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IBM SPSS Modeler vs SAS Analytics comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 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

IBM SPSS Modeler
Ranking in Data Mining
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Data Science Platforms (13th)
SAS Analytics
Ranking in Data Mining
4th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Data Mining category, the mindshare of IBM SPSS Modeler is 13.3%, down from 21.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAS Analytics is 8.9%, up from 6.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Mining Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM SPSS Modeler13.3%
SAS Analytics8.9%
Other77.8%
Data Mining
 

Featured Reviews

RB
Business Owner at SASS GmbH
Support and flexibility enable effective project initiation and meet customer needs but deployment requires enhancement
The customer comes to you and says they want to deploy it and make a production out of this, which is very difficult and expensive with IBM SPSS Modeler. With MATLAB, there is no problem. I have a solution, and then I convert my MATLAB solution to C programming language. This I can deploy, and I can check it, and it is MISRA compatible. It is very easy to deploy it, to go from MATLAB to C or C++, which is actually needed in the car industry. In the car industry, they want to have it in the hardware. You cannot put MATLAB or IBM SPSS Modeler in the hardware of a car, but with C, there is no problem with a microcontroller. They can shoot it into the microcontroller, and I can check it with Polyspace, and it is MISRA compatible, which is an industrial standard. There is nothing similar in IBM SPSS Modeler. I made solutions with IBM SPSS Modeler, and then the customer said they wanted to make a production out of it, and it was not possible. I stopped with IBM SPSS Modeler 18. It is now 18.6 from what I know at the moment. I do not believe that there is a possibility to design a graphic user interface with it. It is itself a graphic user interface, where you put all sorts of little icons into the display.
SC
Student at Rochester Institute of Technology
Data management has become faster and clearer but integration and large data handling still need work
SAS Analytics needs to improve for entry-level people in my college because buying licenses is somewhat costly for small businesses. SAS Analytics is also somewhat complex for students who are entering the data field. Additionally, SAS Analytics is not good at integration with other environments, so it should improve on that, and some syntaxes are not good. SAS Analytics has an older architecture in some areas, so it should enhance the UX side and performance in some aspects. SAS Analytics documentation should improve to be clearer for students who are currently using or trying to use SAS Analytics, so the documentation should be simplified. Customer service is pretty good as of now, as they respond in two to four hours on business days, but faster response times may solve many problems and attract more users. I rate SAS Analytics seven or eight out of ten. SAS Analytics should improve in massive data handling, as I mentioned earlier. SAS Analytics struggles when it handles massive data, and it should also get top-tier support. The support should improve from two to four hours down to one hour or even thirty minutes. SAS Analytics should also offer more low-code options for those who do not know how to code or to save more time, and they should consider reducing their pricing. Currently, SAS Analytics has limited flexibility and very limited integration, so improvements in those areas are necessary. SAS Analytics student version does not handle long or lengthy data well right now, so it should improve on that point. As I have mentioned, it struggles with larger data sets, but for current small or medium data sets, it is very good. Customer support should improve to fifteen to thirty minutes or immediate live agents during business hours. The two to four hours wait can sometimes take more than one day, and that does not make sense. We have to stop all our work until they reply if we encounter critical problems, so they should improve for certain.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Projecting models, forecasting, being able to incorporate things that we could only imagine, and coming into new, faster learning capabilities from it."
"Very good data aggregation."
"Quickness and ease of use with the guarantee of robust modeling techniques and trustworthy accuracy."
"It scales. I have not run into any challenges where it will not perform.​"
"The supervised models are valuable. It is also very organized and easy to use."
"Most of the other solutions are trying to imitate IBM Modeler."
"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."
"I think it is the point and drag features that are the most valuable. You can simply click at the windows, and then pull up the functions."
"We have noticed at least a thirty to forty percent saving in time and a thirty to forty percent increase in the efficiency of our work."
"I like that it is quickly embedding interactive reports and dashboards into a website, Outlook Mail, or even a mobile app."
"It has facilitated timely analysis results with quality work, meaningful output, and consistent data use."
"I use SAS daily to analyze data, produce reports, and other outputs."
"They have provided virtually everything we have needed to accomplish our task, as well as continuously improving our accuracy."
"The most valuable aspect of SAS Analytics is the ability to automate work using macros without heavily relying on technology teams, allowing me to create functions that operate independently and streamline workflows efficiently."
"This solution has helped us materially grow multiple business categories."
"The technical support is okay."
 

Cons

"The biggest issue with the visual modeling capability is that we can't extract the SQL code under the hood."
"We have run into a few problems doing some entity matching/analytics using this portion of the software."
"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."
"The scalability was kind of limited by our ability to get other people licenses, and that was usually more of a financial constraint."
"C&DS will not meet our scalability needs."
"I would not rate the technical support very well. The technicians have accents, and when you do find someone, it is very hard to get somebody able to answer the technical questions."
"The platform that you can deploy it on needs improvement because I think it is Windows only. I do not think it can run off a Red Hat, like the server products. I am pretty sure it is Windows and AIX only."
"The software is quite expensive and IBM is currently marketing its other digital dashboard tools such as IBM cognos, now we aren't sure on the plans of IBM integrating these two softwares."
"SAS Analytics struggles when it handles massive data, and it should also get top-tier support."
"This solution should be made more user-friendly."
"​Support at universities used to be limited, but I hear this is changing.​"
"It is relatively expensive."
"With SAS Analytics, I find that the graphs are very poor, and since I use Power BI, I think SAS Analytics needs to enhance the visualization options to do better visualizations."
"The installation could also be easier, and the price could be better."
"This solution should be made more user-friendly. It needs a better visual output to explain logic to senior executives."
"The natural language querying and automated preparation of dashboards should be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a huge increase to time savings."
"The scalability was kind of limited by our ability to get other people licenses, and that was usually more of a financial constraint. It's expensive, but it's a good tool."
"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."
"It is an expensive product."
"I am using the free version of IBM SPSS Modeler, it is the educational edition version."
"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."
"It got us a good amount of money with quick and efficient modeling."
"Licensing was rather straightforward."
"Prices were comparable with alternative solutions."
"SAS is very expensive."
"I rate the product’s pricing a one out of ten."
"​Setup costs were quite reasonable."
"​The cost for SAS Business Intelligence can prove to be a little prohibitive.​"
"It is relatively expensive. It is not an easy software to afford."
"Our licensing covers the usage for around 50 data analysts."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Outsourcing Company
14%
University
12%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise32
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM SPSS Modeler?
The customer comes to you and says they want to deploy it and make a production out of this, which is very difficult and expensive with IBM SPSS Modeler. With MATLAB, there is no problem. I have a ...
What is your primary use case for IBM SPSS Modeler?
I have been using IBM SPSS Modeler for a long time. I am using IBM SPSS Modeler mainly for ETL. Sometimes I use it to compare the results of the modeling as compared to MATLAB. MATLAB is the main t...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM SPSS Modeler?
You should put MATLAB into your database. According to Gartner, from what I have seen last year, there was a Gartner four quadrants perspective, and MATLAB was in a very good position. I remember a...
What needs improvement with SAS Analytics?
With SAS Analytics, I find that the graphs are very poor, and since I use Power BI, I think SAS Analytics needs to enhance the visualization options to do better visualizations. Many other software...
What is your primary use case for SAS Analytics?
I work with SAS Analytics solutions, specifically with SAS Data Mining, because I extract information from the core system of the bank via ODBC connections and use SAS Base on the servers. I am the...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAS Analytics?
As a student, I do not pay anything for pricing; my college gives me credentials, and SAS Analytics is free for students, so the licensing is also free. Thus, SAS Analytics for students is very good.
 

Also Known As

SPSS Modeler
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Aegon, Alberta Parks, Amway China, Axel Springer, Bank of America, Belgium Special Tax, CAP Index, CareSource, CBE Group, Cemig, Center for Responsible Lending, CESCE, Ceska sporitelna, Chantecler, Chico's, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, CIGNA Thailand, City of Wiesbaden, Germany, Confused.com, Creditreform, Des Moines Area Community College, Deutsche Lufthansa, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, DIRECTV, Dow Chemical Company, Dow Chemical Company, Dun & Bradstreet, EDF Energy, Electrabel GDF SUEZ, ERGO Insurance Group, Erste Bank Croatia, Farmers Mutual Group, Finnair, Florida Department of Corrections, Geneia, Generali Hellas, Genting Malaysia Berhad, Grameenphone, Grandi Salumifici Italiani, HealthPartners, Highmark, Hong Kong Efficiency Unit, HP, Hyundai Securities, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family ServicesInc Research, ING-DiBa, Institut Pertanian Bogor, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), IOM, Kelley Blue Book, Lenovo, Lillebaelt Hospital, Los Angeles County, Maspex Wadowice Group, National Bank of Greece, New Zealand Ministry of Health, New Zealand Ministry of Social Development, Nippon Paper, NMIMS, North Carolina Department of Transportation, North Carolina Office of Information Technology Services, Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC), Oberweis Dairy, ODEC, Ohio Mutual Insurance Group, Oklahoma State University, OneBeacon, Orange Business Services, Orange County Child Support Services, Organic, Orlando Magic, OTP Bank, Plano Independent School District, Project Odyssey, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, RSA Canada, SCAD, Scotiabank, Singapore National Library Board, Sobeys Inc., SRA International, Staples, Statistics Estonia, Swisscom, SymphonyIRI Group, Telecom Italia, Telef‹nica O2, Town of Cary, Transitions Optical, TrueCar, Turkcell Superonline, UniCredit Bank Serbia, University of Alabama, University of Missouri, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SPSS Modeler vs. SAS Analytics and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.