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Amazon EMR vs Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.3
Amazon EMR ROI varies widely, with some companies doubling returns and others reporting up to 20% in cost savings.
Sentiment score
7.0
Users experienced positive ROI with Azure Synapse, citing cost reductions, improved data efficiency, and flexibility over traditional solutions.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.6
Amazon EMR customer service is generally responsive and knowledgeable, but some experience inconsistencies and slower responses with open-source integrations.
Sentiment score
6.9
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics support quality varies; larger accounts receive better service, but smaller customers experience challenges.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Amazon EMR is scalable and customizable for enterprise applications, despite some performance concerns with resource allocation.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics offers high scalability, enabling easy scaling for diverse industries despite potential high costs.
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is scalable, offering numerous opportunities for scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Amazon EMR is stable and reliable, though occasionally requires configuration adjustments for different data loads.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is stable, commendable in performance, but some users desire improvements for large data handling reliability.
I find the service stable as I have not encountered many issues.
 

Room For Improvement

Amazon EMR needs UI improvements, enhanced automation, better stability, debugging, cost management, and advanced features for efficient operations.
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics needs improvements in pricing, usability, integration, performance, and advanced features for enhanced overall functionality.
There is a need for better documentation, particularly for customized tasks with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics.
 

Setup Cost

Amazon EMR pricing varies, with potential high costs primarily from infrastructure, despite no standard software licensing fees.
Enterprise users of Azure Synapse Analytics find pricing variable, ranging from affordable to expensive, with concerns over billing unpredictability.
 

Valuable Features

Amazon EMR offers scalable, efficient data processing with easy integration and management, emphasizing cost-effectiveness, security, and diverse data connectivity.
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics offers scalability, seamless integration, user-friendly design, robust security, and efficient data processing for businesses.
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics offers significant visibility, which helps us understand our usage more clearly.
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EMR
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
12th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Hadoop (3rd)
Microsoft Azure Synapse Ana...
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Cloud Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Amazon EMR is 3.2%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is 6.7%, down from 10.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

Prashant  Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless data integration enhances reporting efficiency and an easy setup
Amazon EMR has multiple connectors that can connect to various data sources. The service charges are based on processing only, depending on the resources used, which can help save money. It is easy to integrate with other services for storage, allowing data to be shifted to cheaper storage based on usage.
Renee Hoon - PeerSpot reviewer
Scalable performance tuning and optimization for finance and supply chain jobs
We run our finance and supply chain jobs using SQL BW, and we visualize our data loads on Power BI. We are using SQL Data Warehouse for data warehousing In terms of cost savings, we don't need specialization in skills as advanced as Teradata. We used to pay extensive licensing fees for Teradata,…
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Data Warehouse solutions are best for your needs.
842,388 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Educational Organization
52%
Computer Software Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon EMR?
Amazon EMR is a good solution that can be used to manage big data.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EMR?
The cost of Amazon EMR is a little bit expensive, especially considering the support package, which includes a gold package.
What needs improvement with Amazon EMR?
Spark jobs take longer on Amazon EMR compared to previous experiences. This aspect could be improved to make them more efficient.
How does Amazon Redshift compare with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
Amazon Redshift is very fast, has a very good response time, and is very user-friendly. The initial setup is very straightforward. This solution can merge and integrate well with many different dat...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
The product is easy to use, and anybody can easily migrate to advanced DB.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
We use an enterprise-level subscription for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics. I would rate our satisfaction with the price around five, as I have not focused much on cost aspects presently.
 

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic MapReduce
Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Microsoft Azure SQL DW, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, MS Azure Synapse Analytics
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Yelp
Toshiba, Carnival, LG Electronics, Jet.com, Adobe, 
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EMR vs. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,388 professionals have used our research since 2012.