SPSS is okay. Better alternatives out there for the price
Updated January 09, 2018

SPSS is okay. Better alternatives out there for the price

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • IBM SPSS Statistics

Overall Satisfaction with IBM SPSS

I used SPSS for a semester as a student and explored it, as an individual, as an alternative to the current analytics software we are using. The business problems it can address are similar to other analytics software. SPSS is overall a powerful tool that can be used to for segmentations and regression analysis with their own 2-step segmentation analysis for segmentations.
  • Segmentation
  • Regression
  • Tech support
  • Very clunky in the user interface. Old.
  • Creating value labels
  • Very expensive
  • Good to learn analytics though it isn't my first choice of analytics software and the options out there
  • Very expensive
  • Requires a huge time investment to get up to speed on how to use it.
If I didn't want to code, IBM SPSS would be after JMP and Tableau, and before SAS and R. The user interface is very clunky compared to the analytics software I stated. You could definitely learn to do basic analysis faster in SAS than SPSS. I selected SPSS to test the capabilities as an alternative to JMP while we were exploring other analytics packages.
SPSS is great for segmentations and provides a robust platform using the 2-step clustering providing great insight on significance of the clusters. The regression function is great too though. One of the pitfalls of SPSS is that the user interface is rather "old" and could use an update compared to other competitors such as JMP.

Using IBM SPSS

2 - We use SPSS for some fairly basic statistical analysis. Nothing more.
2 - The people who use SPSS have some sort of marketing research or statistical background. Then we have IT people who buy the product and test it before it's installed on our system.
  • Statistical analysis
  • Creating charts
  • Banner reports
  • Nothing really
  • Predictive modeling
Because we have no choice.

Evaluating IBM SPSS and Competitors

  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Prior Experience with the Product
  • Existing Relationship with the Vendor
The company I work for is highly regulated and to start using a new product is pretty near impossible. However, people were already using SPSS here when I was hired so getting a license was easier. SPSS is a good enough product, albeit a little archaic in the user interface compared to some of my other preferred analytics software.
If I could get in my preferred software, I would use that over SPSS. But, it's good enough to get the job done. SPSS simply just needs a massive overhaul on the user interface. Also, if they could add in other analysis capabilities such as conjoint analysis and creating DOE, that would sway my design more over the interface.

Using IBM SPSS

SPSS is a good enough product, not great. It's kind of expensive too compared to other software that offers more (better) features.
ProsCons
Like to use
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Feel confident using
Unnecessarily complex
Not well integrated
Cumbersome
Lots to learn
  • Banner reports
  • Significance testing
  • Nothing is too difficult to use. Interface is a little old and not too intuitive.