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Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs Informatica PowerCenter 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

Informatica Intelligent Dat...
Ranking in Data Integration
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
181
Ranking in other categories
Data Quality (1st), Business Process Management (BPM) (7th), Business-to-Business Middleware (3rd), API Management (7th), Cloud Data Integration (3rd), Data Governance (2nd), Test Data Management (3rd), Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions (1st), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (1st), Data Masking (2nd), Metadata Management (1st), Test Data Management Services (2nd), Product Information Management (PIM) (1st), Data Observability (2nd)
Informatica PowerCenter
Ranking in Data Integration
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Data Visualization (9th)
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
Feb 13, 2022
 

Featured Reviews

Raj Sethupathi - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers profiling and address standardization but can be complicated
Informatica Data Quality has its data warehouse, primarily using Oracle and some SQL databases. You need a database to host the data. The cleansed version of the data is stored in the data warehouse. It integrates with PowerCenter and other Informatica tools. The integration details can be complex, but a regional setup is involved in this process. Profiling smaller datasets, such as 10,000-50,000 records, worked fine. However, unexpected issues could arise with larger datasets, such as thousands of records or more, especially with tables containing many columns. Handling tables with fifty or more columns can be challenging, even in Excel. A mismatch in data types could cause the entire system to crash. Continual enhancements are being made to address these issues, which can be unique to specific industries like finance and healthcare.
Lars Borchers - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable and reliable product that provides a variety of features for data integration
The solution is not for newcomers. It has an old touch. The solution must improve the integration with new services. It was part of the program at Informatica when they moved to their cloud platform. It is integrated. However, from an on-premise perspective, we need to buy licenses for PowerExchange. If we want a native driver to access a special service, we need to extend our license to those services. It is expensive. I don't like that it's not all included in the solution.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Informatica Cloud Data Integration is stable."
"It allows the creation of identical tasks that can be applied across multiple tables, ranging from 100 to even 1,000 tables."
"The MDM solution is capable of integrating multiple systems, so it helped us to solve the purpose of centralizing the depository as well as the standardization of mass data. It takes away all the ambiguity around data integrity issues or all the process challenges which happen when every stage of a process uses a different source as master data."
"The data mapping capability is a valuable feature."
"Informatica is good for integrating data and cloud applications. We have connectors for integrating cloud applications like Salesforce. You can quickly integrate anything with an exposed API or a REST API. The industry is increasingly shifting to the cloud, so we need more products that can connect to cloud-based applications. The integration is seamless and works in real time. It's also secure because you don't need to expose databases or tables."
"Data integration is the most valuable feature. The ability to connect to any of the sources and enterprise applications makes our lives easier."
"The features that I have found most valuable are, first of all, that it comes as part of this whole bundle of Informatica tools. So if you've been implementing Informatica MDM across a business, you'd often find it comes with it. It's been thrown in as a sweetener. The adoption of it is often the challenge because as part of your MDM project, governance is seen as something beyond the MDM and is often restrictive. So this tool actually, for the first time, when you talk to data governance teams, gives a holistic view of what a data governance team can do with this tool."
"It's a stable product without any bugs or glitches."
"The most valuable feature of Informatica PowerCenter is the flow designer functionally. It is the best out of any ETL tool. Additionally, the solution is reliable and trustable in dealing with large data sources anytime. When we're using billions of data transactions, it's smooth."
"The ability to scale through partitions helped us to improve the performance."
"Can manage a huge quantity of data and provide reliability."
"PowerCenter performs well during data transformation and optimization."
"It is UI friendly and has all the advantages of an ETL tool."
"Among all the solutions I have used, I found Informatica PowerCenter to be much more stable in terms of application."
"The interface is very clean and clear."
"We can scale the product."
 

Cons

"The integration with other data management tools can be enhanced. For instance, there is no integration with tools like Collibra or Hubview."
"Considering internal data from legacy systems, it is quite difficult to know if Informatica Data Quality meets that high level of accuracy criteria."
"Right now, although they offer some templates, I would want more templates available to be imported."
"New machine learning could be added to Informatica MDM because the solution is outdated and is not moving with the current trends. The solution is good, but it definitely needs a lot of improvement and needs to speed up as per the market."
"The UI is extremely complex"
"There are some limitations with Informatica Axon when one tries to connect or integrate it with Jira."
"Informatica MDM could improve the interdependency with integration. The solution sometimes becomes a bit difficult to change considering a lot of interdependency with the integration. There can be some improvement in the workflows and they can introduce more artificial intelligence."
"The user interface of the product needs to be improved"
"The licensing cost for Informatica is very high. Other all-in-one solutions have much lower prices than Informatica."
"The multiple interfaces in Informatica PowerCenter are not great for the user experience. Because of this, I think it can cause confusion for any beginner developer."
"It would be nice to have all tools in one place. CDC needs more effort, as it's only easy to develop if you are familiar with Linux."
"The pricing could be improved."
"Support could be better."
"In terms of performance improvement and tuning, there should be a bit more guidance and documentation."
"Informatica PowerCenter could improve the data threshold for large sets of data. Additionally, they should add real-time integration."
"Include more instruments for LOGs analysis, interpretation, and job corrections."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Informatica Axon is expensive."
"Comparatively, their prices are a little bit too high."
"Our customers sometimes are able to negotiate a much better price for Informatica Cloud Data Integration based on their relationship with the vendor."
"I'm not sure about the most recent pricing trends, but I don't believe it's significantly different from PowerCenter. I believe it is nearly the same."
"The licensing price of the product depends on the organization's requirements."
"Pricing is determined by the number of licensed users as well as the number of Core CPUs."
"I rate the product's pricing a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."
"Informatica MDM's price could be lower."
"The pricing is a little expensive, but in the same range as IBM and other competitors."
"Compared to other tools, I think PowerCenter is a bit expensive. When I compare it to Oracle, if you want to use Oracle databases, you can easily get an ODI tool, so it's easier to handle. Informatica is a standalone tool—it's an independent company—and there are no databases around them, so it's quite expensive to use. Generally, large companies use PowerCenter because of the price. If companies want to expand their usage areas, they try to consider if it's easy to implement and easy to understand the pricing. I think the pricing is a barrier for Informatica."
"I rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten. The price is very high, and it doesn't understand the market now."
"Licensing is a one time cost. But maintenance costs depend on what you want, how long you need it. Maintenance is a kind of insurance. With health insurance, you don't know whether you will get sick or need to go to hospital or not but you have to have insurance. It's the same thing with support. If you have that expertise in resolving issues, if you have enough experience in your IT department, I would say you don't need the support. But in practice, they recommend you go with the support. If you want support you have to pay for it."
"Our customers pay a licensing fee yearly."
"The license model is CPU based."
"We are satisfied with the pricing."
"The price could be better. It's very expensive. On a scale from one to five, I would give Informatica PowerCenter's price a one."
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Comparison Review

it_user90069 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 20, 2014
Informatica PowerCenter vs. Microsoft SSIS - each technology has its advantages but also have similarities
Technology has made it easier for businesses to organize and manipulate data to get a clearer picture of what’s going on with their business. Notably, ETL tools have made managing huge amounts of data significantly easier and faster, boosting many organizations’ business intelligence operations…
 

Answers from the Community

NC
Feb 13, 2022
Feb 13, 2022
Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge quantities of data with a high level of reliability. We also like the metadata repository and the data warehouse application console. We would like to see the licensing improved, though. We would lik...
2 out of 3 answers
RC
Oct 25, 2021
Cloud Data Integration
Nov 21, 2021
Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge quantities of data with a high level of reliability. We also like the metadata repository and the data warehouse application console. We would like to see the licensing improved, though. We would like to see a feature-wise option as opposed to the current bundle option. PowerCenter is a very expensive solution. The numerous levels of transformation and multiple interfaces can make it a very confusing solution to learn. Cloud Data Integration offers great options for data cleansing, data mastering, data masking, master data management, and API management. The UI is very easy to use and the setup is straightforward. The new licensing is very flexible. Cloud Data Integration has inbuilt tools that allow for a lot of data transformation without changing any SQL queries from the code. This is one of our favorite features. We would point out, though, that there are some limitations with performance using Cloud Data Integration. We experienced some connectivity issues, making things run a bit slow. There are some issues with data residency laws in some countries. More regions should be added. Finally, it would behoove Cloud DataIntegration to consider adding more data sources. Conclusion: These are two great solutions under Informatica Brand which is synonymous with quality, reliability, and price. (Very high price.) Cloud Data is best suited for small to medium organizations and is somewhat limited in the regions it can be used. PowerCenter is most applicable for large enterprises that can more easily absorb the cost and best utilize everything PowerCenter has to offer with their current bundle licensing tier.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
Which Informatica product would you choose - PowerCenter or Cloud Data Integration?
Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge...
What are the biggest benefits of using Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
When it comes to cloud data integration, this solution can provide you with multiple benefits, including: Overhead reduction by integrating data on any cloud in various ways Effective integration ...
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...
Which is better - SSIS or Informatica PowerCenter?
SSIS PowerPack is a group of drag and drop connectors for Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services, commonly called SSIS. The collection helps organizations boost productivity with code-free compo...
How do you evaluate the pricing model of Informatica PowerCenter?
The pricing model of Informatica PowerCenter is suitable for big companies and enterprises. This is an amazing product, and it certainly does its job, however, if you are a medium or small business...
 

Also Known As

ActiveVOS, Active Endpoints, BPM, Address Verification, Persistent Data Masking, Cloud Test Data Management, PIM, , Enterprise Data Catalog, Data Integration Hub, Cloud Data Integration, Data Quality, Cloud API and App Integration
PowerCenter
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The Travel Company, Carbonite
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, LexisNexis, Rabobank
Find out what your peers are saying about Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs. Informatica PowerCenter and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.