FME vs SAS Data Management comparison

Safe Software and SAS are both solutions in the Data Integration category. Safe Software is ranked #23 with an average rating of 8.0, while SAS is ranked #31 with an average rating of 8.0. Safe Software holds a 1.5% mindshare in DI, compared to SAS’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Safe Software users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of SAS users who would recommend it.

FME

Read 7 FME reviews

2,737 Views
2,135 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SAS Data Management

Read 17 SAS Data Management reviews

1,651 Views
925 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

FME

SAS Data Management

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

SAS Data Management and FME are competing products in the realm of data integration and management. SAS shows an advantage in scalability and flexibility for large datasets, while FME stands out for its robust data transformation capabilities.

Features: SAS is known for its strong data governance, analytics integration, and support for various data types, suitable for diverse industries. FME excels in spatial data handling, seamless conversion, and advanced geospatial functions for organizations with such needs.

Room for Improvement:SAS could enhance its user interface to reduce the complexity for new users, provide more competitive pricing plans, and improve ease of access for users with less technical expertise. FME might benefit from expanding support for non-spatial data types, offering more competitive pricing tiers, and enhancing user interface customization options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAS offers comprehensive deployment models with on-premise and cloud options and strong professional services. FME offers a straightforward installation process with extensive documentation, emphasizing user empowerment through community support and resources.

Pricing and ROI:SAS typically involves higher upfront costs but offers long-term ROI due to scalability and integration. FME often has more accessible pricing and quicker ROI due to its specialized functionality and simpler deployment.

To learn more, read our detailed FME vs. SAS Data Management Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

FME vs. SAS Data Management

September 2025

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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

FME

Ranking in Data Integration

23rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SAS Data Management

Ranking in Data Integration

31st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Quality (12th), Data Governance (25th)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Data Integration category, the mindshare of FME is 1.5%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAS Data Management is 0.9%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Integration Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
FME	1.5%
SAS Data Management	0.9%
Other	97.6%

Data Integration

Featured Reviews

Alan Bloor

Geographic Information System Developer at Public Sector

Great for handling large volumes of data, but it is priced a bit high

When I do coding, I think about every single function. Some of these functions can be very elementary, like doing a substring or some capitalization. But FME removes all that coding because it's a transformer, so the time to develop an application to get to a point where you're producing results is decreased massively. It used to take weeks and months to develop software, and now I can use something like FME, and within one day, we get results. We can look at and validate data. 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.

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Vivek Trivedi

Head finance transformation at Ahli United Bank Ksc

Has robust data governance capabilities and efficient financial alerting features

The platform's robust data governance capabilities ensure strong compliance with regulatory standards. Our dedicated data governance team is responsible for setting policies and monitoring data access and usage. Additionally, we have a Data Protection Officer (DPO) and an independent InfoSec team that work together to enforce these policies. This multi-layered approach ensures that data governance is effectively managed and compliant with all necessary regulations. It is integrated with SQL and Power BI servers for executive management dashboard reporting. This integration supports comprehensive data analysis and reporting needs, which was a key factor in our decision. The value of using vCenter lies in its comprehensive data infrastructure management. It significantly enhances our reporting, day-to-day decision-making, and analytics capabilities. Integrating SaaS with vCenter adds value by streamlining key functions and improving overall organizational efficiency. The solution can be considered expensive, particularly due to infrastructure, maintenance, and ownership costs. The long-term savings and efficiencies gained from using vCenter can justify the investment for large organizations. However, the high costs might not be justifiable for smaller organizations with less data and fewer resources. Conducting a thorough cost-benefit analysis based on the organization's specific needs and scale is recommended. I rate it an eight.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"FME is spatially aware and understands how to deal with the conversion of spatial objects and their attributes."

"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."

"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."

"From my reseller perspective, the best features in FME are the ease of operation and the fact that it works."

"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."

"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."

"I find the solution to be very stable."

"If you compare it to SQL, the memory and development times are very quick."

"This is an established product with powerful data analysis and varied options for user entry points."

"The platform's robust data governance capabilities ensure strong compliance with regulatory standards."

"The tool is reliable, quick, and powerful."

"The product offers very good flexibility."

"Its robustness is valuable. It is a full-fledged suite. We have a data warehouse model, and there are also a lot of data quality management tools. The repository and all other tools are there. So, it is a full package in terms of reporting tools."

"The technical support is excellent."

More SAS Data Management pros

Cons

"FME's price needs improvement for the African market."

"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."

"To get a higher rating, it would have to improve the price and the associated scalability. These are the main issues."

"We are looking at the possibility of using Glue instead of FME, using the native AWS product."

"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."

"Improvements could be made to mapping presentations."

"The solution is quite expensive and hard to install/configure."

"Very little needs to improve but perhaps a nicer graphic interface and remaining competetive in the growing field of data analytics."

"One problem is accessing the data using a solution other than SAS. The SAS data, which we create in the SAS, cannot be accessed by other tools. We can't open those data in other applications. So we need to have that application in place."

"The solution could use better documentation."

"Integration and cloud migration are areas where we see potential for improvement."

"The pricing of the solution needs to be improved. They need to work to make it more affordable."

"We find we often have to go back and re-train users when there are changes made to the solution because the changes are not intuitive."

"There is significant room for improvement, especially with regard to using a hybrid approach that involves both CAS and persistent storage."

More SAS Data Management cons

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."

"FME Server used to cost £10,000; now it can cost over £100,000."

"The product's price is reasonable."

"The licensing model for vCenter is a perpetual license with yearly payments."

"While it is even free for personal use on the cloud, it can be expensive for desktop installations and enterprise use."

"The tool is a bit expensive."

"The solution is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

33%

Energy/Utilities Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

27%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about FME?

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FME?

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 expe...

See all answers

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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAS Data Management?

From my experience, SAS Data Management is an expensive tool.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAS Data Management?

There is significant room for improvement, especially with regard to using a hybrid approach that involves both CAS and persistent storage.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAS Data Management?

Some clients and I are using SAS Data Management for data cleansing, data warehousing, and IoT-related activities such as streaming data.

See all answers

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Compared 12% of the time

Palantir Foundry vs SAS Data Management

Compared 12% of the time

Protegrity’s Data Protection Platform vs SAS Data Management

Compared 10% of the time

Informatica PowerCenter vs SAS Data Management

Compared 8% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

FME

September 2025

Download FME product report

Buyer's Guide

SAS Data Management

August 2025

Download SAS Data Management product report

Also Known As

No data available

SAS Data Management Platform, Data Management Platform, DataFlux

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.

Safe Software

Every decision, every business move, every successful customer interaction - they all come down to high-quality, well-integrated data. If you don't have it, you don't win. SAS Data Management is an industry-leading solution built on a data quality platform that helps you improve, integrate and govern your data.

SAS

Sample Customers

Shell, US Department of Commerce, PG&E, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, Enel, Iowa DoT, San Antonio Water System

Data Management, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Absa, Aegon, Allianz Global Corporate & SpecialtyAusgrid, Bank of Queensland, Bell, BMC Software, Canada Post, Ceska pojistovna, Chantecler, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Credit Guarantee Corporation, Cr_dito y Cauci‹n, Delaware State Police, Deutsche Lufthansa, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, DSM, Enerjisa, ERGO Insurance Group, Florida Department of Corrections, Generali Hellas, Gitanjali Group, Gloucestershire Constabulary, GS Home Shopping, HealthPartners, IAG New Zealand, iJET, Invacare, Livzon Pharmaceutical Group, Los Angeles County, Miami Herald Media Company, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, New Zealand Ministry of Health, Nippon Paper, North Carolina Office of Information Technology Services, Orlando Magic, OTP Group, PITT OHIO, Plano Independent School District, RWE Poland, Spanish Air Force, Stockholm County Council, Telus, The Travel Corporation, Transitions Optical, Triad Analytic Solutions, UNIQA, US Census Bureau, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, West Midlands Police, XS Inc., Zenith Insurance

Buyer's Guide

FME vs. SAS Data Management

September 2025

Free Report: FME vs. SAS Data Management

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