached would be £10,152 but annual maintenance payments would need to be consider if the licence is to be maintained.

If you are interested in purchasing a COMSOL Seat for your Research Group, Division or Department please contact Ms Diane Hazell ics-admin@eng.cam.ac.uk

 

COMSOL Multiphysics Licence 2023 – 2026

Accessing a licence

A seat is available for £2,400 per annum and can be shared between multiple non-concurrent users.  The seat entitles you to access all of the modules available under our Departmental licence (listed below) The current 35 seat / 220 Module COMSOL Software licence contract is for 3 years  (01/02/2023 – 31/01/2026) but the subscription can be paid annually.

Please contact helpdesk@eng.cam.ac.uk with details of how many seats are required, which CRSids will have access to them and a source of funds

Short term access

If access is only required for a short period or funding for the 3 year contract is unknown/unavailable then the following rates are available:

• Three months – £800
• Six months – £1500

This will provide access to all modules but the seat would be shared with other end users also requiring short term access.

Please contact helpdesk@eng.cam.ac.uk with details of which length period is required, which CRSids will have access and a source of funds.

Available modules

AC/DC	Acoustics	Battery Design	CFD
Chemical Reaction Engineering	Composite Materials	Corrosion	Design
Electric Discharge	Electrochemistry	Electrodeposition	Fatigue
Fuel cell & Electrolyzer	Geomechanics	Heat Transfer	Liquid & Gas Properties
Material Library	MEMS	Metal Processing	Microfluidics
Mixer	Molecular Flow	Multibody Dynamics	Nonlinear Structural Materials
Optimization	Particle Tracing	Pipe Flow	Plasma
Polymer Flow	Porous Media	Ray Optics	RF
Rotordynamics	Semiconductor	Structural Mechanics	Subsurface Flow
Uncertainty Quantification	Wave Optics

LiveLink for Autocad	LiveLink for Excel	LiveLink for Inventor	LiveLink for Matlab
LiveLink for PTC Creo	LiveLink for PTC Pro/ENGINEER	LiveLink for Revit	LiveLink for Simulink
LiveLink for SolidEdge	LiveLink for Solidworks	CAD import	ECAD import

Installation instructions

Please note that you will be unable to use the licence without authorisation from a COMSOL seat owner or having purchased a seat

Ensure that the account on the device has your CRSid as the username. You can learn how to do this for Windows or MacOS at https://help.eng.cam.ac.uk/software/change-account-name-for-licence-server/

Step 1: Download the Software

You can download the COMSOL software from the following link:
http://software.eng.cam.ac.uk/comsol/

Step 2: Set Up the Connection

This step is not required if you are connected to the department or university network (via a wired connection or Eduroam).

If you are not connected to the department or university network, you will need access to an Engineering VPN or a University VPN. If you don’t already have one, click the link to set up a University VPN connection:

https://help.uis.cam.ac.uk/service/network-services/remote-access/uis-vpn

Make sure to activate the VPN during software installation and every time you use the software.

Step 3: Install the Software

During installation, you will be prompted to enter a licence format. Choose <port number>@<hostname> and use the following details:

1718@comsol-lmserv.eng.cam.ac.uk

Technical Support

For support on installing COMSOL;

Engineering Department end-users please contact helpdesk@eng.cam.ac.uk with full details including screenshots of any errors

Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology end-users please contact Jon Cowper it-support@ceb.cam.ac.uk

Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy end-users please contact Anthony Gledhill computer-officer@msm.cam.ac.uk

Department of Chemistry end-users please contact Chemistry IT Team support@ch.cam.ac.uk

DAMPT end-users please contact the Maths IT Helpdesk help@maths.cam.ac.uk

 

For support using COMSOL please see COMSOL’s Support Centre

Training/Support

Please see this page for details of online resources & support available to those with licences.