Informatica PowerCenter vs Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Informatica PowerCenter and Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Data Integration solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Informatica PowerCenter vs. Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics Report (Updated: March 2024).
763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The performance and design of Informatica have been very valuable. I find the performance faster than, say, Oracle Data Integrator or DataStage.""If the systems get migrated or upgraded, the amount of resources required are very minimal. We can change the connections and establish a new connection. It's very helpful.""The most valuable features are the monitoring tools and the reporting manager.""Complex transformations can be easily achieved by using PowerCenter. The processing layer does transformations and other things. About 80% of my transformations can be achieved by using the middle layer. For the remaining 15% to 20% transformations, I can go in and create stored procedures in the respective databases. Mapplets is the feature through which we can reuse transformations across pipelines. Transformations and caching are the key features that we have been using frequently. Informatica PowerCenter is one of the best solutions or products in the data integration space. We have extensively used PowerCenter for integration purposes. We usually look at the best bridge solution in our architecture so that it can sustain for maybe a couple of years. Usually, we go with the solution that fits best and has proven and time-tested technology.""It works with any multi-databases, so it works with Sybase, SQL Server. Also, the performance is really good and it is easy to use.""The features I find most valuable is that the solution is very user-friendly and the graphical design is very easy to understand.""The partitioning and optimization to help enhance our development is a very valuable aspect of Informatica PowerCenter.""The most valuable aspects of Informatica PowerCenter are the many features, ease of use, and user-friendliness."

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"It's very simple compared to other products out there.""This solution allows us to create pipelines using a minimal amount of custom coding.""The abstraction is quite good.""Provides a good open source option.""The solution has a free to use community version.""The fact that it enables us to leverage metadata to automate data pipeline templates and reuse them is definitely one of the features that we like the best. The metadata injection is helpful because it reduces the need to create and maintain additional ETLs. If we didn't have that feature, we would have lots of duplicated ETLs that we would have to create and maintain. The data pipeline templates have definitely been helpful when looking at productivity and costs.""The graphical nature of the development interface is most useful because we've got people with quite mixed skills in the team. We've got some very junior, apprentice-level people, and we've got support analysts who don't have an IT background. It allows us to have quite complicated data flows and embed logic in them. Rather than having to troll through lines and lines of code and try and work out what it's doing, you get a visual representation, which makes it quite easy for people with mixed skills to support and maintain the product. That's one side of it.""I can use Python, which is open-source, and I can run other scripts, including Linux scripts. It's user-friendly for running any object-based language. That's a very important feature because we live in a world of open-source."

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Cons
"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.""It would be nice to have all tools in one place. CDC needs more effort, as it's only easy to develop if you are familiar with Linux.""In the future, I would like to see Informatica PowerCenter integrate a more powerful dashboard.""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 could improve the data threshold for large sets of data. Additionally, they should add real-time integration.""The solution must improve the integration with new services.""Some of the conversions are done inside the product. We use work tables that are created by the engine itself, but the names of the work tables are very long, and they don't have any meaning, which makes it a bit difficult to understand and follow exactly what is happening inside.""Unstructured data handling is an important area with a shortcoming that needs improvement in the solution."

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"I was not happy with the Pentaho Report Designer because of the way it was set up. There was a zone and, under it, another zone, and under that another one, and under that another one. There were a lot of levels and places inside the report, and it was a little bit complicated. You have to search all these different places using a mouse, clicking everywhere... each report is coded in a binary file... You cannot search with a text search tool...""I'm still in the very recent stage concerning Pentaho Data Integration, but it can't really handle what I describe as "extreme data processing" i.e. when there is a huge amount of data to process. That is one area where Pentaho is still lacking.""In terms of the flexibility to deploy in any environment, such as on-premise or in the cloud, we can do the cloud deployment only through virtual machines. We might also be able to work on different environments through Docker or Kubernetes, but we don't have an Azure app or an AWS app for easy deployment to the cloud. We can only do it through virtual machines, which is a problem, but we can manage it. We also work with Databricks because it works with Spark. We can work with clustered servers, and we can easily do the deployment in the cloud. With a right-click, we can deploy Databricks through the app on AWS or Azure cloud.""The reporting definitely needs improvement. There are a lot of general, basic features that it doesn't have. A simple feature you would expect a reporting tool to have is the ability to search the repository for a report. It doesn't even have that capability. That's been a feature that we've been asking for since the beginning and it hasn't been implemented yet.""​There is not a data quality or MDM solution in the Pentaho DI suite.​""If you're working with a larger data set, I'm not so sure it would be the best solution. The larger things got the slower it was.""The product needs more plugins.""The support for the Enterprise Edition is okay, but what they have done in the last three or four years is move more and more things to that edition. The result is that they are breaking the Community Edition. That's what our impression is."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "We have found the pricing very cost-effective. The licensing is CPU and data source-based."
  • "Cost could be improved."
  • "Licensing is a one time cost. But maintenance costs depend on what you want, how long you need it. Maintenance is a kind of insurance. With health insurance, you don't know whether you will get sick or need to go to hospital or not but you have to have insurance. It's the same thing with support. If you have that expertise in resolving issues, if you have enough experience in your IT department, I would say you don't need the support. But in practice, they recommend you go with the support. If you want support you have to pay for it."
  • "Price-wise, it's more expensive than SSIS, but it's a better tool, so it has more features. Licensing is on a yearly basis."
  • "Its maintenance is expensive."
  • "It's much more expensive, almost three times more expensive than most other solutions."
  • "We are satisfied with the pricing."
  • "I consider this to be an expensive product."
  • More Informatica PowerCenter Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "There is a good open source option (Community Edition)​."
  • "The price of the regular version is not reasonable and it should be lower."
  • "Sometimes we provide the licenses or the customer can procure their own licenses. Previously, we had an enterprise license. Currently, we are on a community license as this is adequate for our needs."
  • "It does seem a bit expensive compared to the serverless product offering. Tools, such as Server Integration Services, are "almost" free with a database engine. It is comparable to products like Alteryx, which is also very expensive."
  • "I think Lumada's price is fair compared to some of the others, like BusinessObjects, which is was the other thing that I used at my previous job. BusinessObject's price was more reasonable before SAP acquired it. They jacked the price up significantly. Oracle's OBIEE tool was also prohibitively expensive."
  • "When we first started with it, it was much cheaper. It has gone up drastically, especially since Hitachi bought out Pentaho."
  • "The cost of these types of solutions are expensive. So, we really appreciate what we get for our money. Though, we don't think of the solution as a top-of-the-line solution or anything like that."
  • "The pricing has been pretty good. I'm used to using everything open-source or freeware-based. I understand that organizations need to make sure that the solutions are secure, and that's basically where I hit a roadblock in my current organization. They needed to ensure that we had a license and we had a secure way of accessing it so that no outside parties could get access to our data, but in terms of pricing, considering how much other teams are spending on cloud solutions or even their existing solutions, its price point is pretty good. At this time, there are no additional costs. We just have the licensing fees."
  • More Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Azure Data Factory is flexible, modular, and works well. In terms of cost, it is not too pricey. It offers the stability and reliability I am looking for, good scalability, and is easy to set up and… more »
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer:Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge… more »
    Top Answer:Hi Rajneesh yes here is the feature comparison between the community and enterprise edition :… more »
    Top Answer: In my opinion, the reporting side of this tool needs serious improvements. In my previous company, we worked with Hitachi Lumada Data Integration and while it does a good job for what it’s worth, it… more »
    Top Answer:My company has used this product to transform data from databases, CSV files, and flat files. It really does a good job. We were most satisfied with the results in terms of how many people could use… more »
    Ranking
    3rd
    out of 94 in Data Integration
    Views
    20,419
    Comparisons
    16,998
    Reviews
    30
    Average Words per Review
    472
    Rating
    7.6
    15th
    out of 94 in Data Integration
    Views
    3,346
    Comparisons
    1,166
    Reviews
    15
    Average Words per Review
    1,193
    Rating
    7.7
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    PowerCenter
    Hitachi Lumada Data Integration, Kettle, Pentaho Data Integration
    Learn More
    Overview

    Informatica PowerCenter is a data integration and data visualization tool. The solution works as an enterprise data integration platform that helps organizations access, transform, and integrate data from various systems. The product is designed to support companies in the full cycle of a project, from its initial rollout to critical deployments. Informatica PowerCenter allows developers and analysts to collaborate while accelerating the work process to deploy projects within days instead of months.

    The Advanced edition of the product provides an additional real-time engine which allows companies to have always-on enterprise data integration. This ensures seamless collaboration and increment of data lineage visibility and impacts analysis.

    The Premium edition of the solution offers an early warning system that detects unexpected behaviors or incorrect utilization of resources in the workflows and alerts companies in the case that these occur. This version of the product also offers automatic data validation, which ensures data accuracy and reduces testing time and expenditure of resources for by up to 90%.

    Informatica PowerCenter Features

    The product provides users with various features which allow them to execute data integration initiatives such as analytics, data warehousing, data governance, consolidation, and application migration. The features of the solution include:

    • Collaboration: Informatica PowerCenter offers role-based tools and processes which enable business self-service while benefiting from high-quality IT resources.

    • Automation: Through various automations and easy-to-use software, users can utilize graphical and codeless tools and initiate effective data integration without additional knowledge.

    • Scalability: The tool provides high scalability to users, which ensures seamless performance and minimum downtime. PowerCenter also has adaptive load balancing, pushdown optimization, and dynamic partitioning.

    • Monitoring: Through the extensive monitoring feature, the operations and governance of the solution are easily overseen by users. The tool also provides alerts that can prevent damage to the system.

    • Real-time data: Through real-time data, users can monitor applications and analytics, ensuring their efficient operation.

    • Prototyping: Informatica lets its users collaborate with information technology to prototype, profile, and validate results in a timely manner.

    • Connectivity: Users can access and integrate data from different types of sources through high-performance connectors.

    • Automated data validation testing: The product offers script-free automated and repeatable audit and validation of data.

    • Data transformation: This feature allows users to use comprehensive parsing of JSON, PDF, XML, Microsoft Office, and the Internet of Things (IoT) for non-relation data.

    • Cloud applications connectivity: The product allows for seamless connection to cloud application sources and targets.

    Informatica PowerCenter Benefits

    The benefits of using Informatica PowerCenter include:

    • The tool can work over a wide range of systems and platforms and also allows for lean integration.

    • It enhances the quality and speed of performance and optimizes the cost of the process for your organization.

    • PowerCenter supports multiple databases, including TPump, Parallel Transporter Fastload, and Teradata MLoad.

    • The tool is very easy to monitor and maintain, which simplifies the data integration process for companies.

    • The centralized error logging system allows users to locate errors in a timely manner and correct them.

    • The tool can convert data from an application to another format, as it serves as one of the most powerful data transformation solutions.

    • PowerCenter can also serve as middleware between two applications.

    • The solution offers both parallel processing and load balancing.

    • PowerCenter is a tool with a high level of security, which also minimizes essential administration activities.

    • The solution ensures the quality of information, as it does not allow invalid or unwanted data to be uploaded to the source.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Yahya T., a developer and architect at L'Oreal, says the product is stable, provides good support, and integrating it with other systems is very fast.

    Mohamed E., a senior manager for Data management and data governance at a tech company, says PowerCenter is stable, mature, and offers flexibility in building the pipeline and has a drag-and-drop mode because it's GUI-based; technical support is brilliant.

    Pentaho Data Integration stands as a versatile platform designed to cater to the data integration and analytics needs of organizations, regardless of their size. This powerful solution is the go-to choice for businesses seeking to seamlessly integrate data from diverse sources, including databases, files, and applications. Pentaho Data Integration facilitates the essential tasks of cleaning and transforming data, ensuring it's primed for meaningful analysis. With a wide array of tools for data mining, machine learning, and statistical analysis, Pentaho Data Integration empowers organizations to glean valuable insights from their data. What sets Pentaho Data Integration apart is its maturity and a vibrant community of users and developers, making it a reliable and cost-effective option. Pentaho Data Integration offers a range of features, including a comprehensive ETL toolkit, data cleaning and transformation capabilities, robust data analysis tools, and seamless deployment options for data integration and analytics solutions, making it a go-to solution for organizations seeking to harness the power of their data.

    Sample Customers
    University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, LexisNexis, Rabobank
    66Controls, Providential Revenue Agency of Ro Negro, NOAA Information Systems, Swiss Real Estate Institute
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company22%
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Retailer7%
    Insurance Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm17%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Insurance Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Healthcare Company19%
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Government7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise74%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise74%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise31%
    Large Enterprise42%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise68%
    Buyer's Guide
    Informatica PowerCenter vs. Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Informatica PowerCenter vs. Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Informatica PowerCenter is ranked 3rd in Data Integration with 30 reviews while Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics is ranked 15th in Data Integration with 16 reviews. Informatica PowerCenter is rated 8.0, while Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics is rated 8.0. 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". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics writes "Low-code makes development faster than with Python, but there were caching issues". Informatica PowerCenter is most compared with Informatica Cloud Data Integration, Azure Data Factory, SSIS, Databricks and AWS Glue, whereas Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics is most compared with Azure Data Factory, SSIS, Talend Open Studio, AWS Glue and FME. See our Informatica PowerCenter vs. Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics report.

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    We monitor all Data Integration reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.