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By Kezia Grace Jungco April 18, 2024

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Data professionals rely on myriad tools and technologies to extract knowledge from the volumes of
data commonplace in today’s organizations. The best data science tools should respond to your
organization’s unique needs, the scale and complexity of your data projects, and the expertise of your
data science team. To help make sense of that market, we compared the top seven solutions data
professionals use to make data-driven decisions and ranked them based on how well they performed
across key categories.

Here are our top data science tool picks for 2024:
• Databricks: Best for Data Science, Documentation, and Learning

• Cloudera: Best for Scalability

• Snow�ake: Best for Cloud Data Warehousing

• Alteryx: Best for ML and Work�ows

• KNIME Analytics Platform: Best for Open-Source Usage

• Azure Synapse: Best for Azure Ecosystem Functionality

• Saturn Cloud: Best for Rapid Deployment

Best Data Science Tool Comparison

Though data science has long since entered the business mainstream—and even more so with the
rise of arti�cial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)—the discipline is mostly relegated to the
enterprise. Most data science tools and solutions are priced accordingly, aside from a few open-
source and lower cost alternatives. Here’s a look at how the top seven solutions scored on our
rankings.

Enterprise Key
Core Features User Support Pricing
Features Differentiator

Databricks Powered by Starts at $0.40

 • Security
• Data and
processing governanc
e • Premium
• Dashboard
s and • Disaster support per Databricks
Apache Spark
visualizatio recovery • Databricks Units (DBU)
ns community
• Advanced
• Generative ML
AI capabilitie
s

• Premium
Starts at $0.04
support Integration
per hour, per
with Cloudera
Cloudera • User Cloudera
Data Platform
community Compute Unit
(CDP)
• Training (CCU)
 • Database • Metadata
manageme manageme
nt nt

• Data • Data
warehouse security
s manageme
nt
• Work�ow
automatio • Interactive
n analytics

• Data
warehousi
• Premium
ng Based on
support Separation of storage
• Data
Snow�ake • Self- storage and compute, and
import and
service compute cloud service
export
resources costs
• Data
sharing
 • Security
and
governanc
e

• Data
protection

• Informatio
n schema
(data
dictionary)

• Data • Automated
• Premium
preparatio ML
support
n
• Data Heavy focus Starts at $4,950
• User
Alteryx • Work�ows security on per user, per
forums
• Integration • Location automation year
• Communit
with BI intelligenc
y resources
tools e
 • 300+ data
• Secure
sources • Enterprise
knowledge • Free open-
connectors and open-
sharing source
source
• Data Open-source
• Cloud- version
KNIME support
visualizati platform with
native available
Analytics
on • Document enterprise
Platform architectur • Paid plans
ation scale
• Natural e start at $99
language • Educationa
• Interactive per month
processing l resources
data apps
(NLP)

• Data
exploratio
• Premium Starts at $4,700
n
support Integration per 5,000
Azure Synapse • Big data with Azure Synapse
• Communit
analytics ecosystem Commit Units
y support
• Machine (SCUs)

learning
 • Scalable
data
storage

• Serverless
querying

• Enterprise
data
warehousi
ng

• Premium
• $5 credit
support
purchase to
Pre-
• Document
Saturn Cloud start
con�gured
ation
environments • Free version
• Status
available
page
 • Compatible • Advanced
with security
Python, R, settings
Julia, and
• Scheduled
more
jobs
• Model
• Integration
developme
with on-
nt
premise
• ML/ Deep infrastruct
learning ure

Table of Contents

Databricks Platform
Best for Data Science, Documentation, and Learning

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

• Core Features: 4.8/5

• Enterprise Features: 4.5/5

• Integrations: 4.4/5

• Cost: 4/5

• Ease of Use: 5/5

• Customer Support: 3.8/5

Databricks is a renowned data analytics and machine learning platform that simpli�es and
accelerates data processing, analysis, and model development. Founded by the creators of Apache
Spark, it offers a collaborative environment for data professionals to work together ef�ciently. With
its powerful data processing capabilities, interactive workspace, and automation features, Databricks
has become an indispensable tool for enterprises looking to harness the full potential of their data,
enabling them to make data-driven decisions and gain a competitive edge in today’s data-centric
landscape.

Visit Databricks
Databricks’ interface shows resources and documentation on how to get started on the Databricks SQL platform.

Product Design

Databricks features an intuitive and uni�ed workspace built around Apache Spark, which offers a
robust open-source platform for processing enterprise-grade data. Its data intelligence platform
integrates with cloud storage and cloud account security, deploying cloud infrastructure on your
behalf. Additionally, the platform uses generative AI combined with a data lakehouse to help you
analyze the unique semantics of your data and automatically optimize your infrastructure to respond
to business needs.

Product Development

Databricks is constantly evolving, with a focus on continuous improvements and new features. Recent
innovations include the availability of compute cloning in any installed libraries, route optimization
for serving endpoints, and the release of the public preview features in Databricks for the Delta Live
Tables notebook. Customers and partners also now have the �exibility to design secure cloud
solutions compliant with the FedRAMP High baseline via Databricks on AWS GovCloud.

Why We Picked Databricks

We choose Databricks as our top choice for data science, documentation, and learning as it combines
a user-friendly interface and a robust suite of data analytics features in a cloud-based solution. Data
scientists bene�t from the platform’s scalability with its extensive libraries and collaborative
workspace through Databricks Notebook, simplifying the process of building data and AI projects.
Databricks Notebook also works natively with the Lakehouse platform, empowering data
practitioners to start quickly and easily share results.

Pros And Cons

Pros Cons
 Relatively expensive, particularly for smaller
Powerful data processing, analytics, and ML in
businesses or organizations with limited
one platform
budgets

Streamlined collaboration and a uni�ed data

Full range of features presents a signi�cant
toolset for managing multiple tools and
learning curve
platforms

A wealth of learning materials and

documentation for boosting data science Signi�cant vendor lock-in makes transitioning
productivity and accelerating the development away from Databricks challenging
of data-driven solutions

Pricing

• Starts at $0.40 per Databricks Units (DBU)

• 14-day free trial and free Community Edition available

Features
• Uni�ed data analytics lifecycle management in a single platform

• Distributed data processing through Apache Spark lets organizations process massive datasets in
real time

• Interactive workspace for writing and executing code in various programming languages

• Automation and integrated AI features for building out data pipelines and harnessing advanced ML
capabilities

Cloudera Data Science Platform

Best for Scalability

Overall Rating: 4.3/5

• Core Features: 4.9/5

• Enterprise Features: 5/5

• Integrations: 4.4/5

• Cost: 3.6/5

• Ease of Use: 3.9/5

• Customer Support: 2.3/5

Cloudera is a long-standing leader in enterprise data management and the analytics platform space.
Known for its commitment to open-source—and its pioneering role in the Hadoop ecosystem—
Cloudera offers a data platform for ef�ciently storing, processing, and analyzing vast amounts of
enterprise data. For a number of years now, Cloudera’s data platform has been a go-to for enterprises
looking for a secure, scalable solution to unlock their data assets. The company is now positioning its
solution as a hybrid, multi-cloud data platform for building AI and predictive analytics.

Visit Cloudera
Cloudera lets you manage clusters from a single screen.

Product Design

Cloudera is designed for scalability and enterprise-grade analytics, offering a �exible and highly
customizable platform. For instance, its modular architecture design allows you to choose the data
management tools you need for your business, from data warehousing to machine learning. Its data
platform also seamlessly integrates open-source solutions, including Apache Spark and Hadoop,
providing a uni�ed environment for data scientists.

Product Development

Cloudera continuously innovates to stay ahead of the curve, and its recent advancements include
unveiling the next phase of its open data lakehouse focused on maximizing customer data for
enterprise AI. Cloudera announced that its latest round of enhancements will allow the platform to
become the only provider to offer an open data lakehouse with Apache Iceberg for both public and
private clouds. This development will let customers “unleash the enterprise AI potential” of their
data.

Why We Picked Cloudera

Cloudera stands out as a data science tool, offering data practitioners an open-source foundation that
provides the opportunity for �exibility and scalability. As a hybrid data platform, Cloudera can deliver
ef�cient data management and analytics in any cloud. You can leverage the advantages of private
and public clouds with Cloudera’s uni�ed system, and its modular architecture allows you to scale
speci�c components within the platform to match your needs. Additionally, Cloudera lets you
ef�ciently manage such resources as storage and compute power so they can perform optimally at
any scale.
Pros And Cons

Pros Cons

Easily scales to large and complex data Setup and con�guration can be complex,
workloads due to its distributed computing requiring skilled administrators and in-depth
capabilities knowledge of big data technologies

Allows for myriad customization options, Licensing and infrastructure costs can be high
enabling organizations to build highly and unsuitable for smaller organizations or
specialized data solutions startups

Advanced security and compliance features for

Steep learning curve, particularly for new data
ensuring data integrity and adherence to
science and big data users
regulatory requirements

Pricing

• Starts at $0.04 per hour, per Cloudera Compute Unit (CCU)

• 60-day free trial available

Features
• Comprehensive suite of tools for data management, including data ingestion, storage, and
processing

• Scalable and distributed computing built on the foundations of Hadoop and Apache Spark

• Advanced security and governance via robust authentication, authorization, and auditing features

• Rich ecosystem of compatible tools and integrations allows organizations to adapt to their speci�c
data processing and analytics needs

Snow�ake
Best for Cloud Data Warehousing

Overall Rating: 4.2/5

• Core Features: 4.7/5

• Enterprise Features: 4.7/5

• Integrations: 4.1/5

• Cost: 3/5

• Ease of Use: 5/5

• Customer Support: 2.7/5

Snow�ake developed a modern and highly regarded cloud-based data warehousing platform that has
revolutionized the way organizations manage and analyze their data. Known for its elasticity and
scalability, Snow�ake’s data warehouse features a unique multi-cluster, shared data architecture that
separates storage from compute functions, allowing users to independently and ef�ciently scale their
data storage and processing needs.

Snow�ake integrates with popular business intelligence (BI) tools and provides full SQL compatibility,
making it ideal for enterprises looking to accelerate their data science endeavors while enjoying the
bene�ts of a fully managed, cost-effective, and secure data warehousing solution in the cloud.

Visit Snow�ake
Creating a new data warehouse or multiple warehouses on Snow�ake is a straightforward process.

Product Design

Snow�ake’s intuitive and easy-to-use web-based interface lets you easily create and manage virtual
warehouses, databases, and database objects. You can also load limited amounts of data and convert
it to tables, implement ad hoc queries, view previous queries, and more. Another key feature of
Snow�ake’s platform is its unique design, which separates data storage from compute storage to offer
more �exibility and scalability for resource allocation. The platform’s documentation, tutorials, and
other onboarding resources provide helpful knowledge about Snow�ake’s UI.
Product Development

Snow�ake’s latest innovations include the release of Snowpark Model Registry, Streamlit, in
Snow�ake for Azure, and new enhancements around security features in Snow�ake Horizon.
Snowpark Model Registry is an integrated solution for using models and their metadata natively on
the platform, while Streamlit is a widely used open-source library that’s now turned into a full-
managed service within Snow�ake. Additionally, Snow�ake Horizon improved its network security
and network isolation to S3 internal stages and rolled out new authentication enhancements.

Why We Picked Snow�ake

We chose Snow�ake because of the advantages it offers over more traditional cloud data
warehouses. Snow�ake stores all data in a centralized repository that can be easily accessed through
a virtual warehouse, providing greater �exibility and scalability. This platform also has built-in high
availability data protection and data retention, protecting organizations and businesses against
malicious attacks, human errors, and more.

Snow�ake offers a clean and intuitive user interface that lets data scientists simplify processes for
data management, analysis, and visualization. It also offers a cost-effective option for users with its
pay-as-you-go pricing model, which eliminates upfront infrastructure costs.

Pros And Cons

 Pros Cons

Cloud-based architecture for unprecedented Usage-based pricing model can become costly
scalability without extensive infrastructure for organizations with substantial data volumes
management and intensive workloads

Strong data sharing and collaboration features

High learning curve for data professionals new
make it easier to safely share data for cross-
to cloud data warehousing concepts, SQL, and
functional/organizational insights and decision-
related technologies
making

Simpli�es data management by automating

many administrative tasks like maintenance, Data migration process can be challenging
upgrades, and security

Pricing

• Based on storage (on-demand, $23 per terabyte per month), compute, cloud service costs

• 30-day free trial available

Features
• Enterprise data warehousing offers cloud �exibility and scalability

• Robust data-sharing capabilities for secure internal and external collaboration

• Zero-copy cloning lets users create instant, cost-effective copies of data for development, testing,
or analytical purposes

• Built-in data transformations and analysis functions

Alteryx
Best for ML and Work�ows

Overall Rating: 4.1/5

• Core Features: 4.2/5

• Enterprise Features: 4.7/5

• Integrations: 4.7/5

• Cost: 3/5

• Ease of Use: 4.7/5

• Customer Support: 3.3/5

Alteryx helps organizations easily blend, cleanse, analyze, and visualize their data with its user-
friendly, no-code drag-and-drop interface. This makes the platform accessible to both data analysts
and business operations professionals, letting users across the enterprise transform raw data into
actionable insights with ease. Beyond data preparation, Alteryx offers advanced predictive and spatial
analytics capabilities that let you create complex work�ows and models and automate repetitive
data-related tasks.

Visit Alteryx
Alteryx offers an intuitive and visual interface for data engineering, data preparation analytics, data storytelling, and more.

Product Design

Alteryx Designers lets you prepare, blend, and analyze data using the same user interface. This
application features a drag-and-drop function that makes it easier to orchestrate with data, including
using machine learning and building work�ows. Alteryx Designer lets you create a user-friendly
interface and con�gure work�ows by connecting tools that perform various data functions. You can
add, remove, and connect multiple tools at once, as well as customize work�ows from basic
templates in the platform.

Product Development

Alteryx recently announced that Alteryx Analytics Cloud platform is now known as the Alteryx AI
Platform for Enterprise Analytics. This product development maintains the core value of keeping
analytics for all, but new solutions are now being accelerated and enhanced by AI. Alteryx’s AI
solution is enterprise-grade, which means it is transparent and auditable. The new platform is
available on-premise, hybrid, and in the cloud, allowing you to automate and drive business growth
wherever you are.

Why We Picked Alteryx

We chose Alteryx as our top option for creating work�ows and ML models for its visual and user-
friendly interface and pre-built tools, helping you simplify model building and streamline work�ow
management. Alteryx no-code cloud solution democratizes ML, and its automated ML feature scales
data science processes. You can also build repeatable, automated work�ows that include data prep,
model training, evaluation, and more. Additionally, teams and departments can easily share and
reuse work�ows, facilitating knowledge sharing within the data science community.

Pros And Cons

 Pros Cons

Intuitive dashboards and visual work�ow High price tag makes it out-of-reach for
management features accelerate data-related individual users and organizations with budget
tasks and foster collaboration constraints

Strong data blending and work�ow automations

Limited open-source ecosystem limits �exibility
features help to reduce manual data-related
and integration options
work

Advanced analytics and predictive modeling Running complex work�ows in Alteryx may
capabilities require signi�cant computing resources

Pricing

• Alteryx Designer Cloud starts at $4,950 per user, per year

• Minimum three user licenses

• 30-day free trial available

Features
• Advanced tools for combining, cleaning, and preparing data from various sources without complex
coding

• Automated work�ows for data analysis, processing, and reporting

• Advanced analytics and predictive modeling capabilities, including data mining, statistical
analysis, and ML

• User-friendly, visual interface designed for both technical and non-technical users

KNIME Analytics Platform

Best for Open-Source Usage

Overall Rating: 4.1/5

• Core Features: 3.8/5

• Enterprise Features: 4.4/5

• Integrations: 5/5

• Cost: 4/5

• Ease of Use: 5/5

• Customer Support: 2.1/5

KNIME Analytics is a leading open-source data analytics and ML platform renowned for its user-
friendly, visual work�ow design. With a diverse and extensive suite of tools and integrations, KNIME
empowers data scientists and analysts to preprocess, analyze, and model data, facilitating the
creation of robust data-driven solutions. The platform’s modular and �exible nature allows you to
customize work�ows for your speci�c needs, and the platform supports unstructured and structured
data from a wide range of data sources.

Visit KNIME
The KNIME Analytics interface makes it easy to create work�ows.

Product Design

KNIME Analytics currently features a preview of its modern UI, which is still in development, letting
users create new work�ows and open or modify existing ones. However, you can switch back to the
previous UI by simply using the button at the top right corner of the dashboard.
Product Development

KNIME Analytics has already enhanced its recently introduced KNIME AI assistant, informally known
as K-AI. The K-AI is a chatbot meant to answer your KNIME-related questions, either with text or by
improving the currently opened work�ow. This AI extension is a classic extension and gives you the
ability to connect to large language models (LLMs), chat models, embedding models, and more. You
can also build and combine multiple vector stores and LLMs.

Why We Picked KNIME Analytics

KNIME Analytics stands out as an intuitive open-source platform designed for building and executing
work�ows for data science processes. KNIME offers users who prefer an open-source platform several
advantages, such as being free to use, easily customizable, and transparent. It also has a vibrant and
active open-source community that continuously collaborates to innovate and contribute to
improving the platform. KNIME’s user community offers support, tutorials, and easily accessible and
shareable resources, making it easier to learn about the platform, innovate, and troubleshoot.

Pros And Cons

Pros Cons

Open-source, cost-effective choice for powerful Mastering advanced features takes time,
data analytics especially for new data analytics professionals

Visual work�ow design enables complex data Performance may not be as robust as some
analysis without extensive coding skills commercial tools
Various data sources and external tool
Limited support and documentation compared
integrations address different data analysis use
to other data science tools
cases

Pricing

• KNIME Community Hub runs from free to $99 per month for small teams

• KNIME Business Hub starts at $39,900 per year

• Free open-source version available

Features

• Open-source platform includes a comprehensive set of tools for data analytics

• Visual work�ow designer offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface for designing data analysis
work�ows

• Extensive integrations make it �exible and versatile for working with diverse data types and
analytics processes

Azure Synapse Analytics

Best for Azure Ecosystem Functionality

Overall Rating: 4.1/5

• Core Features: 5/5

• Enterprise Features: 4.8/5

• Integrations: 4/5

• Cost: 4/5

• Ease of Use: 2.6/5

• Customer Support: 2.8/5

Azure Synapse Analytics (formerly SQL Data Warehouse) is a comprehensive, powerful analytics
service available via Microsoft Azure. The service integrates big data and data warehousing in a
uni�ed platform for data storage, processing, and analysis. With its robust data integration
capabilities, analytics, and AI features, Azure Synapse Analytics gives organizations a full range of
options for ef�ciently exploring, visualizing, and sharing data-derived insights in a secure and
compliant manner.

Visit Azure Synapse

The Azure Synapse Analytics UI shows how users can analyze relevant data with Synapse SQL serverless endpoint.

Product Design

Azure Synapse is an enterprise analytics solution that provides a uni�ed workspace, bringing together
the best SQL technologies used in data warehousing, big data processing, data integration, and more.
This platform has a deep integration with other Azure services—including Power BI, CosmosDB, and
AzureML—that fosters a collaborative environment for data management, analysis, and visualization.
It offers both serverless and dedicated resource models, offering you the �exibility to choose what
works best for your needs and budget.

Product Development

Last year, Microsoft announced the general availability of Microsoft Fabric, an end-to-end SaaS
solution for data and analytics built on top of OneLake and Microsoft tools. While Fabric represents a
signi�cant upgrade to Microsoft’s analytical engine, the company emphasized that it has no current
plans to retire Azure Synapse Analytics. You can continue to deploy, operate, and expand the PaaS
capabilities of Azure Synapse Analytics. However, Azure Synapse runtime for Apache Spark 3.1 was
retired earlier this year in compliance with the Synapse runtime for Apache Spark lifecycle policy.

Why We Picked Azure Synapse Analytics

We chose Azure Synapse Analytics as the best data science solution for the Azure system
functionality as it offers seamless integration with other Azure products. As a native Azure service,
Synapse Analytics creates a uni�ed data ecosystem for data management, analytics, and other data
processes. This platform is also scalable and can accommodate massive and growing data volumes
for organizations and businesses of all sizes. Additionally, as Synapse Analytics provides a uni�ed
workspace, you can simplify work�ows and data management using multiple tools.

Pros And Cons

Pros Cons
Single platform for data warehousing and big Implementation and con�guration can be
data analytics, streamlining data work�ows and complex, requiring specialized skills and
reducing the need for multiple tools expertise

High scalability lets organizations adjust

High scalability and feature-rich environment
analytic capabilities and workloads by tweaking
come at high operational costs
computing and storage resources

Integrations with Azure services provide a

Poses a signi�cant learning curve for new Azure/
comprehensive ecosystem for building powerful
cloud users
data solutions

Pricing

• Starts at $4,700 per 5,000 Synapse Commit Units (SCUs)

• Free trial available

Features
• Analysis of both structured and unstructured data in a single environment

• Scalable computing and storage resources for handling massive datasets and complex analytics
workloads

• Seamless integrations with various Azure services, including data storage, ML, and data pipelines

• Versatile tool for building end-to-end data work�ows

Saturn Cloud
Best for Rapid Deployment

Overall Rating: 3.8/5

• Core Features: 4.2/5

• Enterprise Features: 3.4/5

• Integrations: 4.2/5

• Cost: 4.4/5

• Ease of Use: 3.6/5

• Customer Support: 2.5/5

Saturn Cloud is a cloud-based data science platform that provides a powerful and accessible
environment for data scientists and analysts to develop and deploy data-driven solutions. The
solution is primarily a suite of tools and resources for data processing, ML, and model deployment.
With an emphasis on scalability and reproducibility, Saturn Cloud supports both small-scale
experiments and large-scale data projects.

Visit Saturn Cloud

Saturn Cloud’s latest LLM offerings include a wide range of options.

Product Design

Saturn Cloud is an all-in-one solution for data science and ML deployment, helping you simplify
work�ows, quickly access preferred tools, and scale ef�ciently. Deployments in Saturn Cloud are
custom-de�ned apps that you can run on the platform and use as an API, a dashboard, or another
running application. You can easily create deployments in Saturn Cloud through its clean and
straightforward interface.

Product Development

Saturn Cloud has been continuously updated and enhanced and is now a complete end-to-end
solution for �ne-tuning and serving LLMs. You can access templates for �ne-tuning LLMs and
deploying LLM models serving endpoints. The platform’s security and reliability have also been
upgraded to EKS 1.26, and there’s added resiliency to Saturn Cloud’s UI, enabling you to
automatically restart the system in case it runs into issues.

Why We Picked Saturn Cloud

Saturn Cloud stands out as a top option for data science tools designed for rapid deployment. This
platform features pre-built and ready-to-use environments, which eliminates the need for manual
setup and reduces a signi�cant amount of time. You can leverage its built-in tools to simplify the
process of model deployment, reducing the complexity of transitioning models. Saturn Cloud is also
scalable, which enables the platform to handle increased processing demands once the model
deployment process has started.

Pros And Cons

Pros Cons

Managed cloud environment for data science

and analytics removes infrastructure Metered cloud services can quickly add up
management concerns

Requires an internet connection; subsequently,

Scalability for processing and analyzing large
users may experience limitations or disruptions
datasets harnesses cloud resources to handle
in their work if they encounter connectivity
resource-intensive tasks
issues or outages

Collaboration via version control and shared

project environments enhances teamwork and Users report slow loading times for images and
ensures reproducibility in data science other resources
work�ows

Pricing
• $5 credit purchase to start

• Pay by the hour billed in $10 increments

• Free version available

Features

• Cloud-based, managed data science platform—no infrastructure management required

• Scalable data analysis for processing and analyzing large datasets with cloud resources

• Strong collaboration and version control features

• Integrates with popular data science tools and libraries like Jupyter, Python, and Dask

4 Key Features Of Data Science Tools

A competent data science tool should provide features for extracting insights from data in the
shortest amount of time possible. These include data import and manipulation capabilities—for
example, allowing users to easily ingest and preprocess datasets—as well as visualization tools for
exploring and communicating �ndings and discoveries, advanced analytics algorithms, and integrated
ML capabilities for developing predictive and descriptive models.

Data Preparation
Data preparation refers to the process of gathering, cleaning, organizing, and transforming raw data
into a usable format for further analysis and processing. Data prep is essential in data science as it
ensures that the data is of high quality and suitable for analysis, which results in more accurate and
reliable results.

Data Integration

Data integration is the process of bringing together data from multiple sources into a uni�ed dataset
for analytical and operational purposes. This process allows for an accurate and holistic view of data,
enabling businesses and organizations to access more comprehensive analyses and insights.

Data Visualization

Data visualization is the graphical representation of data to communicate information clearly and
effectively. This tool helps businesses understand complex patterns and trends in data and also
serves as an essential tool for storytelling, which might be dif�cult to grasp from raw data.

Machine Learning

Machine learning (ML) is a subset of arti�cial intelligence (AI) that focuses on using data and
algorithms to identify patterns and make predictions. Data scientists can leverage ML to automate
tasks, generate insights, train data models, and more. It can also support applications for various data
science projects, including fraud detection, image recognition, and sentiment analysis.
How We Evaluated Data Science Tools
In comparing and contrasting these leading data science tools, we scored each solution against six
criteria for businesses and organizations needing a comprehensive data science solution. Then, we
identi�ed weighted subcriteria for each category and assigned a total score out of �ve. Finally, we
summed up the �nal scores to determine the winners for each category and their speci�c use cases.

Evaluation Criteria
We put the most emphasis on core features and enterprise features, as top software options should
offer standard and advanced capabilities for data science processes. We then evaluated each option’s
integration capabilities, cost, ease of use, and customer support.

Core Features | 30 Percent

Data at-rest and in transit requires proper and speci�c handling and storage; a data science tool
should therefore provide comprehensive data management features to meet these requirements.
With the prevalence of predictive analytics, data professionals will likely require data pipeline
management and work�ow creation tools to support their organizations’ ML data infrastructures.

Criteria Winner: Azure Synapse Analytics

Enterprise Features | 20 Percent

An enterprise data science tool requirement gaining prominence as of late is support for hybrid
implementations—that is, data infrastructure/architectures that allow for local data storage—for
example, a corporate data center—coupled with cloud-based compute and scaling services.

Criteria Winner: Cloudera Data Science

Integrations | 15 Percent

Data science tooling integration features should include plentiful developer resources and a fully-
realized REST API, as well as libraries for common data transformations and algorithms, and other in-
application, data-speci�c tools and utilities.

Criteria Winner: KNIME Analytics Platform

Cost | 15 Percent

Typically, data science tooling vendors will offer a free trial but limited upgrades/tiered pricing,
opting for a metered pricing model instead. Because today’s data volumes and enterprise
requirements necessitate cloud-enabled scalability and processing power, data science tooling
vendors are increasingly moving to pricing models that align with the cloud.

Criteria Winner: Saturn Cloud

Ease Of Use | 10 Percent

Data science tools should be accessible and easy to use to demonstrate data analysis and �sher
collaboration. The best data science tools should offer intuitive interfaces, user-friendly features that
allow a broader range of people to utilize data, and a vibrant user community.

Criteria Winner: Databricks, Snow�ake, KNIME Analytics Platform

Customer Support | 10 Percent

Data science tooling vendors should offer multiple channels for support, including live chat, phone,
email, and other forms of self-service support. Premium support is also a critical requirement for data
science tools, as the main buyers in this category are usually enterprises with critical/urgent data
needs.

Criteria Winner: Databricks

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What Are Data Science Tools?

Data science tools are software applications and platforms that enable data professionals to collect,
process, analyze, and visualize data in order to derive meaningful insights and make informed
decisions.
Why Are Data Science Tools Critical For Enterprise Strategy?

Data science tools empower organizations to harness the full potential of their data, enabling
evidence-based decision-making and innovation. These solutions provide the means to extract
insights from vast datasets, optimize operations, identify trends, and discover new opportunities.

What Features Should Be A Priority When Evaluating Data Science Tools?

Key evaluation priorities should include usability and scalability for accommodating varying skill
levels and data project sizes. Additionally, you should also evaluate features for data integration,
collaboration, ML model deployment, and compliance.

Is Data Security A Concern When Using Data Science Tools?

In today’s cyberthreat landscape, controls for ensuring the protection of sensitive information and
compliance with data privacy regulations are an operational imperative. A competent data science
tool should provide robust security features, strong data encryption, access control, and auditing
capabilities to mitigate potential risks.

Should I Select An On-Premises Or Cloud-Based Data Science Solution?

This depends on your organization’s speci�c needs—cloud-based solutions offer scalability,

accessibility, and reduced infrastructure management, while on-premises solutions may be preferred
for greater control and compliance, particularly in cases where data governance or regulatory
requirements are a primary concern. Your decision should align with your data infrastructure, budget,
and long-term strategic goals.

Bottom Line: Enterprise Data Science Tools

Data professionals have never had more tool options at their disposal for harnessing the power of
data. These top seven data science tools represent the current leaders in this space—whether you’re
an aspiring data scientist, seasoned data analyst, or business professional/casual data wrangler, one
or more of these offerings are likely to meet your organization’s data requirements and objectives.

Read Data Science Best Practices to learn how to implement the tools in this buyer’s guide most
effectively.