Informatica PowerCenter vs. Microsoft SQL Server

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Informatica PowerCenter
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Informatica PowerCenter is a metadata driven data integration technology designed to form the foundation for data integration initiatives, including analytics and data warehousing, application migration, or consolidation and data governance.N/A
Microsoft SQL Server
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database.
$1,418
Per License
Pricing
Informatica PowerCenterMicrosoft SQL Server
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Subscription
$1,418.00
Per License
Enterprise
$13,748.00
Per License
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Informatica PowerCenterMicrosoft SQL Server
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
Informatica PowerCenterMicrosoft SQL Server
Considered Both Products
Informatica PowerCenter
Chose Informatica PowerCenter
PowerCenter can be run from different types of OSs and can integrate with multiple types of databases and applications compared to SSIS. PowerCenter performs better with any type of database due to its ability to use native drivers to read as well as load data. Due to its seam …
Chose Informatica PowerCenter
Much easier to learn and better performance
Microsoft SQL Server

No answer on this topic

Features
Informatica PowerCenterMicrosoft SQL Server
Data Source Connection
Comparison of Data Source Connection features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter
8.5
18 Ratings
2% above category average
Microsoft SQL Server
-
Ratings
Connect to traditional data sources9.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Connecto to Big Data and NoSQL8.014 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Transformations
Comparison of Data Transformations features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter
7.5
18 Ratings
9% below category average
Microsoft SQL Server
-
Ratings
Simple transformations8.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Complex transformations7.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Modeling
Comparison of Data Modeling features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter
8.2
18 Ratings
3% above category average
Microsoft SQL Server
-
Ratings
Data model creation9.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Metadata management8.016 Ratings00 Ratings
Business rules and workflow9.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Collaboration6.116 Ratings00 Ratings
Testing and debugging9.017 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Governance
Comparison of Data Governance features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter
9.0
15 Ratings
10% above category average
Microsoft SQL Server
-
Ratings
Integration with data quality tools9.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with MDM tools9.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Informatica PowerCenterMicrosoft SQL Server
Small Businesses
Skyvia
Skyvia
Score 10.0 out of 10
Google Cloud SQL
Google Cloud SQL
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
Score 8.0 out of 10
Google Cloud SQL
Google Cloud SQL
Score 8.9 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
Score 8.0 out of 10
SAP IQ
SAP IQ
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Informatica PowerCenterMicrosoft SQL Server
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(21 ratings)
8.4
(102 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(4 ratings)
9.0
(6 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(3 ratings)
7.7
(16 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
9.4
(2 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(2 ratings)
7.9
(25 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(5 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Informatica PowerCenterMicrosoft SQL Server
Likelihood to Recommend
Informatica
1.- Scenaries with poor sources of data is not recomended (Very bad ROI). The solution is for medium-big enterprises with a lot of sources of data and users. 2.- Bank and finance enviroment to integrate differente data form trading, Regulatory reports, decisions makers, fraud and financial crimes because in this kind of scenary the quality of data is the base of the business. 3.- Departments of development and test of applications in enterprises because you can design enviroments, out of the production systems, to development and test the new API's or updateds made.
Read full review
Microsoft
Microsoft SQL is ubiquitous, while MySQL runs under the hood all over the place. Microsoft SQL is the platform taught in colleges and certification courses and is the one most likely to be used by businesses because it is backed by Microsoft. Its interface is friendly (well, as pleasant as SQL can be) and has been used by so many for so long that resources are freely available if you encounter any issues.
Read full review
Pros
Informatica
  • Informatica Powercenter is an innovative software that works with ETL-type data integration. Connectivity to almost all the database systems.
  • Great documentation and customer support.
  • It has a various solution to address data quality issues. data masking, data virtualization. It has various supporting tools or MDM, IDQ, Analyst, BigData which can be used to analyze data and correct it.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Easy to configure and use with Visual Studio and Dot Net
  • Easy integration with MSBI to perform data analysis
  • Data Security
  • Easy to understand and use
  • Very easy to export database and tables in the form of SQL query or a script
Read full review
Cons
Informatica
  • There are too many ways to perform the same or similar functions which in turn makes it challenging to trace what a workflow is doing and at which point (ex. sessions can be designed as static or re-usable and the override can occur at the session or workflow, or both which can be counter productive and confusing when troubleshooting).
  • The power in structured design is a double edged sword. Simple tasks for a POC can become cumbersome. Ex. if you want to move some data to test a process, you first have to create your sources by importing them which means an ODBC connection or similar will need to be configured, you in turn have to develop your targets and all of the essential building blocks before being able to begin actual development. While I am on sources and targets, I think of a table definition as just that and find it counter intuitive to have to design a table as both a source and target and manage them as different objects. It would be more intuitive to have a table definition and its source/target properties defined by where you drag and drop it in the mapping.
  • There are no checkpoints or data viewer type functions without designing an entire mapping and workflow. If you would like to simply run a job up to a point and check the throughput, an entire mapping needs to be completed and you would workaround this by creating a flat file target.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise edition has a high cost but is the only edition which supports SQL Always On Availability Groups. It would be nice to include this feature in the Standard version.
  • Licensing of Microsoft SQL Server is a quite complex matter, it would be good to simplify licensing in the future. For example, per core vs per user CAL licensing, as well as complex licensing scenarios in the Cloud and on Edge locations.
  • It would be good to include native tools for converting Oracle, DB2, Postgresql and MySQL/MariaDB databases (schema and data) for import into Microsoft SQL Server.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Informatica
Our team enjoys using Informatica and feels that it is one of the best ETL tools on the market.
Read full review
Microsoft
We understand that the Microsoft SQL Server will continue to advance, offering the same robust and reliable platform while adding new features that enable us, as a software center, to create a superior product. That provides excellent performance while reducing the hardware requirements and the total cost of ownership of our solution.
Read full review
Usability
Informatica
Positives; - Multi User Development Environment - Speed of transformation - Seamless integration between other Informatica products. Negatives; - There should be less windows to maintain developers' focus while using. You probably need 2 big monitors when you start development with Informatica Power Center. - Oracle Analytical functions should be natively used. - E-LT support as well as ETL support.
Read full review
Microsoft
SQL Server mostly 'just works' or generates error messages to help you sort out the trouble. You can usually count on the product to get the job done and keep an eye on your potential mistakes. Interaction with other Microsoft products makes operating as a Windows user pretty straight forward. Digging through the multitude of dialogs and wizards can be a pain, but the answer is usually there somewhere.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Informatica
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Its does not have outages.
Read full review
Performance
Informatica
PowerCenter is robust and fast, and it does a great job meeting all the needs, not just the most commercially vocal needs. In the hands of an expert power user, you can accomplish almost anything with your data. It is not for new users or intermittent users-- for that the Cloud version is a better fit. Be prepared for costly connectors (priced differently for each source or destination you are working with), and just be planful of your projects so you are not paying for connectors you no longer need or want
Read full review
Microsoft
SSAS data cubes may some time slow down your Excel reports.
Read full review
Support Rating
Informatica
Informatica power center is a leader of the pack of ETL tools and has some great abilities that make it stand out from other ETL tools. It has been a great partner to its clients over a long time so it's definitely dependable. With all the great things about Informatica, it has a bit of tech burden that should be addressed to make it more nimble, reduce the learning curve for new developers, provide better connectivity with visualization tools.
Read full review
Microsoft
We managed to handle most of our problems by looking into Microsoft's official documentation that has everything explained and almost every function has an example that illustrates in detail how a particular functionality works. Just like PowerShell has the ability to show you an example of how some cmdlet works, that is the case also here, and in my opinion, it is a very good practice and I like it.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Informatica
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
It was good
Read full review
Online Training
Informatica
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
very hands on and detailed training
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Informatica
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Other than SQL taking quite a bit of time to actually install there are no problems with installation. Even on hardware that has good performance SQL can still take close to an hour to install a typical server with management and reporting services.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Informatica
While Talend offers a much more comfortable interface to work with, Informatica's forte is performance. And on that front, Informatica Enterprise Data Integration certainly leaves Talend in the dust. For a more back-end-centric use case, Informatica is certainly the ETL tool of choice. On the other hand, if business users would be using the tool, then Talend would be the preferred tool.
Read full review
Microsoft
[Microsoft] SQL Server has a much better community and professional support and is overall just a more reliable system with Microsoft behind it. I've used MySQL in the past and SQL Server has just become more comfortable for me and is my go to RDBMS.
Read full review
Scalability
Informatica
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
SQL server does handle growing demands of a mid sized company.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Informatica
  • The data pipeline automation capability of Informatica means that few resources are needed to pre-process the data that ultimately resides in a Data Warehouse. Once a workflow is implemented, manual intervention is not needed.
  • PowerCenter did require more resources and time for installation and configuration than was expected/planned for.
  • The lack of or minimal support of unstructured data means that newer sources of dynamic/changing data cannot be easily processed/transformed through PowerCenter workflows.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Increased accuracy - We went from multiple users having different versions of an Excel spreadsheet to a single source of truth for our reporting.
  • Increased Efficiency - We can now generate reports at any time from a single source rather than multiple users spending their time collating data and generating reports.
  • Improved Security - Enterprise level security on a dedicated server rather than financial files on multiple laptop hard drives.
Read full review
ScreenShots