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Azure Data Factory vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data 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

Azure Data Factory
Ranking in Data Integration
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (2nd)
IBM Cloud Pak for Data
Ranking in Data Integration
24th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Data Virtualization (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of Azure Data Factory is 7.4%, down from 11.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Data is 2.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Integration
 

Featured Reviews

Joy Maitra - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates seamless data pipeline creation with good analytics and and thorough monitoring
Azure Data Factory is a low code, no code platform, which is helpful. It provides many prebuilt functionalities that assist in building data pipelines. Also, it facilitates easy transformation with all required functionalities for analytics. Furthermore, it connects to different sources out-of-the-box, making integration much easier. The monitoring is very thorough, though a more readable version would be appreciable.
Michelle Leslie - PeerSpot reviewer
Starts strong with data management capabilities but needs a demo database
What I would love to see is an end-to-end, almost a training demo database of some sort, where one of the biggest problems with data management is demonstrated. There are so many components to data management, and more often than not, people understand one thing really well. They may understand DataStage and how to move data around, but they do not see the impact of moving data incorrectly. They also do not see the impact of everyone understanding a piece of data in the same way. I would love Cloud Pak to come with a demo database that illustrates the different components of data management in a logical way, so I can see the whole picture instead of just the area I'm specializing in. It would be great if Cloud Pak, from a data modeling point of view, allowed us to import our PDMs, for example. It would be ideal to import and create business terms in Cloud Pak. The PEA would be great to create the technical data. The association between the business and the technical metadata could then be automated by pulling it through from your ACE models. The data modeling component is available in Cloud Pak. Additionally, when it comes to Cloud Pak, even though it has the NextGen DataStage built into it, there is Cloud Pak for data integration as well. Currently, I do not think we have a full enough understanding of how CP4D and CP4I can enhance each other.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Data Factory's best features include its data source connections, GUI for building data pipelines, and target loading within Azure."
"Data Factory allows you to pull data from multiple systems, transform it according to your business needs, and load it into a data warehouse or data lake."
"It's cloud-based, allowing multiple users to easily access the solution from the office or remote locations. I like that we can set up the security protocols for IP addresses, like allow lists. It's a pretty user-friendly product as well. The interface and build environment where you create pipelines are easy to use. It's straightforward to manage the digital transformation pipelines we build."
"Powerful but easy-to-use and intuitive."
"Our stakeholders and clients have expressed satisfaction with Azure Data Factory's efficiency and cost-effectiveness."
"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."
"On the tool itself, we've never experienced any bugs or glitches. There haven't been crashes. Stability has been good."
"Azure Data Factory is a low code, no code platform, which is helpful."
"Cloud Pak's most valuable features are IBM MQ, IBM App Connect, IBM API Connect, and ISPF."
"The most valuable features are data virtualization and reporting."
"DataStage allows me to connect to different data sources."
"It is a scalable solution, and we have had no issues with its scalability in our company. I rate the solution's scalability a nine out of ten."
"The most valuable feature of IBM Cloud Pak for Data is the Modeler flows. The ability to develop models using a graphical approach and the capability to connect to various sources, as well as the data virtualization capabilities, allow me to easily access and utilize data that is dispersed across different sources."
"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten."
"IBM Watson Catalog and data pipelines are the most valuable features of the solution."
"I love the way that I can start at a very basic level with my data management journey by capturing my policies, justifying my data, and putting them into different categories to say this is data relating to individuals, for example, or data relating to geography."
 

Cons

"Data Factory's monitorability could be better."
"There's no Oracle connector if you want to do transformation using data flow activity, so Azure Data Factory needs more connectors for data flow transformation."
"Data Factory's performance during heavy data processing isn't great."
"Azure Data Factory can improve by having support in the drivers for change data capture."
"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."
"Real-time replication is required, and this is not a simple task."
"A room for improvement in Azure Data Factory is its speed. Parallelization also needs improvement."
"The product's technical support has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required."
"There is a solution that is part of IBM Cloud Pak for Data called Watson OpenScale. It is used to monitor the deployed models for the quality and fairness of the results. This is one area that needs a lot of improvement."
"The technical support could be a little better."
"The solution's catalog searching or map search needs to be improved."
"The interface could improve because sometimes it becomes slow. Sometimes there is a delay between clicks when using the software, which can make the development process slow. It can take a few seconds to complete one action, and then a few more seconds to do the next one."
"The product must improve its performance."
"The setup cost is very expensive. The cost depends on the pieces of the solution I'm using, how much data I have, and whether it's on the cloud or on-prem."
"The solution could have more connectors."
"The solution's user experience is an area that has room for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It seems very low initially, but as the data grows, the solution’s bills grow exponentially."
"Pricing is comparable, it's somewhere in the middle."
"I would not say that this product is overly expensive."
"I am aware of the pricing of Azure Data Factory, but I prefer not to disclose specific details."
"The pricing is pay-as-you-go or reserve instance. Of the two options, reserve instance is much cheaper."
"The pricing is a bit on the higher end."
"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."
"Azure Data Factory gives better value for the price than other solutions such as Informatica."
"For the licensing of the solution, there is a yearly payment that needs to be made. Also, since it is expensive, cost-wise, I rate the solution an eight or nine out of ten."
"I think that this product is too expensive for smaller companies."
"The solution's pricing is competitive with that of other vendors."
"The solution is expensive."
"IBM Cloud Pak for Data is expensive. If we include the training time and the machine learning, it's expensive. The cost of the execution is more reasonable."
"Cloud Pak's cost is a little high."
"I don't have the exact licensing cost for IBM Cloud Pak for Data, as my company is still finalizing requirements, including monthly, yearly, and three-year licensing fees. Still, on a scale of one to five, I'd rate it a three because, compared to other vendors, it's more complicated."
"It's quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
30%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What do you like most about IBM Cloud Pak for Data?
DataStage allows me to connect to different data sources.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Cloud Pak for Data?
The setup cost is very expensive. The cost depends on the pieces of the solution I'm using, how much data I have, and whether it's on the cloud or on-prem.
What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Pak for Data?
What I would love to see is an end-to-end, almost a training demo database of some sort, where one of the biggest problems with data management is demonstrated. There are so many components to data...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Cloud Pak for Data
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Qatar Development Bank, GuideWell, Skanderborg Music Festival
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Data Factory vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Data and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.