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IBM SPSS Statistics vs Weka comparison

 

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 Statistics
Ranking in Data Mining
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Data Science Platforms (9th), AI Data Analysis (13th), AI Research (1st)
Weka
Ranking in Data Mining
4th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Anomaly Detection Tools (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Data Mining category, the mindshare of IBM SPSS Statistics is 19.4%, up from 15.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Weka is 9.7%, down from 21.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Mining Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM SPSS Statistics19.4%
Weka9.7%
Other70.9%
Data Mining
 

Featured Reviews

EzzAbdelfattah - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Professor Of Statistics at a university with 10,001+ employees
Advanced predictive analytics have supported my research and student projects across many methods
The only function I may need to be added or hope to be added to IBM SPSS Statistics is how to treat unstructured data. This mainly exists with IBM SPSS Modeler, but I do not think it is able to treat something like videos and similar content unless you are using languages like Python inside IBM SPSS Modeler or inside IBM SPSS Statistics. For the menu itself, for the selection, it does not exist. Thinking of the future, I believe that the owners of IBM SPSS Statistics should think about improving the package itself to be able to treat unstructured data.
XS
Manager at XS AMSAFIS DATASETS, S.L.
A good solution offering a range of tools but is limited by its user-handling capacities
In a new machine learning job, if the method is a bit foreign to me, if I have to do it in R, it could be a tedious task. First, I need to identify the libraries required for the new methodology. This can involve identifying two, three, or even four libraries. Then, I need to read their manuals thoroughly. This is time-consuming. In Weka, as all machine learning tools are on my desktop, I easily find out the method. As a freelancer, people send me datasets, and I work on the statistics at home before providing the solution. When a solution needs to be implemented on a server, server programmers install it on the server. This is similar to Power BI, where I prepare files on my desktop, and someone else uploads them to the server for others to access. I think I cannot send a Weka solution to a server programmer. In Weka, anyone can run the program without being a programmer, which is a good feature since the entry cost is very low.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the user interface because you don't need to write code."
"The most valuable features are the solution is easy to use, training new users is not difficult, and our usage is comprehensive because the whole service is beneficial."
"In comparison with other software, I found IBM SPSS Statistics to be the best one from my perspective."
"It has helped our analyst unit deliver work with more transparency and confidence, given that we can always view the dataset in totality, after each step of data transformation."
"I've found the descriptive statistics and cross-tabs valuable. The very simple correlations and regressions are as well."
"The biggest benefit of the IBM SPSS Statistics tool for my customers and me is that it's very old, meaning they have more experience; when the tool was first released, we had customer service that created surveys with the customers asking which way they wanted to go, what they would see within the tool, and what would be helpful—IBM basically created the tool according to this knowledge."
"It offers very good visualization."
"The SPSS interface is very accessible and user-friendly. It's really easy to get information in it. I've shared it with experts and beginners, and everyone can navigate it."
"Weka eliminates the need for coding, allowing you to easily set parameters and complete the majority of the machine learning task with just a few clicks."
"With clustering, if it's a yes, it's a yes, if it's a no, it's a no. It gives you a 100% level of accuracy of a model that has been trained, and that is in most cases, usually misleading. Classification is highly valuable when done as opposed to clustering."
"There are many options where you can fill all of the data pre-processing options that you can implement when you're importing the data. You can also normalize the data and standardize it in an easier way."
"I like the machine algorithm for clustering systems. Weka has larger capabilities. There are multiple algorithms that can be used for clustering. It depends upon the user requirements. For clustering, I've used DBSCAN, whereas for supervised learning, I've used AVM and RFT."
"In Weka, anyone can access the program without being a programmer, which is a good feature since the entry cost is very low."
"Working with complicated algorithms in huge datasets is really easy in Weka."
"It is a stable product."
"It doesn’t cost anything to use the product."
 

Cons

"It would be helpful if there was better documentation on how to properly use the solution. A beginner's guide on how to use the various programming functions within the product would be so useful to a lot of people. I found that everything was very confusing at first. Having clear documentation would help alleviate that."
"SPSS is a tool that's been around since the late 60s, and it's the universal worldwide standard for quantitative social science data analysis. That said, it does seem a bit strange to me that the graphical output functions are so clunky after all these years. The output of charts and graphs that SPSS produces is hideous."
"Perhaps in terms of visualization. It's not really easy to do some data visualization, just simple, descriptive analysis in SPSS. I think that could be an area for improvement."
"I know that SPSS is a statistical tool but it should also include a little bit of analytical behavior. You can call it augmented analysis or predictive analysis. The bottom line is it should have more graphical and analytical capabilities."
"The design of the experience can be improved."
"The technical support should be improved."
"IBM SPSS Statistics could improve the visual outputs where you are producing, for example, a graph for a company board of directors, or an advert."
"Most of the package will give you the fixed value, or the p-value, without an explanation as to whether it it significant or not. Some beginners might need not just the results, but also some explanation for them."
"The filter section lacks some specific transformation tools. If you want to change a variable from a numeric variable to a categorical variable, you don't have a feature that can enable you to change a variable from a numeric variable to a categorical variable."
"In terms of scalability, I think Weka is not prepared to handle a large number of users."
"If there are a lot more lines of code, then we should use another language."
"The visualization of Weka is subpar and could improve. Machine learning and visualization do not work well together. For example, we want to know how we can we delete empty cells or how can we fill in the empty cells without cleaning the data system and putting it together."
"Weka could be more stable."
"Not particularly user friendly."
"A few people said it became slow after a while."
"Weka is a little complicated and not necessarily suited for users who aren't skilled and experienced in data science."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's quite expensive, but they do a special deal for universities."
"We think that IBM SPSS is expensive for this function."
"More affordable training for new staff members."
"Our licence is on a yearly renewal basis. While pricing is not the primary concern in our evaluation, as products are assessed by whether they can meet our user needs and expertise, the cost can be a limiting factor in the number of licences we procure."
"I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten."
"The pricing of the modeler is high and can reduce the utility of the product for those who can not afford to adopt it."
"If it requires lot of data processing, maybe switching to IBM SPSS Clementine would be better for the buyer."
"SPSS is an expensive piece of software because it's incredibly complex and has been refined over decades, but I would say it's fairly priced."
"The solution is free and open-source."
"As far as I know, Weka is a freeware tool, and I am not aware if they have an online solution or if it is a commercial product."
"We use the free version now. My faculty is very small."
"Currently, I am using an open-source version so I don't know much about the price of this solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
University
7%
Educational Organization
15%
University
15%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM SPSS Statistics?
The software offers consistency across multiple research projects helping us with predictive analytics capabilities.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM SPSS Statistics?
I think the price of the solution is very reasonable. The cost depends; you have the option for subscription or you can purchase the license. Most of our customers are paying every year for a type ...
What needs improvement with IBM SPSS Statistics?
I have faced some challenges with IBM SPSS Statistics; you need to know what you're doing because it's not very user-friendly. It's not something a person can come and intuitively work with. The ba...
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Comparisons

 

Also Known As

SPSS Statistics
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

LDB Group, RightShip, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Capgemini Consulting, TEAC Corporation, Ironside, nViso SA, Razorsight, Si.mobil, University Hospitals of Leicester, CROOZ Inc., GFS Fundraising Solutions, Nedbank Ltd., IDS-TILDA
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Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SPSS Statistics vs. Weka and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.