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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
26th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
FME
Ranking in Data Integration
31st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of Alteryx Designer is 1.2%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FME is 1.1%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Alteryx Designer1.2%
FME1.1%
Other97.7%
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

AHMAD FAIRUZ BIN ALI - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Data Analytics COE at bank islam
Able to hold a huge amount of data in its memory, but it is very expensive
We had challenges with a very complex workflow, and we couldn't find the root cause because it caused an error in the output. We recreated the workflow, and it solved the problem. Alteryx Designer integrated seamlessly with other tools and systems in our workflow. It's not convenient for us to develop any machine learning model using Alteryx Designer. Other data science studio tools are much more advanced than the data science studio tools in Alteryx. We do maintenance on our workflow, but we try to be careful with the upgrades because we don't want any upgrades to impact our production workflows. One or two people are needed to maintain the solution. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Gert Booysen - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Solutions Leader at GE Vernova
Extensive format support and reliable integration enhance data management while new pricing model requires reassessment
I haven't had any input or requirements from any customers that are not currently covered, so I don't have any additional needs that were identified or raised to me. Regarding pricing, with the model changes that they've implemented a while back, it actually made it more expensive to use, especially on the server side. They changed the licensing model, and that made customers think it is overpriced. Some customers were actually looking at alternatives. Pricing with the model changes was perceived negatively. I work primarily with enterprise customers, Vodacom, Eskom, so it's tier-one customers. For small customers, this solution is a bit too expensive. They don't really use it and just do direct integration on smaller implementations. This is basically used by tier-one customers. FME is still able to save time and money for clients. It's still a good investment. Regarding similar products to FME, GE developed a product called Data Fabric. That is a real-time operational integration platform, Data Fabric Network Connect, which is a GE Grid OS product. It is actually more expensive than FME, but the purpose is different as it's operational. The vendor in this case is GE, and it's a company that we bought that used to be called Greenbird. In current use scenarios, FME is still leading compared to Data Fabric. The GE product has a different application.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Alteryx Designer is a tool that is pretty much easy to install."
"I like Alteryx's browser tool because you can view how your data is handled live, and there are many other valuable tools like transpose and the crosstab, so you can quickly pivot your data, and there are connections throughout the database, making it easy to create a connection and containing all the tools you need even for more complex databases."
"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."
"The most valuable features are the integrated properties and integrated connectivity."
"Workflow automation, in general, is valuable."
"The features I found most valuable are the preparation features – the Join and the Transform."
"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 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."
"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."
"FME's features that I have found most valuable are that it has a very friendly user interface, you don't need to use a lot of code, it has a lot of connectors and few forms, and it has a strong facial aspect that can do a lot of facial analysis."
"It has standard plug-ins available for different data sources."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of FME is the graphical user interface."
"From my reseller perspective, the best features in FME are the ease of operation and the fact that it works."
"FME is spatially aware and understands how to deal with the conversion of spatial objects and their attributes."
 

Cons

"It would be simpler if they provided a component where you could simply enter some parameters and see the results."
"The only thing is sometimes it can be a bit slow."
"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."
"An improvement for Alteryx Designer would be faster bug fixes and updates."
"When it comes to the pivoting part, the drill-through option is not there in Alteryx."
"If the price were reduced then it would be more competitive."
"Alteryx's data science and machine learning capabilities are where it loses out to DataIQ."
"The conditional join feature should be improved."
"FME's price needs improvement for the African market."
"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."
"Improvements could be made to mapping presentations."
"FME is a great tool, but I don't know if we can scale it up since the prices are high and we would need to convince the decision makers to provide more budget."
"To get a higher rating, it would have to improve the price and the associated scalability. These are the main issues."
"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."
"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."
"We are looking at the possibility of using Glue instead of FME, using the native AWS product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is a bit expensive, it should be looked into."
"I rate the product's pricing a two to three out of ten."
"The licenses are expensive, making it difficult to consider acquiring additional licenses to the existing ones."
"I rate the price of Alteryx Designer as a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is extremely expensive, and ten is a highly cheap product."
"Alteryx Designer is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is bit expensive."
"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."
"The product's price is reasonable."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
University
5%
Government
28%
Energy/Utilities Company
13%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

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 is your primary use case for Alteryx Designer?
I have used Alteryx Designer to perform predictive analytics that helps in predicting the selling of products, particularly in banking and financial areas.
What needs improvement with FME?
I haven't had any input or requirements from any customers that are not currently covered, so I don't have any additional needs that were identified or raised to me. Regarding pricing, with the mod...
What is your primary use case for FME?
The use cases for FME are mainly integration to the GE Smallworld product. GE Smallworld is a GE product, and we are using it to integrate with other third-party products into GE Smallworld and ADM...
What advice do you have for others considering FME?
The overall rating for FME is eight out of ten, and I prefer the feedback to be anonymous. My job title is Senior Solutions Architect.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

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: April 2026.
896,202 professionals have used our research since 2012.