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Altair RapidMiner vs IBM SPSS Modeler comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 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

Altair RapidMiner
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Predictive Analytics (3rd)
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)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of Altair RapidMiner is 7.7%, up from 6.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM SPSS Modeler is 2.4%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Science Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Laurence Moseley - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good tutorials that make it easy to learn and use, with a powerful feature to compare machine learning algorithms
When I started using RapidMiner, I found it difficult to get it to read the metadata. I wanted to use, for example, a pivot table, and it did not have the variable or the attribute names in it. There were no values. It took a long while to figure out how to do that, although it tends to do it automatically nowadays. RapidMiner is not utterly intuitive for beginners. Sometimes people have trouble distinguishing between a file in their own file system and a repository entry, and they cannot find their data. This is an area where this solution could be improved. It would be helpful to have some tutorials on communicating with Python. I found it a bit difficult at times to figure out which particular variable, or attribute, is going where in Python. It is probably a simple thing to do but I haven't mastered it yet. I'd like them to do a video on that. There are a large number of videos that are usually well-produced, but I don't think that they have one on that. Essentially, I would like to see how to communicate from RapidMiner to Python and from Python to RapidMiner. One of the things I do a lot of is looking at questionnaires where people have used Likert-type scales. I don't recommend Likert-type scales, but if they're properly produced, which is a lot of hard work and it's not usually done, they're really powerful and you can do things like normalizing holes on the Likert scale. That's not the same as normalizing your data in RapidMiner. So, I would want to get results with these Likert scales, pass it through RapidMiner, do a normalization and pass back both the raw scores and the normalized scores and put in some rules, which will say if it's high on the raw score and on the normalized score and low on the standard deviation, then you can trust it.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of RapidMiner is that it can read a large number of file formats including CSV, Excel, and in particular, SPSS."
"It's helpful if you want to make informed decisions using data. We can take the information, tease out the attributes, and label everything. It's suitable for profiling and forecasting in any industry."
"RapidMiner is very easy to use."
"The documentation for this solution is very good, where each operator is explained with how to use it."
"One of the most valuable features is the built-in data tuning feature. Once the model is built, we often struggle to increase its accuracy, but RapidMiner allows us to fine-tune variables. For Example, when working on a project, we can adjust the number of nodes or the depth of trees to see how accuracy changes. This flexibility lets us achieve higher accuracy compared to traditional automated machine-learning models"
"What I like about RapidMiner is its all-in-one nature, which allows me to prepare, extract, transform, and load data within the same tool."
"RapidMiner is a no-code machine learning tool. I can install it on my local machine and work with smaller datasets. It can also connect to databases, allowing me to build models directly on the data stored there. RapidMiner offers a wider range of operators than other tools like Dataiku, making it a better option for my needs."
"I like not having to write all solutions from code. Being able to drag and drop controls, enables me to focus on building the best model, without needing to search for syntax errors or extra libraries."
"A lot of jobs that are stuck in Excel due to the huge numbers of rows are tackled pretty quickly."
"Extremely easy to use, it offers a generous selection of proprietary machine learning algorithms."
"The ease of use in the user interface is the best part of it. The ability to customize some of my streams with R and Python has been very useful to me, I've automated a few things with that."
"It is a great product for running statistical analysis."
"It helped me in that I didn't need to write them by hand, and I could get a result in one or two minutes. That helped me a lot."
"New algorithms are added into every version of Modeler, e.g., SMOTE, random forest, etc. The Derive node is used for the syntax code to derive the data."
"We are using it either for workforce deployment or to improve our operations."
"I think the code modeling features are the most valuable and without the need to write a code back with many different possibilities to choose from. And the second one is linked to the activity of the data preparation."
 

Cons

"If they could include video tutorials, people would find that quite helpful."
"A great product but confusing in some way with regard to the user interface and integration with other tools."
"The biggest problem, not from a platform process, but from an avoidance process, is when you work in a heavily regulated environment, like banking and finance. Whenever you make a decision or there is an output, you need to bill it as an avoidance to the investigator or to the bank audit team. If you made decisions within this machine learning model, you need to explain why you did so. It would better if you could explain your decision in terms of delivery. However, this is an issue with all ML platforms. Many companies are working heavily in this area to help figure out how to make it more explainable to the business team or the regulator."
"RapidMiner would be improved with the inclusion of more machine learning algorithms for generating time-series forecasting models."
"The server product has been getting updated and continues to be better each release. When I started using RapidMiner, it was solid but not easy to set up and upgrade."
"It would be helpful to have some tutorials on communicating with Python."
"One challenge I encountered while implementing RapidMiner was the lack of documentation. Since there aren't as many users, finding resources to learn the tool was initially difficult. To overcome this hurdle, I believe RapidMiner could improve by providing more tutorials tailored for new users."
"Altair RapidMiner needs updates to its examples, particularly in business and marketing areas, and to the tool itself. The user interface should be improved."
"Expensive to deploy solutions. You need to buy an extra deployment unit."
"When you are not using the product, such as during the pandemic where we had worldwide lockdowns, you still have to pay for the licensing."
"​Initial setup of the software was complex, because of our own problems within the government."
"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."
"The product does not have a search function for tags."
"Time Series or forecasting needs to be easier. It is a very important feature, and it should be made easier and more automated to use. For instance, for logistic regression, binary or multinomial is used automatically based on the type of the target variable. I wish they can make Time Series easier to use in a similar way."
"I can say the solution is outdated."
"When I used it in the office, back in the day, we did have some stability issues. Sometimes it just randomly crashed and we couldn't get good feedback. But when I use it for my own stuff now I don't have any problems."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The client only has to pay the licensing costs. There are not any maintenance or hidden costs in addition to the license."
"I used an educational license for this solution, which is available free of charge."
"For the university, the cost of the solution is free for the students and teachers."
"I'm not fully aware of RapidMiner's price because we had licenses provided, but from my analysis, it's moderately priced, not too high or too low. It's worth the investment."
"Although we don't pay licensing fees because it is being used within the university, my understanding is that the cost is between $5,000 and $10,000 USD per year."
"$5,000 annually."
"It got us a good amount of money with quick and efficient modeling."
"Its price is okay for a company, but for personal use, it is considered somewhat expensive."
"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."
"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."
"This tool, being an IBM product, is pretty expensive."
"If you are in a university and the license is free then you can use the tool without any charges, which is good."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Educational Organization
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Educational Organization
12%
University
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about RapidMiner?
RapidMiner is a no-code machine learning tool. I can install it on my local machine and work with smaller datasets. It can also connect to databases, allowing me to build models directly on the dat...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for RapidMiner?
I'm not fully aware of RapidMiner's price because we had licenses provided, but from my analysis, it's moderately priced, not too high or too low. It's worth the investment.
What needs improvement with RapidMiner?
Altair RapidMiner needs updates to its examples, particularly in business and marketing areas, and to the tool itself. The user interface should be improved. Incorporating generative AI as an AI as...
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...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SPSS Modeler
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

PayPal, Deloitte, eBay, Cisco, Miele, Volkswagen
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Altair RapidMiner vs. IBM SPSS Modeler and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.