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Databricks vs Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

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
6.5
Databricks enhances efficiency and ROI, offering scalable solutions and cost savings over traditional Hadoop with easy setup.
Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio offers a 36% ROI by simplifying processes, reducing errors, and providing estimation tools.
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.
I have seen a return on investment from using Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio in terms of workload reduction, as we now complete the same projects with two people instead of five.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
Databricks' support is generally praised for responsiveness, though some note delays, with resources often sufficient for independent problem-solving.
Sentiment score
7.2
Users generally rate Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio's technical support from moderate to high, appreciating its responsiveness and comprehensive assistance.
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 customer support for Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is quite responsive across different channels, making it a cool experience.
Microsoft technical support is rated a seven out of ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Databricks is praised for its adaptability, scalability, automation features, and performance across industries but needs improved autoscaling control.
Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is highly rated for scalability, suitable for medium and large organizations, despite some complexity.
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.
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is scalable as I can choose the compute, making it flexible for various scales.
We are building Azure Machine Learning Studio as a scalable solution.
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio's scalability has been beneficial, as I could increase my compute resources when needing more data injection.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Databricks is highly rated for stability and performance, with occasional minor issues often due to user or external factors.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is reliable but faces stability issues with JavaScript and concerns about its future.
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.
 

Room For Improvement

Databricks should improve visualization, integration, user experience, and scalability, addressing concerns about pricing, error messages, and onboarding.
Improving Azure Machine Learning Studio involves enhancing integration, usability, documentation, security, performance, and expanding features and tutorials.
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.
It would be beneficial for them to incorporate more services required for LLMs or LLM evaluation.
I find the pricing to be not a good story in this case, as it is not affordable for everyone.
In future updates, I would appreciate improvements in integration and more AI features.
 

Setup Cost

Databricks offers flexible, often expensive pricing, mitigated by cloud deployment and tiered licensing, with varied user cost experiences.
Azure Machine Learning Studio is secure and efficient, but users find pricing complex and potentially expensive with usage-based costs.
It is not a cheap solution.
I rate the pricing as three or four on a scale of one to ten in terms of affordability.
The pricing for Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is reasonable since it's pay as you go.
 

Valuable Features

Databricks offers an intuitive interface for data processing, integrating SQL, Python, and features like Delta Lake and MLflow.
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio offers a user-friendly interface, seamless deployment, and strong integration for efficient model development and scalability.
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.
The platform provides managed services and compute, and I have more control in Azure, even in terms of monitoring services.
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is a powerful platform for those already in the Azure ecosystem because it allows for scalability and provides a good environment for reproducibility, as well as collaboration tools, all designed and packaged in one place, which makes it outstanding.
Azure Machine Learning Studio provides a platform to integrate with large language models.
 

Categories and Ranking

Databricks
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (8th), Streaming Analytics (1st)
Microsoft Azure Machine Lea...
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
AI Development Platforms (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of Databricks is 16.5%, down from 19.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is 5.2%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Science Platforms
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
Sep 23, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Takayuki Umehara - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlined workflows with drag and drop convenience but needs enhancements in AI
I use Machine Learning Studio for system reselling and integration Machine Learning Studio is easy to use, with a significant feature being the drag and drop interface that enhances workflow without any complaints. It provides a return on investment and cost savings, proving beneficial for…
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 Python. It offers many different cluster choices and excellent integration with ...
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 designed to accelerate innovation projects. It is based on Spark so it is very fast. It...
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 analytics teams that have to interpret data to further the business goals of their orga...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio?
The learning curve is very low. Operationalizing the model is also very easy within the Azure ecosystem.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio?
Pricing is considered to be top-segment and should be improved. I rate the pricing as three or four on a scale of one to ten in terms of affordability.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio?
Machine Learning Studio is more dependent on legacy Machine Learning algorithms. It would be beneficial for them to incorporate more services required for LLMs or LLM evaluation. This could increas...
 

Also Known As

Databricks Unified Analytics, Databricks Unified Analytics Platform, Redash
Azure Machine Learning, MS Azure Machine Learning Studio
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Elsevier, MyFitnessPal, Sharethrough, Automatic Labs, Celtra, Radius Intelligence, Yesware
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Schneider Electric, BP
Find out what your peers are saying about Databricks vs. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,874 professionals have used our research since 2012.