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Amazon EMR vs Microsoft Analytics Platform System 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

Amazon EMR
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Hadoop (3rd), Cloud Data Warehouse (13th)
Microsoft Analytics Platfor...
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (19th)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1343079 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Chief Engineer (Enterprise System Presales/Postsales) at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Has simplified ETL workflows with on-demand processing but needs improved cost efficiency and visibility
I have used AWS Glue with S3 for making tables and databases, but regarding Amazon EMR, I do not remember much as we are currently using it very minimally. This is my observation: In EKS, we have had to deploy by ourselves because EKS does not provide the Hadoop framework, Spark, Hive, and everything, but we have completed all the deployment ourselves. Whereas Amazon EMR provides all these things. The cost factor differs significantly. When you run Spark application on EKS, you run at the pod level, so you can control the compute cost. But in Amazon EMR, when you have to run one application, you have to launch the entire EC2. In Qubole, the interface was very good. I could see many details because in Amazon EMR console, very few details are available. In Qubole, at one link, you can get all the details of what is happening, how the processes are running, and the cost decreased by using Qubole. I found Qubole more user-friendly and cost-effective. From the security point of view, we had to open some access rights to Qubole, which might be a drawback in comparison to Amazon EMR which is native to AWS.
MahmoudMohamed1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Data Engineer at Tatweer Educational Technologies Company - TETCO
Offers smooth data integration between systems, but requires better real-time analytics capabilities
We leverage its capabilities for many applications. We can integrate with our databases, like Oracle, MySQL, or any other, using Microsoft Integration Services. This lets us continue using private databases without paying additional licensing fees. Additionally, the license includes Analytics services and Power BI, which work on-premises, unlike most other technologies that require cloud solutions.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has a variety of options and support systems."
"We are using Amazon EMR to clean the data and transform the data in such a way that the end-user can get the insights faster."
"We are using applications, such as Splunk, Livy, Hadoop, and Spark. We are using all of these applications in Amazon EMR and they're helping us a lot."
"This is the best tool for hosts and it's really flexible and scalable."
"Amazon EMR's most valuable features are processing speed and data storage capacity."
"Amazon EMR has multiple connectors that can connect to various data sources."
"The ability to resize the cluster is what really makes it stand out over other Hadoop and big data solutions."
"The security of the managed workflow and the managed services are the best features for us. Since we inherited their security model and it's all managed services, those are the key benefits for our clients."
"It is closely integrated with other products in the MS portfolio."
"This solution will connect to any database, you can combine databases, and you can create a cube or tabular model."
"This is a well-integrated solution and that integration empowers results."
"Helps our customers to discover trends, which provides useful information based on their business."
"We leverage its capabilities for many applications. We can integrate with our databases, like Oracle, MySQL, or any other, using Microsoft Integration Services."
"I like that it's integrated with other Azure products."
"The Cube Solution is quite different when compared to the rest of the competition and has unique functionality for advanced analytics."
"Microsoft Analytics Platform System's most valuable feature is its ecosystems and seamless integration with other Microsoft reporting platforms and databases."
 

Cons

"The legacy versions of the solution are not supported in the new versions."
"Amazon EMR is continuously improving, but maybe something like CI/CD out-of-the-box or integration with Prometheus Grafana."
"Spark jobs take longer on Amazon EMR compared to previous experiences."
"The product's features for storing data in static clusters could be better."
"The initial setup was time-consuming."
"I feel some lack of functionality in Amazon EMR."
"There were times where they would release new versions and it seemed to end up breaking old versions, which is very strange."
"We don't have much control. If we have multiple users, if they want to scale up, the cost will go and increase and we don't know how we can restrict that price part."
"I think the biggest problem with the product is that it does a data ingest model, which is very expensive."
"Machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities need to be more friendly for beginning users."
"Releases of new products and functionality is never accompanied by associated documentation, training and resources that adequately explain the release."
"Functionality needs to be more up-to-date with competing products."
"The pricing model needs to be improved."
"​Hybrid environments are complex to manage."
"The flexibility of this solution needs to be improved because you cannot make changes at every one of the different steps."
"Microsoft Analytics Platform System could have better support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is expensive."
"There is no need to pay extra for third-party software."
"The product is not cheap, but it is not expensive."
"There is a small fee for the EMR system, but major cost components are the underlying infrastructure resources which we actually use."
"Amazon EMR is not very expensive."
"The cost of Amazon EMR is very high."
"I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten. It can be expensive since it's a managed service, and if you are not careful, you can run into unexpected charges. You can make a mistake that costs you tens of thousands of dollars. That's happened to us twice, so I'm sensitive to it. We're still trying to work on that. Our smallest client probably spends a hundred thousand dollars yearly on licensing, while our largest is well over a million."
"Amazon EMR's price is reasonable."
"The initial price is lower than Oracle, but extensive use of SQL may lead to a higher total cost of ownership."
"Users have to pay extra for premium-level technical support."
"We are currently paying $200,000 a year for all the different parts of the suite during an ingest model Microsoft now charges us $700,000 a year."
"I rate Microsoft Analytics Platform System a seven out of ten for pricing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EMR?
I would rate the price for Amazon EMR, where one is high and ten is low, as a good one.
What needs improvement with Amazon EMR?
I feel some lack of functionality in Amazon EMR. I have thoughts on what would be great to see in the product, such as AI/ML features or additional options.
What advice do you have for others considering Amazon EMR?
I find it easy to integrate Amazon EMR with other AWS services like S3 or EC2 for data processing needs. I would rate this review as eight out of ten.
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Also Known As

Amazon Elastic MapReduce
Microsoft APS, MS Analytics Platform System
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Yelp
Transport for London, E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH & Co. KG, Prometeia, Tangerine, SSM Health Care, Service Corporation International
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EMR vs. Microsoft Analytics Platform System and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.