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Informatica PowerCenter vs Qlik Sense comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Informatica PowerCenter
Ranking in Data Visualization
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (2nd)
Qlik Sense
Ranking in Data Visualization
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Embedded BI (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Data Visualization category, the mindshare of Informatica PowerCenter is 1.9%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qlik Sense is 8.0%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Visualization
 

Featured Reviews

Lars Borchers - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 4, 2023
A stable and reliable product that provides a variety of features for data integration
We use the product for everything that's possible in data integration. We have a data warehouse, and we load each stage. We use the product for data exchange and API services. We also use it to load data into cloud platforms and generate Customer Letters The reliability of the product and the way…
Jennifer Sinn - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 26, 2023
Easy to use with robust reporting and great visualizations
I am not sure what improvements could be made. Qlik Sense is very user-friendly. The only thing I would like to see is the ability to create a master app that opens when a user creates a new app that has all the master items, colors, logos, etc., that my organization uses. This would help with keeping master items the same across the apps and would make development a little quicker. This feature would also make it easier for our business users when they want to create an app since they wouldn't need to worry about adding all the needed data sources to it, it they were already there, and they could just press load.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Technical support, and their approach is good. They have a support portal and support tickets. If you open a ticket it has multiple levels of severity from level one to very high or critical."
"We can scale the product."
"Good product if you are trying implement data quality, data integration, and data management projects."
"It's very easy to use it to develop mappings and workflows."
"Complex transformations can be easily achieved by using PowerCenter. The processing layer does transformations and other things. About 80% of my transformations can be achieved by using the middle layer. For the remaining 15% to 20% transformations, I can go in and create stored procedures in the respective databases. Mapplets is the feature through which we can reuse transformations across pipelines. Transformations and caching are the key features that we have been using frequently. Informatica PowerCenter is one of the best solutions or products in the data integration space. We have extensively used PowerCenter for integration purposes. We usually look at the best bridge solution in our architecture so that it can sustain for maybe a couple of years. Usually, we go with the solution that fits best and has proven and time-tested technology."
"What I like the most is that we have to deal with less while writing the queries."
"It has very good monitoring and process monitoring."
"It provides everything I need. Nothing is missing. PowerCenter is a good tool for on-premise databases."
"The time it takes to deliver a dashboard is real quick."
"The most valuable feature is flexibility."
"Quick reporting."
"We began to see how our processes and other team's processes were negatively affecting the bottom line. We were able to provide tips to other teams to help improve their processes."
"We have been using Qlik Sense to generate reports that have taken hours to prepare before that we are now able to update in a couple of minutes and are available to users on a centralized platform where they are able to get the required reports."
"It allows you to create a new column using split on a current column, which we find very useful."
"Set analysis is great for its power user capabilities such as performing an IF on an aggregated column. The ability to create custom coloring expressions based on values is also a good idea although not as easy as I wished it was."
"Qlik has a powerful load script that uses an enhanced SQL language which is excellent for loading and transforming the data."
 

Cons

"The real-time database connectivity when getting the real-time data using the VPN is an area that needs improvement."
"Improvement is needed in terms of some new transformation because API integration and all those things are very critical nowadays."
"This solution needs the functionality to do batch processing of data. It also lacks connectivity to NoSQL, unstructured data sources."
"We had stability issues, mostly with JVM size."
"PowerCenter has three clients. I wish they would consolidate everything into one GUI, not three. Also, we had a persistent issue with the Informatica Developer tool but it was solved when we migrated to the newest one."
"This product is going to decommission in the next couple of years."
"As a connector to big data, it is not well developed. We've had problems connecting Informatica with Hadoop. The functionality to connect Informatica with Hadoop, for me it's not good."
"What needs improvement in Informatica PowerCenter is the cloud experience because, nowadays, other companies, such as AWS, Azure, and Google, have more experience in the cloud. The pricing for Informatica PowerCenter on the cloud is also very expensive for customers, so some customers prefer open-source tools or lower-priced tools, such as Azure. From my point of view, Informatica must work on the pricing policy and review the policy on the cloud for Informatica PowerCenter or propose more tools with lower pricing. Clients want the automatic integration of Informatica PowerCenter with other tools. Currently, the integration process is manual, and you have to add other tools to facilitate the integration, especially with the DevOps methodology. You need scripts and tools for the integration, and you'll need to use other integration tools if you want automatic deployment for Informatica PowerCenter, so this is another area for improvement in the solution. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is for the integration with APIs to be simpler, because currently, the API integration feature of Informatica PowerCenter is very difficult. It's not intuitive. You have to facilitate API integration and the real-time streaming of messages in Kafka, for example, so that should be improved."
"I am starting to work with Qlik Sense SaaS these days. This environment has its own reporting service, however, one of the things that could be better for the people that are already using Nprinting, is to have a Nprinting in SaaS."
"Mostly when it comes to the loading of the data and reload times of the reports, it could be better."
"If a team wants to keep track of source code changes, there is not an out-of-the-box solution for it."
"I would like to see more native features from QlikView integrated into Qlik Sense."
"Currently, we are not very happy with the iPad or iPhone app because it is not working as we want."
"I would like to see Qlik add more DevOps functionality to their product. Currently, we have to turn to 3rd party products to handle things like Source Control, Code Deployment through environments, etc."
"The use of APIs is not as friendly as it should be in the first place, especially when considering Python scripts and all other scripts, making it an area where improvements are required."
"There is an inability to effectively manage (pre)caching (scheduling, assigning for respective user groups, etc), especially without community extensions or uour own development."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The license model is CPU based."
"We have a site license, but we do pay by the division."
"I rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten. The price is very high, and it doesn't understand the market now."
"The price of Informatica PowerCenter is expensive, but it does give value."
"The pricing is a little expensive, but in the same range as IBM and other competitors."
"We are satisfied with the pricing."
"Licensing costs are excessive and pose an obstacle to someone who lacks familiarity with the solution and wishes to have a proper understanding of it."
"Licensing: Review the named model and move towards a usage model (e.g., cores, memory, computers, API calls, etc.)."
"For personal use, the desktop version of Qlik Sense is absolutely free, and you can share visualizations with others and to a personal cloud space, though limited with storage space."
"The license mechanism of Qlik is quite complicated and not exchangeable. Such as 2016, they charge licenses by token, 1500$ for a token / 1 user. 2018: they change to 2 kinds of licenses: professional 1500$ / user, analyzer 800$ / user. 2019: they support subscription with 70$ Monthly for professional, 40$ monthly for analyzers, but for those you’re using perpetual licenses, they don't support acquiring more subscription licenses. The maintenance fee yearly are also high, 20% of the perpetual license."
"The costs can initially become quite high. Make sure you have a clear understanding of who will truly use the product as opposed to someone that will simply receive the end report."
"I would rate Qlik's pricing four out of five."
"You need to pay 5,000 Norwegian kroner per user. Microsoft Power BI is slightly more expensive than Qlik Sense."
"Licensing could be cheaper."
"Qlik Sense and its pricing model can follow any scalability."
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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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Educational Organization
56%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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...
Seeking lightweight open source BI software
It depends on the Data architecture and the complexity of your requirement. Some great tools in the market are Qlik Sense, Power BI, OBIEE, Tableau, etc. I have recently started using Cognos Enter...
Seeking lightweight open source BI software
There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows: 1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle - look for SAP...
What do you like most about Qlik Sense?
The most valuable features of Qlik Sense are its speed and seamless development of web technologies.
 

Also Known As

PowerCenter
QlikSense
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, LexisNexis, Rabobank
Abbvie, Airbus, Barclays, BT Openreach, BMW, Daimler AG, HSBC, IKEA, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Mail Group, Sanofi, Siemens, Wendy'', Vodafone, Volvo
Find out what your peers are saying about Informatica PowerCenter vs. Qlik Sense and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.