KNIME Analytics Platform is the “killer app” for machine learning and statistics
By: Sj Porter
Tags: Machine Learning, Data Science, Etl, Knime, Data

DATA SCIENCE | MACHINE LEARNING | DATA VISUALIZATION

KNIME Analytics Platform is the “killer app” for machine learning and statistics

A free, easy, and open-source tool for all things data? Yes, please!

If you work with data in any capacity, go ahead and do yourself a favor: download KNIME Analytics Platform right here.

More data science, less slamming of the mouse and keyboard.

What is KNIME Analytics Platform?

KNIME Analytics Platform is the strongest and most comprehensive free platform for drag-and-drop analytics, machine learning, statistics, and ETL that I’ve found to date. The fact that there’s neither a paywall nor locked features means the barrier to entry is nonexistent.

Connectors to data sources (both on-premise and on the cloud) are available for all major providers, making it easy to move data between environments. SQL Server to Azure? No problem. Google Sheets to Amazon Redshift? Sure, why not. How about applying a machine learning algorithm and filtering/transforming the results? You’re covered.

Big data? Small data? Doesn’t matter too much provided that your computer has a solid CPU and 16+ GB RAM.

It’s also worth mentioning that the community is particularly robust. The developers and product owners at KNIME are a blast to work with, and the forums are surprisingly active.

I could dive into a quick start tutorial or show off some of the more advanced capabilities, but it’s honestly very intuitive to use. The documentation is integrated directly into the desktop client, the UI is dirt simple, and the UX is a great blend between complexity/customizability (when needed) and user-friendliness.

What can I do with KNIME Analytics Platform?

KNIME Analytics Platform is well-suited for the following:

ETL processes (moving data around from here to there and cleaning it up)

Machine learning

Deep learning

Natural language processing

API integration

Interactive visual analytics (somewhat of a beta feature)

What‘s the catch?

KNIME Analytics Platform is 100% free. The documentation is readily available at knime.com and there are a ton of free extensions to the platform. So long as you’re the one clicking “Go” every time the process runs, you won’t have to pay a dime. Ever. That’s the benefit of working with a software package that has roots in academia.

If you want to schedule workflows, KNIME Server is the premium offering that allows for process scheduling among other features. The basic tier, KNIME Server Small, is around $1.67 per hour on AWS. If you host KNIME Server on an EC2 instance and schedule a cron job to turn the instance on and off, it’s an extremely cost-effective option.

Higher tiers of KNIME Server allow for use of the REST API and WebPortal. Those features allow you to automate workflow deployment, execute workflows remotely from another service, and create an interactive hub for users. The ability to automate workflows makes KNIME Server Medium an attractive option. If you purchase the highest tier (KNIME Server Large) with the BYOL option, you gain the ability to host multiple instances of the server using the same license.

For now, I personally recommend KNIME Server Small as an incredibly affordable option for any organization.

How do I learn KNIME Analytics Platform?

Their learning page is here, but if you’re data-savvy then simply download the platform and try out a thing or two. So long as you get to the point in which some data is loaded up into the application, the rest is intuitive and the documentation is accessible from within the application. Drag nodes from the “Node Explorer” onto the view. There is a search bar… try searching for “Excel” and go from there.