We performed a comparison between Databricks and Informatica PowerCenter based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: PeerSpot users consistently feel Databricks is a more complete solution, providing better integrations, features, and ease of use. The cloud-based architecture makes scaling seamless.
"The solution's features are fantastic and include interactive clusters that perform at top speed when compared to other solutions."
"Databricks is based on a Spark cluster and it is fast. Performance-wise, it is great."
"Databricks helps crunch petabytes of data in a very short period of time."
"We like that this solution can handle a wide variety and velocity of data engineering, either in batch mode or real-time."
"Can cut across the entire ecosystem of open source technology to give an extra level of getting the transformatory process of the data."
"This solution offers a lake house data concept that we have found exciting. We are able to have a large amount of data in a data lake and can manage all relational activities."
"What I like about Databricks is that it's one of the most popular platforms that give access to folks who are trying not just to do exploratory work on the data but also go ahead and build advanced modeling and machine learning on top of that."
"The time travel feature is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"The most valuable features are the monitoring tools and the reporting manager."
"Technical support is great. It's one of the reasons we really like them. When you compare support from IBM and support from Informatica, Informatica is much better."
"The most valuable features are the dynamic reading of the file metadata profile, and the ability to define business rules that are used to verify and validate the uploaded files."
"The most valuable feature is the new Data Lake feature, which provides the basic capabilities needed."
"The most valuable features of Informatica PowerCenter are the ease of use, and development, and is simple to find resources."
"To me, what's most valuable in Informatica PowerCenter is the flexibility in building the integration pipeline. Usually, you need to have a platform to be able to integrate with different technologies, including legacy data such as the mainframe. The platform should also be rich enough to transform the data per your business requirement, with no restrictions. Rich integration and rich transformation capabilities are the two key capabilities in Informatica PowerCenter. The solution also offers ease of use. Another valuable feature of Informatica PowerCenter is the drag-and-drop integration because it's GUI-based, similar to IBM and Oracle."
"The most valuable feature of Informatica PowerCenter is the flow designer functionally. It is the best out of any ETL tool. Additionally, the solution is reliable and trustable in dealing with large data sources anytime. When we're using billions of data transactions, it's smooth."
"We can scale the product."
"Generative AI is catching up in areas like data governance and enterprise flavor. Hence, these are places where Databricks has to be faster."
"Databricks requires writing code in Python or SQL, so if you're a good programmer then you can use Databricks."
"The solution has some scalability and integration limitations when consolidating legacy systems."
"It would be very helpful if Databricks could integrate with platforms in addition to Azure."
"The integration of data could be a bit better."
"There could be more support for automated machine learning in the database. I would like to see more ways to do analysis so that the reporting is more understandable."
"I would like it if Databricks made it easier to set up a project."
"The product could be improved by offering an expansion of their visualization capabilities, which currently assists in development in their notebook environment."
"Its interface can be modernized. It is an old product. I have been working with it for 14 years, and it still looks the same. It hasn't been modernized much. It also needs to handle more modern formats, such as JSON files. It works with the old text files and databases, but it does not always work with the newer, modern stuff. You need to make your own programs to support that kind of stuff. Support is also a kind of difficult with Informatica. They don't do direct support and rely on using their distributors around the globe for support, which means that you kind of have to go through this layer of different companies before you get help."
"The pricing could be improved."
"Its licensing can be improved. It should be features-wise and not bundle-wise. A bundle will definitely be costly. In addition, we might use one or two features. That's why the pricing model should be based on the features. The model should be flexible enough based on the features. Their support should also be more responsive to premium customers."
"Informatica PowerCenter could improve by having a single interface because half of the system is still in the legacy interface and many other elements are moved to the developer client. It would be good if there was a single interface for the end user and developers."
"Informatica, in my opinion, is very rigid and not very flexible, whereas platforms like Alteryx or Matillion are very flexible and agile."
"The solution's commercial cost is very high. Other open-source tools can do the tool's functions for free. The world is moving to the cloud, but the solution hasn't updated its drivers. I presume that its downfall will start soon. The tool is trying to cross-sell or upsell without helping customers derive benefits from the existing products. They have multiple tools and licenses. It is better to bring the smaller tools in one umbrella."
"Informatica PowerCenter is outdated and would benefit from modernization. They should have a very good migration strategy from Informatica PowerCenter to AACF. Informatica PowerCenter there is no point in using it, you have to use a cloud version."
"The documentation could be improved."
Databricks is ranked 1st in Data Science Platforms with 78 reviews while Informatica PowerCenter is ranked 3rd in Data Integration with 78 reviews. Databricks is rated 8.2, while Informatica PowerCenter is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Databricks writes "A nice interface with good features for turning off clusters to save on computing". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Informatica PowerCenter writes "Stable, provides good support, and integrating it with other systems is very fast, but its pricing is expensive". Databricks is most compared with Amazon SageMaker, Dataiku, Dremio, Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio and Azure Stream Analytics, whereas Informatica PowerCenter is most compared with Informatica Cloud Data Integration, Azure Data Factory, SSIS, AWS Glue and Oracle Data Integrator (ODI). See our Databricks vs. Informatica PowerCenter report.
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