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Hugging Face vs IBM Watson Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

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

Hugging Face
Ranking in AI Development Platforms
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Watson Studio
Ranking in AI Development Platforms
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Data Science Platforms (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the AI Development Platforms category, the mindshare of Hugging Face is 13.1%, up from 8.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Watson Studio is 1.6%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
AI Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

SwaminathanSubramanian - PeerSpot reviewer
Versatility empowers AI concept development despite the multi-GPU challenge
Regarding scalability, I'm finding the multi-GPU aspect of it challenging. Training the model is another hurdle, although I'm only getting into that aspect currently. Organizations are apprehensive about investing in multi-GPU setups. Additionally, data cleanup is a challenge that needs to be resolved, as data must be mature and pristine.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Hugging Face provides open-source models, making it the best open-source and reliable solution."
"I like that Hugging Face is versatile in the way it has been developed."
"The tool's most valuable feature is that it shows trending models. All the new models, even Google's demo models, appear at the top. You can find all the open-source models in one place. You can use them directly and easily find their documentation. It's very simple to find documentation and write code. If you want to work with AI and machine learning, Hugging Face is a perfect place to start."
"What I find the most valuable about Hugging Face is that I can check all the models on it and see which ones have the best performance without using another platform."
"The product is reliable."
"The solution is easy to use compared to other frameworks like PyTorch and TensorFlow."
"The tool's most valuable feature is that it's open-source and has hundreds of packages already available. This makes it quite helpful for creating our LLMs."
"I would rate this product nine out of ten."
"The solution is very easy to use."
"It is a stable, reliable product."
"Technical support is great. We have had weekly teleconferences with the technical people at IBM, and they have been fantastic."
"It has greatly improved the performance because it is standardized across the company."
"Watson Studio is very stable."
"In my experience, AutoML is the most valuable feature of IBM Watson Studio."
"It stands out for its substantial AI capabilities, offering a broad spectrum of features for crafting solutions that meet specific requirements."
"It has a lot of data connectors, which is extremely helpful."
 

Cons

"Access to the models and datasets could be improved."
"Initially, I faced issues with the solution's configuration."
"Implementing a cloud system to showcase historical data would be beneficial."
"The solution must provide an efficient LLM."
"Hugging Face could improve by implementing a search engine or chat bot feature similar to ChatGPT."
"I believe Hugging Face has some room for improvement. There are some security issues. They provide code, but API tokens aren't indicated. Also, the documentation for particular models could use more explanation. But I think these things are improving daily. The main change I'd like to see is making the deployment of inference endpoints more customizable for users."
"Regarding scalability, I'm finding the multi-GPU aspect of it challenging."
"Access to the models and datasets could be improved. Many interesting ones are restricted."
"We would like to see it less as one big, massive product, but more based on smaller services that we can then roll out to consumers."
"Watson Studio would be improved with a clearer path for the deployment of docker images."
"The solution's interface is very slow at times."
"The main challenge lies in visibility and ease of use."
"Initially, it was quite complex. For us, it was not only a matter of getting it installed, that was just a start. It was also trying to come up with a standard way of implementing it across the entire organization, which had been a challenge."
"It's sometimes easy to get lost given the number of images the solution opens up when you click on the mouse and the amount of different tabs."
"The decision making in their decision making feature is less good than other options."
"One area that could be improved is the backup and restoration of the database and the overall database configuration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is open-source. The cost depends on what task you're doing. If you're using a large language model with around 12 million parameters, it will cost more. On average, Hugging Face is open source so you can download models to your local machine for free. For deployment, you can use any cloud service."
"I recall seeing a fee of nine dollars, and there's also an enterprise option priced at twenty dollars per month."
"The solution is open source."
"We do not have to pay for the product."
"Hugging Face is an open-source solution."
"So, it's requires expensive machines to open services or open LLM models."
"Watson Studio's pricing is reasonable for what you get."
"IBM Watson Studio is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is generally reasonable and straightforward but can vary significantly depending on the specific workloads in use."
"IBM Watson Studio is a reasonably priced product"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Hugging Face?
My preferred aspects are natural language processing and question-answering.
What needs improvement with Hugging Face?
It is challenging to suggest specific improvements for Hugging Face, as their platform is already very well-organized and efficient. However, they could focus on cleaning up outdated models if they...
What is your primary use case for Hugging Face?
I am working on AI with various large language models for different purposes such as medicine and law, where they are fine-tuned with specific requirements. I download LLMs from Hugging Face for th...
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?
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 i...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Watson Studio, IBM Data Science Experience, Data Science Experience, DSx
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
GroupM, Accenture, Fifth Third Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Hugging Face vs. IBM Watson Studio and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.