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IBM SPSS Modeler vs IBM Watson Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

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 Modeler
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Data Mining (4th)
IBM Watson Studio
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
AI Development Platforms (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM SPSS Modeler is 2.3%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Watson Studio is 2.0%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Science Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

PeterHuo - PeerSpot reviewer
Good tool for extracting data from data warehouses, creating streams, and manipulating logic to extract final data
There are performance issues. Extracting data from many combined tables can take hours and occasionally crash the server due to memory leaks. This performance problem bothers people. The performance issue seems to be related to the server. We design streams on the client and submit them to the server, which generates a large SQL statement. There are two potential bottlenecks: one in the server and another in data extraction. I'm unsure about the exact mechanics of data splitting when fetching from the database. When streams become larger, performance bottlenecks may occur in the IBM SPSS Modeler server or the database. Sometimes the server crashes and needs to be restarted to release memory on both sides. I'm not sure exactly where the problem is caused, as I focus on stream design rather than server issues. The problem could be on the IBM SPSS Modeler server and database.
Abilio Duarte - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The quality is very good."
"Automated modelling, classification, or clustering are very useful."
"It will scale up to anything we need."
"The supervised models are valuable. It is also very organized and easy to use."
"A lot of jobs that are stuck in Excel due to the huge numbers of rows are tackled pretty quickly."
"We had an IBM Guardium service contract where we used one of their resources to help us develop our prototype. It was a good experience, but they were helpful and responsive."
"It scales. I have not run into any challenges where it will not perform.​"
"Automation is great and this product is very organized."
"Watson Studio is the most complete tool for AI projects."
"It is a very stable and reliable solution."
"Watson Studio is very stable."
"It is a stable, reliable product."
"For me, the valuable feature of the solution is the one that I used, which was Jupyter notebooks."
"IBM Watson Studio consistently automates across channels."
"It has greatly improved the performance because it is standardized across the company."
"Watson Studio is the most complete tool for AI projects."
 

Cons

"Expensive to deploy solutions. You need to buy an extra deployment unit."
"​Initial setup of the software was complex, because of our own problems within the government."
"If IBM could add some of the popular models into the SPSS for further analysis, like popular regression models, I think that would be a helpful improvement."
"The forecasting could be a bit easier."
"It is very good, but slow. The slowness may be because we have not finalized all the background information in SPSS. It still needs some tweaking."
"Customer support is hard to contact."
"The biggest issue with the visual modeling capability is that we can't extract the SQL code under the hood."
"I would not rate the technical support very well. The technicians have accents. When you do find someone, it is very hard to get somebody able to answer the technical questions."
"One area that could be improved is the backup and restoration of the database and the overall database configuration."
"The solution's interface is very slow at times."
"The decision making in their decision making feature is less good than other options."
"We would like to see it less as one big, massive product, but more based on smaller services that we can then roll out to consumers."
"I think maybe the support is an area where it lacks."
"So a better user interface could be very helpful"
"Initially, it was quite complex. For us, it was not only a matter of getting it installed, that was just a start. It was also trying to come up with a standard way of implementing it across the entire organization, which had been a challenge."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It got us a good amount of money with quick and efficient modeling."
"It is a huge increase to time savings."
"$5,000 annually."
"Having in mind all four tools from Garner’s top quadrant, the pricing of this tool is competitive and it reflects the quality that it offers."
"When you are close to end of quarter, IBM and its partners can get you 60% to 70% discounts, so literally wait for the last day of the quarter for the best prices. You may feel like you are getting robbed if you can't receive a good discount."
"The government has funds and a budget, it's hard to say if it's expensive or cheap. In Canada, they have a yearly budget. They used to encourage people to use the modeler for development. If ten users use the server with ten licenses, it runs faster. But if forty users use the same appliance, everything slows down. People then think it's not easy to do things and prefer using remote tools like Python to extract data from the database. It's not about being expensive or cheap, but about people's knowledge and experience in how to do the work."
"If you are in a university and the license is free then you can use the tool without any charges, which is good."
"This tool, being an IBM product, is pretty expensive."
"IBM Watson Studio is a reasonably priced product"
"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 an expensive solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Educational Organization
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
University
9%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM SPSS Modeler?
Compared to other tools, the product works much easier to analyze data without coding.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM SPSS Modeler?
The government has funds and a budget, it's hard to say if it's expensive or cheap. In Canada, they have a yearly budget. They used to encourage people to use the modeler for development. If ten us...
What needs improvement with IBM SPSS Modeler?
There are performance issues. Extracting data from many combined tables can take hours and occasionally crash the server due to memory leaks. This performance problem bothers people. The performanc...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Watson Studio?
The pricing of Watson Studio is justified by the benefits and power it offers.
What needs improvement with IBM Watson Studio?
One area that could be improved is the backup and restoration of the database and the overall database configuration. There were also challenges with programming the network extension in the last p...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Reisebªro Idealtours GmbH, MedeAnalytics, Afni, Israel Electric Corporation, Nedbank Ltd., DigitalGlobe, Vodafone Hungary, Aegon Hungary, Bureau Veritas, Brammer Group, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, InSites Consulting, Fortis Turkey
GroupM, Accenture, Fifth Third Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SPSS Modeler vs. IBM Watson Studio and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.