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Alteryx Designer vs FME comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 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

Alteryx Designer
Ranking in Data Integration
26th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
FME
Ranking in Data Integration
31st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of Alteryx Designer is 1.2%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FME is 1.1%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Alteryx Designer1.2%
FME1.1%
Other97.7%
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

AHMAD FAIRUZ BIN ALI - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Data Analytics COE at bank islam
Able to hold a huge amount of data in its memory, but it is very expensive
We had challenges with a very complex workflow, and we couldn't find the root cause because it caused an error in the output. We recreated the workflow, and it solved the problem. Alteryx Designer integrated seamlessly with other tools and systems in our workflow. It's not convenient for us to develop any machine learning model using Alteryx Designer. Other data science studio tools are much more advanced than the data science studio tools in Alteryx. We do maintenance on our workflow, but we try to be careful with the upgrades because we don't want any upgrades to impact our production workflows. One or two people are needed to maintain the solution. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Gert Booysen - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Solutions Leader at GE Vernova
Extensive format support and reliable integration enhance data management while new pricing model requires reassessment
I haven't had any input or requirements from any customers that are not currently covered, so I don't have any additional needs that were identified or raised to me. Regarding pricing, with the model changes that they've implemented a while back, it actually made it more expensive to use, especially on the server side. They changed the licensing model, and that made customers think it is overpriced. Some customers were actually looking at alternatives. Pricing with the model changes was perceived negatively. I work primarily with enterprise customers, Vodacom, Eskom, so it's tier-one customers. For small customers, this solution is a bit too expensive. They don't really use it and just do direct integration on smaller implementations. This is basically used by tier-one customers. FME is still able to save time and money for clients. It's still a good investment. Regarding similar products to FME, GE developed a product called Data Fabric. That is a real-time operational integration platform, Data Fabric Network Connect, which is a GE Grid OS product. It is actually more expensive than FME, but the purpose is different as it's operational. The vendor in this case is GE, and it's a company that we bought that used to be called Greenbird. In current use scenarios, FME is still leading compared to Data Fabric. The GE product has a different application.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tool's most valuable feature is its API connections. Its predictive analytics feature has helped us pass some ETL processes to analysts rather than developers."
"I believe in the ability to connect to multiple data sources, as well as the ease of use to transform data and output data in a variety of formats."
"Alteryx Designer has so many functionalities packed into one package that you get a lot of things that you wouldn't have expected."
"The solution is easy to integrate and user-friendly."
"Alteryx Designer's best features are that it's easy to use and performs well."
"I like Alteryx Designer's drag-and-drop feature, where you drag a component, configure it and quickly run it."
"When you open a raw Excel file, it can be hard to look at everything in detail. Alteryx makes it much easier to go through the data, summarize it, and use different tools for analysis."
"For my daily analytics needs, the entire Alteryx Designer platform is beneficial."
"It has a very friendly user interface. You don't need to use a lot of code. For us that's the most important aspect about it. Also, it has a lot of connectors and few forms. It has a strong facial aspect. It can do a lot of facial analysis."
"FME is spatially aware and understands how to deal with the conversion of spatial objects and their attributes."
"The most valuable feature of FME is the graphical user interface."
"We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else."
"All spatial features are unrivaled, and the possibility to execute them based on a scheduled trigger, manual, e-mail, Websocket, tweet, file/directory change or virtually any trigger is most valuable."
"FME's features that I have found most valuable are that it has a very friendly user interface, you don't need to use a lot of code, it has a lot of connectors and few forms, and it has a strong facial aspect that can do a lot of facial analysis."
"The most valuable feature of FME is the graphical user interface. There is nothing better. It is very easy to debug because you can see all steps where there are failures. Overall the software is easy to optimize a process."
"It has standard plug-ins available for different data sources."
 

Cons

"We need more documentation."
"Its price can be improved. It is too expensive for our country. Because of its high price, we can't sell Alteryx Designer in this region. We used to be their reseller partner. There is also an additional cost for automating the data and running the flows, which makes it even more expensive. It will be very good if they can let users automate the data for free. Other solutions like Tableau provide this feature for free."
"Alteryx Designer is not as fast as SSIS and is not good for large datasets. It also needs to improve database procedures. Though it is easy to use, it is limited in terms of technical aspects."
"If the price were reduced then it would be more competitive."
"The product could offer more connectors and more databases with support for the in-database function."
"The actual usage part of it needs to be explained more. It's too vague right now."
"Optimizing processing times is one area I would like to see improved in Alteryx Designer. Sometimes, the workflows take an extremely long time to run. There are days when I have had to wait two to three hours for a single process to complete. There needs to be a functionality to split the processes."
"Alteryx Designer overall should be easier to use."
"To get a higher rating, it would have to improve the price and the associated scalability. These are the main issues."
"FME can improve the geographical transformation. I've had some problems with the geographical transformations, but it's probably mostly because I'm not the most skilled geographer in-house."
"FME can improve the geographical transformation. I've had some problems with the geographical transformations, but it's probably mostly because I'm not the most skilled geographer in-house. The solution requires some in-depth knowledge to perform some functions."
"FME's price needs improvement for the African market."
"The one thing that always appears in the community is the ability to make really easy loops to loop through data efficiently. That needs to be added at some point."
"We are looking at the possibility of using Glue instead of FME, using the native AWS product."
"FME is a great tool, but I don't know if we can scale it up since the prices are high and we would need to convince the decision makers to provide more budget."
"Improvements could be made to mapping presentations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licenses are expensive, making it difficult to consider acquiring additional licenses to the existing ones."
"Alteryx Designer is a very expensive solution."
"The product is a bit expensive, it should be looked into."
"I rate the product's pricing a two to three out of ten."
"I rate the price of Alteryx Designer as a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is extremely expensive, and ten is a highly cheap product."
"Alteryx is a little bit expensive compared to competing solutions."
"Each license is something like $4,000."
"The tool is priced high."
"We used the standard licensing for our use of FME. The cost was approximately €15,000 annually. We always welcome less expensive solutions, if the solution could be less expensive it would be helpful."
"FME Server used to cost £10,000; now it can cost over £100,000."
"The product's price is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
7%
University
5%
Government
29%
Energy/Utilities Company
13%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alteryx Designer?
It's cheaper than Palantir, but even Alteryx is too much for small clients. It is expensive, considering the server capabilities.
What needs improvement with Alteryx Designer?
For smaller clients with ten to 15 employees, Alteryx can be expensive. The server capabilities are costly too. The technical support could also improve by being quicker in response times.
What is your primary use case for Alteryx Designer?
I have used Alteryx Designer to perform predictive analytics that helps in predicting the selling of products, particularly in banking and financial areas.
What needs improvement with FME?
I haven't had any input or requirements from any customers that are not currently covered, so I don't have any additional needs that were identified or raised to me. Regarding pricing, with the mod...
What is your primary use case for FME?
The use cases for FME are mainly integration to the GE Smallworld product. GE Smallworld is a GE product, and we are using it to integrate with other third-party products into GE Smallworld and ADM...
What advice do you have for others considering FME?
The overall rating for FME is eight out of ten, and I prefer the feedback to be anonymous. My job title is Senior Solutions Architect.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Shell, US Department of Commerce, PG&E, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, Enel, Iowa DoT, San Antonio Water System
Find out what your peers are saying about Alteryx Designer vs. FME and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.