Azure Data Factory vs. Google Cloud Dataflow

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Azure Data Factory
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft's Azure Data Factory is a service built for all data integration needs and skill levels. It is designed to allow the user to easily construct ETL and ELT processes code-free within the intuitive visual environment, or write one's own code. Visually integrate data sources using more than 80 natively built and maintenance-free connectors at no added cost. Focus on data—the serverless integration service does the rest.N/A
Google Cloud Dataflow
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Google offers Cloud Dataflow, a managed streaming analytics platform for real-time data insights, fraud detection, and other purposes.N/A
Pricing
Azure Data FactoryGoogle Cloud Dataflow
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Azure Data FactoryGoogle Cloud Dataflow
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Azure Data FactoryGoogle Cloud Dataflow
Features
Azure Data FactoryGoogle Cloud Dataflow
Data Source Connection
Comparison of Data Source Connection features of Product A and Product B
Azure Data Factory
8.5
10 Ratings
4% above category average
Google Cloud Dataflow
-
Ratings
Connect to traditional data sources9.010 Ratings00 Ratings
Connecto to Big Data and NoSQL8.010 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Transformations
Comparison of Data Transformations features of Product A and Product B
Azure Data Factory
7.8
10 Ratings
2% below category average
Google Cloud Dataflow
-
Ratings
Simple transformations8.710 Ratings00 Ratings
Complex transformations7.010 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Modeling
Comparison of Data Modeling features of Product A and Product B
Azure Data Factory
6.3
10 Ratings
21% below category average
Google Cloud Dataflow
-
Ratings
Data model creation4.57 Ratings00 Ratings
Metadata management5.58 Ratings00 Ratings
Business rules and workflow6.010 Ratings00 Ratings
Collaboration7.09 Ratings00 Ratings
Testing and debugging6.310 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Governance
Comparison of Data Governance features of Product A and Product B
Azure Data Factory
5.7
10 Ratings
32% below category average
Google Cloud Dataflow
-
Ratings
Integration with data quality tools4.410 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with MDM tools7.09 Ratings00 Ratings
Streaming Analytics
Comparison of Streaming Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Azure Data Factory
-
Ratings
Google Cloud Dataflow
7.5
1 Ratings
7% below category average
Real-Time Data Analysis00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Data Ingestion from Multiple Data Sources00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Low Latency00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Linear Scale-Out00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Machine Learning Automation00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Data Enrichment00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Azure Data FactoryGoogle Cloud Dataflow
Small Businesses
Skyvia
Skyvia
Score 10.0 out of 10
IBM Streams (discontinued)
IBM Streams (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
Score 8.0 out of 10
Confluent
Confluent
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
Score 8.0 out of 10
Spotfire Streaming
Spotfire Streaming
Score 5.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Azure Data FactoryGoogle Cloud Dataflow
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(8 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Azure Data FactoryGoogle Cloud Dataflow
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Best scenario is for ETL process. The flexibility and connectivity is outstanding. For our environment, SAP data connectivity with Azure Data Factory offers very limited features compared to SAP Data Sphere. Due to the limited modelling capacity of the tool, we use Databricks for data modelling and cleaning. Usage of multiple tools could have been avoided if adf has modelling capabilities.
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Google
Based on my experience, streaming / real time / machine learning / AI type of processing and batch processing which needs less transformation are very well suited. Work load that needs complex transformation / multiple hops gets very complicated to implement. New feature like Dataflow SQL option will come in handy for sql heavy users.
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Pros
Microsoft
  • Data Ingestion - it works very well with numerous data sources.
  • Data pipeline orchestration: It is a generic, popular tool for orchestrating data pipelines.
  • Works well in Azure ecosystem, Azure services and data platforms like Databricks.
  • It is a serverless and scalable solution for cloud data integration.
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Google
  • Streaming, Real time work load
  • Batch processing
  • Auto scaling
  • flexible pricing
Read full review
Cons
Microsoft
  • Granularity of Errors: Sometimes, Azure Data Factory provides error messages that are too generic or vague for us, making it challenging to pinpoint the exact cause of a pipeline failure. Enhanced error messages with more actionable details would greatly assist us as users in debugging their pipelines.
  • Pipeline Design UI: In my experience, the visual interface for designing pipelines, especially when dealing with complex workflows or numerous activities, can become cluttered. I think a more intuitive and scalable design interface would improve usability. In my opinion, features like zoom, better alignment tools, or grouping capabilities could make managing intricate designs more manageable.
  • Native Support: While Azure Data Factory does support incremental data loads, in my experience, the setup can be somewhat manual and complex. I think native and more straightforward support for Change Data Capture, especially from popular databases, would simplify the process of capturing and processing only the changed data, making regular data updates more efficient
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Google
  • inbuild template options can be expanded
  • more data connector options
  • easy of use
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Usability
Microsoft
So far product has performed as expected. We were noticing some performance issues, but they were largely Synapse related. This has led to a shift from Synapse to Databricks. Overall this has delayed our analytic platform. Once databricks becomes fully operational, Azure Data Factory will be critical to our environment and future success.
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Google
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Microsoft
We have not had need to engage with Microsoft much on Azure Data Factory, but they have been responsive and helpful when needed. This being said, we have not had a major emergency or outage requiring their intervention. The score of seven is a representation that they have done well for now, but have not proved out their support for a significant issue
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Google
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
Azure Data Factory helps us automate to schedule jobs as per customer demands to make ETL triggers when the need arises. Anyone can define the workflow with the Azure Data Factory UI designer tool and easily test the systems. It helped us automate the same workflow with programming languages like Python or automation tools like ansible. Numerous options for connectivity be it a database or storage account helps us move data transfer to the cloud or on-premise systems.
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Google
Google Cloud Dataproc Cloud Datafusion
Read full review
Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • Facilitate better decision-making and improve business processes.
  • Optimize business process outcomes by increasing internal efficiency and operational effectiveness.
  • Boosts revenue growth while improving business process agility.
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Google
  • cost saving from managing our own data center for ETL servers
  • consumption based pricing
  • with auto scaling feature, we were able to expand components to support work load
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ScreenShots