Microsoft Analytics Platform System vs Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics comparison

Microsoft Analytics Platform System vs. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics

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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

Microsoft Analytics Platfor...

Average Rating

6.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Warehouse (19th)

Microsoft Azure Synapse Ana...

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Data Warehouse (5th)

Featured Reviews

MahmoudMohamed1

Senior Data Engineer at Tatweer Educational Technologies Company - TETCO

Offers smooth data integration between systems, but requires better real-time analytics capabilities

We leverage its capabilities for many applications. We can integrate with our databases, like Oracle, MySQL, or any other, using Microsoft Integration Services. This lets us continue using private databases without paying additional licensing fees. Additionally, the license includes Analytics services and Power BI, which work on-premises, unlike most other technologies that require cloud solutions.

Read full review

Joy Maitra

Sr. Technical Architect at Hexaware Technologies Limited

Has supported data pipeline development but still requires better integration and support

The best feature of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is the notebook functionality; it provides a very good interface, and we can easily do our experiments, POCs, and check things before migration or deployment to higher environments such as from development to SIT and then production. The deployment process is also much smoother. Driving data-driven insights in my organization depends upon the preparation of the data. If your data is not good, then insights won't be good, and Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics helps in preparing your data, so it is very helpful. I find Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics' native data lake support beneficial.

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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

"We leverage its capabilities for many applications. We can integrate with our databases, like Oracle, MySQL, or any other, using Microsoft Integration Services."

"Microsoft Analytics Platform System's most valuable feature is its ecosystems and seamless integration with other Microsoft reporting platforms and databases."

"This solution will connect to any database, you can combine databases, and you can create a cube or tabular model."

"Helps our customers to discover trends, which provides useful information based on their business."

"I like that it's integrated with other Azure products."

"This is a well-integrated solution and that integration empowers results."

"The Cube Solution is quite different when compared to the rest of the competition and has unique functionality for advanced analytics."

"It is closely integrated with other products in the MS portfolio."

"The best thing about it is that it has integration at multiple places. It can talk to more than 90 types of data sources, which is one good thing about it."

"The solution can scale."

"The product provides a seamless and adaptable approach to data processing and analytics."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is the capabilities, and the integration with other Azure resources, such as Data Factory, Databricks, and Spark for data processing. The overall ability to compose the solution with other Azure resources is valuable."

"The pricing seems to be quite fair."

"For Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics, the integration is the most valuable feature, meaning that whatever you need is fast and easy to use."

"The initial setup was really easy and straightforward."

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics are the interface and the agility of the on-cloud platform."

More Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics pros

Cons

"The flexibility of this solution needs to be improved because you cannot make changes at every one of the different steps."

"Releases of new products and functionality is never accompanied by associated documentation, training and resources that adequately explain the release."

"Microsoft Analytics Platform System could have better support."

"We need better real-time analytics capabilities. It's a bit challenging for us."

"Functionality needs to be more up-to-date with competing products."

"Machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities need to be more friendly for beginning users."

"The pricing model needs to be improved."

"Hybrid environments are complex to manage."

More Microsoft Analytics Platform System cons

"I would like to see more ready-to-use products from Synapse. Right now, everything seems a bit futuristic without much modern use."

"Comes with a pretty steep learning curve."

"Customer service and support for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics need improvement. They are slow to respond and not very knowledgeable."

"From an infrastructure standpoint, I believe it can be more secure in terms of availability."

"With respect to what needs to be improved, concurrent connectivity has some limitations."

"If Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics could run on a laptop as a Docker image, it would allow for work without needing an online connection."

"One potential area for improvement could be the availability of an on-premises data lake implementation, as the product is currently only implemented in a cloud environment."

"Its stability is an issue. They have been releasing a version every six months to one year, which means that there are many versions available, and clients are not up to speed on the latest one that they're offering. From a stability point of view, they could do better. They're still upgrading their Synapse Analytics workspace, and it is not that stable. Its scalability can also be better."

More Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The initial price is lower than Oracle, but extensive use of SQL may lead to a higher total cost of ownership."

"Users have to pay extra for premium-level technical support."

"We are currently paying $200,000 a year for all the different parts of the suite during an ingest model Microsoft now charges us $700,000 a year."

"I rate Microsoft Analytics Platform System a seven out of ten for pricing."

"Its price could be better. It was a school project, and I got it for free. If I try to pay through my company, it is a little bit more expensive as compared to Oracle."

"We have a licensing cost to pay."

"You have to be very careful with one specific service inside Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics which is called the Sequel Data Warehouse Dedicated. It is very reliable and performs well, but it's expensive. You need to define the tier well because you can choose between several tiers and you have to define which suits your needs and not overperform the tier because it's quite expensive."

"The pricing is quite reasonable in comparison to other products."

"I understand that Synapse Analytics' pricing is lower than Informatica's."

"They are cost aggressive, and it integrates well with other Microsoft tools."

"I would rate the ROI a nine out of ten, where one is zero value and ten is 100% value."

"The pricing is competitive, but only when you pay upfront. If you pay as you go, it's not as competitive. I'd give pricing a rating of seven out of ten."

More Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

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Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	28
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	54

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Analytics Platform System?

We leverage its capabilities for many applications. We can integrate with our databases, like Oracle, MySQL, or any other, using Microsoft Integration Services.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Analytics Platform System?

It's not too confusing. It's based on features, and we don't have to buy additional licenses.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Analytics Platform System?

We need better real-time analytics capabilities. It's a bit challenging for us. Moreover, there are some permission limitations.

How does Amazon Redshift compare with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?

Amazon Redshift is very fast, has a very good response time, and is very user-friendly. The initial setup is very straightforward. This solution can merge and integrate well with many different dat...

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?

The product is easy to use, and anybody can easily migrate to advanced DB.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?

I think the price of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is very expensive, but that's not only for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics—it's for the cloud in general. The cloud is not cost-effective. I...

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Compared 17% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

Amazon Redshift vs Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics

Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

Apache Hadoop vs Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics Competitors

Product Reports

Microsoft Analytics Platform System

Download Microsoft Analytics Platform System product report

Microsoft Analytics Platform System report

Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics

Download Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics product report

Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics report

Also Known As

Microsoft APS, MS Analytics Platform System

Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Microsoft Azure SQL DW, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, MS Azure Synapse Analytics

Overview

The Microsoft Analytics Platform System can meet the demands of your evolving data warehouse environment with its scale-out, massively parallel processing integrated system supporting hybrid data warehouse scenarios. It provides the ability to query across relational and non-relational data by leveraging Microsoft PolyBase and industry-leading big data technologies. It offers the lowest price per terabyte for large data warehouse workloads.

Microsoft

Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is an end-to-end analytics solution that successfully combines analytical services to merge big data analytics and enterprise data warehouses into a single unified platform. The solution can run intelligent distributed queries among nodes, and provides the ability to query both relational and non-relational data.

Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is built with these 4 components:

Synapse SQL
Spark
Synapse Pipeline
Studio

Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics Features

Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics has many valuable key features, including:

Cloud Data Service: WIth Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics you can operate services (data analytics, machine learning, data warehousing, dashboarding, etc.) in a single workspace via the cloud.
Structured and unstructured data: Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics supports both structured and unstructured data and allows you to manage relational and non-relational data - unlike data warehouses and lakes that tend to store them respectively.
Effective data storage: Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics offers next-level data storage with high availability and different tiers.
Responsive data engine: Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics uses Massive Parallel Processing (MPP) and is designed to handle large volumes of data and analytical workloads efficiently without any problems.
Several scripting languages: The solution provides language compatibility and supports different programming languages, such as Python, Java, Spark SQL, and Scala.
Query optimization: Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics works well to facilitate limitless concurrency and performance optimization. It also simplifies workload management.

Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics Benefits

Some of the benefits of using Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics include:

Database templates: Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics offers industry-specific database templates that make it easy to combine and shape data.
Better business insights: With Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics you can expand discovery of insights from all your data and apply machine learning models to all your intelligent apps.
Reduce project development time: Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics makes it possible to have a unified experience for developing end-to-end analytics, which reduces project development time significantly.
Eliminate data barriers: By using Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics, you can perform analytics on operational and business apps data without data movement.
Advanced security: Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics provides both advanced security and privacy features to ensure data protection.
Machine Learning: Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics integrates Azure Machine Learning, Azure Cognitive Services, and Power BI.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics users who are currently using the solution.

PeerSpot user Jael S., who is an Information Architect at Systems Analysis & Design Engineering, comments on her experience using the product, saying that it is “Scalable, intuitive, facilitates compliance and keeps your data secure”. She also says "We also like governance. It looks at what the requirements are for the company to identify the best way to ensure compliance is met when you move to the cloud."

Michel T., CHTO at Timp-iT, mentions that "the features most valuable are the simplicity, how easy it is to create a dashboard from different information systems."

A Senior Teradata Consultant at a tech services company says, "Microsoft provides both the platform and the data center, so you don't have to look for a cloud vendor. It saves you from having to deal with two vendors for the same task."

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Transport for London, E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH & Co. KG, Prometeia, Tangerine, SSM Health Care, Service Corporation International

Toshiba, Carnival, LG Electronics, Jet.com, Adobe,

Microsoft Analytics Platform System vs. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics