IBM Watson Studio vs Starburst Enterprise comparison

IBM and Starburst are both solutions in the Data Science Platforms category. IBM is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.2, while Starburst is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.5. IBM holds a 2.1% mindshare in Data Science Platforms, compared to Starburst’s 2.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Starburst users who would recommend it.

IBM Watson Studio

Read 15 IBM Watson Studio reviews

1,841 Views
375 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Starburst Enterprise

Read 2 Starburst Enterprise reviews

1,163 Views
560 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Watson Studio

Starburst Enterprise

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

IBM Watson Studio and Starburst Enterprise compete in the data analytics and business intelligence category. Starburst Enterprise seems to have the upper hand in features, whereas IBM Watson Studio offers a more favorable pricing model.

Features: IBM Watson Studio offers strong AI capabilities, advanced machine learning models, and data science automation. Starburst Enterprise provides high-performance query engines, efficient large-scale data handling, and advanced analytics features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Watson Studio supports cloud-based deployment with comprehensive support options, facilitating user adoption. Starburst Enterprise offers customizable on-premise and hybrid models, which may present a learning curve but deliver superior performance.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Watson Studio tends to offer lower setup costs with clear pricing, leading to a compelling ROI. Starburst Enterprise, with higher initial costs and complex customizations, may provide a slower ROI, justified by its robust data processing.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Watson Studio vs. Starburst Enterprise Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Watson Studio vs. Starburst Enterprise

June 2025

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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 Watson Studio

Ranking in Data Science Platforms

12th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

AI Development Platforms (10th)

Starburst Enterprise

Ranking in Data Science Platforms

13th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Streaming Analytics (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM Watson Studio is 2.1%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Starburst Enterprise is 2.3%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Science Platforms

Featured Reviews

Abilio Duarte

Senior Solutions Architect at Self-employed

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.

Read full review

KamleshPant

Senior Software Architect at USEReady

Connects to any data source from any region and offers unified access

There are no specific projects supported by Starburst regarding AI initiatives or machine learning projects. In the future, if we have all the data available, we can definitely capitalize on AI/ML and LLM capabilities to summarize data and gain insights. That's our future goal, but we haven't reached that point yet. There should be support for REST API data sources to access data from the web. We often have data coming in and communicate with data sources via REST API calls. I don't see that capability in Starburst currently; everything is through JDBC or ODBC. If Starburst could seamlessly access data using REST API capabilities, it would be a game-changer. The self-service data management features, like self-service materialized views, are great, but they can be a bit complex for basic users to understand.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"In my experience, AutoML is the most valuable feature of IBM Watson Studio."

"Stability-wise, it is a great tool."

"Watson Studio is the most complete tool for AI projects."

"The solution is very easy to use."

"IBM Watson Studio consistently automates across channels."

"The most important thing is that it's a multi-faceted solution. It's a kind of specialist, not a generalist. It can produce very specific information for the customer. It's totally different from Google or any search engine that produces generic information. It's specialty is that it's all on video."

"The main benefit is the ease of use. We see a lot of engineers in our site and customers that really like the way the tools are able to work with the people."

"Watson Studio is very stable."

More IBM Watson Studio pros

"It's very scalable, fast performing, and supports many catalogs."

"We have noticed improvements in performance using Starburst Enterprise. It handles complex data, including reading and partitioning files. We can add a new catalog to Starburst Enterprise by providing connection details and service account information. This allows us to integrate with existing tools, such as the Snowflake database, which we use for data protection in our project."

Cons

"The decision making in their decision making feature is less good than other options."

"We would like to see it more web-based with more functionality."

"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."

"So a better user interface could be very helpful"

"The initial setup was complex."

"The solution's interface is very slow at times."

"One area that could be improved is the backup and restoration of the database and the overall database configuration."

"More features in data virtualization would be helpful. The solution could use an interactive dashboard that could make exploration easier."

More IBM Watson Studio cons

"There should be support for REST API data sources to access data from the web."

"Starburst Enterprise could improve by offering additional features similar to those provided by other SQL query tools. For example, incorporating functionalities like pivot tables would make it more feasible to use."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Watson Studio's pricing is reasonable for what you get."

"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"

"IBM Watson Studio is an expensive solution."

"I haven't personally dealt with the pricing aspects first-hand, but from what I understand, it largely depends on the specifics of your setup, especially the machines you use on AWS. The cost of using Starburst Enterprise can vary based on the amount of data you're processing and the type of machines you opt for, whether on AWS or another cloud platform."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

44%

Computer Software Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Watson Studio?

Stability-wise, it is a great tool.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Starburst Enterprise?

I haven't personally dealt with the pricing aspects first-hand, but from what I understand, it largely depends on the specifics of your setup, especially the machines you use on AWS. The cost of us...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Starburst Enterprise?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Starburst Enterprise?

We use Starburst with one client who is exploring their ecosystem to remove data silos and enable data access across departments. It's a very big ecosystem, like a finance institute. They are curre...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

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Google Vertex AI vs IBM Watson Studio

Compared 13% of the time

Amazon SageMaker vs IBM Watson Studio

Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 45% of the time

Starburst Galaxy vs Starburst Enterprise

Compared 15% of the time

Dremio vs Starburst Enterprise

Compared 14% of the time

Alteryx vs Starburst Enterprise

Compared 7% of the time

Apache Spark Streaming vs Starburst Enterprise

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Watson Studio

June 2025

Download IBM Watson Studio product report

Buyer's Guide

Data Science Platforms

June 2025

Download Starburst Enterprise product report

Also Known As

Watson Studio, IBM Data Science Experience, Data Science Experience, DSx

No data available

Overview

IBM Watson Studio provides tools for data scientists, application developers and subject matter experts to collaboratively and easily work with data to build and train models at scale. It gives you the flexibility to build models where your data resides and deploy anywhere in a hybrid environment so you can operationalize data science faster.

IBM

Starburst Enterprise is a data analytics platform that enables organizations to access and analyze data from multiple sources, including cloud-based and on-premises data warehouses. It provides a single access point to all data sources, allowing users to query and analyze data without moving it between systems.

By providing a unified view, Starburst Enterprise helps organizations make better-informed decisions and improve operational efficiency, leading to better customer insights and more accurate forecasting. Overall, Starburst Enterprise is a powerful tool for organizations looking to unlock the full potential of their data.

Starburst

Sample Customers

GroupM, Accenture, Fifth Third Bank

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

IBM Watson Studio vs. Starburst Enterprise

June 2025

Free Report: IBM Watson Studio vs. Starburst Enterprise

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