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IBM SPSS Statistics vs Weka comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

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 Statistics
Ranking in Data Mining
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Data Science Platforms (8th)
Weka
Ranking in Data Mining
2nd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Anomaly Detection Tools (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Data Mining category, the mindshare of IBM SPSS Statistics is 16.6%, up from 12.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Weka is 18.2%, down from 20.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Mining
 

Featured Reviews

Laurence Moseley - PeerSpot reviewer
Delivers reliable results for academic research and keeps you close to your data.
SPSS is perfectly adequate if all you want are some results. If you only need the results, you do not require the trail of evidence on how you obtained those results. I mainly used it for cross tabs, correlation, regression, chi-squared tests, and similar analyses often seen in published papers; I used it for my papers as well. For wider uses I find Knime keeps me in touch with my data, however much I transform them.
AwaisAnwar - PeerSpot reviewer
Open source, good for basic data mining use cases except for the visualization results
I haven't found it particularly useful. It lacks state-of-the-art algorithms and impressive outcomes. While it might offer insights for basic warehouse tasks, it falls short of deeper understanding and results. Moreover, a new user interface would be great, especially for beginners. Something that guides them through the available tools and helps them achieve their goals. I haven't seen anything like that myself, though maybe it's there and I missed it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best part is that they have an algorithm handbook, so you can open it up and understand how it works, and if it is useful, this is very important."
"Most of the product features are good but I particularly like the linear regression analysis."
"SPSS can handle whatever you throw at it, whether your data set contains 10,000, 100,000, or a million objects. It's like the heavy artillery of analytical tools."
"The software offers consistency across multiple research projects helping us with predictive analytics capabilities."
"The most valuable features are the solution is easy to use, training new users is not difficult, and our usage is comprehensive because the whole service is beneficial."
"Capability analysis is one of the main and valuable functions. We also do some hypothesis testing in Minitab and summary stats. These are the functions that we find very useful."
"The features that I have found most valuable are the Bayesian statistics and descriptive statistics."
"It offers very good visualization."
"Weka eliminates the need for coding, allowing you to easily set parameters and complete the majority of the machine learning task with just a few clicks."
"It is a stable product."
"With clustering, if it's a yes, it's a yes, if it's a no, it's a no. It gives you a 100% level of accuracy of a model that has been trained, and that is in most cases, usually misleading. Classification is highly valuable when done as opposed to clustering."
"I like the machine algorithm for clustering systems. Weka has larger capabilities. There are multiple algorithms that can be used for clustering. It depends upon the user requirements. For clustering, I've used DBSCAN, whereas for supervised learning, I've used AVM and RFT."
"It doesn’t cost anything to use the product."
"I mainly use this solution for the regression tree, and for its association rules. I run these two methodologies for Weka."
"Weka's best features are its user-friendly graphic interface interpretation of data sets and the ease of analyzing data."
"The interface is very good, and the algorithms are the very best."
 

Cons

"I feel that when it comes to conducting multiple analyses, there could be more detailed information provided. Currently, the software gives a summary and an overview, but it would be beneficial to have specific details for each product or variable."
"IBM SPSS Statistics could improve the visual outputs where you are producing, for example, a graph for a company board of directors, or an advert."
"In developing countries, it would be beneficial to provide certain features to users at no cost initially, while also customizing pricing options."
"SPSS slows down the computer or the laptop if the data is huge; then you need a faster computer."
"I know that SPSS is a statistical tool but it should also include a little bit of analytical behavior. You can call it augmented analysis or predictive analysis. The bottom line is it should have more graphical and analytical capabilities."
"I think the visualization and charting should be changed and made easier and more effective."
"The statistics should be more self-explanatory with detailed automated reports."
"This solution is not suitable for use with Big Data."
"I believe is there are a few newer algorithms that are not present in the Weka libraries. Whereas, for example, if I want to have a solution that involves deep learning, so I don't think that Weka has that capability. So in that case I have to use Python for ... predict any algorithms based on deep learning."
"If you have one missing value in your dataset and this missing value belongs to a specific attribute and the attribute is a numeric attribute and there is only one missing data, whenever you import this data, the problem is that Weka cannot understand that this is a numeric field. It converts everything into a string, and there is no way to convert the string into numerical math. It's really very complicated."
"The filter section lacks some specific transformation tools. If you want to change a variable from a numeric variable to a categorical variable, you don't have a feature that can enable you to change a variable from a numeric variable to a categorical variable."
"Within the basic Weka tool, I don't see many tools that are available where we can analyze and visualize the data that well."
"A few people said it became slow after a while."
"Not particularly user friendly."
"Weka is a little complicated and not necessarily suited for users who aren't skilled and experienced in data science."
"Weka could be more stable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten."
"It's quite expensive, but they do a special deal for universities."
"The pricing of the modeler is high and can reduce the utility of the product for those who can not afford to adopt it."
"The price of IBM SPSS Statistics could improve."
"While the pricing of the product may be higher, the accompanying service and features justify the investment."
"Our licence is on a yearly renewal basis. While pricing is not the primary concern in our evaluation, as products are assessed by whether they can meet our user needs and expertise, the cost can be a limiting factor in the number of licences we procure."
"More affordable training for new staff members."
"SPSS is an expensive piece of software because it's incredibly complex and has been refined over decades, but I would say it's fairly priced."
"The solution is free and open-source."
"Currently, I am using an open-source version so I don't know much about the price of this solution."
"We use the free version now. My faculty is very small."
"As far as I know, Weka is a freeware tool, and I am not aware if they have an online solution or if it is a commercial product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
8%
University
17%
Educational Organization
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM SPSS Statistics?
The software offers consistency across multiple research projects helping us with predictive analytics capabilities.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM SPSS Statistics?
SPSS is horrendously expensiver. On a laptop Knime is free of charge (Windows, Mac, Linux)
What needs improvement with IBM SPSS Statistics?
Better guidance both in producing programs and interpreting their output.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Weka?
Weka is free and open-source software. That is why I used it over KNIME.
What needs improvement with Weka?
I haven't found it particularly useful. It lacks state-of-the-art algorithms and impressive outcomes. While it might offer insights for basic warehouse tasks, it falls short of deeper understanding...
 

Also Known As

SPSS Statistics
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

LDB Group, RightShip, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Capgemini Consulting, TEAC Corporation, Ironside, nViso SA, Razorsight, Si.mobil, University Hospitals of Leicester, CROOZ Inc., GFS Fundraising Solutions, Nedbank Ltd., IDS-TILDA
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Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SPSS Statistics vs. Weka and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
857,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.