FME vs Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between FME 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 FME vs. Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 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
"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.""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.""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.""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.""It has standard plug-ins available for different data sources."

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"We're using the PDI and the repository function, and they give us the ability to easily generate reporting and output, and to access data. We also like the ability to schedule.""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.""It makes it pretty simple to do some fairly complicated things. Both I and some of our other BI developers have made stabs at using, for example, SQL Server Integration Services, and we found them a little bit frustrating compared to Data Integration. So, its ease of use is right up there.""One of the valuable features is the ability to use PL/SQL statements inside the data transformations and jobs.""It's my understanding that the product can scale.""It has a really friendly user interface, which is its main feature. The process of automating or combining SQL code with some databases and doing the automation is great and really convenient.""The amount of data that it loads and processes is good.""Data transformation within Pentaho is a nice feature that they have and that I value."

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Cons
"FME's price needs improvement for the African market.""To get a higher rating, it would have to improve the price and the associated scalability. These are the main issues.""Improvements could be made to mapping presentations.""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.""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."

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"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.""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 would like to see more improvements with AS400 DB2.""It could be better integrated with programming languages, like Python and R. Right now, if I want to run a Python code on one of my ETLs, it is a bit difficult to do. It would be great if we have some modules where we could code directly in a Python language. We don't really have a way to run Python code natively.""Parallel execution could be better in Pentaho. It's very simple but I don't think it works well.""Since Hitachi took over, I don't feel that the documentation is as good within the solution. It used to have very good help built right in.""Lumada could have more native connectors with other vendors, such as Google BigQuery, Microsoft OneDrive, Jira systems, and Facebook or Instagram. We would like to gather data from modern platforms using Lumada, which is a better approach. As a comparison, if you open Power BI to retrieve data, then you can get data from many vendors with cloud-native connectors, such as Azure, AWS, Google BigQuery, and Athena Redshift. Lumada should have more native connectors to help us and facilitate our job in gathering information from these new modern infrastructures and tools.""The product needs more plugins."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "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."
  • "The product's price is reasonable."
  • "FME Server used to cost £10,000; now it can cost over £100,000."
  • More FME 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: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.
    Top Answer:The pricing is really bad. Last year, they rebranded the whole pricing structure. It used to be moderately priced at about £400 per user per year. Now they've changed the whole thing, and it's… more »
    Top Answer: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. There must be a technical or… 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
    23rd
    out of 94 in Data Integration
    Views
    3,070
    Comparisons
    2,426
    Reviews
    3
    Average Words per Review
    725
    Rating
    8.3
    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
    Hitachi Lumada Data Integration, Kettle, Pentaho Data Integration
    Learn More
    Overview

    FME is the data integration platform with the best support for spatial data. Run workflows on the desktop or deploy them in a server or cloud environment.

    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
    Shell, US Department of Commerce, PG&E, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, Enel, Iowa DoT, San Antonio Water System
    66Controls, Providential Revenue Agency of Ro Negro, NOAA Information Systems, Swiss Real Estate Institute
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Government29%
    Energy/Utilities Company10%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Comms Service Provider5%
    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
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise64%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise31%
    Large Enterprise42%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise68%
    Buyer's Guide
    FME vs. Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about FME vs. Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    FME is ranked 23rd in Data Integration with 5 reviews while Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics is ranked 15th in Data Integration with 48 reviews. FME is rated 8.2, while Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of FME writes "Great for handling large volumes of data, but it is priced a bit high". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics writes "It's flexible and can do almost anything I want it to do". FME is most compared with Azure Data Factory, Alteryx Designer, Talend Open Studio and SSIS, whereas Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics is most compared with Azure Data Factory, SSIS, Talend Open Studio, AWS Glue and Confluent. See our FME vs. Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics report.

    See our list of best Data Integration vendors.

    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.