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Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop vs IBM Spectrum Computing 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cloudera Distribution for H...
Ranking in Hadoop
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
NoSQL Databases (8th)
IBM Spectrum Computing
Ranking in Hadoop
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Management (26th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Hadoop category, the mindshare of Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is 22.1%, down from 25.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Computing is 1.9%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Hadoop Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop22.1%
IBM Spectrum Computing1.9%
Other76.0%
Hadoop
 

Featured Reviews

Rok Dolinsek - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables on-premise implementation with powerful data processing capabilities
This is the only solution that is possible to install on-premise. Cloudera provides a hybrid solution that combines compute on cloud or on-premises. It includes all machine learning algorithms in the Spark machine learning library. All functionalities needed for a big data platform and ETL are on the platform, eliminating the need for other tools. It is scalable, ready for vertical scaling, and very powerful, offering numerous functionalities and configurations for generative AI.
OmarIsmail1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Specialist appreciates intelligent workload management, strong support, and scalability
The best features of IBM Spectrum Computing are common across many of their storage products. The software is solid, meaning that the code is stable. They take business seriously, which is what IBM stands for - International Business Machines. They always maintain a business-oriented approach in their software development. It's not simply clicking through interfaces; in IBM software, they consider their actions, process flows, and workflows around business processes. It requires understanding IBM and their methodology, as the software operates accordingly. I have utilized IBM Spectrum Computing's intelligent workload management feature. We use Insights, which is connected to the cloud. This provides AI capabilities for analyzing the configuration, offering smart recommendations on new code, warning about bugs in current code, and suggesting configuration improvements through its advisor tool. The predictive analytics feature in IBM Spectrum Computing enables optimal software performance through Insights. However, being a storage administrator requires foundational knowledge and understanding beyond these tools. For troubleshooting, it's efficient in spotting bottlenecks, but understanding the terms and metrics is essential as it provides answers that need interpretation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We also really like the Cloudera community. You can have any question and will have your answer within a few hours."
"The search function is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
"The solution is reliable and stable, it fits our requirements."
"Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop provides numerous features and capabilities combined into one platform, offers power processing, supports different file systems and query engines, and provides parallel processing for handling many requests."
"It has the best proxy, security, and support features compared to open-source products."
"Very good end-to-end security features."
"Customer service and support were able to fix whatever the issue was."
"CDH has a wide variety of proprietary tools that we use, like Impala. So from that perspective, it's quite useful as opposed to something open-source. We get a lot of value from Cloudera's proprietary tools."
"Spectrum Computing's best features are its speed, robustness, and data processing and analysis."
"IBM's ability to cluster compute resources is impressive, with built-in support for scenarios like VR and active-active configurations,"
"We are satisfied with the technical support, we have no issues."
"The comparison was challenging, but the IBM Spectrum Scale offered a balanced solution. Our engineers rated itsanalytics capabilities equally high as Pure Storage. For workload management, Spectrum Computing provided effective solutions that met our needs. Workload management is part of a complete solution that uses different tools. There were the cloud and HPC parts; within HPC, there were parts like liquid cooling, simple computing, storage, and orchestration. The orchestration team handled the workload management."
"The most valuable feature is the backup capability."
"Easy to operate and use."
"I have utilized IBM Spectrum Computing's intelligent workload management feature through Insights, which is connected to the cloud."
"This solution is working for both VTL and tape."
 

Cons

"Currently, we are using many other tools such as Spark and Blade Job to improve the performance."
"This is a very expensive solution."
"There are multiple bugs when we update."
"It is quite complicated to configure and install. Integrating the platform into an information system is always a challenge, especially when starting with on-premise implementation."
"There is a maximum of a one-gigabyte block size, which is an area of storage that can be improved upon."
"The procedure for operations could be simplified."
"There are better solutions out there that have more features than this one."
"It would be useful if Cloudera had more tools like SQL Engines that offer the traditional relational database. We have to do a lot of work preparing the data outside Cloudera before getting it into the platform."
"Spectrum Computing is lagging behind other products, most likely because it hasn't been shifted to the cloud."
"In Pakistan, IBM's disadvantage is the lack of OEM support and presence."
"We'd like to see some AI model training for machine learning."
"The deduplication software isn't quite up to speed with the market. While IBM has excellent compression technology, specifically on their FlashCore modules, they lag behind competitors such as NetApp in deduplication capabilities."
"Lack of sufficient documentation, particularly in Spanish."
"The deduplication software isn't quite up to speed with the market."
"This solution is no longer managing tapes correctly."
"IBM's sales and support structure can be challenging."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cloudera requires a license to use."
"The tool is not expensive."
"The pricing must be improved."
"When comparing with Oracle Sybase and SQL, it's cheaper. It's not expensive."
"The tool is expensive...For the SMB market or customers whose environments are not that complex and do not have multiple systems running, Cloudera might not be a good option."
"It is an expensive product."
"I wouldn't recommend CDH to others because of its high cost."
"The solution is fairly expensive."
"This solution is expensive."
"Spectrum Computing is one of the most expensive products on the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
18%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
11%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?
The tool can be deployed using different container technologies, which makes it very scalable.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?
The price for Cloudera is average, yet it is very good compared to other solutions. It can be deployed on-premises, unlike competitors' cloud-only solutions.
What needs improvement with Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?
If they could support modifying the data more easily than the current implementation, it would be beneficial.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Computing?
IBM Spectrum Computing consistently offers competitive pricing. When solutioning new implementations, IBM always presents the best solution and price. In a recent comparison with Pure Storage and N...
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Computing?
IBM Spectrum Computing had limitations with remote copy services between head office and disaster recovery sites. In the last year, IBM has improved the code by re-engineering it to policy-based re...
What is your primary use case for IBM Spectrum Computing?
The typical use case for IBM Spectrum Computing is that it's an all-rounder. It can be used in various scenarios, such as the retailer I work for that has batch processing. It's on-demand when perf...
 

Also Known As

No data available
IBM Platform Computing
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

37signals, Adconion,adgooroo, Aggregate Knowledge, AMD, Apollo Group, Blackberry, Box, BT, CSC
London South Bank University, Transvalor, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, Genomic
Find out what your peers are saying about Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop vs. IBM Spectrum Computing and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.