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Azure Data Factory pros and cons

Vendor: Microsoft
4.0 out of 5
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Pros & Cons summary

Buyer's Guide

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Azure Data Factory allows organizations to improve data offerings with predictive analytics, API data sharing, and enhancements.
Data Flow and Databricks scale data solutions as businesses grow and new data sources are added.
Azure Data Factory is known for its powerful yet easy-to-use ETL capabilities with strong data transformation features.
Azure Data Factory provides built-in connectors for over 100 sources, making data integration seamless.
The scalability and integration with Azure components make Azure Data Factory both flexible and reliable.

CONS

Azure Data Factory needs better integration with Azure Machine Learning and should allow embedding of Microsoft cognitive services as a web API.
The documentation is too complicated and lacks enough examples and use cases.
Pricing is complex and not transparent, leading to potential cost issues for smaller businesses.
Real-time replication and streaming data processing are needed improvements for more effective data handling.
Integration and connectivity with third-party solutions like SAP and Oracle require enhancement.
 

Azure Data Factory Pros review quotes

TB
Consultant at FTS Data & AI
Mar 28, 2019
This solution will allow the organisation to improve its existing data offerings over time by adding predictive analytics, data sharing via APIs and other enhancements readily.
reviewer1112397 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Jul 29, 2019
The solution has a good interface and the integration with GitHub is very useful.
DD
Principal Data Architect at Predica
Nov 18, 2019
The user interface is very good. It makes me feel very comfortable when I am using the tool.
Learn what your peers think about Azure Data Factory. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
880,954 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1236675 - PeerSpot reviewer
Microsoft Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Dec 5, 2019
From what we have seen so far, the solution seems very stable.
MR
Sr. Technology Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Dec 9, 2019
Data Factory itself is great. It's pretty straightforward. You can easily add sources, join and lookup information, etc. The ease of use is pretty good.
Soumyojit Sen - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Product Management at EIM solutions
Jun 20, 2021
The most valuable features are data transformations.
reviewer1007019 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT at a logistics company with 10,001+ employees
Dec 16, 2019
Powerful but easy-to-use and intuitive.
reviewer1248231 - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Leader at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Dec 23, 2019
It is a complete ETL Solution.
BM
Azure Technical Architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Dec 31, 2019
From my experience so far, the best feature is the ability to copy data to any environment. We have 100 connects and we can connect them to the system and copy the data from its respective system to any environment. That is the best feature.
it_user982071 - PeerSpot reviewer
Delivery Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jan 12, 2020
It is easy to deploy workflows and schedule jobs.
 

Azure Data Factory Cons review quotes

TB
Consultant at FTS Data & AI
Mar 28, 2019
The thing we missed most was data update, but this is now available as of two weeks ago.
reviewer1112397 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Jul 29, 2019
In the next release, it's important that some sort of scheduler for running tasks is added.
DD
Principal Data Architect at Predica
Nov 18, 2019
The solution should offer better integration with Azure machine learning. We should be able to embed the cognitive services from Microsoft, for example as a web API. It should allow us to embed Azure machine learning in a more user-friendly way.
Learn what your peers think about Azure Data Factory. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
880,954 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1236675 - PeerSpot reviewer
Microsoft Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Dec 5, 2019
The solution needs to integrate more with other providers and should have a closer integration with Oracle BI.
MR
Sr. Technology Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Dec 9, 2019
On the UI side, they could make it a little more intuitive in terms of how to add the radius components. Somebody who has been working with tools like Informatica or DataStage gets very used to how the UI looks and feels.
Soumyojit Sen - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Product Management at EIM solutions
Jun 20, 2021
The speed and performance need to be improved.
reviewer1007019 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT at a logistics company with 10,001+ employees
Dec 16, 2019
The product could provide more ways to import and export data.
reviewer1248231 - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Leader at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Dec 23, 2019
The Microsoft documentation is too complicated.
BM
Azure Technical Architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Dec 31, 2019
The user interface could use improvement. It's not a major issue but it's something that can be improved.
it_user982071 - PeerSpot reviewer
Delivery Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jan 12, 2020
The setup and configuration process could be simplified.