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Dremio vs IBM Watson Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 9, 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
5.6
Dremio reduces manpower costs, enhances efficiency, and eliminates infrastructure concerns, improving operations by accessing multiple data sources.
Sentiment score
5.8
IBM Watson Studio boosts efficiency and accuracy, reduces staffing, enhances conversion rates, and offers integration benefits, despite its cost.
Dremio surely saves time, reduces costs, and all those things because we don't have to worry so much about the infrastructure to make the different tools communicate.
SR BI developer at BRQ Digital Solutions
The product offers a significant return on investment through its scalability and integration capabilities.
Process Automation Lead at CONDIACTOR
My customers have seen returns on investment through increased efficiency, automated calculations, improved accuracy in pricing, and reduced staffing needs due to the automation.
Director, Channel and Alliances at Akinon
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.2
Dremio's customer service is responsive and helpful, facing staffing challenges as demand grows, requiring more integrators for support.
Sentiment score
6.5
IBM Watson Studio support is praised for responsiveness, but quality varies by plan and community access is limited.
We have had to reach out for customer support many times, and they respond, so they are pretty supportive about some long-term issues.
SR BI developer at BRQ Digital Solutions
The community access is weak, which limits the ability to engage in discussions and find documentation and examples of similar cases effectively.
Director, Channel and Alliances at Akinon
The support quality depends on the SLA or the contract terms.
Process Automation Lead at CONDIACTOR
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Dremio scales well, offering flexibility and built-in capabilities, though community users face scaling limits due to licensing.
Sentiment score
7.0
IBM Watson Studio is scalable and flexible, supporting diverse needs with high costs but seamless integration and comprehensive features.
Dremio's scalability can handle growing data and user demands easily.
SR BI developer at BRQ Digital Solutions
Internally, if it's on Docker or Kubernetes, scalability will be built into the system.
Senior Software Architect at USEReady
Watson Studio is very scalable.
Process Automation Lead at CONDIACTOR
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.
Director, Channel and Alliances at Akinon
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Dremio is generally stable, scoring high ratings with occasional performance issues, especially with large datasets, requiring maintenance restarts.
Sentiment score
7.5
IBM Watson Studio is robust and reliable, performing well over time, particularly in private cloud environments, with consistent stability.
I rate Dremio a nine in terms of stability.
SR BI developer at BRQ Digital Solutions
Expertise in optimization is necessary to manage such issues effectively.
Director, Channel and Alliances at Akinon
 

Room For Improvement

Dremio struggles with Delta connector support, performance issues, SQL limitations, high costs, and fewer connectors than competitors.
IBM Watson Studio users want improved web functionality, modular structure, better navigation, enhanced support, and adaptable pricing for enterprises.
Starburst comes with around 50 connectors now.
Senior Software Architect at USEReady
I see that many times the new versions of Dremio have not fixed old bugs, and in some new versions, old problems that were previously fixed come back again, so I think the upgrade part could use improvement.
SR BI developer at BRQ Digital Solutions
It should be easier to get Arctic or an open-source version of Arctic onto the software version so that development teams can experiment with it.
Senior Consultant - Data Analytics at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
IBM should work on optimizing the user interface and enhancing the product's accessibility for medium and small enterprises.
Director, Channel and Alliances at Akinon
One area that could be improved is the backup and restoration of the database and the overall database configuration.
Process Automation Lead at CONDIACTOR
I wish learning IBM Watson Studio could be easier and more gradual, as it is a complex task.
Software Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

Dremio's pricing, though costly for scaling, is seen as valuable compared to competitors, requiring careful evaluation based on needs.
IBM Watson Studio's pricing is seen as reasonable but can be expensive, affecting competitiveness and regional deployments.
IBM Watson Studio is considered rather expensive, with a rating of six or seven.
Director, Channel and Alliances at Akinon
 

Valuable Features

Dremio offers efficient data management and visualization with seamless integration, native SQL, and role-based access control features.
IBM Watson Studio offers automation, AI integration, scalability, and robust data modeling, ideal for large organizations with multi-cloud support.
Having everything under one system and an easier-to-work-with interface, along with having API integrations, adds significant value to working with Dremio.
Senior Consultant - Data Analytics at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Dremio has positively impacted my organization as nowadays we are connected to multiple databases from multiple environments, multiple APIs, and applications, and Dremio organizes everything in an amazing way for me.
Data Analyst at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees
You just get the source, connect the data, get visualization, get connected, and do whatever you want.
Senior Software Architect at USEReady
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.
Director, Channel and Alliances at Akinon
The best features IBM Watson Studio offers are that it is good for big and complex organizations, it is multi-cloud, it has an on-prem facility, and it also has strong visual tools.
Software Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
It integrates well with other platforms and offers good scalability.
Process Automation Lead at CONDIACTOR
 

Categories and Ranking

Dremio
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (5th)
IBM Watson Studio
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
AI Development Platforms (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of Dremio is 2.6%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Watson Studio is 2.2%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Science Platforms Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dremio2.6%
IBM Watson Studio2.2%
Other95.2%
Data Science Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Corrr Moray - PeerSpot reviewer
SR BI developer at BRQ Digital Solutions
Has simplified complex data integration workflows and supported consistent reporting across multiple sources
We also have a close relationship with the team that does the Dremio maintenance for the database, like upgrading the versions and they know about some specific problems we had in the past, such as a memory leak. We had a memory leak on some versions, which sometimes stopped the service. Since we are using Dremio installed like a server, not a SaaS solution, many times we need to stop and restart the service to clear all the cache and all that, and this is the thing I should add. I see that many times the new versions of Dremio have not fixed old bugs, and in some new versions, old problems that were previously fixed come back again, so I think the upgrade part could use improvement. I remember using some features in the past, like pivot tables, which proved to be really difficult, but I know this is a fault also for other vendors. Pivoting, transposing, and unpivoting are often not so good. CTEs also many times prove to be not so good, so I think these two main items could be improved significantly if they standardize them.
AA
Director, Channel and Alliances at Akinon
Automated processes improve efficiency while user interface and accessibility need enhancements
IBM Watson Studio, while powerful, lacks user-friendliness. It is not easy to use, particularly for medium or small enterprises or less experienced staff. Another aspect that requires improvement is the complexity involved in computer vision tasks. The integration capabilities have not significantly impacted workflow since there are simpler tools like Alteryx and Nine. The platform is associated with a complicated setup process and demands heavy hardware, making it expensive to scale. IBM should work on optimizing the user interface and enhancing the product's accessibility for medium and small enterprises.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Healthcare Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dremio?
Dremio allows querying the files I have on my block storage or object storage.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dremio?
I don't have information about pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Dremio, so I am not entitled to discuss it.
What needs improvement with Dremio?
I wouldn't say there is anything Dremio can be improved on. If I could change something, I would say many developers and programmers, when they are starting to work in this specific field or area, ...
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 relative to the features and capabilities of the product.
What needs improvement with IBM Watson Studio?
I think IBM Watson Studio can be improved. I wish learning IBM Watson Studio could be easier and more gradual, as it is a complex task. Also, I think pricing is a bit high.
What is your primary use case for IBM Watson Studio?
My main use case for IBM Watson Studio is the end-to-end ML life cycle. A specific example of a project where I used IBM Watson Studio for the end-to-end machine learning life cycle is that I built...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Dremio AWS - BYOL
Watson Studio, IBM Data Science Experience, Data Science Experience, DSx
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

UBS, TransUnion, Quantium, Daimler, OVH
GroupM, Accenture, Fifth Third Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Dremio vs. IBM Watson Studio and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.