SSIS

Fivetran, Stitch, and Etleap are all 1000x more modern than SSIS and 100x less aggravating. While those tools are mainly used to sync data rather than transform it, the ELT model works much better than the ETL model in most situations.

We just selected SSIS because we use SQL Server Management System (SSMS) to manage our database. As SSIS is a component of the Microsoft SQL Server there are no problems with integration and everything works perfectly. In addition, we don't have to learn how to use another system to perform database tasks and everything is done in the same place. Just like it was an extension of our SSMS.

Low-cost relative to other products - in fact, zero cost if one is considering the license cost as being for the database engine with Integration Services added on. It has a comparable range of functionality and performance and as such it's a 'no-brainer' to use SSIS over other data integration tools.

SnapLogic and Azure Data Factory are better than SQL Server Integration Services mostly because they are Integration Platform as a Service (IPAAS) services, whereas SQL Server Integration Services is an on-premise. So the basic differences such as, need a VPN to connect to the data sources from SQL Server Integration Services, or upgrades are not seamless compared to IPAAS come into play.

SSIS is similar to Alteryx and Informatica PowerCenter in a way because these are all drag-and-drop ETL tools with similar functionality. Alteryx is a step ahead because it has some advanced ETL functionalities including statistical calculations etc. and a better ability to set process dependencies. Informatica is by far the most powerful ETL tool I've used but it can be daunting for a new user because it has so many options and configurations, SSIS does similar work with less complexity (it is easier to use).

It is more user-friendly and cost efficient.

Alteryx Designer is easier to use for machine learning models. The functionality of drag and drop is the most valuable. It is a very user-friendly tool that can be understood easily. My teams also work with other solutions, such as Integration Services, and these solutions are very difficult for people who don't have technical knowledge.

I had nothing to do with the choice or install. I assume it was made because it's easy to integrate with our SQL Server environment and free. I'm not sure of any other enterprise level solution that would solve this problem, but I would likely have approached it with traditional scripting. Comparably free, but my own familiarity with trad scripts would be my final deciding factor. Perhaps with some further training on SSIS I would have a different answer.

SQL Server Integration Services is a good alternative to cut down on costs and have more flexibility on developing.

SAP Business Objects was a primary concurrent software against the MS SSIS but it has a more steep learning curve and requires additional investment into the SAP-related software infrastructure. With SSIS one can start easily with simple data extraction / DTL tools of Express Edition (which is free) and then migrate to the Standard Edition if any advanced DTS will be required. Also, the MS community and MSDN tech resources contain a lot of useful info to allow a quick start. Also, installation/administration processes are easy and well-documented counter to expensive SAP requirements. One can start with totally free solutions and scale them in the future. As an example - you can use a free Hyper-V core server on a very cheap 1000-1500 USD Dell/HPE entry-level server, then virtualize one instance of Win10 Pro, and inside this virtual machine install the SQL Server Express with SSIS (as Data Transformation and Import / Export wizard). With a certain amount of imagination, this could be a very good start point to unite a moderate amount of data, collected in the small organization for decades.

Datastage

I personally prefer SSIS. There are items that each do better than the others, but the ease of use of SSIS, along with its extensibility to 3rd party, ability to write any code required in the tool, and uses the same IDE for the MS BI suite (more of an issue if you're not a pure ETL developer) place it ahead of Informatica and Ab Initio. I would give credit to Ab Initio for having the overall most approachable interface despite being a niche tool.

I used the Pentaho Data Integration (PDI) ETL tool. The PDI ETL tool does not have a public user collection like the SQL Server Integration Services(SSIS) ETL tool. Therefore, you may not be able to find instant solutions for your problems. But it has advantages over the SSIS ETL tool. The PDI ETL tool is open source software and does not charge a license fee.

We selected SSIS as it came part of our standard SQL license. We did not evaluate any other solutions as SSIS has met all our needs.

SQL Server is already in our wheelhouse so it only made sense to utilize the tools we already had available to us--SSIS, SSAS, & SSRS. Other non-technical users seem to be more comfortable using alternatives to SSIS. However, these alternatives are not as good as SSIS at building production-ready ETL processes.

These are all great products and, honestly, can move data faster. They include more enterprise features and have some great qualities about each. However, they all cost a lot depending on the implementation you need. With SQL Server Integration Services, you do not have any added cost and, for most cases, it is more than enough of a tool. If you are a shop that has specific needs and budget other tools will certainly be worth a look but, I would always try with SSIS first. It really is a great tool.

When looking to evaluate different options, we looked first to the experience and software we had in-house that would accomplish the job. When assessing alternatives outside we were looking for the tool that would offer the most flexibility.

SSIS provided the most robust set of features with the smallest learning curve out of its major competitors and was the lowest cost to implement.

It’s basically a free tool and it has more features than anyone would ever need. If you look online for answers for SISS packages you will find a world of information that can cover almost any situation for your business. This tool can be used in any business and it provides the flexibility to integrate into any system or database or data source.

SSIS is a very basic, developer-oriented ETL tool and while it lacks many of the nice UX features of its competitors it is a powerful tool that comes as a part of SQL Server and, in the hands of experienced developers with domain knowledge, can meet most organizations' ETL needs without the need to purchase and maintain additional software packages in developer and production environments.

SSIS and Denodo differ in their approaches to ETL and Data integrations. SSIS is more affordable from a cost and licensing perspective (if you have Microsoft licensing), but Denodo is no slouch. If you go with Denodo, you are not creating data, there are pros and cons to that. With SSIS, lots of times you are persisting information in order to perform ETL. Again, there are pros and cons to this, but both require proper implementation and data architecture.

SQL Server Integration Services does a good job for our SQL Server environments and was selected for that reason. For a SQL Server-only implementations, I would recommend SQL Server Integration Services. When we compared SSIS to other ETL providers against SQL Server, SSIS was the logical choice. It is well integrated not only with the database but with Visual Studio and the entire Microsoft development suite.

SSIS has more configuration options and its smooth running GUI (in visual studio) makes implementation easier. It's ability to provide visual programming and allow users to input code for more complex logic and configuration gives users a great degree of flexibility.

Selection was done because of: 1. Lower Cost, 2. RDBMS was SQL Server and SSIS is tightly coupled for optimal performance