When comparing MovieLens vs IMDB, the Slant community recommends IMDB for most people. In the question“What are the best movie recommendation websites?” IMDB is ranked 1st while MovieLens is ranked 6th.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Non-commercial
MovieLens is run by a research lab at the University of Minnesota. The entire service is provided free-of-charge and without advertisements or sponsors.
Pro Personalized recommendations
Rather than provide generic recommendations based on popularity, MovieLens generates personalized recommendations based on individual preferences.
Pro Community tagging
An open tagging system helps to further categorize movies.
Pro Built-in wishlist
All movie listings include a handy add-to-wishlist option, making it easy to save titles of interest.
Pro Best selection of movies on the web
Pro They have all the movies ever made
Pro Clean user interface and easy to navigate
Cons
Con NOT a movie recommendation engine
Con Generalised ratings
Con Fake ratings
Some ratings are fake since the site applies what they call weighted average ratings instead of actual ratings.