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IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs IBM InfoSphere Information 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

IBM Cloud Pak for Data
Ranking in Data Integration
16th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Data Virtualization (3rd)
IBM InfoSphere Information ...
Ranking in Data Integration
32nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Metadata Management (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Data is 1.3%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM InfoSphere Information Server is 0.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Cloud Pak for Data1.3%
IBM InfoSphere Information Server0.9%
Other97.8%
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

ArchanaSingh - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Data Analyst at Wipro Limited
Collaborative data platform has transformed analytics and now drives faster decisions
The best features IBM Cloud Pak for Data offers include robust data visualization, centralized data analytics, data reliability, and compatibility with hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The compatibility with hybrid and multi-cloud environments has helped our organization as data visualization is very simple. Migrations, reading, analysis, and data management from other sources are performed without problems of requirements. We have a team of experts in IBM Cloud Pak for Data to maintain security and correct data management easily. I find this cloud excellent for visualizing and managing data across networks and also fulfilling fastest data storage, making it less complex and completely improving productivity in my organization. Everything is managed in multiple environments without any problem. IBM Cloud Pak for Data has positively impacted my organization, and I have noticed some improvement since we started using this tool. Configuration with hybrid and multi-cloud environments has been very seamless and easy. It is a robust platform capable of working with multiple data sources where we gain insights to make data-driven decisions easily. It automates data analysis for quick and better performance. We have seen improvements in analysis and data correction from multiple sources. Our productivity in the company is growing, thanks to the data analysis team. We have also seen a robust hybrid and multi-cloud access system working seamlessly. I can share specific outcomes that show how productivity has grown and how performance has improved since the data is automated, and the analysis is done much faster, saving us a lot of time. We have been able to save approximately 80 percent of our time. We are not doing data analysis manually, so this relieves our data department of dealing with data. We have been relieved of a lot of duties, and now we are able to focus on other strategic tasks. Our productivity has greatly increased since we are able to make concrete and data-driven decisions easily.
MI
Senior Data Engineer at Mohammed Mansour Alrumiah
Faced challenges with customer support and documentation but have benefited from reliable data integration over the years
As for utilizing the platform's metadata management feature, I have not worked on that feature yet, but personally, I have done that. To evaluate the effectiveness of IBM InfoSphere Information Server's data integration capabilities, if IBM is providing all the solutions we are using, then it is definitely a helpful thing. Mostly, the other thing is that it is a big area including data governance, data lineage, data management, and metadata, but every customer is not putting that much effort and money on that. They mostly migrate the data, use it, and forget it, but slowly things are changing. I am working in Saudi Arabia, so here also data governance, data management, and those kinds of things are getting attention. Regarding how scalable IBM InfoSphere Information Server is, I need to learn how to tune performance and scalability on the cloud. I am familiar with localized hardware, but on the cloud, I still have to do the work around it. In the beginning, we estimate the load and based on that, we put the hardware, but if there is continuous increase, I believe IBM also faces problems. Scalability needs to be improved because once the demand comes, you should be able to improve it, but for that, documentation on how to add hardware or resources to the software needs to be proper. I do not have much hands-on experience with that.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IBM Cognos is very stable and has been around for many years, with many users familiar with it, making it a reliable solution for our institution."
"Its data preparation capabilities are highly valuable."
"I would advise others looking into using IBM Cloud Pak for Data that it is a very great tool that is an all-in-one, real-time data analytics solution that provides a phenomenal user experience."
"Cloud Pak's most valuable features are IBM MQ, IBM App Connect, IBM API Connect, and ISPF."
"The most valuable feature of IBM Cloud Pak for Data is the Modeler flows. The ability to develop models using a graphical approach and the capability to connect to various sources, as well as the data virtualization capabilities, allow me to easily access and utilize data that is dispersed across different sources."
"The most valuable features are data virtualization and reporting."
"One of Cloud Pak's best features is the Watson Knowledge Catalog, which helps you implement data governance."
"Cloud Pak is a very, very, very good system."
"Deploying the solution is straightforward for me."
"This solution is extremely flexible and scalable."
"The integration with different technologies is the most valuable feature."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"IBM InfoSphere Information Server is stable."
"Over the years of working with IBM InfoSphere Information Server, I see basically the strength of the tool, capability, and load balancing, which I see is really good."
 

Cons

"Cloud Pak would be improved with integration with cloud service providers like Cloudera."
"The solution's user experience is an area that has room for improvement."
"The tool depends on the control plane, an OpenShift container platform utilized as an orchestration layer...So, we have communicated this issue to IBM and asked if it is feasible to adapt the solution to work on a Kubernetes platform that we support."
"There is a solution that is part of IBM Cloud Pak for Data called Watson OpenScale. It is used to monitor the deployed models for the quality and fairness of the results. This is one area that needs a lot of improvement."
"The technical support could be a little better."
"What I would love to see is an end-to-end, almost a training demo database of some sort, where one of the biggest problems with data management is demonstrated."
"IBM Cloud Pak for Data can be improved because processing speeds are sometimes slow."
"To improve IBM Cloud Pak for Data, I suggest more out-of-the-box integration, enhancement of analytics to be sharper, and the deployment options should be very flexible."
"We have decided to decrease the usage of metadata management because we did not see any significant advantages."
"IBM InfoSphere Information Server should be more scalable. It should have the option to change the configuration to run on a single, non-multiple node, or multi-threading processing."
"Their technical support needs improvement."
"There are certain shortcomings in the cloud side of the solution, where improvements are required."
"This solution would benefit from the engine being made more lightweight."
"Unlike other tools, IBM tools do not provide much help from the internet, so additional support should be available."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't have the exact licensing cost for IBM Cloud Pak for Data, as my company is still finalizing requirements, including monthly, yearly, and three-year licensing fees. Still, on a scale of one to five, I'd rate it a three because, compared to other vendors, it's more complicated."
"The solution's pricing is competitive with that of other vendors."
"For the licensing of the solution, there is a yearly payment that needs to be made. Also, since it is expensive, cost-wise, I rate the solution an eight or nine out of ten."
"It's quite expensive."
"IBM Cloud Pak for Data is expensive. If we include the training time and the machine learning, it's expensive. The cost of the execution is more reasonable."
"Cloud Pak's cost is a little high."
"The solution is expensive."
"I think that this product is too expensive for smaller companies."
"The licensing cost of IBM InfoSphere Information Server depends on how many users there are."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
5%
Government
17%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Retailer
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Cloud Pak for Data?
Regarding the price, I know IBM is traditionally relatively expensive in the Hungarian market, but we work together with the local IBM sales team, and on a project basis they manage to negotiate th...
What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Pak for Data?
I think we are happy with IBM Cloud Pak for Data, and there is no specific idea that comes to my mind regarding room for improvement. We are following the progress and the new features, so overall ...
What is your primary use case for IBM Cloud Pak for Data?
I usually recommend IBM Cloud Pak for Data for companies in the financial sector, as we are mostly working with local insurance companies and banks within Hungary where we are located. For IBM Clou...
What needs improvement with IBM InfoSphere Information Server?
We are using the on-premises version of IBM InfoSphere Information Server, but we feel that all new development is mainly for the cloud. We receive corrections of errors, but we do not see new func...
What is your primary use case for IBM InfoSphere Information Server?
My usual use case for IBM InfoSphere Information Server is ETL, where we take data from one source to another data warehouse solution.
What advice do you have for others considering IBM InfoSphere Information Server?
We are about to change our platform from IBM AIX to SUSE Linux, as our whole platform is changing, so everyone should change from IBM to SUSE Linux. It would be very difficult for us to have a diff...
 

Also Known As

Cloud Pak for Data
InfoSphere Information Server, IBM Information Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Qatar Development Bank, GuideWell, Skanderborg Music Festival
Canadian National Railway Company, Chickasaw Nation Division of Commerce, Swedish Armed Forces, BG RCI, Janata Sahakari Bank Ltd., University of Arizona, Biogrid Australia
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs. IBM InfoSphere Information Server and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,696 professionals have used our research since 2012.