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SSIS vs Zapier comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

SSIS
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (4th)
Zapier
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Integration (10th)
 

Featured Reviews

BobAmy - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust and does a good job of handling overload conditions
We purchase an add-on called task factory primarily to allow bulk delete, update, and upsert capability. I'd like to see this be part of the standard package. I believe there are ways to build a model and set variables so that it can be a generic process. In my next system, I would like to have a generic process that would handle all the logging and processing in a model that can be modified and enhanced as the need for a better process, or different statistics to be logged is discovered. I'd want this in a way that the model can be changed and all the processes, with their unique parameters, could all be changed with the model upgraded. I believe they should add some features that help to create the code using a model. This would allow for continuous improvement of the model uses and easy replication of all the different programs that use the model.
FrankHo - PeerSpot reviewer
Though the tool offers a visually appealing UI, it needs to improve its documentation
With Zapier, improvements are required in the areas of concerns like bugs, ease of use, and documentation. The product has many bugs, so users have to wait for a period ranging from five minutes to an hour to see where the Zap went. In Zapier, Zaps aren't very understandable owing to the way they work. As a user, you would think that in Zapier, a Zap works in a particular way once you set it up, but it won't happen. At times, some Zaps can interfere with each other, because of which there might be infinite loops that may occur, owing to which multiple Zaps continue to run or break down in general, after which nothing would run in your environment. You would not be notified about the breakdown of Zaps. The bugs in the product may be considered to understand or get an explanation of how Zaps works between software systems, so for something between Gmail and HubSpot, Zapier would explain through better documentation what would work and what wouldn't work. Maybe if Zapier had better functionality with Python or any other coding language in general, it would make the product a lot better.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Data Flows are the main component we use. These can range from a simple source to sink ETL, to many source to many sink dataflows."
"Overall, it's a good product."
"It's saved time using visualization descriptions."
"It's a competent product."
"It's something I needed for bulk imports. I'm not a big fan of it, but I haven't seen anything better."
"The performance is better than doing it in some alternative ways. We don't have to worry about so much manual work."
"It is easy to set up the product."
"It has good data integration and good processes."
"Zapier is user friendly and makes it easy to integrate different tools. It has a drag and drop functionality which makes it easy to connect environments."
"Zapier's interface, for me, is the solution's greatest value proposition. It is designed and developed for people who don't have a clue about what they're trying to do. It has a very user-friendly interface."
"Zapier’s most valuable feature is its ability to interconnect applications or devices."
"The solution is a SaaS and does not require a complex setup."
"The ability to connect web applications to trigger actions in another app after having enriched, formatted, delayed, grouped, and filtered is really valuable for many businesses."
"Zapier luckily has a wide range of integrations, I would say."
"What's most valuable in Zapier is its simplicity, seamlessness, and smooth plug-in, so you won't need to build code for every action. I'm not a developer, but I can use Zapier."
"There are a few valuable features, like the stability that it comes with and also the number of features that it offers. I've used other services like Pabbly, but they don't offer similar numbers of applications that Zapier has or allows to integrate with – it's maximum."
 

Cons

"The debugging could be improved because when it came to solving the errors that I've experienced in the past, I've had to look at the documentation for more information."
"You have to write push down join & lookup SQL to the database yourself via stored procedures or use of the SQL Task to get very high performance. That said, this is a common complaint for nearly all ETL tools on the market and those that offer an alternative such as Informatica offer them at a very expensive add-on price."
"It would be nice if you could run SSIS on other environments besides Windows."
"There was also not enough instructions from Microsoft in regards to this application or this technology, which can easily be improved upon."
"It needs more integration tools, so you can connect to different sources."
"Improvement as per customer requirements."
"Tuning using this solution requires extensive expertise to improve performance."
"We're in the process of switching to Informatica, and we need to work out data lineage and data profiling and to improve the quality of our data. SSIS, however, is not that compatible with Informatica. We managed to connect it to Informatica Metadata Manager, but we don't get good lineage, so we have to redo all our ETLs using the Informatica process in order to accept the proper data lineage."
"Being able to share Zaps and organize them with teammates would allow sharing and refining scenarios and even combining steps that require different people's credentials."
"Some apps are not available yet. For instance, a connection with Joomla! would be great. In general, all the most-used apps are available, but I bumped into Joomla! with a client."
"I would like to see them improve the Quickbase integration. Currently, it only allows triggering actions when records are added, but it would be more useful if we could also trigger actions when records are modified or deleted."
"Zapier needs more YouTube or video tutorials or more training for people. That would help a lot. In particular, Zapier should have documentation for every connector. Its documentation needs to be more detailed and visual."
"Zapier needs to improve in the same way most RPA solutions should, such as Robocorp, Make, or UiPath. They are not good at helping you find the connections that you need for the problem that you have. For example, if need something on Instagram. I'm going to have to do research for hours to be able to find the components or the app, which is going to do what I need it to do. It makes it difficult to use the system when you don't know what to use."
"It is not worth the money if you have a little bit of a technical mind...Zapier is not able to set up different modules. When automation doesn't work, it's not that easy to find why it didn't work."
"Some recent changes to the solution have made it bulky and not as intuitive to use as it previously was."
"With Zapier, improvements are required in the areas of concerns like bugs, ease of use, and documentation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It would be beneficial if the solution had a less costly cloud offering."
"People have to opt for a perpetual-based licensing model."
"All of my clients have this product included as part of their Microsoft license."
"I'm not involved in licensing details, but SSIS provides value to our organization by simplifying data management tasks."
"If you don't want to pay a lot of money, you can go for SSIS, as its open-source version is available. When it comes to licensing, SSIS can be expensive."
"t's incredibly cost effective, easy to learn the basics quickly (although like all ETL tools requires the traditional learning curve to get good at) and has an immense user base."
"This solution is a free of charge addition to our SQL licence. However, the only way this tool can be utilized is as a feature of the SQL licence, which may make it unattractive to organizations who don't wish to purchase the wider-ranging licence."
"SSIS' licensing is a little high, but it gives good value for money."
"Zapier is a paid service. Its license renews monthly, and Zapier will downgrade your subscription to the free version when your credit card doesn't have funds. That significantly impacts your service because everything halts completely. Zapier doesn't have any hidden costs."
"It's very affordable."
"The least expensive plan is $24 a month, and you can go all the way to $800 a month if you're a huge company using many tasks."
"Zapier's price is good."
"It's very straightforward licensing. There's only one cost you have to pay, and if you want a relevant pricing plan, I think you have two or three different models or packages which include the number of notifications or Zaps, as they call it, that you can program."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"Think your Zaps through to make sure you don't use more Zaps than you need."
"There is a free plan that is, of course, limited. However, it allows you to understand and check true scenarios for a while."
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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
12%
Government
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
University
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What do you like most about SSIS?
The product's deployment phase is easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SSIS?
Utilizing SSIS involves no extra charges beyond the SQL Server license. It's an economical choice for my clients.
What do you like most about Zapier?
The product's most valuable feature is automation.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zapier?
The pricing is suitable. It's not cheap, but not expensive.
What needs improvement with Zapier?
The pricing could be a little cheaper.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

SQL Server Integration Services
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. Amazon.com 2. Bank of America 3. Capital One 4. Coca-Cola 5. Dell 6. E*TRADE 7. FedEx 8. Ford Motor Company 9. Google 10. Home Depot 11. IBM 12. Intel 13. JPMorgan Chase 14. Kraft Foods 15. Lockheed Martin 16. McDonald's 17. Microsoft 18. Morgan Stanley 19. Nike 20. Oracle 21. PepsiCo 22. Procter & Gamble 23. Prudential Financial 24. RBC Capital Markets 25. SAP 26. Siemens 27. Sony 28. Toyota 29. UnitedHealth Group 30. Visa 31. Walmart 32. Wells Fargo
BuzzFeed, Groupon, Spotify, Columbia University, FOX
Find out what your peers are saying about SSIS vs. Zapier and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
847,862 professionals have used our research since 2012.