Deterministic parsing guided by treebank-induced classifiers has emerged as a simple and efficient alternative to more complex models for data-driven parsing. We present a systematic comparison of memory-based learning (MBL) and support vector machines (SVM) for inducing classifiers for deterministic dependency parsing, using data from Chinese, English and Swedish, together with a variety of different feature models. The comparison shows that SVM gives higher accuracy for richly articulated feature models across all languages, albeit with considerably longer training times. The results also confirm that classifier-based deterministic parsing can achieve parsing accuracy very close to the best results reported for more complex parsing models.