We performed a comparison between Azure Data Factory and Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Both of these solutions are very dynamic, robust, stable, and very flexible. As they are both part of the Microsoft Azure ecosystem, they are both very popular and highly regarded. Many of our users feel Azure Data Factory is an easier solution to understand and get started with out of the box. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is more diverse and works better with a varied amount of different areas and industries.
"Azure Data Factory's most valuable features are the packages and the data transformation that it allows us to do, which is more drag and drop, or a visual interface. So, that eases the entire process."
"Data Factory's best features are connectivity with different tools and focusing data ingestion using pipeline copy data."
"In terms of my personal experience, it works fine."
"The most valuable aspect is the copy capability."
"From what we have seen so far, the solution seems very stable."
"The solution includes a feature that increases the number of processors used which makes it very powerful and adds to the scalability."
"I like its integration with SQL pools, its ability to work with Databricks, its pipelines, and the serverless architecture are the most effective features."
"The trigger scheduling options are decently robust."
"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."
"The pricing seems to be quite fair."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the analytics and that it can connect with Power BI."
"The solution operates like a typical SQL Server environment so there is no alienation in terms of technical knowledge."
"Our primary use case is for gathering data and analytics. We provide insights into vehicle data. We gather millions of records per second and we have various millions of vehicles running across."
"The most valuable feature is performance gains."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics are how easy and quick it is to set up the linked services."
"I like its performance. It is well-structured and offers a lot of practical options. Because of the visual design of the product, it is very easy to find icons and other visual elements. It took me more than two weeks to understand how it works. I had an intensive training session to understand it, which was enough. It was not hard to understand how it works."
"There should be a way that it can do switches, so if at any point in time I want to do some hybrid mode of making any data collections or ingestions, I can just click on a button."
"Integration of data lineage would be a nice feature in terms of DevOps integration. It would make implementation for a company much easier. I'm not sure if that's already available or not. However, that would be a great feature to add if it isn't already there."
"Data Factory's performance during heavy data processing isn't great."
"Data Factory would be improved if it were a little more configuration-oriented and not so code-oriented and if it had more automated features."
"I would like to see this time travel feature in Snowflake added to Azure Data Factory."
"The speed and performance need to be improved."
"The solution should offer better integration with Azure machine learning. We should be able to embed the cognitive services from Microsoft, for example as a web API. It should allow us to embed Azure machine learning in a more user-friendly way."
"The user interface could use improvement. It's not a major issue but it's something that can be improved."
"Could have more connectors and better integration for Hadoop."
"We'd like the solution to have more analytics capability."
"I would like to see more ready-to-use products from Synapse. Right now, everything seems a bit futuristic without much modern use."
"From an infrastructure standpoint, I believe it can be more secure in terms of availability."
"I am a researcher. For people to be able to research a solution, there should be at least a free trial. Just advertising a product or saying that this product is better doesn't work. I would strongly recommend providing a lot of free trials and trainings. This will also help Microsoft in having more users or customers. Oracle provides some free trials. You can just go for a free trial and use your database online, which is very good."
"They should provide a less expensive version with a smaller setup for small businesses. Currently, its price is quite high for entry-level or small businesses. In terms of integration, new connectors are always welcomed."
"Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics could improve its compatibility with Visual Studio. One of the challenges for people moving from an on-premise to a cloud solution, such as Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics, is that you're constantly working in a browser. There are people that have been working for decades on desktop applications. For them to start working in a browser, it's quite a change. Allowing people to work and do their work inside Visual Studio than in the browser, would be a large advantage."
"When I was trying to link services to an SFTP site it was not able to do all the possible encryption that I needed. They can improve by adding more encryption options."
More Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics Pricing and Cost Advice →
Azure Data Factory is ranked 3rd in Cloud Data Warehouse with 81 reviews while Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is ranked 2nd in Cloud Data Warehouse with 86 reviews. Azure Data Factory is rated 8.0, while Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Azure Data Factory writes "The data factory agent is quite good but pricing needs to be more transparent". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics writes "No competitors provide the entire solution to one place ". Azure Data Factory is most compared with Informatica PowerCenter, Informatica Cloud Data Integration, Alteryx Designer, Snowflake and Palantir Foundry, whereas Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is most compared with SAP BW4HANA, Snowflake, Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse, Teradata and Amazon Redshift. See our Azure Data Factory vs. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics report.
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I know you're looking for someone who's done research for you but realize that's actually something people get paid to do.
That said, what you're asking about is a mix of quite different tools when you throw KNIME in the mix. I don't know that tool but sounds like its for specific purpose and it's not an Azure tool. Realize there's endless ETL tools out there. I've used about 1/2 dozen in my career. I currently use both ADF and SSIS. I only use ADF when I have to as it's overly complicated to do version management and deal with ARM templates and is very very slow in comparison to SSIS. ADF can however be a good orchestrator for running SSIS - there's an Azure/PaaS version of SSIS called SSIS-IR that can run from ADF. Synapse Analytics pipelines which is actually ADF technology but stripped down. And now there's Fabric Data Factory which is again ADF but even more stripped down. Fabric is also bleeding edge.
ADF has been around for long time now. Anything Azure is cloud based and integrates with Azure services. KNIME is not that. I advise first on understanding fundamental requirements such as, what are the skill levels of your staff with ETL? Are you an Azure shop? What kind of data volumes are you talking about? What sources do you need to connect to (that's a biggy because not all tools talk to all sources!) What are you trying to do - build a datamart or EDW or just copy some data from a source or ? Do you use PowerBI? These will help drive what kind of tool you're looking for. If you want SAAS like as possible tool due to minimal requirements, low data volumes and low staff expertise and starting from scratch, I'd give Fabric a try especially if you want low tech and already into the Power platform. Hope that helps
I believe Synapse is not an ETL tool. ADF is one optional ETL tool for a Synapse Data warehouse.. What Are the Top ETL Tools for Azure Data Warehouse? | Integrate.io
I'd like to step back and pose a bigger option. You see, ETL means making a copy of data you have already. Have you considered a data fabric or mesh, where the data is used where it lies now? Consider this if your data is already used by some systems, but you need to do a more comprehensive analysis of it.
I always want to reduce the replication of databases. The concept of build yet another database to "replace" all the others rarely works out that way. I'd rather beef up the origination system, or use a replica than build a huge portfolio of ETL programs and an army of ops, data governance, and system support to keep them in sync.
Finally, if you really need an ETL tool, i.e. copies of all that data... look for existing talent in your staff. Otherwise, expect to hire some people experienced with the new tool that can advise on design and development and mentor existing staff.
A couple of questions before starting the feature comparison: i. Are you fine with an open-source solution? ii. Any specific reason you have listed ADF? iii. Who will be using these tools and how much learning curve is involved within the team? iv. What kind of data you are dealing with? v. Is data privacy an important factor? vi. Are you looking for only a cloud-based solution or open to a hybrid solution also? vii. What is the maturity level of the team when it comes to working on the cloud ........ These are just a few of the many questions basis which we do self-assessment or measure our preparedness. Let me know if you need more insights. Happy to help!!