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Apache Spark vs IBM Spectrum Computing comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Apache Spark
Ranking in Hadoop
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
Compute Service (6th), Java Frameworks (2nd)
IBM Spectrum Computing
Ranking in Hadoop
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Management (29th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Hadoop category, the mindshare of Apache Spark is 13.6%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Computing is 5.2%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Hadoop Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Apache Spark13.6%
IBM Spectrum Computing5.2%
Other81.2%
Hadoop
 

Featured Reviews

Devindra Weerasooriya - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Architect at Devtech
Provides a consistent framework for building data integration and access solutions with reliable performance
The in-memory computation feature is certainly helpful for my processing tasks. It is helpful because while using structures that could be held in memory rather than stored during the period of computation, I go for the in-memory option, though there are limitations related to holding it in memory that need to be addressed, but I have a preference for in-memory computation. The solution is beneficial in that it provides a base-level long-held understanding of the framework that is not variant day by day, which is very helpful in my prototyping activity as an architect trying to assess Apache Spark, Great Expectations, and Vault-based solutions versus those proposed by clients like TIBCO or Informatica.
OmarIsmail1 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is useful for handling large amounts of data, and it is very useful for scientific purposes."
"The product is useful for analytics."
"Faster time to parse and compute data makes web-based queries for plotting data easier."
"The fault tolerant feature is provided."
"Spark is relatively easy to deploy, with rich features in handling big data."
"It is a better MR, supports streaming and micro-batch, and supports Spark ML and Spark SQL."
"The processing time is very much improved over the data warehouse solution that we were using."
"Spark can handle small to huge data and is suitable for any size of company."
"Spectrum Computing is one of the best tools in the data management and services area, as it can process huge amounts of data with standardized data management and provides a great data governance capability."
"This solution is working for both VTL and tape."
"I tell everyone that they should go with IBM Spectrum Computing."
"I have utilized IBM Spectrum Computing's intelligent workload management feature through Insights, which is connected to the cloud."
"This solution worked as expected and it is reliable."
"The most valuable aspect of the product is the policy driving resource management, to optimize the computing across data centers."
"IBM's ability to cluster compute resources is impressive, with built-in support for scenarios like VR and active-active configurations,"
"The best features of IBM Spectrum Computing are common across many of their storage products."
 

Cons

"Include more machine learning algorithms and the ability to handle streaming of data versus micro batch processing."
"When you first start using this solution, it is common to run into memory errors when you are dealing with large amounts of data."
"When you want to extract data from your HDFS and other sources then it is kind of tricky because you have to connect with those sources."
"When you first start using this solution, it is common to run into memory errors when you are dealing with large amounts of data."
"Apache Spark should add some resource management improvements to the algorithms."
"There is complexity when it comes to understanding the whole ecosystem, especially for beginners."
"Apache Spark provides very good performance The tuning phase is still tricky."
"In data analysis, you need to take real-time data from different data sources. You need to process this in a subsecond, do the transformation in a subsecond, and all that."
"This solution is no longer managing tapes correctly."
"SMB storage and HPC is not compatible and it should be supported by IBM Spectrum Computing."
"We have not been able to use deduplication."
"We'd like to see some AI model training for machine learning."
"SMB storage and HPC is not compatible and it should be supported by IBM Spectrum Computing."
"We are not fully satisfied with this product at the moment because we are having issues with reliability."
"Spectrum Computing is lagging behind other products, most likely because it hasn't been shifted to the cloud."
"The deduplication software isn't quite up to speed with the market."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Apache Spark is not too cheap. You have to pay for hardware and Cloudera licenses. Of course, there is a solution with open source without Cloudera."
"We are using the free version of the solution."
"Licensing costs can vary. For instance, when purchasing a virtual machine, you're asked if you want to take advantage of the hybrid benefit or if you prefer the license costs to be included upfront by the cloud service provider, such as Azure. If you choose the hybrid benefit, it indicates you already possess a license for the operating system and wish to avoid additional charges for that specific VM in Azure. This approach allows for a reduction in licensing costs, charging only for the service and associated resources."
"Apache Spark is an open-source solution, and there is no cost involved in deploying the solution on-premises."
"Spark is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs."
"I did not pay anything when using the tool on cloud services, but I had to pay on the compute side. The tool is not expensive compared with the benefits it offers. I rate the price as an eight out of ten."
"Considering the product version used in my company, I feel that the tool is not costly since the product is available for free."
"On the cloud model can be expensive as it requires substantial resources for implementation, covering on-premises hardware, memory, and licensing."
"Spectrum Computing is one of the most expensive products on the market."
"This solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise33
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache Spark?
Apache Spark is open-source, so it doesn't incur any charges.
What needs improvement with Apache Spark?
I find that there really lacks the technical depth to do any recommendations for future updates of Apache Spark. I used it for two years for our prototype work and testing things, but because I had...
What is your primary use case for Apache Spark?
I attempted to use Apache Spark in one of our customer projects, but after the initial test, our customer moved to another technology and another database system. I do not have any final remarks on...
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...
 

Also Known As

No data available
IBM Platform Computing
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NASA JPL, UC Berkeley AMPLab, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, UC Santa Cruz, TripAdvisor, Taboola, Agile Lab, Art.com, Baidu, Alibaba Taobao, EURECOM, Hitachi Solutions
London South Bank University, Transvalor, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, Genomic
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Spark vs. IBM Spectrum Computing and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
895,151 professionals have used our research since 2012.