KNIME Reviews

We use KNIME for a lot of predictive modeling. We use it to grab data, prepare it for modeling, do automated machine learning analysis, sometimes forecasting, and then try to deploy the models into production.

Since KNIME is a no-code platform, it is easy to work with. You don't have to write any codes and try to fix all the bits and pieces of coding or the intricacies of the programming language. Instead, getting a quick data prep or big data and eventually running it through your hypothesis is pretty fast. It's not ideal for huge data sets worth gigabytes, but it's okay since very few people have big data sets.

KNIME is not good at visualization. I would like to see NLQ (Natural language query) and automated visualizations added to KNIME.

I have been using KNIME for two to three years.

Unless you are working with terabytes worth of data, KNIME is a stable solution.

The solution is scalable and can be used up to terabytes of data. Around two to three people are using the solution in our organization.

The solution’s initial setup is quick and easy.

One person can deploy the solution within ten minutes.

The solution is very essential when we require an explainable data modeling pipeline. We can show the workflows of KNIME to our customers and talk about it instead of showing the code and expecting them to read, which they can never do.

The process of providing KNIME to the client, how it works, where we get the data, what the initial data statistics were, and what we get in return are pretty explainable. We worked on multiple retail projects and insurance scoring projects.

KNIME is perfect for data pre-processing projects. The important thing is that when someone builds a KNIME workflow, we can quickly onboard and change it for something else. It means that we don't need to read and understand the code. It means that it's replicable and reusable.

If somebody does something, somebody else can quickly onboard and enhance, improve, or totally change the workflow from scratch. It's pretty hard and time-consuming for typical use cases where we utilize coding. KNIME's open-source nature has a good impact on our analytics work.

Recently, KNIME added something relevant to generative AI integration, which was a good move. Alteryx is slightly more powerful than KNIME, and Dataiku is more powerful than both KNIME and Alteryx. I sometimes work with the on-premises version of KNIME and sometimes the cloud version. The solution does not need any maintenance.

Users should quickly start using KNIME for whatever they want to do, and they'll learn it on the go easily. I would recommend the solution to other users.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I use KNIME to simplify the modeling process. 

The tool's analytic capabilities are good. 

I wish there were more video training resources for KNIME. The current videos are very short, and most learning is text-based. Longer training sessions would be helpful, especially for complex flowchart use cases. Webinars focusing on starting projects and analyzing data would also be beneficial.

The solution is scalable. 

I haven't contacted the tool's support yet. 

The tool's deployment is easy. 

I use the tool's free version. 

It takes some time to get familiar with it. I'm not sure how long it will take in the meantime. If one person learns it but the whole institution doesn't use it, that's a problem. Some people in our department use QuickSight, I use Tableau. We speak different languages, and it's hard for us to work together. Some use KNIME. We use it and then stop. We switched to Tableau, but it's expensive, so they're trying QuickSight. I don't know which platform we'll end up using.

We're still exploring KNIME for data manipulation, though Tableau or Power BI might be more convenient. I've used Alteryx before, and KNIME seems similar. I mainly use KNIME for machine learning, not as much for data manipulation.

I rate the overall product a seven out of ten.

I use KNIME for my academic works.

KNIME is more intuitive and easier to use, which is the principal advantage.

For graphics, the interface is a little confusing. So, this is a point that could be improved.

I have been using KNIME for six months.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

We use KNIME for analyzing data, for ETLs, and analyzing for machine learning.

KNIME is easy to learn. You can code with KNIME using the visual coding platform if you know how to code. If you're working in an account management or financial department, you can use KNIME to work with a huge amount of data quickly. You can use KNIME to schedule your workflows, send emails, and write codes.

The main issue with KNIME is that it sometimes uses too much CPU and RAM when working with large amounts of data.

I have been using KNIME for eight years.

KNIME is a stable solution. In the previous version, sometimes KNIME would get stuck, and we had to restart the server too many times. Sometimes, we faced a lack of memory issues with the solution.

I rate KNIME an eight out of ten for stability.

Less than ten users are using KNIME in our organization.

I rate KNIME an eight out of ten for scalability.

KNIME’s technical support team responds quickly. You can write your problems in the solution's forum, and they will answer you.

KNIME's initial setup is not easy and needs someone who knows Linux to do it.

A Linux engineer can deploy KNIME quickly, whereas someone who doesn't know Linux will take longer.

There is no cost for using KNIME because it is an open-source solution, but you have to pay if you need a server.

KNIME is a perfect solution for small and big companies, especially people who are using Excel. KNIME is very easy to learn and implement, and doctors and lab personnel can use it. Lots of companies are supporting KNIME and writing their own extensions. Data analysts and data scientists are using the solution for ETI processes.

Overall, I rate KNIME an eight out of ten.

I am promoting the use of KNIME because of my background as a computer scientist and my experience programming in languages, such as Pascal, Python, and R. Many of my junior colleagues at the university lack proficiency in computing, and KNIME is an effective tool for introducing beginners to programming. The platform is user-friendly and does not require coding, making it accessible for those who can learn the basics in just an hour through video tutorials.

One way KNIME has improved our organization is by allowing us to perform analyses that we previously couldn't. We often start with data in Excel or CSV format, and the process of importing data from other software, such as SPSS or STATA can be challenging. With KNIME, the process is simplified, as we can easily import the data with a single node, making it quick and efficient.

There are many valuable features in KNIME. One of the most useful aspects is that it can read a wide variety of data file types. Additionally, the ability to manipulate data, such as deleting rows or columns, is very helpful. I also use many of the nodes for analyzing data, such as doing frequencies and cross tabs. I have used it for machine learning tasks, like decision trees and random forests. It also has neural network capabilities, but I am not an expert in that area, so I cannot comment on it.

It's a very powerful and simple tool to use.

KNIME has met all of my needs so far. It has excellent data visualization capabilities. Additionally, it has a text analysis package, which I haven't used. However, I am satisfied with the features currently available and it has a strong support community.

One area that could be improved is increasing awareness and adoption of KNIME among organizations. Despite its capabilities, it is not as well-known as other tools.  The advertising and marketing efforts to reach out to companies and universities have not been very successful.

I have been using KNIME for approximately two years.

KNIME is highly stable, it's been working for over 10 years.

In terms of scalability, I haven't personally pushed KNIME to its limits. I have used it to work with tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of cases and it has performed well on my own Microsoft Windows 10 PC. It has completed everything I wanted to do within a maximum of 10 seconds, but usually much less, often taking only a second or two. It sometimes seems immediate, but I have not tested it with hundreds of thousands or millions of cases.

The server version is certainly scalable. However, I am not using that version. I am using the desktop version, known as the Workbench. The server version can handle large datasets, such as those found in genomics, proteomics, and chemistry databases that are in the millions, so it is clearly capable of scaling. I am not able to comment on the performance of the server version as I have not personally used it.

I have not contacted the company for technical support. They have a community hub where many users contribute and I have used that for assistance and it has worked well for me. I am not commenting on the company's specific support services, but rather on the facility provided by the company for users to communicate with each other. Often, you can't distinguish whether the person providing the advice is an official representative of the company or a fellow user.

The support provided by the community hub is excellent. You can post questions and usually receive a reply within 24 hours. Sometimes you even receive workflow that can be easily integrated into your own work, saving you the time and effort of retyping it.

The initial setup of KNIME is trivial. I only needed to download and it run.

For beginners, the free desktop version is very attractive, but the full server version can be more expensive. I have only used the free version and it offers a fair pricing system. I have been promoting it to others without any compensation or request from the company, simply because I am enthusiastic about it. I am not aware of the pricing for the server version, but it seems to be widely used.

My advice to others starting out with the solution is for them to look up videos on the solution because there are hundreds of them, but start with the small ones.

You can begin using KNIME with a one-hour introduction, which provides enough knowledge to complete most research tasks, but it does not cover all the fine details of the platform. KNIME offers tens of thousands of packages, or nodes, that are available for download to perform various tasks such as text processing or regression. It is not possible to learn all of it at once, it's best to start with analyzing data that interests you and then expanding your knowledge as you go along. The platform is reliable, as new features are thoroughly tested and it has never failed me in the many times that I have used it.

I rate KNIME a nine out of ten.

This solution is primarily used for various data analytics in an enterprise environment. 

The reality of any data analytics project including Data Science is that 90% of the effort goes into data sourcing and preparation. Data usually comes from multiple sources including data warehouses, web scraping, Excel input, free text, etc. KNIME allows you to do the 90% plus other predictive functionality.

It is a free open-source tool that performs very similarly to other expensive tools. KNIME has been great for me over the years. It allows me to connect to various sources including data warehouses, then put the processing logic together (ETL-like), which can be quite complex and produce the required output. Ultimately, it would go into Excel or Tableau for presentation.

The features that I find most valuable are:

1. The visual workflow tools for custom and complex tasks always beat raw coding languages with the agility, speed to deliver, and ease of subsequent changes.
2. Unlimited volume of data; you are only limited by the machine you run on.
3. Python and R integration.
4. Predictive functionality and text analytics. If it is not enough then you can use custom Python and R scripts.
5. Looping functionality.
6. Variables allow you to parameterize your flows.
7. Run one node at a time, which is something that Alteryx users dream of doing.
8. Managing (collapsing) sub-flows, which is another thing that Alteryx container users also dream of.

The areas that I feel need improvement are:

• It needs support for a joiner node to have three outputs (left unmatched, matched, right unmatched), as competitors do (have not checked 2019/20 releases).
• I need the ability to add additional comparison conditions to a join. For example, in SQL you can specify only rows with a date fitting within a date range from the joined file. At the moment in KNIME, you should allow a join explosion to take place and filter what you need later, but sometimes the output becomes too big.
• It would be helpful to have more examples of Java code for nodes, like Java Snippet.
• I would like to have this solution show row counts on canvas, as it would improve the control and speed to build the workflow.
• The pseudo-code types could be rationalised into one (e.g. only Java).
• I would like to see better web scraping because every time I tried, it was not up to par, although you can use Python script.

I have been using KNIME for between four and five years.

My system occasionally may crash like other similar tools, although autosave is available.

Scalability is limited to a desktop application.

Obviously, as an open-source application, your options are limited but I have found answers on forums when I needed help.

Recently I have been using Alteryx so I have collected a few points on differences in both tools. Both are good, I can conclusively say I could go back to KNIME and be as effective data professional as I am with Alteryx.

I have to use Alteryx due to my client's tool choice, but I know that what I am doing with Alteryx right now could be done better in KNIME. Of course, Alteryx has its own advantages for certain areas.

It is a relatively simple install. You can even avoid installing it and run from a directory.

KNIME is free as a stand-alone desktop-based platform but if you want to get a KNIME server then you can find the cost on their website. The fact that KNIME is open source may create challenges from an IT security view in an enterprise environment.

For this review, I would include Alteryx and Lavastorm (the latter is no longer available).

If you need a good Visualisation functionality, you should use Tableau or something of that caliber. However, the data prep can be done KNIME, which would give you extra confidence that what goes into your Visualisation layer is correct.

Overall, KNIME is definitely worth considering.

I'm a professor at the local university. So, I used it to train virtual students in mechanical engineering.

I'm training a class for mechanical engineers on factory utilization and the basics of data science. That's what I use it for.

It's pretty straightforward to understand. So, if you understand what the pipeline is, you can use the drag-and-drop functionality without much training. Doing the same thing in Python requires so much more training. That's why I use KNIME.

In the last update, KNIME started hiding a lot of the nodes. It doesn't mean hiding, but you need to know what you're looking for. Before that, you had just a tree that you could click, and you could get an overview of what kind of nodes do I have. 

Right now, it's like you need to know which node you need, and then you can start typing, but it's actually more difficult to find them.

I have been using it for four years. 

I've never had any problems with it, so it's a ten out of ten.

I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten. For a basic training course, it's still fine. But I'm not a professional in using KNIME.

I used RapidMiner. I have not been using it in six years. I used to use it six years ago. Then I switched to KNIME because a lot of my colleagues are using KNIME, so it felt like the right way to do it.  

Moreover, I switched from one university to another, and at my new university, other colleagues are using KNIME as well. So, for the students, it's easier to go just with one product.

Overall, it's still easier than using Python, so it's still fine. But, actually, they made it more complex by switching from the last version to the one before.

We're using the free academic license just locally. I went for KNIME because they have a free academic license. And to be honest, I never bothered to check the prices.

I like it a lot. I would advise that you shouldn't be afraid of data science. It's actually straightforward.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

As a university professor instructing courses on data mining and machine learning, I incorporate both KNIME and another software application into my teaching. This approach allows me to demonstrate various use cases effectively. I actively engage my students by having them utilize both software applications, providing practical hands-on experience in the areas of data mining and machine learning.

The most valuable is the ability to seamlessly connect operators without the need for extensive programming.

To enhance accessibility and user-friendliness, there is a need for improvements in the interface and usability of deep learning and large-scale learning languages.

I have been using it for more than ten years.

I would rate its stability capabilities nine out of ten.

It provides good scalability abilities, I would rate it eight out of ten. Currently, more than sixty individuals use it on a daily basis.

They are helpful and I am highly satisfied with their customer support services. I would rate it nine out of ten.

Positive

We use Orange as well.

The initial setup is straightforward.

While there are certain limitations in functionality, you can still utilize it efficiently free of charge.

I would recommend it, especially for those who prefer not to program or have limited coding intervention. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.