You can already find free and open source alternatives for just about everything in Matlab. And yet, even many companies that complain about the cost of Matlab don't use the Python and Octave alternatives. Seems like money is achieving something that other motivators aren't.
"Know your users". Something is preventing them from considering those alternatives as replacements.
There is high resistance to learning new tools in many environments, especially workplaces. Someone who learned a lot of Matlab will not easily be motivated to learn a better tool. And I would claim, that well supported non-proprietary tools like NumPy and other Python Libraries in the ecosystem, or Julia, are inherently better in the long run.
Some people in teaching roles will even further Matlab's spread irresponsibly out of not wanting to learn a new tool. I have seen this myself. A professor showed the students Matlab, instead of using non-proprietary alternatives. He also did not seem interested in learning about anything else, when I used Python + Numpy instead and showed him.
The alternative to Matlab is not necessarily another programming language. Often, it's a purpose-built tool with maybe some scripting built in.
That's what confuses software engineers about Matlab. They see code and think that the work is software engineering, but that's not always the case.
Imagine the reverse scenario. The professor sees you crunching numbers in Python and tries to convince you to switch to Matlab because it's "better". But you're a software engineer, and you still have to do all your software things that Matlab isn't great for. Why would you be interested in it?
Your previous comment suggested nobody will develop that software because it has poor financial outcomes, that was what I was responding to.
Of course you're right in this comment. Just because something exists doesn't mean people will know about it or trust it. Relationships, support, marketing etc that businesses provide go a long way to helping adoption.
"Know your users". Something is preventing them from considering those alternatives as replacements.