Methods and apparatus are provided for data operation pre-processing with a probabilistic estimation of operation value. An exemplary method comprises extracting feature values from a data set; identifying a set of operations that previously processed data sets comprising the extracted feature values; determining whether to execute an operation from the set of operations before an explicit request for the execution of the operation based on a probabilistic evaluation of a value of pre-processing the operation; and executing a set of instructions for the operation when it is determined that the operation is to be executed. The set of instructions comprises, e.g., stopping execution of other operations being executed, freeing resources required by the operation, and/or allocating resources required by the operation. An optional indirect component, optionally scaled by a moderating factor, estimates the value of pre-processing one or more additional operations enabled by features of data sets produced by the operation, and the resources to be allocated for the pre-processing of those operations.