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AWS Lake Formation vs Azure Data Factory comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 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

AWS Lake Formation
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Azure Data Factory
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
96
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Cloud Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of AWS Lake Formation is 3.5%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Data Factory is 5.2%, down from 7.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Data Warehouse Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Azure Data Factory5.2%
AWS Lake Formation3.5%
Other91.3%
Cloud Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

Ciro Baldim Guerra - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Analytics Engineer at Itau Unibanco S.A.
Has improved data governance by enabling clear ownership and structured access across teams
In my company, Itaú, we don't utilize all AWS offerings due to rigorous security measures. We operate approximately six to eight months behind other available services. I'm uncertain if gaps exist because of this limitation, though the system functions effectively for us. AWS Lake Formation offers column-level access control for databases, but we haven't implemented this feature either because it hasn't been approved by our compliance, governance, or security areas. In our current setup, everyone from my business unit uses the same consumer account. When access is requested for a table, everyone using that business unit account receives access. This could present a security concern, though it benefits new team members who automatically receive all necessary access permissions. However, I struggle to identify specific improvements needed in AWS Lake Formation.
KandaswamyMuthukrishnan - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Integrates diverse data sources and streamlines ETL processes effectively
Regarding potential areas of improvement for Azure Data Factory, there is a need for better data transformation, especially since many people are now depending on DataBricks more for connectivity and data integration. Azure Data Factory should consider how to enhance integration or filtering for more transformations, such as integrating with Spark clusters. I am satisfied with Azure Data Factory so far, but I suggest integrating some AI functionality to analyze data during the transition itself, providing insights such as null records, common records, and duplicates without running a separate pipeline or job. The monitoring tools in Azure Data Factory are helpful for optimizing data pipelines; while the current feature is adequate, they can improve by creating a live dashboard to see the online process, including how much percentage has been completed, which will be very helpful for people who are monitoring the pipeline.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The main benefits that I have seen from using AWS Lake Formation are related to FinOps because you have control of your data and can track your costs since AWS Lake Formation is integrated into a unique platform, which is AWS Cloud Service."
"The features and capabilities of AWS Lake Formation that I have found most valuable are that it is really convenient to see all the different data assets that were configured and understand who has and what type of service has or does not have access to those services."
"A favorite feature of AWS Lake Formation is that it provides us with visibility into who has access to a particular table or database in Glue."
"There is no doubt that this place exceeded my expectations with its incredible ambiance, attentive service, and mouthwatering menu."
"AWS Lake Formation has several valuable features that enhance data management, and one particularly beneficial aspect is how it facilitates better collaboration within data teams."
"It is seamlessly integrated within the AWS ecosystem, making it straightforward to manage access patterns for AWS-native services."
"The solution has many features that are applicable to events such as audits."
"The most important advantage in using AWS Lake Formation is its ability to connect the data lake to the other technologies in AWS. This is what I advise my clients."
"Azure Data Factory is an integration tool, an orchestration service tool; it is for data integration for the cloud."
"The security of the agent that is installed on-premises is very good."
"The solution is okay."
"The interface of Azure Data Factory is very usable with a more interactive visual experience, making it easier for people who are not as experienced in coding to work with."
"It is very modular; it works well, is very flexible, and you can easily bring in outside capabilities and build any features you want."
"I think it makes it very easy to understand what data flow is and so on. You can leverage the user interface to do the different data flows, and it's great. I like it a lot."
"We have been using drivers to connect to various data sets and consume data."
"The solution includes a feature that increases the number of processors used which makes it very powerful and adds to the scalability."
 

Cons

"Rather than creating an additional hundred tools, optimizing a tool to have a centralized location to do governance would be beneficial."
"AWS Lake Formation might not be easy to learn initially, especially for technical staff, due to various underlying options."
"In our experience what could be improved are not the support, performance or monitoring, but at a managerial level, the very expensive professional services of AWS. This could be an area of improvement for them. It's too expensive to acquire their support."
"AWS Lake Formation's pricing could be cheaper."
"Athena can be a bit clunky when writing queries, indicating a potential enhancement point for easier user interaction with query tools such as DataGrip using provided driver JARs."
"It falls short when it comes to more granular access control, such as cell-level or row-level entitlements which is a significant drawback for organizations that require precise control over who can access specific rows of data."
"Despite following official documentation, configuration problems persisted, requiring weeks of support from multiple AWS engineers to resolve."
"The main challenge we faced with AWS Lake Formation was related to cross-account sharing. Granting access to other AWS accounts for tables or databases in a different AWS account was somewhat difficult."
"This solution is currently only useful for basic data movement and file extractions, which we would like to see developed to handle more complex data transformations."
"Azure Data Factory can improve the transformation features. You have to do a lot of transformation activities. This is something that is just not fully covered. Additionally, the integration could improve for other tools, such as Azure Data Catalog."
"I have encountered a problem with the integration with third-party solutions, particularly with SAP."
"Currently, our company requires a monitoring tool, and that isn't available in Azure Data Factory."
"Azure Data Factory should be cheaper to move data to a data center abroad for calamities in case of disasters."
"From my perspective, the pricing seems like it could be more user-friendly."
"The tool’s workflow is not user-friendly. It should also improve its orchestration monitoring."
"Azure Data Factory is a bit complicated compared to Informatica. There are a lot of connectors that are missing and there are a lot of instances where I need to create a server and install Integration Runtime."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"AWS Lake Formation is a bit expensive."
"The price is fair."
"ADF is cheaper compared to AWS."
"The licensing cost is included in the Synapse."
"This is a cost-effective solution."
"Azure products generally offer competitive pricing, suitable for diverse budget considerations."
"Understanding the pricing model for Data Factory is quite complex."
"There's no licensing for Azure Data Factory, they have a consumption payment model. How often you are running the service and how long that service takes to run. The price can be approximately $500 to $1,000 per month but depends on the scaling."
"The price you pay is determined by how much you use it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Construction Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise63
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Lake Formation?
I don't understand much about the pricing of AWS Lake Formation, but I know how to search for the cost of Glue jobs, and I use the calculator in Amazon. I use a tool to preview the cost based on th...
What needs improvement with AWS Lake Formation?
Regarding areas of AWS Lake Formation that could be improved or enhanced, I prefer not to answer, mainly because I do not believe that I would be the most valuable person to ask, as I have not used...
What is your primary use case for AWS Lake Formation?
My usual use cases for AWS Lake Formation involved securing and governing the data resources that we configured in AWS, but we did not use the analytics or machine learning capabilities specificall...
How do you select the right cloud ETL tool?
AWS Glue and Azure Data factory for ELT best performance cloud services.
How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica PowerCenter?
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 an...
How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
Azure Data Factory is a solid product offering many transformation functions; It has pre-load and post-load transformations, allowing users to apply transformations either in code by using Power Q...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

bp, Cerner, Expedia, Finra, HESS, intuit, Kellog's, Philips, TIME, workday
1. Adobe 2. BMW 3. Coca-Cola 4. General Electric 5. Johnson & Johnson 6. LinkedIn 7. Mastercard 8. Nestle 9. Pfizer 10. Samsung 11. Siemens 12. Toyota 13. Unilever 14. Verizon 15. Walmart 16. Accenture 17. American Express 18. AT&T 19. Bank of America 20. Cisco 21. Deloitte 22. ExxonMobil 23. Ford 24. General Motors 25. IBM 26. JPMorgan Chase 27. Microsoft (Azure Data Factory is developed by Microsoft) 28. Oracle 29. Procter & Gamble 30. Salesforce 31. Shell 32. Visa
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Lake Formation vs. Azure Data Factory and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.