Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

IBM Watson Studio vs KNIME 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 Watson Studio
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
12th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
AI Development Platforms (10th)
KNIME
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Data Mining (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM Watson Studio is 1.9%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KNIME is 11.7%, up from 9.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Science Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Laurence Moseley - PeerSpot reviewer
Has a drag-and-drop interface and AI capabilities
It's difficult to pinpoint one single feature because KNIME has so many. For starters, it's very easy to learn. You can get started with just a one-hour video. The drag-and-drop interface makes it user-friendly. For example, if you want to read an Excel file, drag the "read Excel file" node from the repository, configure it by specifying the file location, and run it. This gives you a table with all your data. Next, you can clean the data by handling missing values, selecting specific columns you want to analyze, and then proceeding with your analysis, such as regression or correlation. KNIME has over 4,500 nodes available for download. In addition, KNIME offers various extensions. For instance, the text processing extension allows you to process text data efficiently. It's more powerful than other tools like NVivo and Palantir. KNIME also has AI capabilities. If you're unsure about the next step, the AI assistant can suggest the most frequently used nodes based on your previous work. Another valuable feature is the integration with Python. If you need to perform a task that requires Python, you can simply add a Python node, write the necessary code,

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The scalability of IBM Watson Studio is great."
"The most important thing is that it's a multi-faceted solution. It's a kind of specialist, not a generalist. It can produce very specific information for the customer. It's totally different from Google or any search engine that produces generic information. It's specialty is that it's all on video."
"Watson Studio is the most complete tool for AI projects."
"For me, the valuable feature of the solution is the one that I used, which was Jupyter notebooks."
"It is a stable, reliable product."
"It stands out for its substantial AI capabilities, offering a broad spectrum of features for crafting solutions that meet specific requirements."
"The system's ability to take a look at data, segment it and then use that data very differently."
"It has a lot of data connectors, which is extremely helpful."
"Key features include: very easy-to-use visual interface; Help functions and clear explanations of the functionalities and the used algorithms; Data Wrangling and data manipulation functionalities are certainly sufficient, as well as the looping possibilities which help you to automate parts of the analysis."
"It is possible to configure the system to effectively manage memory and space requirements."
"It also has very good fundamental machine learning. It has decision trees, linear regression, and neural nets. It has a lot of text mining facilities as well. It's fairly fully-featured."
"KNIME is fast and the visualization provides a lot of clarity. It clarifies your thinking because you can see what's going on with your data."
"The product is open-source and therefore free to use."
"Overall KNIME serves its purpose and does a good job."
"We have found KNIME valuable when it comes to its visualization."
"I would rate the stability of KNIME a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"More features in data virtualization would be helpful. The solution could use an interactive dashboard that could make exploration easier."
"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."
"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."
"I want IBM's technical support team to provide more specific answers to queries."
"I think maybe the support is an area where it lacks."
"The initial setup was complex."
"The decision making in their decision making feature is less good than other options."
"The main challenge lies in visibility and ease of use."
"The graphic features of KNIME need improvement"
"The documentation is lacking and it could be better."
"It's difficult to pinpoint one single feature because KNIME has so many. For starters, it's very easy to learn. You can get started with just a one-hour video. The drag-and-drop interface makes it user-friendly. For example, if you want to read an Excel file, drag the "read Excel file" node from the repository, configure it by specifying the file location, and run it. This gives you a table with all your data."
"KNIME can improve by adding more automation tools in the query, similar to UiPath or Blue Prism. It would make the data collection and cleanup duties more versatile."
"Sometimes, we needed more space to handle larger operations, especially since our machines had limited space and memory due to Kubernetes clusters."
"One thing to consider is that the prebuilt nodes may not always be a perfect fit for your specific needs, although most of the time, they work quite well."
"System resource usage. Knime will occupy total system RAM size and other applications will hang."
"Both RapidMiner and KNIME should be made easier to use in the field of deep learning."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Watson Studio's pricing is reasonable for what you get."
"IBM Watson Studio is a reasonably priced product"
"At this time, I am using the free version of Knime."
"I use the open-source version."
"They have different versions, but I am using the open-source one."
"KNIME is an open-source tool, so it's free to use."
"There is no cost for using KNIME because it is an open-source solution, but you have to pay if you need a server."
"This is an open-source solution that is free to use."
"KNIME offers a free version"
"There is a Community Edition and paid versions available."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Science Platforms solutions are best for your needs.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What do you like most about KNIME?
Since KNIME is a no-code platform, it is easy to work with.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for KNIME?
I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
What needs improvement with KNIME?
For graphics, the interface is a little confusing. So, this is a point that could be improved.
 

Also Known As

Watson Studio, IBM Data Science Experience, Data Science Experience, DSx
KNIME Analytics Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

GroupM, Accenture, Fifth Third Bank
Infocom Corporation, Dymatrix Consulting Group, Soluzione Informatiche, MMI Agency, Estanislao Training and Solutions, Vialis AG
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Watson Studio vs. KNIME and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.