In this paper, a systematic literature review of rapid control prototyping, which facilitates education in the modelling and control of dynamic systems because it reduces programming effort, is presented. Six questions were proposed that were used in the analyses of one hundred references from conference and journal papers. The questions used are, for example, the dates and geographic regions of the publication, software and hardware platforms, differences, similarities, and application areas. Several applications were reviewed in electrical systems, transport vehicles, nonlinear systems, power electronics, process control, industrial automation, and robotics. The review concludes with which geographic regions are more prolific, the advantages and problems of the use of RCP, and what differences exist between the commercial and free software design.