Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Alteryx Designer vs FME comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Alteryx Designer
Ranking in Data Integration
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
FME
Ranking in Data Integration
26th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of Alteryx Designer is 2.7%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FME is 1.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

Ajay Nayak - PeerSpot reviewer
An easy-to-use automation solution with satisfying customer support
Sometimes, while getting data from a third-party product, like data sources that are not present in your system, Alteryx works a bit slowly. Even if you have a good configuration and you are pulling data from an SQL server like SAP, then the solution also has a slow work process. It shouldn't be that much slow if you are pulling ten thousand records, it should not take thirty minutes.
Alan Bloor - PeerSpot reviewer
Great for handling large volumes of data, but it is priced a bit high
When I do coding, I think about every single function. Some of these functions can be very elementary, like doing a substring or some capitalization. But FME removes all that coding because it's a transformer, so the time to develop an application to get to a point where you're producing results is decreased massively. It used to take weeks and months to develop software, and now I can use something like FME, and within one day, we get results. We can look at and validate data. We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"One of the things I like about Alteryx Designer is how easy it is to connect numerous data inputs, including API connectors. This helps tremendously in reducing the time required to extract data from systems like SAP that don't have straightforward connectivity options."
"It has an easy setup process."
"I like Alteryx's browser tool because you can view how your data is handled live. There are many other valuable tools like transpose and the crosstab. You can quickly pivot your data, and there are connections throughout the database. It's so easy to create a connection. If you connect to sign apps or a more complex database, the tool contains all the tools you need."
"The product is very stable. The performance is reliable."
"Workflow automation, in general, is valuable."
"Alteryx Designer offers a drag-and-drop interface, making it highly user-friendly. Unlike Python and Apache Airflow, which require coding, Alteryx allows users to accomplish tasks without any programming knowledge. Its simplicity makes it accessible to anyone, even those without coding experience, and this ease of use is one of Alteryx's key advantages."
"When you open a raw Excel file, it can be hard to look at everything in detail. Alteryx makes it much easier to go through the data, summarize it, and use different tools for analysis."
"I like Alteryx Designer's drag-and-drop feature, where you drag a component, configure it and quickly run it."
"We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else."
"It has a very friendly user interface. You don't need to use a lot of code. For us that's the most important aspect about it. Also, it has a lot of connectors and few forms. It has a strong facial aspect. It can do a lot of facial analysis."
"All spatial features are unrivaled, and the possibility to execute them based on a scheduled trigger, manual, e-mail, Websocket, tweet, file/directory change or virtually any trigger is most valuable."
"The most valuable feature of FME is the graphical user interface. There is nothing better. It is very easy to debug because you can see all steps where there are failures. Overall the software is easy to optimize a process."
"It has standard plug-ins available for different data sources."
 

Cons

"Sometimes, while getting data from a third-party product, the solution works slowly."
"Alteryx Designer overall should be easier to use."
"Improving the key-based sign-on process and making it more user-friendly would be a benefit."
"We need more documentation."
"The only thing is sometimes it can be a bit slow."
"Alteryx's data science and machine learning capabilities are where it loses out to DataIQ."
"Its price can be improved. It is too expensive for our country. Because of its high price, we can't sell Alteryx Designer in this region. We used to be their reseller partner. There is also an additional cost for automating the data and running the flows, which makes it even more expensive. It will be very good if they can let users automate the data for free. Other solutions like Tableau provide this feature for free."
"Alteryx needs to improve its web governance. The gallery you use to filter the data is something else that could use some work. For instance, if you have a report connected to a database and want to filter a specific user, you should be able to suggest a specific region or a particular year. I know that the Alteryx isn't designed for data governance, but that would be great to think about."
"Improvements could be made to mapping presentations."
"FME's price needs improvement for the African market."
"FME can improve the geographical transformation. I've had some problems with the geographical transformations, but it's probably mostly because I'm not the most skilled geographer in-house. The solution requires some in-depth knowledge to perform some functions."
"The one thing that always appears in the community is the ability to make really easy loops to loop through data efficiently. That needs to be added at some point."
"To get a higher rating, it would have to improve the price and the associated scalability. These are the main issues."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive. It has license fees, which are renewable every year."
"The pricing is bit expensive."
"The licenses are expensive, making it difficult to consider acquiring additional licenses to the existing ones."
"I rate Alteryx Designer a six out of ten for pricing."
"I rate the price of Alteryx Designer a ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"The tool is priced high."
"Alteryx is a little bit expensive compared to competing solutions."
"It is too expensive for our country. We are a small country, so it is too difficult to sell this solution. With Alteryx Designer, if you want to automate the data and run the flows, you have to pay more money. We were trying to automate the flows, and we found out that people have to pay 600 more for this feature, which makes it even more expensive. We are a partner for Tableau, and we are working with Tableau Prep, which is like a mini Alteryx. In Tableau Prep, you can drag and drop and make new connections with the different data sources. You can make all the connections. You can also publish a source. You don't have to pay more money with Tableau. You pay like $5 per user per month to access it."
"FME Server used to cost £10,000; now it can cost over £100,000."
"We used the standard licensing for our use of FME. The cost was approximately €15,000 annually. We always welcome less expensive solutions, if the solution could be less expensive it would be helpful."
"The product's price is reasonable."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Integration solutions are best for your needs.
839,319 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
26%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
29%
Energy/Utilities Company
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Alteryx Designer?
When you open a raw Excel file, it can be hard to look at everything in detail. Alteryx makes it much easier to go through the data, summarize it, and use different tools for analysis.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alteryx Designer?
It's cheaper than Palantir, but even Alteryx is too much for small clients. It is expensive, considering the server capabilities.
What needs improvement with Alteryx Designer?
For smaller clients with ten to 15 employees, Alteryx can be expensive. The server capabilities are costly too. The technical support could also improve by being quicker in response times.
What do you like most about FME?
We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FME?
The pricing is really bad. Last year, they rebranded the whole pricing structure. It used to be moderately priced at about £400 per user per year. Now they've changed the whole thing, and it's expe...
What needs improvement with FME?
The one thing that always appears in the community is the ability to make really easy loops to loop through data efficiently. That needs to be added at some point. There must be a technical or comm...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

Information not available
 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Shell, US Department of Commerce, PG&E, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, Enel, Iowa DoT, San Antonio Water System
Find out what your peers are saying about Alteryx Designer vs. FME and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
839,319 professionals have used our research since 2012.