IBM SPSS Modeler vs Starburst Galaxy comparison

IBM and Starburst are both solutions in the Data Science Platforms category. IBM is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.0, while Starburst is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.5. IBM holds a 3.3% mindshare in Data Science Platforms, compared to Starburst’s 1.4% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Starburst users who would recommend it.

IBM SPSS Modeler

Read 40 IBM SPSS Modeler reviews

3,450 Views
2,588 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Starburst Galaxy

Read 11 Starburst Galaxy reviews

1,469 Views
1,146 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM SPSS Modeler

Starburst Galaxy

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM SPSS Modeler and Starburst Galaxy based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Data Science Platforms solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM SPSS Modeler vs. Starburst Galaxy Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IBM SPSS Modeler vs. Starburst Galaxy

April 2026

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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 Science Platforms

12th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Mining (3rd)

Starburst Galaxy

Ranking in Data Science Platforms

8th

Average Rating

9.4

Reviews Sentiment

2.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Streaming Analytics (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Data Science Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM SPSS Modeler is 3.3%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Starburst Galaxy is 1.4%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Science Platforms Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Starburst Galaxy	1.4%
IBM SPSS Modeler	3.3%
Other	95.3%

Data Science Platforms

Featured Reviews

Prof. Dr. Rudolf Bisping

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.

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Niketan Kumar

Advisory Solutions Architect at Dell Technologies

Unified data querying has accelerated petabyte-scale analytics and simplified dashboard delivery

Starburst Galaxy offers me several best features, which include very fast querying results, automatic indexing of data for long tables, a cost-based optimizer which reduces the time to query large tables, and an agentic feature that lets me talk to my data.I find myself relying most on querying from different databases as well as automatic indexing in my day-to-day work, as I am a data science architect who needs to get the queries in a very short period of time. Starburst Galaxy serves the best purpose for me because if my SLAs are not met with my customers, they will raise a case, and I have tried many other tools, but Starburst Galaxy fits the best. Starburst Galaxy has positively impacted my organization since we were struggling with Denodo and Dremio, which had their own features but were not helpful in querying large amounts of data, especially semi-structured or unstructured data. Starburst Galaxy addresses this with many YAML files and manifest files for automated maintenance, and it helps reduce the small file problem in different HDFS systems. Additionally, Starburst Galaxy has an MCP server that connects to various agentic pipelines, reducing the time to market for data consumption.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The main benefit is it makes things a little easier to do."

"We have a local representative who specializes in SPSS. He will help us do the PoC."

"It continues to be a very flexible platform, so that it handles R and Python and other types of technology. It seems to be growing with additional open-source movement out there on different platforms."

"It scales. I have not run into any challenges where it will not perform."

"It is a great product for running statistical analysis."

"It makes pretty good use of memory. There are algorithms take a long time to run in R, and somehow they run more efficiently in Modeler."

"We had an IBM Guardium service contract where we used one of their resources to help us develop our prototype."

"I would recommend IBM SPSS Modeler for people who need to do statistical analysis of this type."

More IBM SPSS Modeler pros

"Starburst Galaxy is becoming a cornerstone of our data platform, empowering us to make smarter and faster decisions across the organization."

"Starburst Galaxy has improved our organization by unifying access to all major data sources, reducing the need for complex ETL processes."

"Starburst has provided us with virtually guaranteed performance on complex queries across datasets that are in the tens of gigabytes which complete in seconds."

"Starburst Galaxy has improved our organization by unifying access to all major data sources, reducing the need for complex ETL processes."

"Starburst Galaxy serves the best purpose for me because if my SLAs are not met with my customers, they will raise a case, and I have tried many other tools, but Starburst Galaxy fits the best."

"Starburst on Trino, combined with our SQL-native data transformation tool SQLMesh, has delivered anywhere from a two to five times improvement in compute performance across our transformation DAG."

"Starburst Galaxy serves as our primary SQL-based data processing engine, a strategic decision driven by its seamless integration with our AWS cloud infrastructure and its ability to deliver high performance with low-latency responses."

More Starburst Galaxy pros

Cons

"There are performance issues. Extracting data from many combined tables can take hours and occasionally crash the server due to memory leaks. This performance problem bothers people. The performance issue seems to be related to the server. We design streams on the client and submit them to the server, which generates a large SQL statement. There are two potential bottlenecks: one in the server and another in data extraction. I'm unsure about the exact mechanics of data splitting when fetching from the database."

"When you are not using the product, such as during the pandemic where we had worldwide lockdowns, you still have to pay for the licensing."

"Dimension reduction should be classified separately."

"Formula writing is not straightforward for an Excel user. Totally new set of functions, which takes time to learn and teach."

"I would like better integration into the Weather Company solution. I have raised a couple of concerns about this integration and having more time series capabilities."

"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."

"The product does not have a search function for tags."

"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."

More IBM SPSS Modeler cons

"Cluster startup time is another pain point, typically 3 to 5 minutes, which is not the worst with proper planning but can be annoying for ad-hoc work."

"I think there are areas of improvement with respect to AI adaptability, and also in general, the amount of connectors working with other tools are areas where it can be expanded."

"I would like Starburst to leverage AI to improve usability. Data lakes are complicated and difficult for users to explore."

"The most persistent issue is the cluster spin-up time."

"Starburst Galaxy can be improved by discovering unstructured data and building in streaming ingestion because we are currently using Kafka for that purpose."

"Multi-tenancy could be improved. In order to have multiple environments for SSO, we maintain multiple tenants that are connected to different AWS accounts via the Marketplace."

"Cluster startup time can be slow, sometimes taking over a minute."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a huge increase to time savings."

"If you are in a university and the license is free then you can use the tool without any charges, which is good."

"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."

"$5,000 annually."

"This tool, being an IBM product, is pretty expensive."

"When you are close to end of quarter, IBM and its partners can get you 60% to 70% discounts, so literally wait for the last day of the quarter for the best prices. You may feel like you are getting robbed if you can't receive a good discount."

"Its price is okay for a company, but for personal use, it is considered somewhat expensive."

"It got us a good amount of money with quick and efficient modeling."

More IBM SPSS Modeler pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

10%

University

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

26%

Computer Software Company

13%

University

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	32

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM SPSS Modeler?

The government has funds and a budget, it's hard to say if it's expensive or cheap. In Canada, they have a yearly budget. They used to encourage people to use the modeler for development. If ten us...

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What needs improvement with IBM SPSS Modeler?

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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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Starburst Galaxy?

I recommend experimenting with different cluster sizes to determine what works best for your particular use case.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Starburst Galaxy?

One way Starburst Galaxy can be improved is through AI enablement. I have not seen how the user interface is going to function or how users can interact with the data products on Starburst Galaxy u...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Starburst Galaxy?

My main use case for Starburst Galaxy is to use it as a data federation tool, collect data from various data sources, and have a unified view of the data. A quick specific example of how I use Star...

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Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM SPSS Modeler

May 2026

Download IBM SPSS Modeler product report

Buyer's Guide

Starburst Galaxy

April 2026

Download Starburst Galaxy product report

Also Known As

SPSS Modeler

No data available

Overview

IBM SPSS Modeler is a robust tool that facilitates predictive modeling and data analysis through intuitive visual programming and customizable automation, enabling users to streamline data analytics processes with effectiveness.

IBM SPSS Modeler combines ease of use with powerful functionalities, including statistical analysis and quick prototyping. Users can leverage visual programming and drag-and-drop features, making data exploration efficient. Its diverse algorithms and capability to handle large datasets enable comprehensive data cleansing and predictive modeling. Integrating smoothly with Python enhances its versatility. However, improvements in machine learning algorithms, platform compatibility, and visualization tools are necessary. Licensing costs and existing performance issues may require consideration, particularly concerning data extraction and interface convenience.

What are the critical features of IBM SPSS Modeler?

Ease of Use: Features intuitive visual programming, facilitating smooth operation.
Customizable Automation: Supports personalized automation processes.
Visual Programming: Employs drag-and-drop interfaces for efficient task execution.
Integration with Python: Enhances flexibility with Python compatibility.
Diverse Algorithms: Supports a wide range of algorithms for data analysis.
Data Cleansing and Modeling: Enables rigorous data cleansing and predictive modeling.

What benefits or ROI should users consider?

Enhanced Productivity: Streamlined processes improve efficiency.
Flexible Integration: Accommodates R and Python, boosting adaptability.
Scalable Analytics: Capably handles large datasets and complex models.
Quick Prototyping: Facilitates rapid model development.
Improved Insights: Delivers profound analytical insights for decision-making.

IBM SPSS Modeler is implemented across various industries for diverse applications, including data analytics, predictive modeling, and HR analytics. Organizations utilize it to build models for customer segmentation and predictive analysis, leveraging its capabilities for large datasets, research, and educational purposes. It integrates efficiently with cloud and on-premise solutions, enhancing business analytics applications.

IBM

Starburst Galaxy offers rapid query speeds and robust cluster management, enhancing data engineering efficiency while supporting AWS integrations and cross-database functionality. Users benefit from its advanced data integration and federated querying capabilities.

Starburst Galaxy stands out with a compute-focused architecture that excels in facilitating seamless data integration. Technological innovations like autoscaling clusters and automated metadata management optimize operations in multi-tenant environments. With a keen emphasis on compatibility, the platform provides support for AWS Glue and enables federated querying across S3, Snowflake, and Redshift. This adaptability ensures comprehensive ETL processes and enhances analytics through querying SQL Server, Google Sheets, and blob stores. While noted for its robust capabilities, users seek improvements in cluster startup times, Tableau and AI support, and desire infrastructure-as-code enhancements.

What are Starburst Galaxy's key features?

Rapid Query Speeds: Enhances data processing with quick responses.
Cluster Autoscaling: Optimizes resource allocation for varying workloads.
Federated Querying: Cross-database functionality for seamless integration.
Compute-Focused Architecture: Ensures efficiency and scalability.
Automated Metadata Management: Streamlines data handling processes.
AWS Integration: Broad compatibility with AWS services.

What benefits should users evaluate in reviews?

Data Engineering Efficiency: Reduces operating expenses and improves productivity.
Cost Reduction: Highlights lower storage costs with efficient data handling.
Seamless Integration: Enables robust data integration across various platforms.
Cluster Management: Supports diverse workloads with advanced management tools.

In industries focusing on large-scale data efforts, Starburst Galaxy plays an essential role in connecting data sources like Amazon S3 and RDS, streamlining tasks in data engineering and ad-hoc analysis across complex environments. Teams leverage its cross-database querying to boost AWS analytics, with features tailored for sectors needing agile data solutions, from ETL pipelines to secure data federation.

Starburst

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

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

IBM SPSS Modeler vs. Starburst Galaxy

April 2026

Free Report: IBM SPSS Modeler vs. Starburst Galaxy

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SPSS Modeler vs. Starburst Galaxy and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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