IBM Spectrum Computing vs Spacelift comparison

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IBM Spectrum Computing

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

IBM Spectrum Computing and Spacelift compete in the cloud computing management space. Spacelift has the upper hand due to its advanced automation capabilities, making it ideal for infrastructure as code.

Features: IBM Spectrum Computing offers high-performance computing, efficient workload scheduling, and complex data workflow management. Spacelift shines with its automation tools, CI/CD pipeline management, and seamless integration with cloud services.

Room for Improvement: IBM Spectrum Computing could improve user experience by simplifying its deployment process and integration methods. Streamlining its high-complexity features could enhance its appeal. Spacelift can benefit from expanding its customizability options and improving its support for non-cloud environments. Increasing its deployment flexibility might also help broaden its user base.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both IBM Spectrum Computing and Spacelift offer comprehensive deployment support. Spacelift provides a more streamlined deployment experience with its DevOps-centric approach and efficient customer service, whereas IBM Spectrum requires a more intricate setup due to its enterprise-level complexity.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Spectrum Computing generally involves higher setup costs due to its customizability and enterprise focus, promising a high ROI for large-scale operations. Spacelift presents a cost-effective model suitable for businesses seeking agile cloud infrastructure management, offering competitive ROI through efficient automation and reducing operational overheads.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Spectrum Computing vs. Spacelift Report (Updated: September 2025).

IBM Spectrum Computing vs. Spacelift

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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

IBM Spectrum Computing

Ranking in Cloud Management

25th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Hadoop (6th)

Spacelift

Ranking in Cloud Management

19th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Cloud Management category, the mindshare of IBM Spectrum Computing is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spacelift is 1.0%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Spacelift	1.0%
IBM Spectrum Computing	1.0%
Other	98.0%

Cloud Management

Featured Reviews

OmarIsmail1

Infrastructure Technical Specialist II at Clicks Group

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.

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Moloko Mokubedi

Junior DevOps Engineer at Kartoza (Pty) Ltd

The GitOps feature automatically picks up changes from my GitHub projects

There are a few areas for improvement. For instance, getting notification webhooks is not easy. In the free version, there's no straightforward way to be notified once a deployment is finished. Spacelift requires creating a notification policy, which involves using the open policies framework. However, this feature is not available on the free plan. Additionally, for each new project, I need to create a new IAM role, which is not optimal. It would be better if I could use a single role for all interactions with my AWS account.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the backup capability."

"We are satisfied with the technical support, we have no issues."

"Spectrum Computing's best features are its speed, robustness, and data processing and analysis."

"The best features of IBM Spectrum Computing are common across many of their storage products."

"Easy to operate and use."

"I have utilized IBM Spectrum Computing's intelligent workload management feature through Insights, which is connected to the cloud."

"IBM's ability to cluster compute resources is impressive, with built-in support for scenarios like VR and active-active configurations,"

"The most valuable aspect of the product is the policy driving resource management, to optimize the computing across data centers."

More IBM Spectrum Computing pros

"I appreciate that I just have to connect to my AWS account with my credentials, and Spacelift handles the rest."

"Knowing the HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) makes it easier to use without issues."

"A valuable feature of Spacelift is that you can attach labels, and it is a modernized tool for infrastructure deployments. It is pull request-based, and you can see all the Terraform plan and apply logs on the pull request itself, which is not available across any other CI/CD tools."

"One key feature is the Spacelift policies, which we can attach to deployments to ensure compliance with our standards."

"Spacelift is like an extension of Terraform, where everything can be visibly managed."

Cons

"This solution is no longer managing tapes correctly."

"In Pakistan, IBM's disadvantage is the lack of OEM support and presence."

"Lack of sufficient documentation, particularly in Spanish."

"We have not been able to use deduplication."

"The deduplication software isn't quite up to speed with the market."

"SMB storage and HPC is not compatible and it should be supported by IBM Spectrum Computing."

"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."

"Spectrum Computing is lagging behind other products, most likely because it hasn't been shifted to the cloud."

More IBM Spectrum Computing cons

"Synchronization can be difficult when using older and newer versions with Kubernetes and HashiCorp."

"The self-hosted version does not have a lot of features compared to the SaaS version, such as cloud integrations for Azure and GCP."

"In the free version, there's no straightforward way to be notified once a deployment is finished."

"If you are a small enterprise organization, below 500 people, I would not recommend it."

"Spacelift currently lacks features that can help with complex type deployments and coordination for major deployments."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Spectrum Computing is one of the most expensive products on the market."

"This solution is expensive."

"It is a bit expensive product."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Educational Organization

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	6

No data available

Questions from the Community

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...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Spacelift?

I've never checked the pricing because I enjoy using it for free. Besides the notification feature, I haven't needed any paid features.

What needs improvement with Spacelift?

What is your primary use case for Spacelift?

I use Spacelift to deploy my applications, particularly AWS applications and infrastructure to my personal AWS account.

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Product Reports

Hadoop

Download IBM Spectrum Computing product report

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Also Known As

IBM Platform Computing

No data available

Overview

IBM Spectrum Computing uses intelligent workload and policy-driven resource management to optimize resources across the data center, on premises and in the cloud. Now up to 150X faster and scalable to over 160,000 cores, IBM provides you with the latest advances in software-defined infrastructure to help you unleash the power of your distributed mission-critical high performance computing (HPC), analytics and big data applications as well as a new generation open source frameworks such as Hadoop and Spark.

IBM

Spacelift provides a sophisticated infrastructure management platform with key features such as Drift Detection and Terraform integration, simplifying complex deployments and enhancing user workflows through an intuitive interface.

Spacelift excels in modernizing infrastructure management by integrating smoothly with Terraform, using a pull request-based approach for visibility into logs. It automates change detection using GitOps from GitHub and supports AWS connectivity with credential management. Despite its strengths, some users find room for improvement in supporting smaller enterprises and offering more seamless cloud integrations with self-hosted versions. Handling of HashiCorp Vault secrets and cumbersome notification webhooks may require additional setup effort.

What are the most valuable features?

Drift Detection: Ensures user edits are managed effectively, reducing configuration discrepancies.
Terraform Integration: Seamless compatibility with Terraform for robust infrastructure management.
GitOps: Automates change detection from GitHub, ensuring efficient workflows.
Compliance Policies: Helps maintain infrastructure within regulatory guidelines.
Stack Execution: Enables runs with label attachments for organized operations.

What benefits or ROI can users expect?

Improved Deployment Control: Default plan prompts support structured and controlled deployments.
Streamlined Terraform Management: Enhanced visibility into logs aids in transparent and efficient operations.
Efficient AWS Interactions: Credential management simplifies connections, making operations more fluid.
Dynamic Infrastructure Handling: Supports significant projects by replacing tools like Terraform Enterprise.

In specific industries, Spacelift is primarily utilized for infrastructure management and deployment across platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP. In banking architecture, it replaces Terraform Enterprise, ensuring secure and efficient operations. Projects like Google Fiber benefit from its capability to import and manage data effectively, engaging users with HashiCorp Language and GitHub for CI/CD integration.

Sample Customers

London South Bank University, Transvalor, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, Genomic

Information Not Available

IBM Spectrum Computing vs. Spacelift