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FME vs SAP Data Services 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

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
SAP Data Services
Ranking in Data Integration
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
Data Quality (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of FME is 1.8%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Data Services is 2.5%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

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.
RambabuMandala - PeerSpot reviewer
Responsive support, scalable, and beneficial integration
The BA reporting tools, such as Data Services, and ETL tool in SAP Data Services are the most valuable. When we had in-memory requirements, we used HANA. HANA is most preferably for most the customers for in-memory. SAP is the first company that created the in-memory concept. There are a lot of SAP applications and they have good integration with SAP packages. In the next release, they should be more advanced cloud functionalities and web services. More integration with other applications including SAPs and other applications. They should not switch to a complete solution but provide better integration with other applications.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"You can always manipulate a lot of things as long as you have the skill level."
"The maintenance of data services is the solution's most valuable feature."
"I have worked with Data Services for a long time, and currently, I find the dashboarding and reporting part to be the most valuable function."
"Data Services' best features are its robustness and plug-and-play integration with other SAP applications."
"The HANA database, which is very fast, is a valuable feature."
"The feature of SAP Data Services has enhanced our company's business processes because we are able to run around 800 jobs in areas like data extraction and transaction objects."
"Data Services' table comparison mechanism is very powerful. It's pretty hard to find a similar feature in other solutions."
"The solution offers very good integration capabilities."
 

Cons

"FME's price needs improvement for the African market."
"Improvements could be made to mapping presentations."
"To get a higher rating, it would have to improve the price and the associated scalability. These are the main issues."
"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."
"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."
"It would be nice if this solution was a bit easier to move from development to production."
"Source code control is another headache. When your source code base gets too large, managing the source code becomes cumbersome."
"I want some more business intelligence applications. People need to know more and more about data, including the transformation rules, etc. Informatica is a better product for data cataloging. SAP should update the data catalog."
"The description of error messages isn't extensive, although they point to the problem. With other solutions, like Talend, I was able to use the debugger to get directly to the problem, but with SAP Data Services the debugger is not working. I'm not sure if it's a problem with the version specifically, but I'm using it in an enterprise environment and I can't do an upgrade."
"They could make it easier to work with web services."
"At the integration level, there could be certain set of improvement to connect to various other systems."
"The solution should improve connectivity with more source systems and target systems."
"The initial setup is complex."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"FME Server used to cost £10,000; now it can cost over £100,000."
"The pricing is a little high to make the product more competetive in the marketplace."
"Pricing is good, there is no problem."
"There is a one time purchase fee plus annual maintenance."
"It's relatively expensive compared to other vendors, but it is competitive."
"I rate the product price as one or two on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"The enterprise version of SAP Data Services is free."
"At the entry level, if you're using it only for data integration, it is a little bit cheap. However, for large organizations it can be expensive. There are additional costs apart from the license."
"Speaking about prices, Oracle and SAP are market leaders. So, the prices are more."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
30%
Energy/Utilities Company
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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...
How do you evaluate the ratio of price to quality for SAP Data Services?
I believe the license for the product is fair, even though some competitors offer similar services at lower prices. The difference between the Edge edition and the next one up is significant in pr...
Would you recommend SAP Data Services to complete beginners?
I think after some preparation, a beginner will be able to use SAP Data Services, however, if you are completely unprepared, you may have some issues. I think that in particular you will need a mo...
How has SAP Data Services helped your organization?
SAP Data Services has helped our whole staff understand the data across various sources and systems within the company. Not everyone who works at my organization is an IT expert - most just have av...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP BusinessObjects Data Services, SAP BusinessObjects Data Integrator, BusinessObjects Data Integrator
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Shell, US Department of Commerce, PG&E, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, Enel, Iowa DoT, San Antonio Water System
EMC Corporation, LivePerson, Eldorado, Mozzart, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, Hilti Group, Nissha Printing Company Ltd., Asian Paints, Aareal Bank Group, Migros Group
Find out what your peers are saying about FME vs. SAP Data Services and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.