Jet aeration is a commonly used technique for introducing air into water during wastewater treatment. In this investigation, the efficacy of different soft computing models, namely, Random Forest, Reduced Error Pruning Tree, Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Gaussian Process, and Support Vector Machine, was examined in predicting the aeration efficiency (E 20 ) of circular and square jet configurations in an open channel flow. A total of 126 experimental data points were utilized to develop and validate these models. To assess the models' performance, three goodness-of-fit parameters were employed: correlation coefficient (CC), root-mean-square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE). The analysis revealed that all of the developed models exhibited predictive capabilities, with CC values surpassing 0.8. Nonetheless, when it comes to predicting E 20 , the ANN model outperformed other soft computing models, achieving a CC of 0.9748, MAE of 0.0164, and RMSE of 0.0211. A sensitivity analysis emphasized that the angle of inclination exerted the most significant influence on the aeration in an open channel. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that square jets delivered superior aeration compared to that of circular jets under identical operating conditions.