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Azure Databricks vs Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Azure Databricks
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
15th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
4.1
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure Machine Lea...
Ranking in Data Science Platforms
9th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
AI Development Platforms (6th)
 

Featured Reviews

SK
Sr. Technical Specialist at Softcell Technologies Limited
Data pipelines have accelerated and support reliable analytics collaboration across teams
From our experience, Azure Databricks could be improved with simpler cluster management and more predictable cost visibility and enhanced native monitoring for large enterprise environments. We would also like richer governance features, better debugging for distributed Spark jobs, and more granular controls for workload optimization over and across multiple teams, which we have at multiple customer environments and within our organization. In day-to-day operations, troubleshooting failed Spark jobs can still be time-consuming, especially in complex distributed workloads. We would like clearer root cause diagnostics and more actionable performance recommendations within Azure Databricks. Better cost optimization insights at the job and cluster level would also help us manage large multiple team environments more efficiently.
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

"My pipelines are now significantly faster compared to older ETL tools, as what used to take over 12 to 14 hours to process 2 GB of source data in Synapse Analytics now completes within 5 hours using the Azure Databricks framework for the transformation part, illustrating a substantial improvement in performance."
"The best features in Azure Databricks for me are that it's easy to use, flexible, and has fast processing, and you can use multiple data types."
"The concept of Azure Databricks is a very good one, especially for the data products concept and idea."
"Azure Databricks gives the capability to handle a lot of big data use cases and machine learning use cases, but machine learning use cases need quite a lot of compute power, and that is where the cost spikes up."
"Regarding the learning curve, it is a good technology; it is the first time I am working on a cloud platform, and before that, I have not worked on any data engineering tool that is on cloud, so it is good learning."
"Azure Databricks has significantly improved our ability to process data and large data sets, and deliver analytics projects faster for our customers."
"Anyone who isn't a programmer his whole life can adopt it. All he needs is statistics and data analysis skills."
"The most valuable feature is data normalization."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy."
"​It has helped in reducing the time involved for coding using R and/or Python."
"Regarding the technical support for the solution, I find the documentation provided comprehensive and helpful."
"What I like best about Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is that it's a straightforward tool and it's easy to use. Another valuable feature of the tool is AutoML which lets you get better metrics to train the model right and with good accuracy. The AutoML feature allows you to simply put in your data, and it'll pre-process and create a more accurate model for you. You don't have to do anything because AutoML in Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio will take care of it."
"I like that it's totally easy to use. They have an AutoML solution, and their machine learning model is highly accurate. They also have a feature that can explain the machine learning model. This makes it easy for me to understand that model."
"The product supports open-source tools."
 

Cons

"The only concern is perhaps related to the pricing and cost that Azure Databricks incurs."
"At this point, I cannot comment on the cost being ideal; it is on the higher side, but in the cloud-based environment, compared to on-premise, it could be far lesser in cost."
"The biggest friction point I have experienced with Azure Databricks is its cost-effectiveness; for projects with less data volume, it is advisable to use Azure Fabric services instead, as Azure Databricks may not be suitable for low volume processing."
"Lower pricing is currently my only focus and I'm still exploring Azure Databricks, so it's too early to say something, but overall, I'm saying that it is the future."
"I have given the product a rating of six out of ten just because I do not use all of the functionalities, and I see some direction for improvement as well; also, every product has something to improve, and I have not used many features in this product."
"From our experience, Azure Databricks could be improved with simpler cluster management and more predictable cost visibility and enhanced native monitoring for large enterprise environments."
"​It could use to add some more features in data transformation, time series and the text analytics section."
"In terms of improvement, I'd like to have more ability to construct and understand the detailed impact of the variables on the model. Their algorithms are very powerful and they explain overall the net contribution of each of the variables to the solution. In terms of being able to say to people "If you did this, you'll get this much more improvement" it wasn't great."
"The solution should be more customizable. There should be more algorithms."
"Using the solution requires some specific learning which can take some time."
"In terms of data capabilities, if we compare it to Google Cloud's BigQuery, we find a difference. When fetching data from web traffic, Google can do a lot of processing with small queries or functions."
"In the Machine Learning Studio, particularly the Designer part, which is essentially Azure's demo designer, there is room for improvement. Many customers and users tend to switch to Microsoft Azure Multi-Joiners, which is a more basic version, but they do so internally. One area that could use enhancement is the process of connecting components. Currently, every time you want to connect a component, such as linking it to your storage or an instance like EC2, you have to input your username and password repeatedly. This can be quite cumbersome. Google, for instance, has made it more user-friendly by allowing easy access for connecting services within a workspace. In a workspace, you can set up various resources like storage, a database cluster, machine learning studio, and more. When connecting these services, there's no need to enter your username and password each time, making it a more efficient process. Another aspect to consider is the role of the designer, and they were to integrate a large language model to handle various tasks, it could significantly enhance the overall scalability and usability of the platform."
"One area where Azure Machine Learning Studio could improve is its user interface structure."
"Easier customization and configuration would be beneficial."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"There is a lack of certainty with the solution's pricing."
"There is a license required for this solution."
"The product is not that expensive."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being very expensive. Not very expensive, not very cheap."
"Last year, we paid 60,000 for Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio in our department."
"The product's pricing is reasonable."
"The solution operates on a pay-per-use model."
"My team didn't deal with the licensing for Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio, so I'm unable to comment on pricing, but the money that was spent on the tool was worth it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Performing Arts
7%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise32
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Databricks?
Regarding the licensing cost of Azure Databricks, it has evolved quite a lot. The compute is the biggest cost, as with any other big data solutions. The storage cost is almost minimal or negligible...
What needs improvement with Azure Databricks?
From our experience, Azure Databricks could be improved with simpler cluster management and more predictable cost visibility and enhanced native monitoring for large enterprise environments. We wou...
What is your primary use case for Azure Databricks?
Azure Databricks is our primary platform for building scalable data engineering and analytics pipelines for enterprise customers. We use it to inject, transform, and process large volumes of struct...
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 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.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio?
The initial setup can be a bit challenging for someone new, as the learning curve can be steep, but once I master the platform, I find it quite manageable. I would love to see the integration of a ...
 

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 Azure Databricks vs. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.