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IBM Watson Machine Learning vs Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 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 Watson Machine Learning
Ranking in AI Development Platforms
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure Machine Lea...
Ranking in AI Development Platforms
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Data Science Platforms (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the AI Development Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM Watson Machine Learning is 2.0%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is 3.4%, down from 8.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
AI Development Platforms Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio3.4%
IBM Watson Machine Learning2.0%
Other94.6%
AI Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2319402 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Business Development at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Good fit for medium-sized companies, and offers good AutoML feature
In future releases, I would like to see a more flexible environment. It's a good product for customization and developing products. But when we need the most control over the delivery, Watson isn't the best. We can't fix everything because we're working with a machine that's creating a product. And the ability to go in-depth and tweak our model easily would be really nice.
reviewer2722962 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Scientist
Platform accelerates model development, enhances collaboration, and offers efficient deployment
The best features Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio offers include deep integration with Python notebooks and Azure Data Lake, which allows me to import external data, and through the pipeline, I can build my models, performing what is called data injection for my model building, making that deep integration quite interesting to use. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is a powerful platform for those already in the Azure ecosystem because it allows for scalability and provides a good environment for reproducibility, as well as collaboration tools, all designed and packaged in one place, which makes it outstanding. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio has positively impacted my organization by reducing our project delivery times and increasing the pace at which we work, allowing us to focus on other more important tasks. Using Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio has reduced our model development time from approximately four hours to about two hours.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is has a lot of good features and we find the image classification very useful."
"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution ten out of ten."
"I was particularly interested in trying the AutoML feature to see how it handles data and proposes new models. The variety of models it provides is impressive."
"It has improved self-service and customer satisfaction."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution's the cost and human labor savings."
"We can enable and change developer productivity with artificial intelligence-recommended code based on natural language input or exciting source code."
"The solution is very valuable to our organization due to the fact that we can work on it as a workflow."
"It is a scalable solution…It is a pretty stable solution…The solution's initial setup process was pretty straightforward."
"MLS allows me to set up data experiments by running through various regression and other machine learning algorithms, with different data cleaning and treatment tools. All of this can be achieved via drag and drop, and a few clicks of the mouse."
"The most valuable feature is data normalization."
"Its ability to publish a predictive model as a web based solution and integrate R and python codes are amazing."
"The drag-and-drop interface is good."
"The solution is easy to use and has good automation capabilities in conjunction with Azure DevOps."
"Azure Machine Learning Studio provides a platform to integrate with large language models."
"Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio has positively impacted my organization by reducing our project delivery times and increasing the pace at which we work, allowing us to focus on other more important tasks."
 

Cons

"If I consider how we want to use it in our organization, certain areas of improvement can be addressed. For instance, we want to use it with Generative AI, not like ChatGPT, but in a way intended for industrial use."
"In future releases, I would like to see a more flexible environment."
"Honestly, I haven't seen any comparative report that has run the same data through two different artificial intelligence or machine learning capabilities to get something out of it. I would love to see that."
"Sometimes training the model is difficult."
"The supporting language is limited."
"They should add more GPU processing power to improve performance, especially when dealing with large amounts of data."
"Scaling is limited in some use cases. They need to make it easier to expand in all aspects."
"I think they should improve two things. They should make their user interface more user-friendly. Integration could also be better. Because Microsoft Machine Learning is a Microsoft product, it's fully integrated with Microsoft Azure but not fully supported for other platforms like IBM or AWS or something else."
"The initial setup time of the containers to run the experiment is a bit long."
"The data cleaning functionality is something that could be better and needs to be improved."
"I personally would prefer if data could be tunneled to my model through a SAP ERP system, and have features of Excel, such as Pivot Tables, integrated."
"There should be data access security, a role level security. Right now, they don't offer this."
"Enable creating ensemble models easier, adding more machine learning algorithms."
"The solution cannot connect to private block storage."
"One area where Azure Machine Learning Studio could improve is its user interface structure."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing model is good."
"I've only been using the free tier, but it's quite competitive on a service basis."
"I rate the product price as a nine on a scale of one to ten, where ten means it is very expensive."
"The licensing cost is very cheap. It's less than $50 a month."
"The product is not that expensive."
"The pricing for Microsoft products can be complex due to changes and being cloud-based, so it's not straightforward. I've been familiar with it for years, but sometimes details about product licenses and distribution can be unclear. For Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio specifically, I would rate the price a six out of ten."
"On a scale from one to ten, with ten being overpriced, I would rate the price of this solution at six."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being very expensive. Not very expensive, not very cheap."
"I rate the solution's pricing a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"There is a lack of certainty with the solution's pricing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Educational Organization
8%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Performing Arts
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise30
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Watson Machine Learning?
I was particularly interested in trying the AutoML feature to see how it handles data and proposes new models. The variety of models it provides is impressive.
What needs improvement with IBM Watson Machine Learning?
Sometimes training the model is difficult. We need to have at least a few different components to evaluate and understand the behavior of different users to have a very, very high accuracy in the m...
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 ...
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?
The pricing for Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is reasonable since it's pay as you go, meaning it won't cost excessively unless specific resources are used.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Azure Machine Learning, MS Azure Machine Learning Studio
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Schneider Electric, BP
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Watson Machine Learning vs. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,853 professionals have used our research since 2012.