Informatica PowerCenter vs SAS Data Management comparison

Informatica and SAS are both solutions in the Data Integration category. Informatica is ranked #2 with an average rating of 7.9, while SAS is ranked #38 with an average rating of 7.5. Informatica holds a 11.0% mindshare in DI, compared to SAS’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Informatica users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of SAS users who would recommend it.

Informatica PowerCenter

Read 80 Informatica PowerCenter reviews

18,129 Views
15,555 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

SAS Data Management

Read 16 SAS Data Management reviews

1,068 Views
881 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Informatica PowerCenter

SAS Data Management

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Informatica PowerCenter and SAS Data Management are key players in the data management space. SAS Data Management holds an advantage due to its extensive features and value, while Informatica PowerCenter is more favorable in pricing and customer support.

Features: Informatica PowerCenter offers strong data integration, scalability, and data quality features. It supports a wide range of data sources and provides robust error handling and debugging tools. SAS Data Management, on the other hand, excels with its comprehensive analytics capabilities, flexible data access from multiple sources, and robust data transformation features.

Room for Improvement: Informatica PowerCenter could enhance its data analytics capabilities, improve its user interface for beginners, and streamline complex transformations. SAS Data Management might improve ease of use for non-technical users, enhance integration with diverse databases, and provide more intuitive data visualization tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Informatica PowerCenter is recognized for its easy deployment and superior customer support, making it user-friendly in terms of implementation. SAS Data Management is slightly more complex to deploy yet offers extensive documentation and resources to assist users.

Pricing and ROI: Informatica PowerCenter generally demands a lower initial investment, making it appealing to budget-conscious businesses. Although SAS Data Management involves a higher upfront cost, it provides a higher ROI through its advanced analytical and reporting capabilities, which justify the extra expenditure.

To learn more, read our detailed Informatica PowerCenter vs. SAS Data Management Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Informatica PowerCenter vs. SAS Data Management

January 2025

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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 PowerCenter

Ranking in Data Integration

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Visualization (9th)

SAS Data Management

Ranking in Data Integration

38th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Quality (11th), Data Governance (25th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of Informatica PowerCenter is 11.0%, up from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAS Data Management is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Integration

Featured Reviews

Lars Borchers

Senior BI Backend Developer at ALD Automotive Portugal

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.

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Vivek Trivedi

Head finance transformation at Ahli United Bank Ksc

Has robust data governance capabilities and efficient financial alerting features

The platform's robust data governance capabilities ensure strong compliance with regulatory standards. Our dedicated data governance team is responsible for setting policies and monitoring data access and usage. Additionally, we have a Data Protection Officer (DPO) and an independent InfoSec team that work together to enforce these policies. This multi-layered approach ensures that data governance is effectively managed and compliant with all necessary regulations. It is integrated with SQL and Power BI servers for executive management dashboard reporting. This integration supports comprehensive data analysis and reporting needs, which was a key factor in our decision. The value of using vCenter lies in its comprehensive data infrastructure management. It significantly enhances our reporting, day-to-day decision-making, and analytics capabilities. Integrating SaaS with vCenter adds value by streamlining key functions and improving overall organizational efficiency. The solution can be considered expensive, particularly due to infrastructure, maintenance, and ownership costs. The long-term savings and efficiencies gained from using vCenter can justify the investment for large organizations. However, the high costs might not be justifiable for smaller organizations with less data and fewer resources. Conducting a thorough cost-benefit analysis based on the organization's specific needs and scale is recommended. I rate it an eight.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Ease and speed of building integrations, especially integrations between different applications, such as our Hospital Information System."

"Good product if you are trying implement data quality, data integration, and data management projects."

"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."

"I like the completeness of the way I can build ETL workflows."

"The most valuable feature is the new Data Lake feature, which provides the basic capabilities needed."

"It has a Data Catalog that uses the Model repository."

"It's very easy to use it to develop mappings and workflows."

"Can manage a huge quantity of data and provide reliability."

More Informatica PowerCenter pros

"The platform's robust data governance capabilities ensure strong compliance with regulatory standards."

"If you compare it to SQL, the memory and development times are very quick."

"This is an established product with powerful data analysis and varied options for user entry points."

"In terms of which features I have found most valuable, I would say the importing and exporting features. Additionally, the data sorting, categorizing and summarizing features, especially how it can summarize based on categories. These are the key features."

"The technical support is excellent."

"The solution is very stable. We haven't faced any issues with glitches or bugs. We haven't had any crashes."

"I am impressed with the tool's ability to customize."

"The product offers very good flexibility."

More SAS Data Management pros

Cons

"Requires an established data center because there is no option for software as a service."

"Its scalability can be improved. It is not scalable."

"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 only problem with this product is the level of complexity with the number of levels of transformation that you have to go through."

"We had stability issues, mostly with JVM size."

"In terms of performance improvement and tuning, there should be a bit more guidance and documentation."

"The solution could have better documentation on basic steps or blocks that specify what to do."

"The solution does not scale."

More Informatica PowerCenter cons

"The pricing of the solution needs to be improved. They need to work to make it more affordable."

"One problem is accessing the data using a solution other than SAS. The SAS data, which we create in the SAS, cannot be accessed by other tools. We can't open those data in other applications. So we need to have that application in place."

"We find we often have to go back and re-train users when there are changes made to the solution because the changes are not intuitive."

"With SAS Data Management, you have to purchase an external driver, configure all of the tables for all of the data that you will extract from Salesforce. It's not a straightforward process."

"I would like the tool to include the ability to automate the modifications of the integrations."

"The solution could use better documentation."

"The solution is quite expensive and hard to install/configure."

"Very little needs to improve but perhaps a nicer graphic interface and remaining competetive in the growing field of data analytics."

More SAS Data Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have found the pricing very cost-effective. The licensing is CPU and data source-based."

"The price is mostly reasonable."

"We are using an annual license for Informatica PowerCenter."

"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."

"Informatica PowerCenter is reasonably priced. It is less expensive than Pentaho. There is a standard version fee in Taiwan. It is a one-time yearly subscription price that is approximately $3,010 US dollars for three users."

"I would rate the pricing for this solution a six out of ten. The exact pricing depends on various products that you have."

"I rate the product's price a ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."

"We are satisfied with the pricing."

More Informatica PowerCenter pricing and cost advice

"The licensing model for vCenter is a perpetual license with yearly payments."

"The solution is expensive."

"The tool is a bit expensive."

"While it is even free for personal use on the cloud, it can be expensive for desktop installations and enterprise use."

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Comparison Review

it_user90069

BI Expert at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

29%

Computer Software Company

13%

Insurance Company

Government

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about SAS Data Management?

I am impressed with the tool's ability to customize.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAS Data Management?

The licensing model for vCenter is a perpetual license with yearly payments. This model ensures continuous updates and support while managing initial setup costs.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAS Data Management?

Integration and cloud migration are areas where we see potential for improvement. A more seamless integration process and transitioning to a cloud-based environment would enhance user-friendliness ...

See all answers

Comparisons

SSIS vs Informatica PowerCenter

Compared 16% of the time

Azure Data Factory vs Informatica PowerCenter

Compared 14% of the time

Databricks vs Informatica PowerCenter

Compared 14% of the time

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs Informatica PowerCenter

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) vs Informatica PowerCenter

Compared 7% of the time

More Informatica PowerCenter Competitors

Palantir Foundry vs SAS Data Management

Compared 15% of the time

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs SAS Data Management

Compared 13% of the time

Ab Initio Co>Operating System vs SAS Data Management

Compared 10% of the time

IBM InfoSphere DataStage vs SAS Data Management

Compared 10% of the time

SSIS vs SAS Data Management

Compared 9% of the time

More SAS Data Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Informatica PowerCenter

January 2025

Download Informatica PowerCenter product report

Buyer's Guide

SAS Data Management

December 2024

Download SAS Data Management product report

Also Known As

PowerCenter

SAS Data Management Platform, Data Management Platform, DataFlux

Learn More

Informatica

SAS

Overview

Informatica PowerCenter is a data integration and data visualization tool. The solution works as an enterprise data integration platform that helps organizations access, transform, and integrate data from various systems. The product is designed to support companies in the full cycle of a project, from its initial rollout to critical deployments. Informatica PowerCenter allows developers and analysts to collaborate while accelerating the work process to deploy projects within days instead of months.

The Advanced edition of the product provides an additional real-time engine which allows companies to have always-on enterprise data integration. This ensures seamless collaboration and increment of data lineage visibility and impacts analysis.

The Premium edition of the solution offers an early warning system that detects unexpected behaviors or incorrect utilization of resources in the workflows and alerts companies in the case that these occur. This version of the product also offers automatic data validation, which ensures data accuracy and reduces testing time and expenditure of resources for by up to 90%.

Informatica PowerCenter Features

The product provides users with various features which allow them to execute data integration initiatives such as analytics, data warehousing, data governance, consolidation, and application migration. The features of the solution include:

Collaboration: Informatica PowerCenter offers role-based tools and processes which enable business self-service while benefiting from high-quality IT resources.
Automation: Through various automations and easy-to-use software, users can utilize graphical and codeless tools and initiate effective data integration without additional knowledge.
Scalability: The tool provides high scalability to users, which ensures seamless performance and minimum downtime. PowerCenter also has adaptive load balancing, pushdown optimization, and dynamic partitioning.
Monitoring: Through the extensive monitoring feature, the operations and governance of the solution are easily overseen by users. The tool also provides alerts that can prevent damage to the system.
Real-time data: Through real-time data, users can monitor applications and analytics, ensuring their efficient operation.
Prototyping: Informatica lets its users collaborate with information technology to prototype, profile, and validate results in a timely manner.
Connectivity: Users can access and integrate data from different types of sources through high-performance connectors.
Automated data validation testing: The product offers script-free automated and repeatable audit and validation of data.
Data transformation: This feature allows users to use comprehensive parsing of JSON, PDF, XML, Microsoft Office, and the Internet of Things (IoT) for non-relation data.
Cloud applications connectivity: The product allows for seamless connection to cloud application sources and targets.

Informatica PowerCenter Benefits

The benefits of using Informatica PowerCenter include:

The tool can work over a wide range of systems and platforms and also allows for lean integration.
It enhances the quality and speed of performance and optimizes the cost of the process for your organization.
PowerCenter supports multiple databases, including TPump, Parallel Transporter Fastload, and Teradata MLoad.
The tool is very easy to monitor and maintain, which simplifies the data integration process for companies.
The centralized error logging system allows users to locate errors in a timely manner and correct them.
The tool can convert data from an application to another format, as it serves as one of the most powerful data transformation solutions.
PowerCenter can also serve as middleware between two applications.
The solution offers both parallel processing and load balancing.
PowerCenter is a tool with a high level of security, which also minimizes essential administration activities.
The solution ensures the quality of information, as it does not allow invalid or unwanted data to be uploaded to the source.

Reviews from Real Users

Yahya T., a developer and architect at L'Oreal, says the product is stable, provides good support, and integrating it with other systems is very fast.

Mohamed E., a senior manager for Data management and data governance at a tech company, says PowerCenter is stable, mature, and offers flexibility in building the pipeline and has a drag-and-drop mode because it's GUI-based; technical support is brilliant.

Every decision, every business move, every successful customer interaction - they all come down to high-quality, well-integrated data. If you don't have it, you don't win. SAS Data Management is an industry-leading solution built on a data quality platform that helps you improve, integrate and govern your data.

Sample Customers

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, LexisNexis, Rabobank

Data Management, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Absa, Aegon, Allianz Global Corporate & SpecialtyAusgrid, Bank of Queensland, Bell, BMC Software, Canada Post, Ceska pojistovna, Chantecler, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Credit Guarantee Corporation, Cr_dito y Cauci‹n, Delaware State Police, Deutsche Lufthansa, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, DSM, Enerjisa, ERGO Insurance Group, Florida Department of Corrections, Generali Hellas, Gitanjali Group, Gloucestershire Constabulary, GS Home Shopping, HealthPartners, IAG New Zealand, iJET, Invacare, Livzon Pharmaceutical Group, Los Angeles County, Miami Herald Media Company, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, New Zealand Ministry of Health, Nippon Paper, North Carolina Office of Information Technology Services, Orlando Magic, OTP Group, PITT OHIO, Plano Independent School District, RWE Poland, Spanish Air Force, Stockholm County Council, Telus, The Travel Corporation, Transitions Optical, Triad Analytic Solutions, UNIQA, US Census Bureau, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, West Midlands Police, XS Inc., Zenith Insurance

Buyer's Guide

Informatica PowerCenter vs. SAS Data Management

January 2025

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