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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
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Data Science Platforms (10th), AI Data Analysis (12th), AI Research (2nd)
Weka
Ranking in Data Mining
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Anomaly Detection Tools (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Data Mining category, the mindshare of IBM SPSS Statistics is 18.3%, up from 16.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Weka is 8.8%, down from 21.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Mining Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM SPSS Statistics18.3%
Weka8.8%
Other72.9%
Data Mining
 

Featured Reviews

EzzAbdelfattah - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Professor Of Statistics at a university with 10,001+ employees
Advanced predictive analytics have supported my research and student projects across many methods
The only function I may need to be added or hope to be added to IBM SPSS Statistics is how to treat unstructured data. This mainly exists with IBM SPSS Modeler, but I do not think it is able to treat something like videos and similar content unless you are using languages like Python inside IBM SPSS Modeler or inside IBM SPSS Statistics. For the menu itself, for the selection, it does not exist. Thinking of the future, I believe that the owners of IBM SPSS Statistics should think about improving the package itself to be able to treat unstructured data.
AwaisAnwar - PeerSpot reviewer
Treasury Management in Finance Department at National University of Pakistan
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

"Custom tables and macros: They allow us to create useful reports quickly for a broad audience."
"It has the ability to easily change any variable in our research."
"The software offers consistency across multiple research projects helping us with predictive analytics capabilities."
"It has helped our analyst unit deliver work with more transparency and confidence, given that we can always view the dataset in totality, after each step of data transformation."
"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 most valuable feature is its robust statistical analysis capabilities."
"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 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."
"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."
"Weka is a very easy to use Data Mining solution, great for learning and for doing small experiments before exploring the data deeper, with a large number and diversity of algorithms that make it an excellent solution for rapid testing."
"It is a stable product."
"I mainly use this solution for the regression tree, and for its association rules. I run these two methodologies for Weka."
"The interface is very good, and the algorithms are the very best."
"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."
 

Cons

"It breaks under the weight of a moderate amount of data."
"SPSS slows down the computer or the laptop if the data is huge; then you need a faster computer."
"If there is any self-generation data collection plan (DCP), it would be helpful in gathering data. It would also be useful if there is a function to scale it up to, let's say, UiPath and have it consolidate and integrate into a UiPath solution."
"The solution needs more planning tools and capabilities."
"Technical support needs some improvement, as they do not respond as quickly as we would like."
"SPSS is a tool that's been around since the late 60s, and it's the universal worldwide standard for quantitative social science data analysis. That said, it does seem a bit strange to me that the graphical output functions are so clunky after all these years. The output of charts and graphs that SPSS produces is hideous."
"The technical support should be improved."
"This solution is not suitable for use with Big Data."
"Weka is a little complicated and not necessarily suited for users who aren't skilled and experienced in data science."
"The visualization of Weka is subpar and could improve. Machine learning and visualization do not work well together. For example, we want to know how we can we delete empty cells or how can we fill in the empty cells without cleaning the data system and putting it together."
"A few people said it became slow after a while."
"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."
"If there are a lot more lines of code, then we should use another language."
"While it might offer insights for basic warehouse tasks, it falls short of deeper understanding and results."
"Within the basic Weka tool, I don't see many tools that are available where we can analyze and visualize the data that well."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"While the pricing of the product may be higher, the accompanying service and features justify the investment."
"It's quite expensive, but they do a special deal for universities."
"I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten."
"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 pricing of the modeler is high and can reduce the utility of the product for those who can not afford to adopt it."
"More affordable training for new staff members."
"If it requires lot of data processing, maybe switching to IBM SPSS Clementine would be better for the buyer."
"The price of this solution is a little bit high, which was a problem for my company."
"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."
"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."
"The solution is free and open-source."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
University
7%
Educational Organization
17%
University
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM SPSS Statistics?
I think the price of the solution is very reasonable. The cost depends; you have the option for subscription or you can purchase the license. Most of our customers are paying every year for a type ...
What needs improvement with IBM SPSS Statistics?
The only function I may need to be added or hope to be added to IBM SPSS Statistics is how to treat unstructured data. This mainly exists with IBM SPSS Modeler, but I do not think it is able to tre...
What is your primary use case for IBM SPSS Statistics?
I do use IBM SPSS Statistics, and even my students are using it for their projects and reports while working on PhD or Master's degrees. They are analyzing data using it. In comparison with other s...
Ask a question
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Comparisons

 

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: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.