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Databricks vs Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.6
Databricks offers cost savings, scalability, and efficiency in data processing, though measuring direct financial benefits can be challenging.
Sentiment score
6.6
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio offers improved efficiency and dataset summarization, with varying ROI perspectives and a 7/10 rating.
When it comes to big data processing, I prefer Databricks over other solutions.
For a lot of different tasks, including machine learning, it is a nice solution.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
Databricks customer service is praised for quick, helpful responses despite some communication issues; many benefit from comprehensive support.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio's customer service is praised for responsiveness but satisfaction varies, with larger clients receiving better support.
Whenever we reach out, they respond promptly.
Microsoft technical support is rated a seven out of ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Databricks is praised for its scalability and flexibility, despite potential cost concerns, making it highly rated overall.
Sentiment score
7.3
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio offers efficient scalability for various user bases, with potential improvements for complex deployments.
The patches have sometimes caused issues leading to our jobs being paused for about six hours.
We are building Azure Machine Learning Studio as a scalable solution.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Databricks is highly stable and reliable, with some issues, particularly effective on Azure with quick resolution for disruptions.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is stable and reliable, with minor issues and concerns about classic version retirement.
They release patches that sometimes break our code.
Cluster failure is one of the biggest weaknesses I notice in our Databricks.
 

Room For Improvement

Databricks users seek enhanced visualizations, integration, documentation, ease of use, data compatibility, and improved analytics efficiency with trial options.
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio could enhance usability, expand features, improve integration, and provide clearer pricing with better support.
We prefer using a small to mid-sized cluster for many jobs to keep costs low, but this sometimes doesn't support our operations properly.
We use MLflow for managing MLOps, however, further improvement would be beneficial, especially for large language models and related tools.
If I could right-click to copy absolute paths or to read files directly into a data frame, it would standardize and simplify the process.
In future updates, I would appreciate improvements in integration and more AI features.
I find the pricing to be not a good story in this case, as it is not affordable for everyone.
 

Setup Cost

Databricks pricing varies with usage and cluster size, seen as costly or comparable to competitors, with flexible options.
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio offers flexible pricing from $20 monthly, but users find cost complexity challenging.
I rate the pricing as three or four on a scale of one to ten in terms of affordability.
 

Valuable Features

Databricks offers intuitive UI, scalability, and versatile integration, enabling efficient data analytics and machine learning across cloud platforms.
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio offers user-friendly features including AutoML, scalability, and integration for seamless team collaboration and deployment.
Databricks' capability to process data in parallel enhances data processing speed.
Developers can share their notebooks. Git and Azure DevOps integration on the Databricks side is also very helpful.
Machine Learning Studio is easy to use, with a significant feature being the drag and drop interface that enhances workflow without any complaints.
Azure Machine Learning Studio provides a platform to integrate with large language models.
 

Categories and Ranking

Databricks
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
Streaming Analytics (1st)
Microsoft Azure Machine Lea...
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
4th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
AI Development Platforms (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of Databricks is 19.1%, up from 18.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is 5.7%, down from 10.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Science Platforms
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
Sep 23, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

Parag Bhosale - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrating engineering and learning, but cost challenges arise with cluster management
We often use a single cluster to ingest Databricks, which Databricks doesn't recommend. They suggest using a no-cluster solution like job clusters. This can be overwhelming for us because we started smaller. We prefer using a small to mid-sized cluster for many jobs to keep costs low, but this sometimes doesn't support our operations properly. We need to stay in sync with the DVR versions, and migrations can pose challenges. For example, issues arose when we moved a cluster from a previous version to the latest one. We could use their job clusters, however, that increases costs, which is challenging for us as a startup. Maintaining this infrastructure can be a headache.
HéctorGiorgiutti - PeerSpot reviewer
Requires minimal maintenance, is scalable, and stable
The initial setup depends on the developer's knowledge of machine learning models as to whether it is easy or difficult. With a good understanding of these models, then we can get to work quickly in the environment. With 20 years of experience in IT, making applications on legacy platforms and non-web platforms, I have found that Azure has a very good implementation. The platform is so comprehensive that it doesn't matter what kind of work we do, we can find the tools needed to get the job done. In comparison to what I was doing five years ago, Azure is a great platform and I really enjoy working with it. We should allocate up to 12 percent of our project time to deployment. Depending on the complexity of the solution, we should expect to spend more time on deployment.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
How would you compare Databricks vs Amazon SageMaker?
We researched AWS SageMaker, but in the end, we chose Databricks. Databricks is a Unified Analytics Platform designed to accelerate innovation projects. It is based on Spark so it is very fast. It...
Which would you choose - Databricks or Azure Stream Analytics?
Databricks is an easy-to-set-up and versatile tool for data management, analysis, and business analytics. For analytics teams that have to interpret data to further the business goals of their orga...
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.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio?
The pricing policy should be improved. I find the pricing to be not a good story in this case, as it is not affordable for everyone.
 

Also Known As

Databricks Unified Analytics, Databricks Unified Analytics Platform, Redash
Azure Machine Learning, MS Azure Machine Learning Studio
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Elsevier, MyFitnessPal, Sharethrough, Automatic Labs, Celtra, Radius Intelligence, Yesware
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Schneider Electric, BP
Find out what your peers are saying about Databricks vs. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,615 professionals have used our research since 2012.