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IBM SPSS Modeler vs Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 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

IBM SPSS Modeler
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Data Mining (4th)
Microsoft Azure Machine Lea...
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
4th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
AI Development Platforms (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM SPSS Modeler is 2.4%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is 5.2%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Science Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

PeterHuo - PeerSpot reviewer
Good tool for extracting data from data warehouses, creating streams, and manipulating logic to extract final data
There are performance issues. Extracting data from many combined tables can take hours and occasionally crash the server due to memory leaks. This performance problem bothers people. The performance issue seems to be related to the server. We design streams on the client and submit them to the server, which generates a large SQL statement. There are two potential bottlenecks: one in the server and another in data extraction. I'm unsure about the exact mechanics of data splitting when fetching from the database. When streams become larger, performance bottlenecks may occur in the IBM SPSS Modeler server or the database. Sometimes the server crashes and needs to be restarted to release memory on both sides. I'm not sure exactly where the problem is caused, as I focus on stream design rather than server issues. The problem could be on the IBM SPSS Modeler server and database.
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…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Stability is good."
"Automation is great and this product is very organized."
"We have integration where you can write third-party apps. This sort of feature opens it up to being able to do anything you want."
"It will scale up to anything we need."
"We use analytics with the visual modeling capability to leverage productivity improvements."
"I think it is the point and drag features that are the most valuable. You can simply click at the windows, and then pull up the functions."
"It makes pretty good use of memory. There are algorithms take a long time to run in R, and somehow they run more efficiently in Modeler."
"New algorithms are added into every version of Modeler, e.g., SMOTE, random forest, etc. The Derive node is used for the syntax code to derive the data."
"The solution's most beneficial feature is its integration with Azure."
"The solution is very fast and simple for a data science solution."
"The solution is really scalable."
"What I like best about Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is that it's a straightforward tool and it's easy to use. Another valuable feature of the tool is AutoML which lets you get better metrics to train the model right and with good accuracy. The AutoML feature allows you to simply put in your data, and it'll pre-process and create a more accurate model for you. You don't have to do anything because AutoML in Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio will take care of it."
"Azure's AutoML feature is probably better than the competition."
"The initial setup is very simple and straightforward."
"The platform as a service provides user-friendly instruments, making the experience easy."
"When you import the dataset you can see the data distribution easily with graphics and statistical measures."
 

Cons

"When you are not using the product, such as during the pandemic where we had worldwide lockdowns, you still have to pay for the licensing."
"If IBM could add some of the popular models into the SPSS for further analysis, like popular regression models, I think that would be a helpful improvement."
"The integration with sources and visualisation needs some improvement. The scalability needs improvement."
"​Initial setup of the software was complex, because of our own problems within the government."
"It's not as user friendly as it could be."
"It would be helpful if SPSS supported open-source features, for example, embedding R or Python scripts in SPSS Modeler."
"Regarding visual modeling, it is not the biggest strength of the product, although from what I hear in the latest release it's going to be a lot stronger. That, to me, has always been the biggest flaw in using this. It's very difficult to get good visualization."
"Neural networks are quite simple, and now neural networks are evolving to these architecture related to deep learning, etc. They didn't incorporate this in IBM SPSS Modeler."
"We can create a label job, but we still have to use the Azure Machine Learning REST APIs, which are not yet supported in the Python SDK version 2."
"Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio worked okay for me, so right now, I don't have any room for improvement in mind for it. What I'd like added to Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio in its next version is a categorization for use cases or a template that makes the use cases simple to map out, for example, for healthcare, medical, or finance use cases, etc. This would be very helpful for users of Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio, especially for beginners."
"The initial setup time of the containers to run the experiment is a bit long."
"A problem that I encountered was that I had to pay for the model that I wanted to deploy and use on Azure Machine Learning, but there wasn't any option that that model can be used in the designer."
"There's room for improvement in terms of binding the integration with Azure DevOps."
"​It could use to add some more features in data transformation, time series and the text analytics section."
"I would like to see modules to handle Deep Learning frameworks."
"The data processor can pose a bit of a challenge, but the real complexity is determined by the skill of the implementation team."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a huge increase to time savings."
"The scalability was kind of limited by our ability to get other people licenses, and that was usually more of a financial constraint. It's expensive, but it's a good tool."
"It got us a good amount of money with quick and efficient modeling."
"This tool, being an IBM product, is pretty expensive."
"Its price is okay for a company, but for personal use, it is considered somewhat expensive."
"It is an expensive product."
"I am using the free version of IBM SPSS Modeler, it is the educational edition version."
"$5,000 annually."
"I rate the product price as a nine on a scale of one to ten, where ten means it is very expensive."
"Last year, we paid 60,000 for Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio in our department."
"In terms of pricing, for any cloud solution, you should know the tricks of the trade and how to use it, otherwise, you'll end up paying a lot of money irrespective of the cloud provider, so at least for Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio pricing versus AWS, I would rate it three out of five, with one being the most expensive, and five being the cheapest. It could be cheaper, but you also have to be careful when choosing the plans, for example, consider the architecture and a lot of other factors before choosing your plan, if you don't want to end up paying more. If your cloud provider has an optimizer that seems to be available in every provider, that would keep alerting you in terms of resources not being used as much, then that would help you with budgeting."
"We pay only the Azure costs for what we use, which involves some subscription costs. But essentially, you pay for what you use. There are no extra costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"There is a lack of certainty with the solution's pricing."
"When we got our first models and were ready for the user acceptance testing, our licensing fees were between €2,500 ($2,750 USD) and €3,000 ($3,300 USD) monthly."
"The solution operates on a pay-per-use model."
"From a developer's perspective, I find the price of this solution high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Educational Organization
11%
University
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
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

What do you like most about IBM SPSS Modeler?
Compared to other tools, the product works much easier to analyze data without coding.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM SPSS Modeler?
The government has funds and a budget, it's hard to say if it's expensive or cheap. In Canada, they have a yearly budget. They used to encourage people to use the modeler for development. If ten us...
What needs improvement with IBM SPSS Modeler?
There are performance issues. Extracting data from many combined tables can take hours and occasionally crash the server due to memory leaks. This performance problem bothers people. The performanc...
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 ...
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.
 

Also Known As

SPSS Modeler
Azure Machine Learning, MS Azure Machine Learning Studio
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Reisebªro Idealtours GmbH, MedeAnalytics, Afni, Israel Electric Corporation, Nedbank Ltd., DigitalGlobe, Vodafone Hungary, Aegon Hungary, Bureau Veritas, Brammer Group, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, InSites Consulting, Fortis Turkey
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Schneider Electric, BP
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SPSS Modeler vs. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.