Beyond KMeans: 6 Must-Know Types of Clustering Algorithms in Machine Learning

Clustering is one of the core branches of unsupervised learning in ML.

The first (and sometimes the only) clustering algorithm folks learn is KMeans.

Yet, it is important to note that KMeans is not a universal solution to all clustering problems.

In fact, there’s a whole world of clustering algorithms beyond KMeans, which we must be familiar with.

The visual below summarizes 6 different types of clustering algorithms in machine learning:

1. Centroid-based: Cluster data points based on proximity to centroids.

2. Connectivity-based: Cluster points based on proximity between clusters.

3. Density-based: Cluster points based on their density. It is more robust to clusters with varying densities and shapes than centroid-based clustering.

4. Graph-based: Cluster points based on graph distance.

5. Distribution-based: Cluster points based on their likelihood of belonging to the same distribution. Gaussian Mixture Model in one example. We discussed it in detail here: Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs): The Flexible Twin of KMeans.

6. Compression-based: Transform data to a lower dimensional space and then perform clustering

Over to you: What other clustering algorithms will you include here?

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