ML platforms · September 2026 Edition
Azure Machine Learning vs Databricks
Six of twelve models named Azure Machine Learning first on the direct prompt; two named Databricks. Both were named by all twelve models and Azure Machine Learning carries 49 labels and Databricks 30, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in three categories this edition.
First-choice share17%12%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate18%10%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#2A position in a field of 12; printed, not drawn.
Labels4930A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Azure Machine Learning reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Dataiku was named alongside these two in seven of the twelve direct answers. Azure Machine Learning vs Amazon SageMaker · Databricks vs Amazon SageMaker
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the ML platforms page.
By framing
How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Azure Machine LearningFirst choices, of twelve modelsDatabricks
Direct62
Paraphrase14
Comparative00
Budget-constrained102 against Azure Machine Learning · 1 against Databricks
Scale-constrained00
Negative007 against Azure Machine Learning · 2 against Databricks
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.
The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Azure Machine Learning and Databricks stood in it.
Both were the first choice
1 of 12 modelsThe answer named them together, and the judge labeled each a first choice.MiniMax M2.5Azure Machine Learning, Databricks alternatives: Google Vertex AI, Snowflake Cortex AI
Azure Machine Learning first, Databricks not the choice
5 of 12 modelsDatabricks was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Perplexity SonarAzure Machine Learning alternatives: Databricks Mosaic AI, Dataiku, Snowflake Cortex AI
Grok 4.1 FastAzure Machine Learning alternatives: DataRobot, Databricks Mosaic AI, Dataiku
Mistral SmallAzure Machine Learning alternatives: Amazon SageMaker, Databricks Mosaic AI, Dataiku, Google Vertex AI
DeepSeek V4 FlashAmazon SageMaker, Azure Machine Learning, Google Vertex AI alternatives: DataRobot, Dataiku, H2O.ai, KNIME
Qwen 3.7 FlashAzure Machine Learning alternatives: Amazon SageMaker, Google Vertex AI
Databricks first, Azure Machine Learning an alternative
1 of 12 modelsAzure Machine Learning was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-5.4 miniDatabricks alternatives: Amazon SageMaker, Azure Machine Learning
Neither was the first choice, one was named
3 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Gemini 3.5 FlashDataiku alternatives: Azure Machine Learning, DataRobot, Databricks, Pecan AI, Snowflake
Kimi K2Dataiku alternatives: Azure Machine Learning, Databricks Mosaic AI
GLM 4.7 FlashXDataiku alternatives: Azure Machine Learning, DataRobot, Databricks
Neither was named
2 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Azure Machine Learning leads by six points.
Azure Machine Learning10%#3 of 14Databricks4%#5 of 14Mid-marketThe figures above
Azure Machine Learning leads by four points.
Azure Machine Learning17%#1 of 12Databricks12%#2 of 12Enterprise
The order flips: Databricks leads at enterprise.
Databricks26%#1 of 9Azure Machine Learning12%#3 of 9What the models said about Azure Machine Learning
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Avoid these platforms if you are a small team, a startup, or just starting out.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“Cloud giants (SageMaker, Vertex AI, Azure ML): Secure but watch costs, lock-in, and misconfigs (e.g., exposed creds in Azure).” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · soft negative
“Excellent integration if you're committed to one cloud, but their proprietary APIs ... make migration costly and difficult” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“Microsoft Azure Machine Learning (Best for Integration & Governance) If your organization already uses Microsoft 365, Teams, or Power BI, Azure is often the lowest-friction choice.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“If you want one recommendation without more context, I’d pick Azure Machine Learning for a typical mid-market B2B company” Perplexity Sonar · direct prompt · first choice
“(SageMaker, Azure ML, or Vertex AI) — it ships fastest, integrates cleanly, and scales with you” DeepSeek V4 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about Databricks
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of four in this category shown.
“Platforms with aggressive model deprecation policies (like some Azure Databricks and OpenAI services) can disrupt your operations” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · soft negative
“I'd recommend starting with either Databricks or Azure Machine Learning” MiniMax M2.5 · direct prompt · first choice
“Best overall "sweet spot": Databricks (with MLflow) — my top recommendation” DeepSeek V4 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“I'd usually recommend Databricks as the default MLOps platform” GPT-5.4 mini · paraphrase prompt · first choice
Also compared
Comparisons are drawn for the top three products in each category. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.