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IBM Watson Machine Learning vs Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

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 Watson Machine Learning
Ranking in AI Development Platforms
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure Machine Lea...
Ranking in AI Development Platforms
3rd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Data Science Platforms (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the AI Development Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM Watson Machine Learning is 1.8%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio is 7.0%, down from 12.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
AI Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Anurag Mayank - PeerSpot reviewer
A highly efficient solution that delivers the desired results to its users
I had not considered how the solution could be improved because I was focused on how it was helping me to solve my issues. If I consider how we want to use it in our organization, certain areas of improvement can be addressed. For instance, we want to use it with Generative AI, not like ChatGPT, but in a way intended for industrial use. It would be beneficial to incorporate more AI into the solution.
Takayuki Umehara - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlined workflows with drag and drop convenience but needs enhancements in AI
I use Machine Learning Studio for system reselling and integration Machine Learning Studio is easy to use, with a significant feature being the drag and drop interface that enhances workflow without any complaints. It provides a return on investment and cost savings, proving beneficial for…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I was particularly interested in trying the AutoML feature to see how it handles data and proposes new models. The variety of models it provides is impressive."
"It is has a lot of good features and we find the image classification very useful."
"It has improved self-service and customer satisfaction."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution's the cost and human labor savings."
"The solution is very valuable to our organization due to the fact that we can work on it as a workflow."
"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution ten out of ten."
"We can enable and change developer productivity with artificial intelligence-recommended code based on natural language input or exciting source code."
"The UI is very user-friendly and that AI is easy to use."
"Their support is helpful."
"Machine Learning Studio is easy to use."
"I've developed a couple of chatbots using Azure OpenAI, leveraging its documented solutions and APIs. The tools available make it straightforward to implement machine learning solutions. However, there are challenges, such as hallucinations and security issues, but overall, it works well and is quite fast, allowing for the development of interesting projects."
"One of the notable advantages is that it offers both a visual designer, which is user-friendly, and an advanced coding option."
"Scalability, in terms of running experiments concurrently is good. At max, I was able to run three different experiments concurrently."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the ability to use all of the cognitive services, prebuilt from Azure."
"Machine Learning Studio is easy to use, with a significant feature being the drag and drop interface that enhances workflow without any complaints."
 

Cons

"The supporting language is limited."
"If I consider how we want to use it in our organization, certain areas of improvement can be addressed. For instance, we want to use it with Generative AI, not like ChatGPT, but in a way intended for industrial use."
"Honestly, I haven't seen any comparative report that has run the same data through two different artificial intelligence or machine learning capabilities to get something out of it. I would love to see that."
"Scaling is limited in some use cases. They need to make it easier to expand in all aspects."
"They should add more GPU processing power to improve performance, especially when dealing with large amounts of data."
"In future releases, I would like to see a more flexible environment."
"Sometimes training the model is difficult."
"The regulatory requirements of the product need improvement."
"The product must improve its documentation."
"This solution could be improved if they could integrate the data pipeline scheduling part for their interface."
"I have found Databricks is a better solution because it has a lot of different cluster choices and better integration with MLflow, which is much easier to handle in a machine learning system."
"Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio could improve in providing more efficient and cost-effective access to its tools for companies like mine."
"They should have a desktop version to work on the platform."
"Improvement in integration is crucial, and it'll be interesting to see how it develops, especially with SAP's move towards cloud-based solutions like SAP Rise and its collaboration with hyper scalers like AWS. Integrating SAP with hyperscaler machine learning solutions could simplify operations, although SAP's environment is complex. SAP has initiated deals with AWS for this purpose, but I'm not as familiar with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio's involvement."
"The interface is a bit overloaded."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing model is good."
"I've only been using the free tier, but it's quite competitive on a service basis."
"The licensing cost is very cheap. It's less than $50 a month."
"When we got our first models and were ready for the user acceptance testing, our licensing fees were between €2,500 ($2,750 USD) and €3,000 ($3,300 USD) monthly."
"The solution operates on a pay-per-use model."
"It is less expensive than one of its competitors."
"I rate the solution's pricing a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"From a developer's perspective, I find the price of this solution high."
"I rate the product price as a nine on a scale of one to ten, where ten means it is very expensive."
"To use MLS is fairly cheap. Even the paid account is something like $20/month, unless you are provisioning large numbers of VMs for a Hadoop cluster. The main MS makes money with this solution is forcing the user to deploy their model on REST API, and being charged each time the API is accessed. There are several pricing tiers for the API. If you do not use the API, then value of MLS is to create rapid experiments ($20/month). The resulting model is not exportable to use, thus you’ll have to recreate the algorithms in either R or Python, which is what I did. MLS results gave me a direction to work with, the actual work is mostly done in R and Python outside of MLS."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
University
11%
Educational Organization
10%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Watson Machine Learning?
I was particularly interested in trying the AutoML feature to see how it handles data and proposes new models. The variety of models it provides is impressive.
What needs improvement with IBM Watson Machine Learning?
Sometimes training the model is difficult. We need to have at least a few different components to evaluate and understand the behavior of different users to have a very, very high accuracy in the m...
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 do you like most about Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio?
The learning curve is very low. Operationalizing the model is also very easy within the Azure ecosystem.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio?
Pricing is considered to be top-segment and should be improved. I rate the pricing as three or four on a scale of one to ten in terms of affordability.
 

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 IBM Watson Machine Learning vs. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.