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Alteryx vs Databricks vs IBM Watson Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.8
Alteryx users praise its quick ROI, process automation, AI opportunities, and efficiency despite its high cost.
Sentiment score
6.6
Databricks efficiently lowers costs with cloud services, though ROI varies by sector and integration, particularly with Azure.
Sentiment score
7.0
Organizations saw positive ROI from IBM Watson Studio due to improved efficiency, scalability, sales, and reduced staffing needs.
Alteryx helps familiarize managers with artificial intelligence-driven possibilities.
For a lot of different tasks, including machine learning, it is a nice solution.
When it comes to big data processing, I prefer Databricks over other solutions.
The product offers a significant return on investment through its scalability and integration capabilities.
My customers have seen returns on investment through increased efficiency, automated calculations, improved accuracy in pricing, and reduced staffing needs due to the automation.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.3
Alteryx offers responsive customer service and valuable community support, though some users note longer response times and premium service pushes.
Sentiment score
7.1
Databricks support is praised for prompt, professional service, comprehensive resources, and effective communication, enhancing overall user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.2
IBM Watson Studio customer service is praised for efficiency and responsiveness, though support quality varies by subscription plan and community resources.
I contacted customer support once or twice, and they were quick to respond.
The customer service was not good because we weren't premium support users.
Customer support is good since I've had no issues and can easily contact representatives who respond promptly.
Whenever we reach out, they respond promptly.
As of now, we are raising issues and they are providing solutions without any problems.
I rate the technical support as fine because they have levels of technical support available, especially partners who get really good support from Databricks on new features.
The support quality depends on the SLA or the contract terms.
The community access is weak, which limits the ability to engage in discussions and find documentation and examples of similar cases effectively.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Alteryx is praised for smooth scalability, efficient data management, integration flexibility despite noted high scaling costs by some.
Sentiment score
7.4
Databricks is praised for its scalability, enabling easy adaptation to large data and user loads with efficient resource management.
Sentiment score
7.5
IBM Watson Studio is scalable with excellent integration, but its resource intensity may increase costs for extensive scaling.
Alteryx is scalable, and I would give it eight out of ten.
The patches have sometimes caused issues leading to our jobs being paused for about six hours.
Databricks is an easily scalable platform.
I would rate the scalability of this solution as very high, about nine out of ten.
Watson Studio is very scalable.
I rate IBM Watson Studio seven out of ten for scalability because while it scales, it requires significant resources to do so, making it expensive compared to some competitors.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Alteryx is praised for stability and speed with minor issues, excelling in data processing over competitors but needing cloud improvements.
Sentiment score
7.7
Databricks is stable and robust, with minor issues, handling large data volumes and earning high stability ratings.
Sentiment score
7.4
IBM Watson Studio is praised for stability and reliability, comparable to or better than competitors, with effective optimization for large tasks.
I didn't need to reach out to Alteryx for support because available documents usually provide enough information to resolve issues.
I have not encountered any lagging, crashing, or instability in the system during these three months of usage.
They release patches that sometimes break our code.
Although it is too early to definitively state the platform's stability, we have not encountered any issues so far.
Databricks is definitely a very stable product and reliable.
Expertise in optimization is necessary to manage such issues effectively.
 

Room For Improvement

Alteryx needs enhancements in visualization, cloud integration, pricing, scalability, and support for machine learning and database connectivity.
Databricks requires visualization improvements, pricing clarity, user-friendliness, expanded integrations, and simplification for non-technical users to enhance usability.
IBM Watson Studio needs a more intuitive interface, better support, and reduced setup complexity for wider adoption.
The tool could include more native connectors, such as for global ERPs, instead of requiring additional fees for these connections.
The support structure changed; initially, we received great support, however, it later became less reliable due to licensing issues and a tiered support system.
The additional features that Alteryx needs to work on to make it more competitive include better collaboration and easier integration through API.
Adjusting features like worker nodes and node utilization during cluster creation could mitigate these failures.
We prefer using a small to mid-sized cluster for many jobs to keep costs low, but this sometimes doesn't support our operations properly.
We use MLflow for managing MLOps, however, further improvement would be beneficial, especially for large language models and related tools.
The platform is associated with a complicated setup process and demands heavy hardware, making it expensive to scale.
One area that could be improved is the backup and restoration of the database and the overall database configuration.
 

Setup Cost

Alteryx's high pricing, ranging from $5,000 to $80,000 annually, offers discounts for multi-year subscriptions and justifiable ROI for larger firms.
Enterprise buyers view Databricks as moderately pricey, with high setup costs, though discounts and licensing flexibility are available.
IBM Watson Studio's pricing varies, offering a free light edition, yet considered expensive by some, especially in Africa.
Alteryx is more cost-effective compared to Informatica licenses, offering savings.
It has a fair price when considering a larger-scale implementation.
Alteryx is expensive.
It is not a cheap solution.
IBM Watson Studio is considered rather expensive, with a rating of six or seven.
 

Valuable Features

Alteryx provides user-friendly drag-and-drop analytics, supporting complex data tasks with strong integration and advanced features for diverse industries.
Databricks excels in scalability, integration, and user-friendly features, making it ideal for data processing and AI across industries.
IBM Watson Studio excels in automation, predictive analytics, and integration, offering comprehensive AI capabilities for diverse data-driven tasks.
Alteryx not only represents data but also supports decision-making by suggesting the next steps.
Analysts who do not have any coding experience can still work on the transformation and preparation of data, which is quite useful.
Alteryx is user-friendly and allows easy creation of workflows compared to Informatica PowerCenter.
Databricks' capability to process data in parallel enhances data processing speed.
The platform allows us to leverage cloud advantages effectively, enhancing our AI and ML projects.
The Unity Catalog is for data governance, and the Delta Lake is to build the lakehouse.
This capability saves a significant amount of time by automating processes that typically involve manual work, such as data cleaning, feature engineering, and predictive analytics.
It integrates well with other platforms and offers good scalability.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of Alteryx is 5.7%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Databricks is 13.9%, down from 19.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Watson Studio is 2.1%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Science Platforms Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Databricks13.9%
Alteryx5.7%
IBM Watson Studio2.1%
Other78.3%
Data Science Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Theresa McLaughlin - PeerSpot reviewer
Quick development enables seamless data processing despite occasional support issues
There were times when the product would fail during development without an apparent reason. The support structure changed; initially, we received great support, however, it later became less reliable due to licensing issues and a tiered support system. Licensing negotiations were problematic, affecting our product usage. For instance, our licenses were temporarily lost during negotiations when an agreement couldn't be reached.
ShubhamSharma7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Capability to integrate diverse coding languages in a single notebook greatly enhances workflow
Databricks offers various courses that I can use, whether it's PySpark, Scala, or R. I can leverage all these courses in a single notebook, which is beneficial for clients as they can access various tools in one place whenever needed. This is quite significant. I usually work with PySpark based on client requirements. After coding, I feed the Databricks notebooks into the ADF pipeline for updates. Databricks' capability to process data in parallel enhances data processing speed. Furthermore, I can connect our Databricks notebook directly with Power BI and other visualization tools like Qlik. Once we develop code, it allows us to transform raw data into visualizations for clients using analysis diagrams, which is very helpful.
Abilio Duarte - PeerSpot reviewer
A highly robust and well-documented platform that simplifies the complex world of AI
The main challenge lies in visibility and ease of use. Providing training sessions can be immensely helpful in helping users navigate and understand the tool's potential. This approach would empower users to explore and make the most of the tools and technologies at their disposal. Another area where IBM could enhance its offering is by providing more visibility to end users regarding the vast potential that Watson offers.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise51
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise56
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is the Biggest Difference Between Alteryx and IBM SPSS Modeler?
One of the differences is that with Alteryx you can use it as an ETL and analytics tool. Please connect with me direc...
What is the Biggest Difference Between Alteryx and IBM SPSS Modeler?
Alteryx is an extremely easy and flexible data tool, flexible in terms of drag and drop toolset and also has python, ...
What is the Biggest Difference Between Alteryx and IBM SPSS Modeler?
I am not familiar with IBM SPSS Modeler, therefore, I cannot compare these two products. Regarding Alteryx I can say...
Which do you prefer - Databricks or Azure Machine Learning Studio?
Databricks gives you the option of working with several different languages, such as SQL, R, Scala, Apache Spark, or ...
How would you compare Databricks vs Amazon SageMaker?
We researched AWS SageMaker, but in the end, we chose Databricks. Databricks is a Unified Analytics Platform designe...
Which would you choose - Databricks or Azure Stream Analytics?
Databricks is an easy-to-set-up and versatile tool for data management, analysis, and business analytics. For analyti...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Watson Studio?
IBM Watson Studio is considered rather expensive, with a rating of six or seven. The pricing could be optimized relat...
What needs improvement with IBM Watson Studio?
IBM Watson Studio, while powerful, lacks user-friendliness. It is not easy to use, particularly for medium or small e...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Databricks Unified Analytics, Databricks Unified Analytics Platform, Redash
Watson Studio, IBM Data Science Experience, Data Science Experience, DSx
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

AnalyticsIq Inc., belk, BloominBrands Inc., Cardinalhealth, Cineplex, Dairy Queen
Elsevier, MyFitnessPal, Sharethrough, Automatic Labs, Celtra, Radius Intelligence, Yesware
GroupM, Accenture, Fifth Third Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Databricks, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Knime and others in Data Science Platforms. Updated: September 2025.
869,095 professionals have used our research since 2012.