DataRobot Enterprise AI Suite for AWS
Accelerated production models have transformed fraud detection and streamlined compliant AI workflows
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for DataRobot is that it is the fastest way to MVP. If you need a working ML model this week, it is hard to beat. AutoML with one-click deployment saves tons of time. MLOps built-in, monitoring drift detection, and retraining are usually 70% of the work after building the model. Explainability shows features, feature importance, prediction explanations, and bias tests, which is a big win for regulated industries. This use case is best for companies with data and business problems but not enough data scientists to hand code everything.
I can provide a specific example of a project where I used DataRobot, which was credit card fraud detection at a bank. The problem was that a mid-size bank had over two million transactions per day, and the fraud team was catching fraud manually with rules flagging transactions with amounts greater than $1,000. This resulted in tons of false alarms, with real fraud slipping through. Data scientists took four to six months to build and deploy a model. I used DataRobot by uploading transaction data including amount, location, merchant type, time, and customer history, targeting whether the transaction was fraudulent or not. DataRobot tested over 50 algorithms such as XGBoost, neural nets, and logistic regression while doing feature engineering automatically. It found that the time since the last transaction and merchant category were the biggest signals. The best model went live via API in one click, providing the fraud team with a risk score of zero to 100 for every transaction in real-time. DataRobot monitored the model daily, alerting them when fraud patterns changed during the Diwali season, indicating that model accuracy was dropping and suggesting retraining. DataRobot helped speed up getting the model into production to three weeks versus four to six months, and the accuracy improved by catching 40% more fraud compared to the old rules with 60% fewer false alarms, which meant fewer angry customers getting their cards blocked. A fraud analyst, not a data scientist, could retrain the model monthly without a PhD.
What is most valuable?
Some of the best features DataRobot offers include the AutoML engine, where you drop in data, pick the target column, and it automatically detects and tests over 100 models along with feature engineering combinations. You don't have to guess if XGBoost or random forest is better because it ranks everything by accuracy, speed, AUC, and other metrics, making it the biggest time saver. The click deployment with API is another valuable feature; training a model is step one, but getting it into your app is usually the harder step, and DataRobot turns any model into a REST API endpoint in one click. Your developers can call it to predict customer data without touching any ML code. Model monitoring with drift detection is crucial since models can go bad over time; DataRobot watches your live models 24/7 and alerts you if customer behavior, data quality, or accuracy drops. This part of MLOps is what most teams struggle with. Explainability is also critical; for each prediction, it shows which features influenced the score, which is vital for business compliance since banks and regulators won't trust a black box. You get SHAP values, feature impact, and bias audits built-in. DataRobot also includes time series with forecasting and a no-code app builder.
The one feature I find myself using the most is model monitoring and drift detection because, while AutoML is cool and everybody does AutoML now, the part that actually kills ML projects is three months after deployment. I build a model that is 95% accurate on a Monday, but by December, customer behavior changes, data columns shift, and now it is 70% accurate, which nobody notices until the CFO sees wrong forecasts. DataRobot monitoring catches that drift automatically and alerts to retrain. It tracks data drift, data age, and accuracy drift, which is the difference between a demo model and a model that continues to make money for two years. AutoML gets you to production fast, but monitoring keeps you there.
Two more features that don't get hyped enough but save people tons of pain are feature discovery and bias and fairness testing. Feature discovery allows DataRobot to scan your other database tables and suggest new features you might not have thought of. For example, if you give it a customer ID with the purchase amount, it can find the average purchase over the last 30 days in another table and test if it helps. It's comparable to having a data scientist who remembers every table you have. Bias and fairness testing is critical if you are predicting loans, hiring, or insurance, as regulators care about whether your model discriminates. DataRobot auto-tests for bias across gender, age, race, and other factors, and lets you rebalance it, which is huge for compliance.
DataRobot has positively impacted my organization in several ways. For one, the time to model has significantly improved; previously, it took data scientists three to six months to build and deploy one model, but with DataRobot, I achieve that in one to three weeks for the first model in production. This results in a time to value that is five to ten times faster, which is the number one metric teams quote. Secondly, I've seen an accuracy lift; in the bank fraud case, I caught 40% more fraud with about 60% fewer false positives compared to the rule-based system. In manufacturing, I've achieved a 25% increase in accuracy predicting equipment failure versus previous models, with metrics usually showing teams achieve 5% to 20% better AUC accuracy than what their data scientists had time to try manually. Lastly, productivity has dramatically improved; one data scientist using DataRobot outputs the work equivalent of three to four data scientists doing manual coding due to AutoML and automated feature engineering with one-click deployment, which removes the tedious 70% of the work. Business impact examples include insurance cutting claims processing time by 50% by auto-predicting claims severity, retail increasing revenue by 12% from better demand forecasting, and healthcare predicting sepsis six hours earlier, which directly impacts survival rates. However, the tool doesn't create value by itself. The wins come when you have clean data tied to a real business KPI like revenue, cost, or risk, and you actually deploy the model and monitor it.
What needs improvement?
There are three additional things I would like to add about DataRobot. First, it is not magic; the saying 'garbage in, garbage out' still applies. If your data is messy, has leaks, or the wrong target, DataRobot will just build a bad model faster. It is important to spend time on data prep. Second, free alternatives exist; if the budget is tight, H2O.ai, AutoGluon by AWS, and PyCaret in Python do similar AutoML. DataRobot wins on MLOps with enterprise support, but open-source options win on cost and control. Finally, if you need deep learning for images and text or want full control over every model detail, coding it yourself in Python, TensorFlow, or PyTorch is still better. DataRobot is best for tabular data with business predictions.
When it comes to improving DataRobot, I see a few functionalities that need attention. First, the pricing with access is a concern. Enterprise pricing starts at approximately $100,000 per year, which means startups, students, and small teams can't even test it. An improvement would be a real tier, like a $500 per month startup plan. Alternatives like AutoGluon and H2O.ai win here because anyone can try them. Currently, DataRobot operates on a try before you buy basis, which leads to a sales call rather than offering direct sign-up. The second improvement would focus on control versus AutoML trade-offs; while AutoML is fast, sometimes you need to tweak something in preprocessing, but DataRobot hides a lot under the hood. The suggested improvement would allow more granular control without leaving the UI, letting power users directly edit the blueprint code. I would like the ability to change one line instead of rebuilding the whole thing.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using DataRobot for the last four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is one of DataRobot's biggest selling points, especially for enterprise applications. In terms of platform stability and uptime, the DataRobot cloud operates on AWS, Azure, and GCP with a 99.9% SLA. For on-premise private cloud solutions on AWS, it depends on your infrastructure, but the application itself is well-tested, and banks and insurance companies use it consistently 24/7. The maturity of DataRobot is highly commendable; it has been active since 2012, which translates to over 13 years of fixes and improvements with version updates happening quarterly, helping to minimize the risk of unexpected bugs that could disrupt production models. Model stability is also reinforced through drift detection and auto-alerts if data changes or model accuracy dips, catching issues before they impact business operations.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is where DataRobot truly excels; it manages to handle millions or even billions of rows using technologies such as Spark and Dask for distributed training. Typically, it can accommodate over 100 million rows, and it can handle one billion rows if you use larger AWS EC2 clusters. The catch is that while AutoML trains hundreds of models, scalability can lead to higher AWS compute costs. When it comes to the number of models, DataRobot is designed to facilitate many models, with some customers running up to 5,000 models in production. Additionally, there is no limit on the number of user workspaces, as it uses role-based access, enabling large organizations with more than 1,000 people to share data safely. Governance scales effectively, with every action logged for auditing purposes.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support for DataRobot is notably good; it can be a make-or-break feature for such an expensive tool. If you are paying somewhere between $100,000 to $200,000 annually, you receive a dedicated technical account manager who understands your AWS setup and models, unlike generic ticketing systems. DataRobot also provides 24/7 support for production issues and has robust resources like DataRobot University and comprehensive documentation available.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used other solutions when searching for a similar offering. My previous options included the pure open-source combinations with custom code such as Python, scikit-learn, XGBoost, and PyTorch with Jupyter notebooks. I switched to DataRobot because it previously took over six months to get models into production; the DevOps process was a nightmare, with models breaking without my knowledge. Other AutoML tools I evaluated included H2O.ai, SAS, and IBM Watson, but I found H2O was cheaper yet lacked strong monitoring, SAS was too rigid, and DataRobot outperformed with better MLOps for regulated industries. The top three reasons for switching to DataRobot include speed to production, governance with auditing, and reduced ML expertise requirements.
What was our ROI?
Regarding ROI, I find that the ROI is good due to fewer employees needed and the increase in team productivity. For money saved, the metric is that they claim a 10 to 100 times ROI within 12 to 18 months. For team productivity, a single ML engineer using DataRobot is equivalent to five to ten traditional ML engineers. Additionally, regarding time saved, the ROI improves significantly for time to production, converting months into weeks or even days. However, the risk of cost avoidance for ROI only becomes apparent once the models are placed in production; many teams purchase DataRobot, build three POCs, and then stop, resulting in negative ROI. In my view, if your bottleneck is having data alongside business issues but not enough ML engineers, then the ROI math works fast. If your primary concern is that you don't have clean enough data yet, focus on fixing the data first, or you won't see the ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Regarding my experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for DataRobot, the licensing model does not follow the pay-per-user model typical of SaaS tools. Instead, it is divided into two parts. The annual platform license ranges from around $100,000 to $500,000, typically starting at $100,000 per year for small teams with one to two users. This scales based on the number of users, models in production, and the support tier chosen. Enterprise deals can exceed $1 million per year for teams with over 100 users. As for setup costs, setting up the SaaS public cloud generally takes one to two weeks, with DataRobot handling most of the work, so your cost primarily is for the license. If you go for the on-premise or private cloud setup on AWS, you are looking at additional infrastructure setup and implementation costs over time. DataRobot also offers quick start services at a cost of approximately $25,000 to $75,000 to get you live, connect to your data sources, and train in just three to five weeks.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before selecting DataRobot, I did evaluate other options including H2O.ai, IBM Watson Studio, and the AWS SageMaker Autopilot cloud provider. These alternatives were considered, but I did not choose them due to the benefits that DataRobot offers, particularly when I needed 10 plus models in code, compliance needs, and was short on ML engineers. DataRobot proved to be faster, required less ML expertise, and provided better governance out of the box than the others.
What other advice do I have?
When it comes to the faster deployment times and improved accuracy, it has greatly affected my team's workflow and the business results day-to-day. Workflow-wise, before DataRobot, data scientists spent two weeks cleaning data, two weeks testing two models by hand, and one month fighting with IT to deploy the API, while business teams waited three months and then asked why it wasn't live yet. When model drift occurred, nobody noticed for two months. After implementing DataRobot, on day one to three, analysts could upload data and kick off AutoML, which would run overnight. By day four, the team could review the top models and select one based on accuracy and speed, and by day five, they could deploy it to API with one click. The ongoing process included DataRobot emailing alerts about drift detected on customer age, so analysts could retrain in 30 minutes instead of rebuilding for three weeks. As for the day-to-day result, data scientists stop being model babysitters and can focus on new problems, while analysts can test ideas without waiting for the data science backlog. Business results have also improved; speed means decisions can happen sooner. For example, a retailer wants to forecast Diwali demand; previously, models would be ready after Diwali, but with DataRobot, the model goes live three weeks before the impact, saving real revenue from fewer stockouts. Regarding accuracy, less firefighting is needed; the old bank fraud model flagged 500 transactions a day, with 90% being legitimate customers who got angry calls. The new model flags only 20 transactions per day, with 80% being actual fraud, which stops the fraud team from drowning in false alarms and reduces customer complaints on Twitter. Finally, trust has improved; business teams use models actively; when DataRobot shows a loan was denied due to debt-to-income being greater than 42%, loan officers trust that decision and use it daily without letting the model sit unused.
If I had to give advice to others considering using DataRobot, I would advise them to be honest about their needs first. You should only buy DataRobot if you need five or more models in production, require compliance or auditing, have model needs, and lack a substantial ML engineering team. However, if you only need one or two models, have three or more strong ML engineers, and if cost is a critical factor for you, it is better to use alternatives such as PyCaret and AutoGluon, potentially saving $150,000 annually. For prospective users, I recommend testing with your data rather than relying on their demo; during the 30-day POC, focus on one real business problem rather than a sample dataset such as Iris. Measure three crucial aspects: the time to first model, accuracy compared to your current method, and time to deploy. It is wise to test their support by filing a ticket because if they are slow during the trial, they will likely be slow after you commit to a purchase. Budget for the complete costs, not just the license; you should think about production on day one. Remember, the easiest part is building models, but the challenging parts involve obtaining approvals, monitoring for drift, and ensuring everything works if an AWS region goes down. Aim to have 20 or more POCs and a technical account manager assigned; utilize DataRobot's MLOps monitoring from the first week rather than waiting for six months. Negotiate favorable terms before clicking subscribe on the Marketplace by pushing for AWS credits, access to professionals, and setting a success criterion.
In my final thoughts about DataRobot, I would say it excels in AutoML with MLOps at scale. However, it struggles with pricing; the costs can be significant alongside AWS compute costs. If I compare DataRobot with AWS SageMaker, I find SageMaker is cheaper and provides more control, enabling traditional coding with DevOps. On the other hand, DataRobot is faster, more user-friendly for business needs, and features better monitoring out of the box. If speed and governance are more important to you than cost, then choose DataRobot. Its stability, scalability, and support are outstanding, but be sure to conduct thorough testing before making a purchase. My overall rating for DataRobot is 8 out of 10.
Enterprise AI has transformed diagnostics and resource planning and delivers trusted governance
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for DataRobot is that it is a platform at an enterprise AI level that every organization uses to build, deploy, and govern each machine learning model at scale. It is basically an experiment to build, monitor, and govern AI models and also recognize some leadership in AI governance and ML operations, with nearly half of the Fortune 500 companies using it.
I generally use DataRobot in healthcare projects. We integrate DataRobot into our AWS ecosystem, and it improves our patient healthcare through predictive analytics, resulting in fast diagnostics and better resource allocation. Efficiency in production and predictive maintenance are key aspects of my main use case with DataRobot.
What is most valuable?
The best features DataRobot offers include automated machine learning and AI collaboration tools.
The automated machine learning and AI features of DataRobot have helped us build predictive models rapidly using hundreds of algorithms. The AutoML has significantly supported our collaborative efforts, as we generally use this tool in a centralized workspace for data scientists, analytics, and business users. This collaboration enhances reliability, with extensive documentation and a realistic approach towards real data. Experimentability and audit documentation are also well managed in this feature.
DataRobot has positively impacted my organization by driving an AI platform that encompasses the entire AI lifecycle, helping us experiment, build, deploy, monitor, and govern AI models in a secure and scalable way. It is particularly realistic in healthcare as we focus more on faster diagnoses and patient resource allocation through predictive analytics.
What needs improvement?
DataRobot could improve by attaching more advanced AI features, which would empower its daily use to be more responsible, efficient, and provide real-time examples. This enhancement would demonstrate how AI can transform industries, cut costs, and drive innovations.
The integration of DataRobot would greatly benefit from allowing more realistic tools and would be improved if it integrates more comprehensively with AWS cloud and other cloud platforms.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using DataRobot since the last four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
DataRobot is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
DataRobot's scalability is impactful, as it really helps maintain various solutions across different requirements and features. It is mainly used in healthcare, which contributes to its strong scalability.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support for DataRobot is good, offering various options whenever support is needed, including licensing features.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I started with DataRobot itself and have not used a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for DataRobot has been positive, especially regarding licensing. I am not sure about the costs since a different team handles that; my focus is more on the technical aspects.
What about the implementation team?
I am not sure what my other technical team evaluated, but DataRobot was their first priority.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment as it has significantly helped us save time and improve reliability for different customers. It has enabled time-saving and cost-saving, which are key benefits of DataRobot.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I am satisfied with DataRobot.
What other advice do I have?
Specific outcomes from using DataRobot include faster diagnosis times and improved resource optimization. It also assisted other teams, including those in finance with fraud detection and credit risk modeling.
DataRobot's security ensures compliance and regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, supporting all types of these regulations. This compliance and security aspect is crucial and it is scalable and flexible towards supporting any hybrid and multi-cloud environment.
Regarding accuracy and reliability of output, DataRobot has helped us process live time streams towards customer purchases and IoT sensors. It has effectively demonstrated how accuracy is maintained and has provided the right data to end users, thereby enhancing both accuracy and scalability.
I would suggest that anyone interested in an automated AI tool or ML tool consider DataRobot, as it provides a comprehensive AI platform suitable for enterprises at a scale level. It is ideal for those looking to utilize successful real-world stories from top industry levels to demonstrate how AI can transform industries, cut costs, and drive innovation. I have provided this review a rating of eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Incredible tool for quick raw data to insights
Agent workflows have automated fraud monitoring and now reduce manual banking operations
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for DataRobot is to give an agentic AI flavor to my different customers because many of my customers are looking for a consumption tool when they are looking to implement GenAI in their premises. DataRobot actually helps to create agents directly, both on-premises as well as on a cloud. We are an on-premises company, so I propose DataRobot solutions when customers are looking to actually integrate AI agents with their infrastructure which they have recently procured from Dell.
We were working with a very large bank and they wanted to have an AI consumption tool where they can build AI/ML pipelines and they needed to have a graphical user interface where they can actually chat with the models which they have imported directly from outside as well as create agents which they can interface with their models as well as their commands. Based on their requirement, we zeroed in on a DataRobot solution because that actually helped them achieve all of their outcomes.
We understood the use case, what the customer is looking to implement and we got up with the DataRobot team. We understood that they could actually cater to all of the requirements of the customer, then we went ahead with the deployment of DataRobot. DataRobot actually helped set up a multi-agent scenario for the customer and one agent talking to the other agent has automated the complete sequence of events of fraud monitoring where if one particular fraud is reported, the second agent can actually log it into the ledger books and that can be reported into the chief manager who can actually take it up where the exact issue is happening. The whole process gets automated.
Previously my customer used to do everything manually, but now they are using agents to actually talk to their models as well as to their financial repository of information which they have brought into the vector database which comes along with DataRobot. They have actually automated several procedures such as updating the ledgers, updating the bank account information, generating feedback about their customer service. Everything is being automated. DataRobot is one of the major platforms being used, which actually interfaces with the primary bank application which they have in the particular bank. Model benchmarking actually helps to make sure that the results which are being provided by the model are correct. They can continuously review whether it has the right results which are being shown to the bank application and that will help them automate all of their remaining use cases which they are currently looking to deploy.
Previously we had five or six processes which used to be done manually by different people and that has been transformed using DataRobot because agents now are doing the same thing. There is a lot of money saved. The manager mentioned that they have redirected the employee base to other tasks and they are incurring a cost savings of around $1,000 per employee and that has actually boosted the share of the company by a lot. Since it is a government PSU bank, we cannot share the financials, but they have actually achieved a lot of cost savings, around $2 million they have saved by implementing DataRobot.
What is most valuable?
DataRobot's one of the major features is model evaluation and model performance. One can actually evaluate whether the model is performing correctly and can actually benchmark it against the correct results. That will actually help to fine-tune models to give the right results. Additionally, DataRobot has a very good agentic interface where one can actually spin up multiple agents at the click of a mouse and can have multi-agent protocol where that will help automate all use cases. That is something which is a differentiator with respect to other platforms.
What needs improvement?
DataRobot can actually be improved by having access to multiple data repositories. It is lacking in the ways in which it ingests data, in which it transforms the data because we need a separate data manipulation tool for which we need to have somebody else. It is primarily for agentic AI governance and creating agents on the data or on the models which we have already brought into the platform. If DataRobot also works in that space, we can actually improve their uptake to a lot of customers.
Currently we have an ETL tool which actually does the ingestion, transformation, and then that data is fed into the AI model. The AI model which is connected to DataRobot then gives us the GUI where we can create AI/ML pipelines. However, if DataRobot also adds those data transformation capabilities, then it will be an end-to-end tool and the customer will not have to procure many tools for doing the ingestion and transformation process. It will have a single tool. That is where DataRobot can actually improve itself.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using DataRobot for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
DataRobot is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
DataRobot is very scalable because the customer initially started with two licenses, and now they have around 20 licenses which are working across different deployments across their entire ecosystem and that helps them to achieve their outcomes pretty easily.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support is very good. For many of the issues, we went back to the DataRobot team and they were very helpful in answering the questions which the customer had. There is no issue with the customer support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously we did not have any solution. It was a greenfield setup, so we did not have any solution. Everything was being done manually.
How was the initial setup?
We worked directly with the DataRobot team. We got the licensing worked out for the respective instances which the customer was looking to purchase. The whole process was very seamless and there were no issues in calculating the licensing costs and that is what we conveyed to the customer. It is pretty transparent and we had no issues.
What was our ROI?
Around $2 million have been saved for the particular company in a particular financial year. We have automated a lot of processes. Previously we had five employees doing the entire workflow, and now we can do it with two employees because agents are being used to do the same which was previously being done by the employees.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
DataRobot is primarily an agentic AI tool and it does that pretty well. Based on that, I have given it a rating of eight. DataRobot has not promised to be a data ingestion tool, otherwise I would have given a lower number. It is good in what it promises to be.
Customer support is very good. For many of the issues, we went back to the DataRobot team and they were very helpful in answering the questions which the customer had. There is no issue with the customer support.
If one is looking for an agentic AI governance tool, then DataRobot is the place to be because it has a very good interface and one can create multiple agents on the fly. One can have an agent-to-agent protocol and that will automate processes in a single click. That is where DataRobot scores.
Fast, Insightful Automated Modeling with DataRobot
The automated modeling is a big help because it tries different approaches for me instead of requiring everything to be done manually. I also appreciate that I can still understand what’s driving the predictions, so it doesn’t feel like a black box.
Performance can be another challenge. Some processes take a while, particularly with larger datasets. which can slow everything down and interrupt the workflow.
Overall, simplifying the interface, adding more transparency in certain areas, and improving speed would make a big difference.
For me, the biggest benefit is speed. I can go from raw data to something usable pretty quickly, rather than spending a lot of time testing things manually. It also makes it easier to get results without needing deep expertise, which helps me move forward with more confidence.
Automation has improved efficiency and decision-making while big data handling and transparency still need work
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for DataRobot is to perform predictive analysis and automation of machine learning workflows. I use it to quickly build, test, and deploy models without extensive coding. One of the examples is I use DataRobot to predict which students are likely to accept the university offer. It basically helps us and the admission team to focus their efforts more efficiently. It also helps us with data matching and cleaning in large data sets, which reduces manual work.
The prediction helps our team and the admission team to prioritize outreach to the students who are most likely to accept the offer. They inform marketing and follow-up strategies as well, making efforts more efficient and quicker. One example is if DataRobot predicts a student has a high likelihood of accepting, the team can send personalized emails or call them to provide guidance and support directly to these students. It basically focuses on these specific students which have been just highlighted by DataRobot. It also reduces time spent on students who are unlikely to enroll, allowing us to use our resources more efficiently only on the people who we think are actually going to come back and enroll with us.
I do use DataRobot for many other things as well. For example, other than the target of student enrollment, I use DataRobot for data cleaning. I do the cleaning of deduplication as well. I also use this to detect any anomalies. It basically helps me to automate all the repetitive tasks and saves me some time. One example I can share is I use it to flag duplicate student records across multiple systems, which used to take us hours to do before, and now it's done a lot more quickly by using DataRobot.
What is most valuable?
There are many features that I appreciate about DataRobot. Some of the features which I personally prefer are the ones that save time. First, I would start with the automating features. If I want to do the data preparation, clean the raw data, or upload a student admission data, DataRobot automatically generates features such as the number of applications in the last month and previous offers accepted, and it can remove duplicates as well. This is one of my favorite features. Secondly, it tests my machine learning models for me, and the testing and selection are very efficient. For example, if I want to run many algorithms, DataRobot will compare them and pick the best one, saving me time from manually checking which one is the best. Lastly, another feature that I appreciate is the integration and scalability with our cloud system. It helps us connect with the various data sources we work with in our university, such as SITS, Azure SQL, and CSV exports, allowing DataRobot to handle joins and feature engineering effectively without requiring extensive coding from me.
DataRobot has positively impacted our organization in many ways. First, it has improved efficiency; tasks such as model testing, feature engineering, and predictions that used to take us days or weeks can now be accomplished in hours. This ultimately helps us make better decisions, particularly with admission data where we can rely heavily on the predictions made by DataRobot. It has also helped to reduce a lot of manual work and has allowed me to execute automation tasks more quickly. Furthermore, DataRobot provides scalable analytics, enabling us to run multiple predictive models across different departments without needing extra staff or extensive infrastructure. For instance, it allows the admission team to prioritize outreach to students likely to apply, ensuring we spend our resources effectively.
What needs improvement?
Aside from the many advantages of DataRobot, I believe there are areas that could be improved based on my experience. There is a lack of transparency in the models; sometimes it feels like a black box. For example, when I uploaded a large data set of about two gigabytes for processing, the time taken was slower than expected. Additionally, the handling of bigger data sets could be better, as it performs extremely well with smaller datasets but can lag with larger ones. The integration with some other tools used in our organization can also be challenging, and more flexibility for custom pre-processing and advanced model tuning would be beneficial.
In terms of support and documentation, I believe improvements are needed. For instance, the response time from DataRobot could be quicker, which would be appreciated when we need assistance. The documentation is generally sufficient, but it can be lengthy and could use more real-world examples and step-by-step tutorials for better clarity. Lastly, creating a client community where users can share experiences and solutions might enhance the overall value and learning curve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using DataRobot for about one year, which is about the past 12 months.
How are customer service and support?
DataRobot's customer support is good but could improve with quicker response times and better documentation or community support. The scalability is robust, managing large data sets, although it sometimes slows down when processing bigger data, but being cloud-hosted enables automatic resource scaling, which supports collaboration across teams.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we used different solutions, including manual model building through Python, Excel, and Azure ML for some projects. We switched due to the burdensome manual workflows that were time-consuming and required extensive coding, making it difficult to test multiple models quickly. DataRobot allowed us to experiment faster, achieve better model accuracy, and facilitate simpler collaboration without needing high-level programming skills.
What was our ROI?
We have indeed seen a return on investment. On average, we're saving about 10 to 15 hours per project. The efficiency has greatly improved; tasks that used to take a day now take mere hours. While we haven't reduced staff, their workload has lightened, enabling them to accomplish more within the same timeframe. The standout metric remains the 10 to 15 hours saved per project.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
While pricing falls more under my IT colleagues, from my perspective, the overall experience feels justified. The premium pricing is reasonable for the value provided, and I'd say it's worth the investment. The setup cost was minimal because it's cloud-hosted, eliminating the need for heavy on-premises infrastructure, allowing us to start using it immediately after purchase.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated several options, including Azure Machine Learning and manual Python workflows. DataRobot offered the best combination of automation, model accuracy, and ease of use, which ultimately saved us significant time and resources, making it the clear choice.
What other advice do I have?
For those looking into DataRobot, I recommend starting with a small project to grasp the workflow before scaling. Utilizing the automations offered and dedicating some time for training is key, along with collaborating and sharing models and dashboards within the team to maximize the platform's value.
DataRobot is a powerful, user-friendly platform that saves time and provides accuracy, although improvements are needed in handling larger data sets and flexibility. You can use my real name for the public review. I have provided this review with a rating of 7.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Automating model comparison speeds up development and reduces timelines
What is our primary use case?
In our day-to-day use, I utilize DataRobot to speed up our development process through its GUI capability. Once I set up our connection with a back-end data set, whatever the project I work on next, it automatically integrates the data and catalogs. I can continue with feature engineering, prediction modeling, and deployment all in one place. I bring in data and train models using GUI and API methods.
What is most valuable?
DataRobot is equipped with a GUI-based approach that simplifies the process of feature engineering and model training. It provides AutoML capabilities, which allow for comparing thousands of models and selecting the best-suited one based on business requirements. By automating highly technical aspects like model comparison, DataRobot enhances productivity and reduces project timelines from three months to less than one month.
What needs improvement?
DataRobot is a UI-based tool, which means it cannot provide all the features I might manually implement through notebooks or Python. In this aspect, I see room for improvement in its functionality.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using DataRobot for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Personally, I haven't experienced any significant issues with stability, but there were some enhancement features added, like resolving issues with duplicating projects in newer versions. Overall, it seems to be a very stable product.
How are customer service and support?
I have regular meetings with DataRobot's support team as part of our licensing model, and they provide excellent service. They answer all my questions and share guidance on using DataRobot scripts if certain functionalities are not available in the UI.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend DataRobot because if there is something not included in the UI, I have the freedom to use its Python API, which extends the capability for different use cases. Additionally, I would rate DataRobot eight out of ten for my overall experience.
Highly automated solution allowing data scientists to build models easily
What is our primary use case?
We work on AI and ML use cases related to technology and IT.
What is most valuable?
DataRobot is highly automated, allowing data scientists to build models easily. It excels in MLOps, offering robust solutions. Its platform integrates end-to-end processes, simplifying model building and deployment, which addresses many pain points for data scientists. It has very easy access, and they made everything into a single platform
What needs improvement?
There are some performance issues when it comes to improvements. They also offer storage-related services compared to other tools like Admin, Azure, or AWS. It is easy to plug and play. Third-party tools for storage-related tasks are necessary, along with tools like DataRobot, which makes sourcing and destination data quite difficult.
In terms of MLOps, they are not directly integrated with orchestration tools, and it would be beneficial if they integrated them. I've already given this feedback to their platform director.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using DataRobot for three years. We are using V9.2 of the solution, although we have done a POC of V10.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have 25 users using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
Support is very proactive in resolving the issues, and the response is too quick.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy.
What about the implementation team?
I did the deployment.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We assessed multiple tools, however, we chose DataRobot specifically because of its AutoML features.
What other advice do I have?
Based on your similar requirements, V10.0 has very cool features related to AI Generation. I would suggest the team, too. This is very good for data scientists or people who don't want to code.
Even the documentation is well-maintained in terms of its capabilities. It's easy to navigate. The support documents are good. Even someone with basic IT knowledge can easily navigate. If you're an IT engineer, you can efficiently perform operations using it.
We have deployed eight to nine use cases on DataRobot and have seen a tremendous response in accuracy and performance. We are pleased because we conducted a comparison. We took a model we built using a sample Python on a local machine and applied the same data and process using DataRobot Autopilot. The results were pretty amazing, with promising accuracy and recall.
The accessibility is so easy. Even a college graduate with essential experience can use it. Suppose I do the same model in Databricks and want to monitor my MLOps pipeline. So, I need to use a third-party framework again, like MLflow, Kubeflow, Airflow, or whatever. I need to build my dashboards and everything, customization dashboards. However, everything is available in DataRobot. I can use it directly. They have a new option called DataRobot apps. So, on the predictions, we can even create customized apps. I can build my dashboard, and I can develop my applications.
Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Easy to manage jobs and see the logs if there's any drift in a model, user-friendly, and the data munching is fast
What is our primary use case?
I did a proof of concept (POC) at DISH Wireless (company name) before they were about to sign a contract. Currently, I'm working on another POC.
How has it helped my organization?
I used DataRobot extensively at DISH Wireless (my previous company). It's very user-friendly, and the data munching is fast. They have another product that helps with data processing as well. It connects well with Snowflake, which is pretty fast as an engine.
Different models, especially financial ones, run very fast in DataRobot. They have a strong focus on financial applications.
What is most valuable?
It's easy to do MLOps operations. It's a lot easier to manage jobs and see the logs if there's any drift in a model. If there's drift, it's easier to look at the logs and retrain the model. So, it's got some really good features.
What needs improvement?
Generative AI has taken pace, and I would like to see how DataRobot assists in doing generative AI and large language models.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have DataRobot now and we use it for some forecasting models, especially for financial metrics. On and off, I've used it for about four to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's pretty stable. Even if you're deploying to some sort of edge analytics, those things were also very convenient to do with DataRobot. It's definitely one of the top AI products I have seen so far.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a very good product. It just depends on whether different clients want to use it because it comes with a cost.
Usually, in the first year, you get a big discount, and companies want to enroll. By the second year, they evaluate the cost. So, the cost is the most important factor. Otherwise, it's a really good tool.
How are customer service and support?
I had documents during the time when we ran the POC. We had data scientists from DataRobot and also executive salespeople from DataRobot who came and did a lot of one-on-one sessions with our team in Colorado, in Denver.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
How was the initial setup?
I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with ten being easy.
It is quite straightforward.
The deployment model is on-premises, in a private VPC.
Deployment did not take much time, depending on the project. It was pretty fast. We also used Databricks at the time, and compared to Databricks, DataRobot was very fast. During the POC, DataRobot outperformed every other product, like H2O and Dataiku. DataRobot stood out in our POC the most.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment was done by an internal team. We internally ran a POC. After that, we decided to go with DataRobot and Dataiku, both companies at the time. Different teams use DataRobot differently.
What other advice do I have?
The solution itself is definitely nine out of ten. It's a really good solution. If cost is not an issue for most companies, they would love to have DataRobot. That's how most of the clients have been.