# Hugging Face alternatives: what AI models name instead, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. 239 of the 252 answers in the 1 category where Hugging Face holds a standing named it neither first nor as an alternative; these are the first choices those answers made. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/hugging-face/alternatives/

## Named instead, most often (every category and segment added)

- Databricks Mosaic AI: 34
- Azure Machine Learning: 24
- Google Vertex AI: 24
- Amazon SageMaker: 23
- MLflow: 11
- Google Colab: 10

## ML platforms

**Small business**: 75 of 84 answers did not name Hugging Face (Hugging Face is #6 of 14 at 5%).

- Google Vertex AI: first choice in 15 of those 75
- KNIME Analytics Platform: first choice in 8 of those 75
- MLflow: first choice in 7 of those 75
- Google Colab: first choice in 6 of those 75
- Akkio: first choice in 5 of those 75
- Amazon SageMaker: first choice in 5 of those 75
- Azure Machine Learning: first choice in 5 of those 75
- H2O.ai: first choice in 3 of those 75

**Mid-market**: 80 of 84 answers did not name Hugging Face (Hugging Face is #12 of 13 at 0%).

- Azure Machine Learning: first choice in 12 of those 80
- Databricks Mosaic AI: first choice in 9 of those 80
- Amazon SageMaker: first choice in 8 of those 80
- Google Vertex AI: first choice in 5 of those 80
- Google Colab: first choice in 4 of those 80
- MLflow: first choice in 4 of those 80
- DataRobot: first choice in 2 of those 80
- KNIME Analytics Platform: first choice in 2 of those 80

**Enterprise**: 84 of 84 answers did not name Hugging Face.

- Databricks Mosaic AI: first choice in 25 of those 84
- Amazon SageMaker: first choice in 10 of those 84
- Azure Machine Learning: first choice in 7 of those 84
- Domino Data Lab: first choice in 5 of those 84
- Google Vertex AI: first choice in 4 of those 84
- DataRobot: first choice in 3 of those 84
- Dataiku: first choice in 3 of those 84
- Amazon Q: first choice in 1 of those 84

Published under CC BY 4.0. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.