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IBM SPSS Modeler pros and cons

Vendor: IBM
4.0 out of 5
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Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

IBM SPSS Modeler offers a wide selection of proprietary machine learning algorithms, which simplifies feature engineering and accelerates model development.
It ensures seamless handling of large data sets, outperforming tools like Excel and Access, and effectively scales to meet business needs.
Users experience improved productivity and reduced project timelines, with tasks such as segmentation now taking significantly less time than traditional methods.
The platform remains flexible and adaptable, integrating well with technologies like R and Python, and supports third-party apps for expanded functionality.
Automation and organization of data handling make IBM SPSS Modeler a preferred choice for analyzing data without writing extensive code.

CONS

IBM SPSS Modeler lacks well-known machine learning algorithms and more popular regression models should be included.
It does not support integration with Qlik, Tableau, and Power BI, limiting its compatibility with other analytics tools.
The platform needs improvements for supporting open-source features like embedding R or Python scripts.
Time Series and forecasting features should be easier and more automated, similar to logistic regression capabilities.
Performance issues persist, with data extraction sometimes causing server crashes due to memory leaks.
 

IBM SPSS Modeler Pros review quotes

it_user6549 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Expert at a university with 501-1,000 employees
May 19, 2013
The software is robust with advance statistical tools in hand from time series analysis to logistic regression, it can be used by banks for fraud detection, by convenience stores for market basket analysis, for cluster analysis on customer segmentation.
it_user380952 - PeerSpot reviewer
Quantitative Researcher at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Sep 29, 2017
Extremely easy to use, it offers a generous selection of proprietary machine learning algorithms.
AA
Founding Partner at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Oct 10, 2017
Some basic form of feature engineering for classification models. This really quickens the model development process.
Learn what your peers think about IBM SPSS Modeler. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user766575 - PeerSpot reviewer
Research Assistant
Nov 2, 2017
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.
it_user766578 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Team at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
Nov 2, 2017
I would recommend SPSS to someone who has just started trying to run a lot of modeling, it's a good starting point.
it_user766605 - PeerSpot reviewer
Clinical Assistant Professor at a university
Nov 2, 2017
It is just a lot faster. So you do not have to write a bunch of code, you can throw that stuff on there pretty quickly and do prototyping quickly.
it_user766611 - PeerSpot reviewer
Graduate Assistant
Nov 2, 2017
It helped me in that I didn't need to write them by hand, and I could get a result in one or two minutes. That helped me a lot.
AltanAtabarut - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Consulting, Growth, Analytics at Akinon
Nov 3, 2018
Automated modelling, classification, or clustering are very useful.
it_user823725 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Operations Manager – Serviceablity and Insights at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Feb 21, 2018
Quickness and ease of use with the guarantee of robust modeling techniques and trustworthy accuracy.
it_user840840 - PeerSpot reviewer
Analyst at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Mar 20, 2018
It handles large data better than the previous system that we were using, which was basically Excel and Access. We serve upwards of 300,000 parts over a 150 regions and we need to crunch a lot of numbers.
 

IBM SPSS Modeler Cons review quotes

it_user6549 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Expert at a university with 501-1,000 employees
May 19, 2013
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.
it_user380952 - PeerSpot reviewer
Quantitative Researcher at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Sep 29, 2017
It would be beneficial if the tool would include more well-known machine learning algorithms.
AA
Founding Partner at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Oct 10, 2017
Formula writing is not straightforward for an Excel user. Totally new set of functions, which takes time to learn and teach.
Learn what your peers think about IBM SPSS Modeler. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user766575 - PeerSpot reviewer
Research Assistant
Nov 2, 2017
If IBM could add some of the popular models into the SPSS for further analysis, like popular regression models, I think that would be a helpful improvement.
it_user766578 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Team at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
Nov 2, 2017
When I do clustering, I want to try a different stream, but currently the only thing that I can really pick is averaging.
it_user766605 - PeerSpot reviewer
Clinical Assistant Professor at a university
Nov 2, 2017
When I used it in the office, back in the day, we did have some stability issues. Sometimes it just randomly crashed and we couldn't get good feedback. But when I use it for my own stuff now I don't have any problems.
it_user766611 - PeerSpot reviewer
Graduate Assistant
Nov 2, 2017
I would like see more programming languages added, like MATLAB. That would be better.
AltanAtabarut - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Consulting, Growth, Analytics at Akinon
Nov 3, 2018
Customer support is hard to contact.
it_user823725 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Operations Manager – Serviceablity and Insights at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Feb 21, 2018
Easier coding language that is more flexible with other platforms.
it_user840840 - PeerSpot reviewer
Analyst at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Mar 20, 2018
It is very good, but slow. The slowness may be because we have not finalized all the background information in SPSS. It still needs some tweaking.