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Azure Data Factory vs SAS Data Integration Server 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

Azure Data Factory
Ranking in Data Integration
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (3rd)
SAS Data Integration Server
Ranking in Data Integration
36th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of Azure Data Factory is 9.5%, down from 12.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAS Data Integration Server is 0.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

Joy Maitra - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates seamless data pipeline creation with good analytics and and thorough monitoring
Azure Data Factory is a low code, no code platform, which is helpful. It provides many prebuilt functionalities that assist in building data pipelines. Also, it facilitates easy transformation with all required functionalities for analytics. Furthermore, it connects to different sources out-of-the-box, making integration much easier. The monitoring is very thorough, though a more readable version would be appreciable.
NN
Offloads processes on the server side but needs better installation syntax
One area for improvement is the installation process. Another point could be the syntax, as it sometimes involves using syntax names that are not intuitive. For example, to calculate the difference between two dates, the general syntax in SAS is called the data difference or data net function. However, another name is used, such as NF and INK. Without knowledge of SAS programming, it becomes unclear what these functions mean. It is not good to define function names this way.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The flexibility that Azure Data Factory offers is great."
"In terms of my personal experience, it works fine."
"It is easy to deploy workflows and schedule jobs."
"I find the most valuable feature in Azure Data Factory to be its ability to handle large datasets."
"One advantage of Azure Data Factory is that it's fast, unlike SSIS and other on-premise tools. It's also very convenient because it has multiple connectors. The availability of native connectors allows you to connect to several resources to analyze data streams."
"The feature I found most helpful in Azure Data Factory is the pipeline feature, including being able to connect to different sources. Azure Data Factory also has built-in security, which is another valuable feature."
"It is very modular. It works well. We've used Data Factory and then made calls to libraries outside of Data Factory to do things that it wasn't optimized to do, and it worked really well. It is obviously proprietary in regards to Microsoft created it, but it is pretty easy and direct to bring in outside capabilities into Data Factory."
"An excellent tool for pipeline orchestration."
"A key feature allows us to enhance job performance by offloading processing to the server side, rather than processing on the server itself."
"The solution is very stable."
"A key feature allows us to enhance job performance by offloading processing to the server side, rather than processing on the server itself."
"The solution offers very good data manipulation and loading."
"A key feature allows us to enhance job performance by offloading processing to the server side, rather than processing on the server itself."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its amazing capabilities in regard to data handling."
 

Cons

"The product's technical support has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required."
"Occasionally, there are problems within Microsoft itself that impacts the Data Factory and causes it to fail."
"Data Factory has so many features that it can be a little difficult or confusing to find some settings and configurations. I'm sure there's a way to make it a little easier to navigate."
"If the user interface was more user friendly and there was better error feedback, it would be helpful."
"Sometimes I need to do some coding, and I'd like to avoid that. I'd like no-code integrations."
"One area for improvement is documentation. At present, there isn't enough documentation on how to use Azure Data Factory in certain conditions. It would be good to have documentation on the various use cases."
"There's space for improvement in the development process of the data pipelines."
"There should be a way that it can do switches, so if at any point in time I want to do some hybrid mode of making any data collections or ingestions, I can just click on a button."
"The initial setup of SAS Data Integration Server was complex."
"One area for improvement is the installation process."
"The initial setup had issues, and even after using it for about one year, it was still not fixed."
"The transform tool has limited access. They should make it more flexible."
"The initial setup had issues, and even after using it for about one year, it was still not fixed."
"So I would like to see improved integration with other software."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There's no licensing for Azure Data Factory, they have a consumption payment model. How often you are running the service and how long that service takes to run. The price can be approximately $500 to $1,000 per month but depends on the scaling."
"I am aware of the pricing of Azure Data Factory, but I prefer not to disclose specific details."
"The licensing is a pay-as-you-go model, where you pay for what you consume."
"Data Factory is affordable."
"I would not say that this product is overly expensive."
"For our use case, it is not expensive. We take into the picture everything: resources, learning curve, and maintenance."
"In terms of licensing costs, we pay somewhere around S14,000 USD per month. There are some additional costs. For example, we would have to subscribe to some additional computing and for elasticity, but they are minimal."
"ADF is cheaper compared to AWS."
"It is an expensive program."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
12%
Insurance Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How do you select the right cloud ETL tool?
AWS Glue and Azure Data factory for ELT best performance cloud services.
How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica PowerCenter?
Azure Data Factory is flexible, modular, and works well. In terms of cost, it is not too pricey. It offers the stability and reliability I am looking for, good scalability, and is easy to set up an...
How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
Azure Data Factory is a solid product offering many transformation functions; It has pre-load and post-load transformations, allowing users to apply transformations either in code by using Power Q...
What do you like most about SAS Data Integration Server?
The most valuable feature of the solution is its amazing capabilities in regard to data handling.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAS Data Integration Server?
I don't handle the cost and budget part. From the tool's perspective, I can say that it is an amazing product.
What needs improvement with SAS Data Integration Server?
One area for improvement is the installation process. Another point could be the syntax, as it sometimes involves using syntax names that are not intuitive. For example, to calculate the difference...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SAS Enterprise Data Integration Server, Enterprise Data Integration Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. Adobe 2. BMW 3. Coca-Cola 4. General Electric 5. Johnson & Johnson 6. LinkedIn 7. Mastercard 8. Nestle 9. Pfizer 10. Samsung 11. Siemens 12. Toyota 13. Unilever 14. Verizon 15. Walmart 16. Accenture 17. American Express 18. AT&T 19. Bank of America 20. Cisco 21. Deloitte 22. ExxonMobil 23. Ford 24. General Motors 25. IBM 26. JPMorgan Chase 27. Microsoft (Azure Data Factory is developed by Microsoft) 28. Oracle 29. Procter & Gamble 30. Salesforce 31. Shell 32. Visa
Credit Guarantee Corporation, Cr_dito y Cauci‹n, Delaware State Police, Deutsche Lufthansa, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, DSM, Livzon Pharmaceutical Group, Los Angeles County, Miami Herald Media Company, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, New Zealand Ministry of Health, Nippon Paper, West Midlands Police, XS Inc., Zenith Insurance
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Data Factory vs. SAS Data Integration Server and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.