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Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse vs Vertica comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 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

Microsoft Parallel Data War...
Ranking in Data Warehouse
10th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Vertica
Ranking in Data Warehouse
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is 1.0%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Vertica is 8.5%, down from 8.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

StevenLai - PeerSpot reviewer
Strong scalable solution with streamlined metadata warehousing
We use it to build our data warehouse and databases, and everything in the back end It helps streamline our metadata warehousing process. As it is our only type of data warehouse and database, it serves as our source, destination, and staging area. This product has many features which are useful…
T Venkatesh - PeerSpot reviewer
Processes query faster through multiple systems simultaneously, but it could support different data types
We use the solution for various tasks, including preparing data marts and generating offers. It helps extract data based on rules from the policy team and provides insights to enhance business operations. We also analyze transactions to target customers and improve business performance The…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It performs very well overall."
"The stability and ease of use of Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse are valuable features."
"I am very satisfied with the customer service/technical support."
"Overall, I rate Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse a nine out of ten."
"Tools like the BI and SAS are excellent."
"One of the most important features is the ease of using MS SQL."
"The solution's integration is good."
"We have complete control over our data."
"The solution has great capabilities. The tool that instructs the internal database forward is easy to use and is very powerful."
"Allows us to take volumes and process them at a very high speed."
"Its projections and encoding are excellent tools for tuning large volumes."
"Vertica is a great product because customers can compress and code data. The infrastructure that data warehouse solutions need is a commodity server so that customers don't have to invest in infrastructure."
"The extensibility and efficiency provided by their C++ SDK."
"Vertica is a columnar database where the query performance is extremely fast and it can be used for real-time integrations for API and other applications. The solution requires zero maintenance which is helpful."
"The performance is very good and the aggregate records are fast."
"Initiate on one node, and the RPM propagates automatically to all other nodes. ​"
 

Cons

"Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is excellent but very expensive. Working on the pricing could make it a better solution."
"This solution would be improved with an option for in-memory data analysis."
"They need to incorporate a machine learning engine."
"The only issue with the product is that the process is very slow when we have a huge amount of data."
"I would like the ability to do more real-time type updates instead of batch-oriented updates."
"When there are many users or many expensive queries, it can be very slow."
"It could offer more development across the solution."
"I would like to see better visualization features."
"If you do not utilize the tuning tools like projections, encoding, partitions, and statistics, then performance and scalability will suffer."
"Very bad support, I would rate it two out of 10."
"In my opinion, Vertica's documentation could be improved. Currently, there is not enough documentation available to gain a comprehensive understanding of the platform."
"One feature, which has really benefited us, is the scalability offered by Vertica as it has enabled Pythian's clients to manage data with agility."
"I have found that coding support could be simplified."
"The documentation of Vertica is an area with shortcomings where improvements are required."
"In a future release, we would like to have artificial intelligence capabilities like neural networks. Customers are demanding this type of analytics."
"Performance of management of metadata layer (database catalog) needs improvement. We still have to have smaller customers on PostgreSQL; Vertica cannot manage thousands of schemata."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think the program is well-priced compared to the other offerings that are out in the market."
"The solution is cost-effective."
"The tool could be expensive if we need to manage a lot of data."
"They offer an annual subscription. The pricing depends on the size of the environments."
"Technical support is an additional fee and is expensive."
"The solution's pricing is fairly decent for organizations with huge data sizes."
"Microsoft has an agreement with the government in our country, so our customers get their licensing costs from the Ministry. Whenever we work with any government, company, or government institute, which is mainly what we are doing, that license comes directly from the Ministry of Technology and Information."
"All the features that we use do not require any additional subscription or yearly fees."
"The solution is free and we pay for the storage."
"The pricing for this solution is very reasonable compared to other vendors."
"It's free up to three nodes and 1TB, and then get in contact with their sales guys."
"It's difficult today to compete with open-source solutions. In these areas, there is a lot of competition and the price of this solution is a bit pricy."
"Read the fine print carefully."
"Vertica is an expensive tool."
"The price is reasonable. We use a pay per license model. Firstly, you need to buy a license. After that, you mainly pay the annual support fee of around 20% or 25%. I think their prices are quite reasonable."
"The first TB is free and you can use all the Vertica features. After 1TB you have to pay for licensing. The product is worth it, but be aware of this condition, and plan. The compression ratio is explained in the documentation."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
31%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Insurance Company
10%
Retailer
7%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Real Estate/Law Firm
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse?
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse provides good firewall processing in terms of response time.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse?
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is excellent but very expensive. Working on the pricing could make it a better solution.
What do you like most about Vertica?
Vertica is easy to use and provides really high performance, stability, and scalability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Vertica?
The solution is relatively cost-effective. Pricing and licensing are reasonable compared to other solutions.
What needs improvement with Vertica?
The product could improve by adding support for a wider variety of data types and enhancing features to better compete with other databases.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft PDW, SQL Server Data Warehouse, Microsoft SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse, MS Parallel Data Warehouse
Micro Focus Vertica, HPE Vertica, HPE Vertica on Demand
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Auckland Transport, Erste Bank Group, Urban Software Institute, NJVC, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe
Cerner, Game Show Network Game, Guess by Marciano, Supercell, Etsy, Nascar, Empirix, adMarketplace, and Cardlytics.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse vs. Vertica and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,671 professionals have used our research since 2012.