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Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop vs IBM Spectrum Computing comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Cloudera Distribution for H...
Ranking in Hadoop
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
NoSQL Databases (10th)
IBM Spectrum Computing
Ranking in Hadoop
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Management (43rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Hadoop category, the mindshare of Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is 14.7%, down from 21.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Computing is 4.9%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Hadoop Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop14.7%
IBM Spectrum Computing4.9%
Other80.4%
Hadoop
 

Featured Reviews

Rok Dolinsek - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Bussines Development & Co Owner at Troia d.o.o.
Enables on-premise implementation with powerful data processing capabilities
This is the only solution that is possible to install on-premise. Cloudera provides a hybrid solution that combines compute on cloud or on-premises. It includes all machine learning algorithms in the Spark machine learning library. All functionalities needed for a big data platform and ETL are on the platform, eliminating the need for other tools. It is scalable, ready for vertical scaling, and very powerful, offering numerous functionalities and configurations for generative AI.
OmarIsmail1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Technical Specialist II at Clicks Group
Senior Technical Specialist appreciates intelligent workload management, strong support, and scalability
The best features of IBM Spectrum Computing are common across many of their storage products. The software is solid, meaning that the code is stable. They take business seriously, which is what IBM stands for - International Business Machines. They always maintain a business-oriented approach in their software development. It's not simply clicking through interfaces; in IBM software, they consider their actions, process flows, and workflows around business processes. It requires understanding IBM and their methodology, as the software operates accordingly. I have utilized IBM Spectrum Computing's intelligent workload management feature. We use Insights, which is connected to the cloud. This provides AI capabilities for analyzing the configuration, offering smart recommendations on new code, warning about bugs in current code, and suggesting configuration improvements through its advisor tool. The predictive analytics feature in IBM Spectrum Computing enables optimal software performance through Insights. However, being a storage administrator requires foundational knowledge and understanding beyond these tools. For troubleshooting, it's efficient in spotting bottlenecks, but understanding the terms and metrics is essential as it provides answers that need interpretation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cloudera is a very manageable solution with good support."
"We switched because Cloudera just works."
"Cloudera provides a hybrid solution that combines compute on cloud or on-premises."
"Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop provides numerous features and capabilities combined into one platform, offers power processing, supports different file systems and query engines, and provides parallel processing for handling many requests."
"The search function is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
"Cloudera, as a whole, is designed to provide organizations with solutions for big data."
"The product as a whole is good."
"After Hadoop implementation they are getting confidence that now analysis is more appropriate and fast."
"The comparison was challenging, but the IBM Spectrum Scale offered a balanced solution. Our engineers rated itsanalytics capabilities equally high as Pure Storage. For workload management, Spectrum Computing provided effective solutions that met our needs. Workload management is part of a complete solution that uses different tools. There were the cloud and HPC parts; within HPC, there were parts like liquid cooling, simple computing, storage, and orchestration. The orchestration team handled the workload management."
"Spectrum Computing's best features are its speed, robustness, and data processing and analysis."
"Easy to operate and use."
"This solution worked as expected and it is reliable."
"IBM's ability to cluster compute resources is impressive, with built-in support for scenarios like VR and active-active configurations,"
"We are satisfied with the technical support, we have no issues."
"The most valuable feature is the backup capability."
"I have utilized IBM Spectrum Computing's intelligent workload management feature through Insights, which is connected to the cloud."
 

Cons

"It has compatibility issues if installed in specialized hardware such as EMC Isilon or if node manager and data nodes are not co-located."
"The stability is problematic. We did encounter quite a lot of issues with the cluster going down quite frequently."
"It needs more standardized documentation on Hive."
"If they could support modifying the data more easily than the current implementation, it would be beneficial."
"More customization, better documentation for the API (basically it's the same for all Cloudera Hadoop components)."
"On same ground I didn't see much training materials from Cloudera."
"The governance aspect of the solution should be improved."
"Cloudera is not as easy, as it requires more DevOps resources than other solutions."
"We'd like to see some AI model training for machine learning."
"Spectrum Computing is lagging behind other products, most likely because it hasn't been shifted to the cloud."
"The deduplication software isn't quite up to speed with the market. While IBM has excellent compression technology, specifically on their FlashCore modules, they lag behind competitors such as NetApp in deduplication capabilities."
"Software sometimes is a little slower. It takes two or three days sometimes."
"We have not been able to use deduplication."
"The deduplication software isn't quite up to speed with the market."
"IBM's sales and support structure can be challenging."
"We are not fully satisfied with this product at the moment because we are having issues with reliability."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When comparing with Oracle Sybase and SQL, it's cheaper. It's not expensive."
"The tool is expensive...For the SMB market or customers whose environments are not that complex and do not have multiple systems running, Cloudera might not be a good option."
"The price is very high. The solution is expensive."
"I wouldn't recommend CDH to others because of its high cost."
"I haven't bought a license for this solution. I'm only using the Apache license version."
"It is an expensive product."
"The product’s price depends from project to project."
"Cloudera requires a license to use."
"This solution is expensive."
"Spectrum Computing is one of the most expensive products on the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Construction Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise32
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?
The price for Cloudera is average, yet it is very good compared to other solutions. It can be deployed on-premises, unlike competitors' cloud-only solutions.
What needs improvement with Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?
If they could support modifying the data more easily than the current implementation, it would be beneficial.
What is your primary use case for Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?
We use Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop for many use cases including analytics, storing huge data sets, and various data processing tasks.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Computing?
IBM Spectrum Computing consistently offers competitive pricing. When solutioning new implementations, IBM always presents the best solution and price. In a recent comparison with Pure Storage and N...
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Computing?
IBM Spectrum Computing had limitations with remote copy services between head office and disaster recovery sites. In the last year, IBM has improved the code by re-engineering it to policy-based re...
What is your primary use case for IBM Spectrum Computing?
The typical use case for IBM Spectrum Computing is that it's an all-rounder. It can be used in various scenarios, such as the retailer I work for that has batch processing. It's on-demand when perf...
 

Also Known As

No data available
IBM Platform Computing
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

37signals, Adconion,adgooroo, Aggregate Knowledge, AMD, Apollo Group, Blackberry, Box, BT, CSC
London South Bank University, Transvalor, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, Genomic
Find out what your peers are saying about Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop vs. IBM Spectrum Computing and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.